She picked up the phone book and looked up the number for the city jail. She dialed and asked for Star Boone, telling them it was an emergency. She knew that would scare Star to death, but if she was right, she wanted to act quickly. It took about ten minutes, but Star came on the line.
“Is Uncle Frank all right?”
“Yes, he is, Star. This is Diane Fallon. He’s fine. I’m sorry to have frightened you. I have an important question I need to ask you. It’s important,” she said again. “Did Jay know Dylan Houser?”
“Sure. They went hunting and fishing together with Dad and Mr. Houser. Jay idolized him.”
“What did you think of him?”
“I thought he was an arrogant prick. Mom and Dad thought he hung the moon. What’s this about?”
“Right now it’s confidential, so don’t tell anyone about this conversation. I mean it.”
“OK. I can keep a secret. You don’t think. .”
“Don’t think about what I just asked. Forget about it. OK?”
“You’ll tell me later?”
“Sure. I’ll tell you everything later. I talked to Frank this morning. He’s up and around and looking really good.”
“When they called me to the phone and said it was an emergency, I was afraid. .”
“I know. It is an emergency, just not with Frank. I’m sorry I scared you.”
“They told me you were in the hospital too.”
“You have a pretty good grapevine going there.”
“If it’s something that tortures me, they tell me about it. Actually, Mrs. Torres told me about you. She said her son found you in the lake and you were OK.”
“I was in the hospital, but I’m fine now.”
“Is everything going to be all right?”
“Yes, Star, it is. I don’t think you’ll be there much longer.”
Diane got off the phone just as Jonas was opening the door for Mike Seger. He had a semicircular cast in his hand. “OK, you going to tell me what I’m doing with this?”
Diane took the cast from him. “This is great. Thanks. Now, would you mind getting your tire iron for me and meet us in the conservation lab vault?”
Mike looked at Jonas, who shrugged at him.
“Sure. Be right back. I have to say, you’re the most unusual boss I’ve ever had.”
“Why, thank you, Mike.” She smiled at him.
Mike went on his errand. Diane and Jonas went to the conservation lab, carrying the skull and the cast.
“You found the skull,” said Annie. Several of Korey’s staff followed her and Jonas into the vault.
She opened the double boxes and took out the right scapula, the one with the damage, and aligned the cast of the brake disc with the straight indentation in the crushed bone.
“Not an exact match, but close-it’s a good possibility.”
Mike came in with the tire iron and laid it on the table. “So that’s why you wanted the cast. You think a jack slipped.”
“He’d have to slip too,” said Diane. “And somehow end up with his right shoulder under the disc.”
“That hurts just thinking about it,” said Mike, rubbing his own shoulder.
Diane set the scapula down and gently picked up the skull and tire iron, fitting the curved heavier end into the compression fracture. It was a good fit.
“What happened?” asked Mike. “The guy has a car fall on him and somebody caves in his skull with a tire iron? That’s a bad day.”
“Perhaps the car falling was afterward, to make the murder look like an accident,” said Diane. “But then why dump the body someplace else? I don’t know. I’ll have to think about it.”
Diane put the scapula back in the box. “Look, guys, don’t mention the bones are here in the vault to anyone. I’d rather people not know it.”
“Sure thing,” they all agreed and went back to work, muttering about the undesirability of having a car fall on you.
“Can I put my tire on now?” asked Mike.
“Yes. You’re a good sport, Mike. I appreciate all your help.”
“Anytime you need something really odd done, just give me a call.”
Diane carefully packed the skull and taped the box closed. She turned to Jonas. “Let me call the sheriff, and then I’ll beat you at chess.”
“You’re going to have to work hard to win. You’re in a bad situation.”
“That makes it interesting.”
The sheriff wasn’t convinced right away to investigate Dylan Houser.
“I know it’s a stretch, Sheriff. But bear with me. Both Dylan and the victim were in Harvard Business School together. There was a good chance they knew each other.”
“So did a lot of people. That’s a big school, and they may never have met.”
“I know. I don’t have anything in stone, but you could at least ask if he knew the guy.”
“I could do that. Do you have anything else?”
“Not a lot. I believe that whoever killed the Boone family was afraid that if the bones were found and identified, the identity would lead us to them. The only way that would be true is if it could be proved that the killer and the victim knew each other or had some association with each other. The fact that the bones were here in this county, all the way from Massachusetts, suggests that the victim may have been visiting someone he knew. If the killer was a random stranger, why would he care if the bones were identified or not?”
“I don’t have any quarrel with that, but it’s a long way from the Houser boy.”
“I know. Dylan was idolized by Jay Boone according to Star. He’s one person who could have lured Jay out of the house, even asked him to bring a gun to him. The person who killed Jay was taller than either Star or her boyfriend, Dean. He was about Dylan’s height.”
“Being tall isn’t rare among young men these days, even young men with a Harvard education,” he said.
“I know. George Boone may have hit his attacker with a bat. Dylan has a bruise.”
“How do you know?”
“I was told by someone who knows him,” said Diane.
“That’s something, but not much. He’s an active boy.”
“Whoever kidnaped me knew the skull was missing. It wasn’t a secret, but not many people knew. One of the people who was in a position to know was Dylan’s father.”
“Now, hold on here.”
“I know, Sheriff, but just listen. You can tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about later.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Jake Houser also knew that the bones had been there for several years. Not many people knew that either. And before you ask, that’s very tenuous. It’s based on a reaction he had.”
Diane explained about Janice Warrick not knowing how long the bones had been dumped, but Jake did.
“I know that’s very little, but why didn’t Warrick know? She’s been following everything I do, and Frank’s partner sent her the report on the bones. There’s a possibility that the report was intercepted so no one would query missing persons.”
“So you think Jake’s son, Dylan, for one reason or another killed this Kavanagh kid and dumped the body. George finds evidence of it, and he and his entire family have to be killed because any member might know where the bone came from. One thing led to another, and Dylan had to go after you and Frank to keep his secret. Jake found out and is trying to help his son cover everything up. Is that about it?”
“I know the whole argument leaves a lot to be desired. But what if Dylan was friends with Aidan Kavanagh, and Kavanagh just happened to disappear in his hometown?”
“I’ll grant you, flimsy though your argument is, it makes a kind of sense. But why go to all that trouble to kill the Boones when he could just deny knowing anything about Kavanagh?”
“I don’t know. That’s a good point. It might be that he’s going into a career where there can’t be a hint of scandal. Will you talk to Dylan?”
“I’ll talk to him. I’ll confirm first that they did go to the same school at the same time with the same major. That’s enough right there. As for the rest, well, we’ll see.”
“One last thing, Sheriff. When I was attacked the first time, I jerked one of my attacker’s fingers back really hard, left a bad bruise on one of his arms where I bit him and kicked his shins half a dozen times.”
“That ought to be pretty easy to spot,” he said. “You’re a damn tough woman.”
As Diane and Jonas sat playing their game of chess, she tried out her reasoning again with him. He looked as skeptical as the sheriff had sounded.
“I know it’s a terrible thing to accuse someone of anything they didn’t do, especially something so dreadful as a multiple murder.”
“I’m not saying your logic, as far as it goes, isn’t sound. But it’s the ‘as far as it goes’ part that’s troubling. You’re right. It’s very tenuous.”
“I know. There’s no proof. Do you want to resign?”
Jonas looked startled. “What?”
“You can’t win. I’ve got you beat in five moves.”
“Oh, you scared me. I thought this was a side of you I hadn’t seen. The woman who can’t handle disagreement.” He chuckled and scrutinized the chessboard.
“I don’t believe it. You’re right. There’s no way I can get out from under all the ways you have me pinned and forked. How did this happen?”
“When you fell for my queen sacrifice.”
Jonas met her gaze. “You are a devious woman.”
“I didn’t have a lot to do when I spent the night in the lake, so I worked out my chess strategy. Too bad I can’t apply that to this case.” She thought for a moment. “Perhaps I can. I need to call up the sheriff and ask him if he’s talked to the Housers yet.”