He shook his head. “Just a feeling. I get the idea you have access to a lot of information.”
“We do. This is a museum,” she said.
“More than that. You know about me. I’m not sure how much. But most of my record is classified. My branch of service, rank, and medal are the only things that’re in the public record. I get the feeling you know more.”
“Not much more,” said Diane.
She was saved from saying anything else by the ringing of her phone.
Chapter 51
“Diane, this is Gil Mathews. I thought you would like to know-Leland Conrad is no longer sheriff. We’ve arrested him for the murders and for what he did to you.”
“The murders?”
Diane hadn’t seen that coming, though in the back of her mind he had been floating around as a possibility-but only a possibility, along with others of his point of view.
“Has he confessed? Did you find something?”
“Not exactly,” said Mathews. “He said if he was the murderer, they deserved what they got. Then he said he wanted a lawyer. He knew where the cave is. It turns out he had warned the two kids away from Rendell County when they were hanging around asking questions about lost mines. You know how he feels about people not getting out of town when he tells them to. He had vocal public disagreements with the Barres and the Watsons. It’s all very circumstantial, but sometimes circumstances are more convincing to a jury.”
“I don’t know what to say,” said Diane.
“He’s also in a world of trouble for what he did to you-and for the condition of the men he put you in the cell with. I don’t want you to get upset, but the big one may lose his leg. He’s diabetic and they aren’t sure they can save it. As I said, don’t get upset. This is on Conrad and the man himself.”
But Diane was disturbed by that. She didn’t like hurting people, even lowlifes, even if there was no choice.
“Did you find the bodies Slick and Tammy buried?” she asked.
“Yes, we did. Most were decomposed down to the bones. We’re sending the remains to a forensic anthropologist in Athens, since you are personally involved in the case,” he said. “The defense attorney would have a field day if you analyzed the bones and brought the evidence to court.”
“No problem,” said Diane.
“I don’t have much hope we’ll ever find a cause of death for them anyway,” he said.
Diane agreed. “I think Tammy severely compromised their health by feeding them a totally inadequate diet and by giving them over-the-counter supplements that either interfered with their medication or were completely contraindicated by their condition. I’m sure she convinced herself, and Slick too, that she didn’t kill her patients-that they died of natural causes,” said Diane. “I can see where a case could be built for homicide, but it would be tricky to prove.”
“I agree,” Mathews said. “That’s why we made the deal. I think she believed we could prove a lot more than we can. Frank’s prestidigitation with the computers turning up Tammy’s bank accounts put the fear of God into them.”
“How many bodies were there?” asked Diane.
“Counting the one in the tree, eleven,” he said. “We suspect there may be more from the time before she hooked up with Slick. We’re looking into it.”
“That’s a lot of Social Security and pension checks,” Diane said. “Looks like she could have lived better than she did. I guess you never know why some people do what they do. Thanks for bringing me up-to-date.”
“Sure. Don’t worry about that guy and his leg. If he hadn’t tried to attack you, all he’d have right now is a hangover.”
“Let me know if there’s anything you need from me or the lab here,” said Diane. “I assume Lynn Webber called you about the bodies-or she will when she finishes.”
“I’ve spoken with her,” he said. “Things are moving well. We’re going to get a strong case.”
When she hung up, she focused on Liam again. “So you’re going tonight to get the Social Security number?”
He nodded. “I’ll go up and speak with your archivist-genealogist first.” He rose from the chair. “Do I understand that they have arrested Conrad?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Diane. “They think he committed the murders.”
“But you don’t?” he said.
“I didn’t say that,” Diane said.
“Your face.” He waved a hand in front of his own. “It looks like you don’t believe it.”
“I don’t disbelieve it. I suppose it’s too anticlimactic,” she said.
“I would think you’d welcome something that isn’t dramatic,” he said.
“That would be too good to be true,” said Diane, smiling.
Liam went out the door and Diane settled into answering her correspondence.
It was late when she answered the last e-mail-a museum in another state wanting to know if she would loan out the Egyptian exhibit. Diane had to explain to them that she had nothing to replace it with, that RiverTrail was a small museum and they displayed virtually all their holdings.
Andie was already gone. She had stuck her head in earlier and said she was taking Liam up to Archives and maybe to have a quick bite at the restaurant. Diane was glad to see her happy, and was glad to see that Liam turned out not to be a jerk after all.
Frank had called to say he was going to be late. It hadn’t surprised her. There was a lot going on in the case and it was going to consume time, especially if they were trying to find out what Tammy was doing before she met Slick.
Diane walked to the crime lab for a meeting with David and her forensic team before she left for home. She was feeling the effects of the last few days deep in her muscles and she thought she would sleep in a couple of hours tomorrow, so she needed to speak with them tonight.
On the way she visited the geology exhibit and had a look at the pyrite collection. They had a pyrite sphere and several pyrite nodules. The sphere looked like it could have been a very fanciful marble. The pyrite collection also contained pyrite suns, flat disks of pyrite with rays radiating from the center; chalcopyrite, copper with the iron sulfide; a fossil pyrite ammonite, an ancient sea animal mineralized by pyrite; pyrite cubes; pyrite inclusions in quartz; plus many other combinations. It was an impressive and beautiful collection. She could see how it could be mistaken for gold. Something this beautiful looked as if it had to be valuable. One part of the exhibit showed pyrite nodules next to gold octahedral nuggets. There was a similarity.
Diane spent about thirty minutes at the conference table in the crime lab with David, Neva, and Izzy going over the cases that were under way. When they finished David told her what they knew so far about the bodies in the cave.
“It looks like they died between three and four weeks ago. The Spearman brothers believe they can tighten up the time line,” said David. “The blood you collected at the creek bank is consistent with the blood types of the victims. Jin will have the DNA info tomorrow.”
Diane nodded at David. Between three and four weeks, she thought. They had already been dead two or three weeks when Liam was hired to find them. “Did you find any usable prints?” she asked.
“The fingerprints on the gold pan were mostly too obliterated to read,” said Neva. “But I did get half a print that was similar to Bruce Gregory’s left thumbprint. There were partial fingerprints on the shiny surfaces of the pyrite that could be a match to Bruce Gregory and Larken MacAlister. But there weren’t enough points of identity to be positive. There were no others.”
“The fiber you found in the woods is from fleece,” said Izzy. “It’s like the hoodie Bruce Gregory was wearing.”
“So, where are we?” said Diane. She shifted in her seat, stretching her muscles.
“Not much further along, if you ask me,” said Izzy. “But it’s not been a day yet.”
“You’re doing good work, all of you,” said Diane.
“I wasn’t fishing for a compliment,” said Izzy.
“Okay, I was,” he said, grinning.
Before she got up to go, Diane told them about the call from Agent Mathews of the GBI.
“You mean they arrested Conrad on the basis of his name being on the wall of the cave?” said Izzy. “The guy’s an asshole, but that’s kind of strange.”
“They also arrested him for what he did to me,” said Diane, with a little more sting in her voice than she intended. “Mathews said they have circumstantial evidence on the other murders. I don’t know the details. But what he said when they arrested him was really strange.” Diane related the odd statement that was not exactly a confession.
“I think the guy’s going nuts,” said Neva. “You think he did all those murders?”
“I don’t know,” said Diane. “Look, I’m going to sleep in a couple of hours tomorrow.”
“A couple of hours?” said Izzy. “Somebody needs to tell you how to sleep in. Why don’t you take the day off?”
David and Neva agreed.
“There’s a lot to do,” said Diane. “The museum has a fund-raiser in Atlanta coming up at the end of the month. I have several new exhibit designs I need to look at. The board wants me to find out how much it would cost to convert the attic into environmentally controlled storage spaces.”
“For what?” asked David. “The attic has to be a huge space.”
“It is. It’s another full floor. I’m not sure what they have in mind. I suspect some members want to increase our holdings to the point that we can change out exhibits more often,” she said. “Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Diane rose and complimented them all again. She left by way of the museum and walked through to the east entrance, where her vehicle was parked.
Outside, she was about to get in her SUV when a car drove up beside her. The occupants were the woman in blue and her husband from the First Baptist Church in Rendell County-Maud and Earl, she thought their names were. Earl got out first, walked around their car and opened the door for Maud.
Chapter 52
What now? Diane subconsciously rubbed her aching lower back and wiggled her aching feet in her high heels.
“I was just leaving,” she said as they approached her.
They were well dressed, the two of them. Maud-whatever her last name was, Diane didn’t remember-was dressed in a red-gold silk blouse and cream linen slacks. Earl was in a tan linen suit. Maud’s makeup looked fresh, and she had a sparkly golden sheen to her blush that oddly matched her blouse. They looked like they were about to go out on the town. Diane wondered what they were doing here.
“This won’t take long,” said Earl.
For an instant, Diane wondered if he was going to shoot her right here in the parking lot-and they had dressed up to look good in their mug shots.
“Very well,” said Diane. “What do you want?”
They said nothing, just stood there looking at each other nervously. Well, hell, thought Diane, are they trying to work up the nerve to shoot me after all?
“How can I help you?” said Diane.
“This thing,” said Earl, “this thing about our sheriff. We want you to tell us it is a lie.”
“Can you be more specific than ‘thing’?” said Diane. “I’m not trying to give you a hard time, but I don’t know exactly what thing you are referring to.”
“People are saying he put you in a cell with a bunch of men who tried to. . to violate you,” said Maud.
“If by ‘bunch’ you mean three drunken men, then yes, it is true. Why would you want me to say it is not?”
“It can’t be true,” she said. “Leland wouldn’t do that. He respects women.”
“It is true. And it was terrifying. And I am very angry,” said Diane. “In my previous position, before I came back to Rosewood, it was my job to investigate petty dictators in third-world countries who used the same tactic to intimidate the population into submission. Such horrors are not supposed to happen here.” She felt her face getting warm. “Not in this country, where we cherish freedom and safety. But Conrad did it.”
They looked at each other and back at Diane.
“We don’t believe you,” Maud said, shifting her shoulders back and her chin up.
“There are half a dozen witnesses, but I suppose you wouldn’t believe them either,” said Diane.
Diane couldn’t figure out why they were here. They’d made up their minds not to believe her, so why bother with the trip? Then she realized: They had a part in it. Therefore, they didn’t want it to be true. Classic cognitive dissonance with a generous splash of guilt. The brain can’t hold two contradictory beliefs without some serious mental fireworks. For them, Leland Conrad was a good man. But good men don’t cause women to be raped. So one must be a lie. It was more comfortable to let the lie be on Diane. She wasn’t having any of it.
“He’s admitted it,” said Diane.
“He didn’t. He couldn’t,” said Maud. “You’re lying.”
“Look, I don’t have time to stand out here all day telling you what you came here refusing to believe anyway. It wastes both our time.”
“Some are saying he did it to teach you a lesson. . that he wasn’t going to let it happen,” said Earl. “The deputy was supposed to stop it but he got sick. That’s one rumor.”
So they know more about it than they initially let on.
“Deputy Bob is known to be unreliable, and Conrad puts him in charge of something as important as saving me from a brutal gang rape? So we have criminal negligence, rather than just plain criminal, is that it?”
“It wasn’t his fault about Bob,” said Earl.
“It’s all right with you that he thought it was his job to teach me a lesson? That’s not a problem for you? Would it be okay if he did the same thing to you? Or to someone you love?”
“Well, it’s not the same thing at all,” said Earl.
“You were interfering. You were warned off,” said Maud. “You violated the sheriff’s order.”
“Well, let’s examine that,” said Diane. “Before I went to your church on Sunday, I checked the statutes to see if perhaps your sheriff had been granted the authority to ban someone from setting foot in the county. Rendell County doesn’t have any such provision. Neither do the statutes of the State of Georgia. The State of Georgia frowns on individual sheriffs making and enforcing their own laws. In fact, it is prohibited by the state constitution. The sheriff is sworn to uphold that constitution and enforce the laws of the State of Georgia. He is sworn to protect the personal freedoms and the personal safety of everyone who lives or travels within the borders of Rendell County. Everyone-not just those he likes or those who support him.”
“These are bad times,” said Earl. “Sometimes you have to do things you don’t like in order to protect people.”
“We are simple people of faith,” said Maud. She straightened her shoulders again, which had begun to sag, hopefully under the weight of Diane’s words.
“But your faith is not enough for these times?” said Diane.
“It certainly is. Why would you say that?” said Maud. “Why would you say such a thing?”
“I didn’t. Your husband said it. He just said you have to do things contrary to your beliefs in order to be safe. You’re saying your beliefs are fine when the times are good and things are going along okay, but they aren’t good enough for hard times, when they are needed the most.”
They looked at each other again. “You’re twisting our meaning,” said Earl.
“No, I’m not. If you examine your words and carry your statement to its logical conclusion, you’ll see that I’m not twisting anything.”
“Sheriff Conrad is a good man. He’s been good to us. And he’s had a hard life,” said Maud. “His wife committed suicide when Travis was just a boy. His in-laws blamed him and tried to turn little Travis against him. Poor Travis had a real hard time after his mother died. He got into alcohol, vandalism
, and some reckless driving. Nothing bad, but Leland was worried sick about him. That’s why he joined his church. He thought the kind of strict beliefs they have would help Travis, and they have. He’s a fine young man and it’s Leland’s doing. And Leland does what he thinks is best for the community,” Maud added.
“And then there was this thing with Joe Watson,” said Earl. “We don’t need to be a tourist trap. How could we maintain the morals of our kids if they lived in a tourist trap, with outsiders coming in with their drugs and alcohol?”
“Whatever went on in Conrad’s past or whatever is going on now can never be an excuse for what he did to me,” said Diane. “The only acceptable excuse would be if someone were holding a gun to his child’s head and would pull the trigger unless he put me in the cell with those men. That’s the only duress I’ll accept. And for the life of me, I don’t understand why the excuses you listed are good enough for you. Now I need to go.”
“You think you are so smart.” Maud was almost shaking. “You can outtalk us; I’ll give you that,” said Maud. “But what’s right is right. Leland is a good man and we don’t want you smearing his name.”
“It’s out of my hands,” said Diane. “Good men don’t do what he did. And good people don’t approve of it.”
Maud sucked in her breath.
“Well, just how did you survive it?” said Earl. His confident manner suggested he’d thought of some loop-hole in Diane’s logic. “They were three strong men.”
“I fought,” said Diane. “I know anatomy and I know how to hit where it will hurt. The man with me-the one Conrad put in a cell for no reason whatsoever-is a retired military officer with combat experience. He told me what to do to try to save myself, and he was able to grab one of the men through the bars who was coming for me. I fought,” Diane said again. “I fought hard to not let that happen to me, and I was lucky. Good people came with the GBI to get me out.”
Earl frowned and his lips quivered. Diane could see his anger and it pissed her off. How could they think it was right to do that to anyone?
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