Maybe we’ll bring dinner and a movie home, she thought. Somehow she couldn’t imagine feeling any better in a couple of days than she did now. “I’ll look forward to it,” she said, trying to force some enthusiasm into her tone.
“Take care,” he said, and was gone.
She didn’t tell him that she had also been stabbed. It would only make him feel worse about not being there. She decided to take a Percocet and go to bed early.
Diane awoke feeling just as angry as she had when she went to sleep. Her arm hurt, and it pissed her off that she was going to have to get a series of blood tests to make sure she didn’t catch anything nasty from the knife. Damn that guy.
She wanted to call Garnett and see if he was making progress, but it was only six and he was most likely still at home. On top of all the other worries about herself and Mike, Diane also felt guilty, and she wasn’t sure why. But a free-floating sick feeling had come on her like a constant pain in her stomach. “Get a hold of yourself,” she said out loud to her empty bedroom.
She took a bath, taking care not to get the bandage wet, got dressed and drove to the hospital, eating a nutrition bar on the way. She wanted to see how Mike was doing, and she also wanted to ask him a question that had been nagging at the back of her mind since her near fall in the cave.
A nurse was just carrying out his breakfast tray when she entered Mike’s room. He was alone and sitting up with several pillows behind him.
“Hey, Doc.” He grinned at her.
“You look good,” she said, pulling up a chair. He actually looked better than she felt. The sight lifted some of her depression.
“I’m doing okay. How’s your arm?”
“Sore, but mending. Where’s Neva?”
“She went home to get a shower. She’ll probably be back any minute. She stayed here all night sleeping in that chair.”
Diane was silent for several moments, feeling a little foolish for her concerns about the cave, trying to come up with some small talk.
“Got something else on your mind, Doc?”
“Mike. .”
“Uh-oh, that either sounds like we’re breaking up or I’m getting fired. Since we aren’t going together and technically I work for the university. .”
Diane smiled. “It’s something that’s been nagging at me since I nearly fell in the cave, and I need your opinion. Was I reckless? As I was crawling through that tunnel, my mind was on the new opening. . I lost track of the moment. You can’t do that in a cave.”
“No, but we all have. Reckless? No. You’re like me. Safety is automatic. You just didn’t recognize the danger. While you were off on vacation enjoying yourself, I did some experiments on a piece of wood with a hole drilled in it. I poured gravel on the board to see if the rocks that got caught in the hole made any recognizable pattern.”
Diane raised her eyebrows. “How scientific of you.”
Mike smiled, showing his dimples. He tried to stretch and winced from the pain. “Son of a bitch.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just a little pain. If I get my hands on the guy who did this. . Shit. Anyway, the experiment-I thought maybe we could recognize the formation if we ever ran across one again.”
“Can we?”
“Maybe-if all we saw was the plug. The rocks shift toward each other when they get stuck. You can sort of recognize it. But with other breakdown on top of the plug, the pattern was hard to see.” He shook his head. “You weren’t reckless. What brought this on?”
“It was just something I was thinking about.”
Mike squinted his eyes at her. “There’s something else that’s bothering you.”
“Just trying to make sense out of things. Why us?”
“I’ve been thinking. You know, there is one person who would like to do us both in.”
Diane lowered her eyes, then brought her gaze back up to Mike’s intent look. His light brown eyes still looked sleepy, but he had a strength in his voice just now when he talked about a killer that got away, almost taking their lives with him-the one who left Neva to die.
“I’ve thought of him too. But he’s dead. He has to be.”
“Does he?”
“Yes. There’s no way he could have survived. I believe that.”
“Is that why you scan the parking lot every time you leave the museum? I’ve seen you. I do it too.”
“It’s a good habit to get into.”
“It’s just a thought I had, trying to figure out who could be so damn mad at both of us. You’re right, though-he’s probably dead. I can’t imagine how he could have possibly escaped the cave, wounded like he was and with no light.”
“I’ll mention it to Garnett.” Diane stood. “I need to let you get some rest.”
“Wait. There’s something else I’d like to talk to you about while I’m laid up here looking pitiful and after having saved your life two weeks ago.”
Diane laughed out loud. “This sounds like you’re going to ask a really big favor.”
“It’s a proposal.”
Chapter 12
Diane’s eyebrows rose a fraction. “A proposal?”
“Business,” Mike added.
“Okay, shoot.”
“It’s a job proposal, a rather unusual one. I’ve got it written out, but I don’t have it here. I’ll ask Neva to drop it by your office. However, I’ll tell you about it.”
Diane moved the chair closer to Mike’s bed and sat back down. “I’m listening. What is your unusual proposal?”
“Can I have a drink of water?”
A glass of ice water was sitting on the stand next to his bed. She helped him take a sip from the straw.
“Can I do anything else for you? Get you an extra pillow?” She felt helpless watching him lie there.
“I’m okay, really.”
But Diane had seen him push the button that gave him his intravenous painkiller. She sat back down and leaned forward.
“I’m listening,” she said.
“I’ve been asked by a biotechnology and pharmaceutical research company to search out and collect extremophiles.”
“Extremophiles?”
“Organisms that live in the most extreme environments on earth, conditions that would kill other creatures. Some grow in very cold or extremely hot temperatures, some in very high-or low-pH environments, and some live under high pressure or in high salt concentrations, and others have very limited nutrient needs.”
“And they want you to find these. . organisms? What does this company want with them?”
“Extremophiles have some very interesting characteristics. For example, you know that polymerase chain reaction test you guys do for the DNA in blood?”
“Uh-huh. It replicates small samples of DNA to increase the amount we have to work with. We don’t do it here. We send our samples to the GBI lab in Atlanta, but sure, I know what it is.”
“Did you know the Taq DNA polymerase used for the reaction originally came from Thermus aquaticus, a bacterium found in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park?”
Diane blinked. “Really? I had no idea,” she said, feeling oddly abashed. “Jin is more up on this than I am. He has a particular interest in DNA testing.”
“Does he know that for some other PCR applications, Taq DNA polymerase isn’t as useful because it lacks proofreading? It doesn’t have the ability to detect and remove replication errors.”
Diane shrugged and smiled at Mike, who was clearly having fun. “I’ll ask him.”
“The DNA polymerase from Thermococcus litoralis has an enzyme that has very promising proofreading capabilities. The point is that some of these extremophiles are like little engines that do really cool stuff.”
“It sounds to me a lot like nanotechnology.”
“Interesting you should say that. Some researchers are looking at extremophiles as a model for nanotechnology. Extremophile research has a lot of branches-medicine, environmental cleanup, food preservation and lots more. The
characteristics that allow them to survive in extreme conditions are sometimes very useful for other kinds of work.”
“Fascinating, I agree. But your Ph.D. is in geology. What do they want with a geologist?”
He gave her a lopsided smile. “Some extremophiles live inside rocks.” He laughed. “I think I’m getting silly. This painkiller is feeling really good. Is my speech slurred?”
“Not much more than usual,” said Diane.
Mike clasped his chest with both hands. “Oh, now I’ve been stabbed through the heart. Seriously, sometimes locating extremophiles in their natural habitat is a geologic problem. That’s part of what geomicrobiology is about. But it’s mainly my skill set they are interested in-caving and rock climbing. Extremophiles live in remote, hard-to-get-to places-like ice caves and inside volcanoes. They need someone like me. I’ve climbed a five-fourteen rock face.”
The surprise must have shown on Diane’s face, the way Mike grinned broadly at her. She knew Mike was good, but they always had relatively easy climbs in the caves they visited. She could do a five-seven, a five-eight or — nine in a pinch. Only a handful of elite rock climbers could handle a rock face with a five-fourteen degree of difficulty-it required an enormous amount of skill and strength.
“Have I impressed you, Doc?”
“You’ve impressed the hell out of me, Mike.”
She didn’t think it possible, but his grin got even broader and a little more lopsided.
“I’ve sure been working hard at it.”
Diane suddenly felt a pang of sadness. Mike was an extremely talented and intelligent individual, and a genuinely nice guy. All that would be gone had he died. Twice now he’d almost been killed when they were together.
She fingered the locket that hung on a chain around her neck. It contained a photograph of her and her daughter. Diane wondered what Ariel would have become had her bright light not been extinguished so soon. Her eyes filled with tears.
“You okay, Doc?”
Diane blushed and hoped that Mike didn’t notice that as well as the tears. “Yes. . it’s. . I was just thinking about my daughter. Now you-twice-and Frank getting shot last year, too. It seems I’m not a lucky person to be around.”
“Doc, none of what happened to any of us was your fault. This time we were at a funeral, for heaven’s sake. Who knew?” He reached out his hand and Diane took it. “Thanks for riding with me in the ambulance. I have to tell you, I was scared.”
“Me too.”
She squeezed his hand, let it go, took a tissue from the box on his nightstand, and blotted the tears from her eyes.
“I’m sorry. Please tell me more about your proposal. Where does the museum come into it?”
“That’s the unusual part. The company wants me to work for them on a job-by-job basis-kind of open-ended contract work. This proposal is really an application for a job in the museum-an official job. Right now I work there because of my assistantship in the Geology Department at Bartram, and that won’t last forever.” He took a deep breath, and it looked to Diane like his eyes were drooping. “In the written proposal, I’ve got several ideas for exhibits for the museum.”
He stopped for a long moment and closed his eyes. Diane was about to leave when he spoke up suddenly.
“What I was thinking is that I could work part-time at the museum with enough hours to get insurance and benefits. I would continue to do the duties I do now. When I’m off working for Extreme Research, I can also collect rocks, minerals, fossils, whatever, for the museum, and make videos of some of our explorations. I think an exhibit on extremophiles, for instance, would be popular-I outlined a plan in the paper.”
“It’s an intriguing proposal.”
“Does it work for you?”
“I like it. I’ll need to think about it. When do you need to know something?”
“No deadline, but sooner rather than later, if possible.”
“I’ll give it serious thought, Mike. It’s a good idea,” she said. “But now I really should let you get some rest.”
Diane stood just as Neva came in the door bearing flowers and a bright smile. She set the flowers across from Mike’s bed and went to his bedside.
“You’re looking good. How do you feel?” She bent over to kiss him on his cheek, but he turned his head and kissed her on the lips.
“Thanks for the flowers. They are for me, aren’t they?”
“No. Your doctor’s really cute. They’re for him.” She kissed him again.
Diane was relieved to see Mike’s interest in Neva. His attraction to Diane had become more of a joke between them than anything serious, but seeing that he genuinely liked Neva put her at ease.
“How’s your arm?” Neva asked Diane.
“Sore, but that’s all. I’ll see you guys later. I’m going to the museum.”
As Diane was leaving, three young women came into the room and gathered around Mike. They looked like graduate students, she thought. She noticed that Neva started to back away, but Mike held on to her hand.
Diane met Korey coming into the museum along with a throng of visiting children and two tour buses. It was good to see the museum crowded and noisy.
“Begging you’re pardon, Dr. F.,” said Korey. “Why aren’t you at home taking it easy?”
“If I get to feeling bad, I’ll go home. There’s just so much to do in the museum and the crime lab.”
“That’s why you have all those people working for you.”
“I know, but I’ve been gone for a couple of weeks. . I get uneasy leaving things that long.”
Korey grinned and waved as they parted company at the stairwell and he went up to the conservation lab on the second floor. Diane continued on through the double doors to the private office of the museum. Several of her staff gathered around when they saw her, and expressed their concern about her and asked about Mike. Diane held out her arm to show them that it was still functional and that she would live, and she gave them a short briefing on Mike’s condition.
Her chair felt good when she finally sat down behind her desk. The first thing she did was call Kendel and Andie to her office.
“Andie, Neva is bringing by a proposal from Mike. Make a copy and give it to Kendel.” She turned toward Kendel. “I’d like your opinion on it as soon as you have a chance to evaluate it.”
Kendel nodded. “Sure. Mike always has good ideas.” After catching up with Kendel and Andie, she walked upstairs to the labs. Her arm was throbbing, but she didn’t want to take painkillers if she could get by without them.
In her osteology lab two boxes sat on a metal table. The tag on one told her it was from Lynn Webber, the Hall County medical examiner. That would be Caver Doe. Lynn had autopsied the mummified body and had her diener strip the bones of the dried flesh so that Diane could examine them. Lynn’s report said the probable cause of death was infection from a compound fracture of the tibia exacerbated by kidney damage consistent with a vertical-height fall. Lynn noted that at this point the manner of death looked like an accident, but she couldn’t be sure.
The second box was from England-the Moonhater Cave bones. On top of the box was a large envelope with photographs of the bones, the cave, and the so-called salt maiden. The salt maiden was obviously a carved stalagmite. She wondered if the part of the story about turning a woman to salt was added much later, when someone saw what looked a little like a face in the cave formation. It would be interesting to hear all the various stories about the cave and the bones.
She took the Moonhater photographs and the Caver Doe medical examiner’s report into her office and sat down behind her desk. This office, unlike her other one in the museum, was stark, almost bare of personal items. The pale off-white walls and green slate floor did little to warm up the room. She had hoped the burgundy sofa and chair and walnut desk furniture would add something to the atmosphere, but it was a room much like the watercolor of a wolf hunting in the wild she had hanging on one wall-lean and efficient-looking.
Chapter 13
Jin bopped into her office, pulled the burgundy stuffed chair up close to her desk and sat down. David sat down on one end of the sofa and propped his feet up on the other end. He rubbed the top of his bald head as if that would make his hair grow back.
“How come I don’t have one of these in my office?” said David.
“Because you don’t have an office,” said Diane.
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. I have a cubicle with maggots.”
“You are welcome to use my couch if you leave your maggots behind.” Diane flashed him a grin, then took a deep breath. It was time to get started. “Where are we with the cemetery stabbings? Do we know anything about the perp? Were there any more vics?” She said it as if she didn’t know the victims, as if she herself weren’t one of them.
“We’ve kept in touch with Garnett. As far as we know you and Mike are the only two,” said Jin.
Why? wondered Diane. Why the two of them? “Did you find anything at the site?”
“Nada,” said David. “Not a damn thing. If he was lurking behind one of the monuments or a tree, he wasn’t drinking, eating, smoking, chewing gum or tobacco, spitting or spewing blood-or at least he left no evidence if he was doing any of those things. We found a bracelet with a broken clasp, but it turned out to belong to one of the mourners, and Garnett cleared her. She was eighty-seven and not given to homicidal mania.”
Diane smiled briefly. “So where does that leave us?” she asked.
“As far as the crime scene, nowhere,” said David. “Neva brought us Mike’s clothes and your jacket. We’ve processed them. The fibers that we found on Mike’s clothes are from the museum van. Your coat only had fibers from your office chair, Mrs. Van Ross’s clothes and the limo.”
“So that’s no help,” mused Diane. “Do we have anything?”
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