Donald was among them. He elbowed his way through the crowd, his features tight and his face pale. “Diane? What happened?”
“You need to go to the hospital,” said Korey. “I’ll take you.”
“You need to take care of our arriving guest. Andie, you’re in charge for a while—and I need you to get me another cell phone.”
“I’ll take you to the hospital,” said Mike.
“I can drive.”
“No, you can’t,” they all said simultaneously.
“You’re right—my car’s at the hospital,” she said.
Mike picked her up. “My SUV’s just outside.”
Diane didn’t remember ever being carried by a guy. Even as a child, she didn’t remember her father picking her up. It was an odd feeling, a very vulnerable feeling.
“I’ll call the hospital and tell them you’re on the way,” Andie called after them.
Mike put her in the passenger’s side, got in and drove her to the hospital.
“Thank you,” she told him.
“I owe you.”
“For what? Not unjustly firing you?”
“No. Melissa told me something a while ago. Things seemed to be all right and I was in my usual mind-my-own-business mode, so I didn’t mention it. But now I see I should have.”
Diane had been about to drift off to sleep, but she was now wide awake. “What was it?”
“It happened at that party you had.”
“The contributors’ party?”
“I suppose. The one where the quartet played. They saw some woman in a slinky red dress switch drinks with you.”
“What? Signy Grayson? She did what?”
“Alix saw it, and she and Melissa switched them back. Not because Alix was feeling righteous. The woman was hitting on Dylan and it pissed her off. Melissa said they made quite a show of it. She said neither of you suspected a thing.”
Diane remembered talking to Signy at the giant short-faced bear exhibit. Signy spilling, then catching her drink, before the whole glass spilled. Diane had turned her back to clean it up as Alix and Melissa came over, talking to each of them—distracting each of them. Slick. And the next day, finding Signy disoriented upstairs, having slept all night on the sofa in the boardroom. So Signy had tried to slip her a Mickey. She must have guessed right away she’d gotten the wrong drink and went somewhere where she wouldn’t be discovered. What was the purpose? To make Diane pass out? What would be the point?
Perhaps the point was to make a fool of her. They could have slipped her something like Rohypnol—odorless, tasteless, metabolizes in forty-eight hours. A small amount mixed with wine, and Diane could have seemed drunk or worse. She could have made an absolute fool of herself and wouldn’t have remembered a thing. At the contributors’ party, that would have gone a long way toward ruining her credibility. Those sons of bitches.
“Thanks for telling me, Mike.”
“I should have when Melissa told me. I’m sorry. I really thought it was probably nothing.”
“Dylan came to see me the other day. He said Melissa is hurting herself. Alix is her protector.”
“Some of that’s probably true. Melissa can be self-destructive, but I’ve also seen Alix hit her.”
“That’s so odd. Why is Melissa friends with her?”
Mike shrugged.
They arrived at the hospital. Mike parked, went around and picked up Diane when she got out.
“I can walk,” she said.
“And I can carry you. You really don’t look too good, Dr. Fallon.”
“I don’t imagine I do. Do you know anything about caves?”
“Caves? Yes. In fact, I’m an experienced caver.”
“So am I. I’ve got this idea for an exhibit.”
“You can tell me about it as soon as you’re fixed up.”
He carried her into the emergency room, where they immediately took her into the examining room. Diane asked if Dr. Linc Duncan was in the hospital. She had to explain that he was a visitor of Frank’s, but he was also a doctor and she wanted him.
After she changed into the dreaded bare-butt hospital gown, she lay back on the bed and drifted off to sleep. She was awakened by someone taking her hand. She jerked it back and tried to jump off the bed.
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Linc. Thanks for coming down. How’s Frank?”
“Better than you at the moment. Are Henry and I going to have to move down here and watch the two of you?”
“Looks like we need some kind of keeper. Someone attacked me here in the hospital parking lot as I was getting in my car.”
“Last night? Where have you been? They told me your clothes were all wet.”
“In the lake behind the museum.”
“In the water all night? They threw you in the lake?”
“No, they didn’t throw me. I escaped from them and hid there.”
“Are you in pain?”
“Yes. My head hurts, so do my back and abdomen.”
“Did you get hit in the head?” He looked at the chart where the receiving nurse recorded her blood pressure and pulse.
“Yes.”
“Were you ever unconscious?”
“Briefly—I’m not sure. If I was, it couldn’t have been but for a few seconds.”
“Any nausea?”
“A little.”
“Vomiting?”
“No.”
“Let me know if this hurts.” Linc lifted her gown. Diane groaned and put her arm over her forehead. “Are you in pain?” he asked.
“Just embarrassed. I should have thought of that before I called you.”
“Is this the first time you’ve ever been examined by a doctor?”
“By one that I knew.”
“What? You change doctors after you see them once? That must get tiresome.”
“You know what I mean.”
He smiled. “Tell me if this hurts.” He palpated her abdomen. “Any tender spots?”
“No. Yes, there.”
“How about when I release pressure?”
“A little.”
“And your shoulders?”
“No. I’m sore, but no specific pain. Why?”
“Organ injuries sometimes cause referred pain in other areas of the body. OK. I’m going to ask them to order some tests. And I want you to listen to me very carefully, not like you did before, when you didn’t take my advice at all.”
“All right.”
“You could have an injury to your spleen, liver, or reinjured a kidney. The thing about organ injuries is that they can bleed slowly or stop—only to bleed again days or weeks later. This is serious. You are going to have to rest.”
“How’s Frank?”
“I answered that. Don’t avoid the subject.”
“I’m not. I was just thinking, maybe you shouldn’t tell him.”
“He’ll find out.”
They wheeled Diane for yet another series of X rays and scans, to the surprise of the X-ray technician, who was the same one she had before. He admonished her to be more careful. When she came out, Linc was waiting for her.
“Can I go home now?” she asked.
“No, you may not. You’re going to stay here at least for tonight.”
“I’m feeling much better, and I’ve got a lot to do.”
“Did you think that by asking for me I’d stick on a Band-Aid and send you home?”
“No. Not at all, I . . .”
“Good. I’ve reserved you a room across from Frank. That way, Henry and I can keep an eye on the two of you. That’ll be much easier on the two of us.”
“I didn’t realize you’re so tough when I asked for you.”
“You’re pretty tough yourself.”
Diane’s first visitor was Frank, wearing a dark green-and-navy plaid robe and smelling of cologne. He came in under his own power, looking pale but better than he had in several days. Diane was so relieved to see him up, she almost cried.
He leaned over and kissed her mouth gently.
“Smells good. Is that for me?” she asked.
“Yeah. It’s hard in a place like this, but I’m trying to make a good impression.”
“You’ve already made a good impression.”
“I’m so sorry I got you into this.”
It pained Diane to see the worried look in his eyes.
“I’m not. This is no one’s fault but whoever’s doing this. We must be really close for them to take these kinds of chances.”
“What exactly did happen? Linc only knew you’d been attacked.” He pulled up a chair by her bed and sat down, making a pained face as he settled on the chair.
“I hate being in bed,” she said. “It makes me feel weak.” She found the controls for the bed and put herself into a sitting position.
“I know what you mean. I’m ready to go home.”
He took her hand as Diane told him her story, from the time she was dragged into the van at the hospital to Hector Torres’ surprise at finding a woman walking out of the pond. When she finished, Frank sat openmouthed.
“Diane. Damn. Diane, I had no idea. I thought it was something like the other evening—not that that was a piece of cake, but damn. You spent the night in the water? You must have been terrified.”
“It kept my heart rate up.”
Frank shook his head in amazement.
“I didn’t want them to kill me.”
He caressed the top of her hand with his thumb. “So the attack was about the bones.”
“Yes, definitely. Their entire focus was on getting them.”
“Have you talked to the police yet?”
Diane rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry, Frank, but I’m so tired of hearing that they can’t do anything.”
“You need to tell them about this. This is assault and kidnaping.”
“I think the hospital called. Someone will wander in in a few hours, or days, and take my statement and that will be it.”
“No, it won’t. I’ll see to it. Have you called your family?”
“No.”
“You want me to call them?”
“No. My family isn’t like yours. We aren’t speaking at the moment.”
“I’m sorry, but they might be a comfort if they know you’re injured and in the hospital.”
“I don’t think so. My father would say something like, ‘Well, what do you expect,’ and my mother’s a lot like Crystal McFarland.”
“I didn’t think there could be two of them.”
“Mother’s more refined, but the sentiment’s the same. When I told them I was adopting Ariel, Mother’s comment was ‘Is that wise?’ My sister, Susan, suggested that perhaps it was for the best when I told them she’d died. She couldn’t quite understand that I loved Ariel. To Susan, she was like a stray cat I found by the side of the road that was going to be nothing but problems. So no, my family isn’t a comfort. They certainly wouldn’t go to the lengths your brothers go to for you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too. I think the concept of family is a good one.”
Frank managed a laugh, though she could see it hurt him. “Actually, my brothers—they’re great guys, but they aren’t usually this attentive.”
Diane didn’t say anything. He’d probably send them home if he knew she’d asked them to stay and keep a lookout. On the other hand, she doubted they could be run off very easily. She envied Frank for his family.
“How are you? I mean really, how are you?” she said.
“I’m lucky. It could have been much worse, but both bullets managed to miss important nerves and organs—if you don’t count my lung. The repair work the doctors did will take some time to heal, and I’d be out sooner if it weren’t for the infection. But that’s under control.”
Frank sat with her until a nurse ran him back to his bed.
“I’ll visit later,” Diane called after Frank.
“Get some rest,” he said.
Diane slept for about an hour, until Andie came in with an armload of shopping bags. She’d brought pajamas and a robe, a change of clothes, cosmetics and various other sundries, the ToughLove laptop, a new cell phone and flowers.
“Andie, you’re worth every penny I’m paying you, probably more.”
Andie went about the room, putting things in drawers, while Diane showered and changed into the pajamas and robe. The peach-colored silk nightgown was sexier than she would have bought for herself, but it was soft and did have a back to it.
“This is much better. Now I don’t have to go around with my butt hanging out.”
“How’s Frank?”
“He’s doing well. He’s across the hall, if you’d like to peek in.”
“That’s convenient. You can have a midnight rendezvous.”
“His brothers keep a pretty close eye on him.”
“He has brothers? Do they have his eyes? Are they married?”
“Yes, yes and yes, with children.”
“Too bad.”
“What’s going on at the museum?”
“You’re the big topic of conversation. Donald is really upset. It’s strange. I’ve never seen him like this. Do you think he had something to do with this?”
“I don’t see how. It was about the skeleton.”
Andie looked alarmed. “Oh.”
“Any museum business?”
“Korey went to the airport to get some mysterious guest. I called Jonas at the site and told him what happened. He’s very concerned.”
“I don’t think we’ll ever get our chess game finished. I don’t suppose he mentioned finding the skull?”
“No. Still no sign of it. Do you think the murderer cut it off?”
“No. I think it probably got carried off by some animal. It could be somewhere in the woods.”
Andie shivered. “Gruesome.”
“Have Korey call me when he knows something.”
“What exactly is he supposed to know?”
Diane grinned. “I think it’ll be a surprise, a really big surprise. One that’ll get the Graysons off our backs.”
“OK, you got me hooked.”
“Ms. Fallon, I need to talk with you about your attack.”
In the doorway stood Janice Warrick. She wore the same pulled back hairstyle, but its severity was softened by the white blouse, blue blazer and skirt. Her face was smooth, free of the angry lines from their last encounter, but she seemed as reluctant to speak with Diane as Diane was to invite her into her room.
Chapter 45
Diane mentally braced herself for another unpleasant conversation.