‘‘Not many. She kept her face covered entering and leaving,’’ said Kingsley.
‘‘We only need one to find a match,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Even the bad mug shot we have will do if worse comes to worst.’’
‘‘You thinking she’s been arrested before? That there’s a picture of her in a database someplace from a previous arrest, maybe under another identity?’’ asked Kingsley.
‘‘Maybe. Perhaps someplace where the fingerprints from old records have not yet been digitized. But we have lots of databases we can comb through—missing persons, for instance, or driver’s license records.’’
‘‘See, I knew it was a good idea to get you to track down her identity,’’ said Kingsley, grinning broadly.
I’m glad you think it’s such a good idea, thought Diane. She wasn’t so sure she would have any time to devote to the search for Clymene after dealing with what was becoming a major scandal at the museum. Diane stood up and stretched, kneading her lower back muscles.
‘‘Why did Clymene ask me to come see her?’’ asked Diane. Ever since she’d learned of Clymene’s escape, Diane had been wondering what the point of the visit had been.
Kingsley shrugged. ‘‘She knew she was escaping; maybe she just wanted to mess with your life a little. Maybe she really was concerned about Grace Noel and wanted to take care of those concerns before she left. Maybe receiving a visitor put her in the right place or got her out of prison duties that would have delayed her. I have no idea, but it’s interesting. We’ll be sure to ask her when we catch her.’’
‘‘Do you think the marshals will find her?’’ asked Diane.
Kingsley shook his head. ‘‘No, but I think we will.’’
‘‘You have a lot of confidence in my abilities,’’ said Diane.
‘‘I do. But you saw the looks on Merrick’s and Drew’s faces. They can’t conceive of anyone who can outsmart them. A lot of law enforcement personnel have the notion that people in prison are stupid or they wouldn’t be in prison. And I’ll be the first to admit that quite a few prisoners are a couple of standard deviations left of the mean on intelligence. But quite a few are also like Clymene—very smart and very cunning.’’
Diane stood up. ‘‘I need to go to the other side of the building to my other job. David’s probably wondering if I was carried off in chains by the U.S. Marshals.’’
She looked up at the clock on the wall. It was past quitting time for the museum staff, but Andie would be in her office waiting for her. Diane needed to speak with her so Andie could go home. The muffled ringing of the phone in Andie’s office had been continuous while she and Kingsley were being questioned by the marshals. Andie must have had an onerous day herself, fielding calls from concerned, irate contributors, not to mention the media.
‘‘Do you have a night crime scene team?’’ said Kingsley, standing up and smoothing his jacket.
Diane grinned. ‘‘Yes. It’s the same one as the day team. We have a night receptionist who receives requests and forwards them to whoever is on call. We take turns. So far the crime rate has been low enough to allow us some sleep.’’ Diane yawned. ‘‘Which I’m in need of. The DA has probably worn out his carpet waiting for my call. You going to speak with him tonight?’’
‘‘Yes, I will. He’ll probably blame both of us for breaking Clymene out,’’ said Kingsley. ‘‘I’ll have to put on my FBI attitude.’’
Diane walked Kingsley through Andie’s office on his way out.
‘‘I’ll give you a call tomorrow,’’ he said, waving as he left.
Diane turned her attention to Andie. ‘‘I heard the constant ringing of the telephone. I hope things haven’t been too bad for you today.’’
‘‘Me?’’ said Andie. ‘‘How about you? I didn’t have the U.S. Marshals after me. What was that about?’’ She looked more than ever like Orphan Annie when her eyes were large and round like they were now, staring up at Diane.
‘‘It wasn’t about the museum,’’ she said.
‘‘Oh, dark matter,’’ said Andie. ‘‘That’s a relief.’’
Not really, thought Diane. ‘‘What’s been going on here? What have the calls been like?’’
‘‘That DA is a pest. I tell you, come next election he doesn’t get my vote. We’ve been getting some calls from people asking about the scandal. I tell them that it’s being looked into. Some of them say they are contributors and they want to know what’s being done. I just tell them that you are on top of it. Of course, then they want to talk with you and I have to tell them you are busy being on top of things. Some want to give Kendel a piece of their mind. Really, people can be so mean. I want to tell them, like they’ve got a piece of mind to spare.’’ Andie stopped to take a breath.
‘‘I’ll work on an e-mail tomorrow to send to the contributors,’’ said Diane. When I think of what to tell them, she thought. ‘‘Go home, Andie. I’ll see you tomorrow.’’
Andie grabbed her purse. ‘‘Things will be better tomorrow,’’ she said. ‘‘I’m sure of it. You always fix things.’’
‘‘I hope so,’’ said Diane. She didn’t feel as though she could fix anything right now. She felt weary to the bone.
Diane walked from her office to the bank of elevators in the center of the museum and rode to the third floor. From there she walked to the west wing. She waved at the night guard as she entered her code in the keypad and opened the door to the crime lab.
The warren of glassed-in rooms looked empty. Then she saw Jin and Neva near the elevator. They were carrying crime scene kits and appeared to be preparing to leave. When they saw Diane they set their cases down and walked along the glassed-in hallway to where she stood. David popped up from a computer station inside one of the rooms. He mouthed a greeting and came out to join them.
‘‘You have a scene to process?’’ Diane asked Jin and Neva.
Neva nodded. ‘‘In White County. How are things with you?’’
‘‘Yeah,’’ said Jin, ‘‘David said the U.S. Marshals took you and the FBI guy away.’’
‘‘I said no such thing,’’ said David, frowning at Jin. ‘‘I said they left the restaurant together.’’
‘‘Clymene escaped today sometime after my visit with her,’’ said Diane.
They all walked over to a round table sitting in the corner that they used for debriefing. They all looked so alert. I miss young, thought Diane. But then David also looked alert and chipper and he was her age.
‘‘Don’t let me keep you,’’ said Diane. ‘‘The two of you need to get to the crime scene.’’
‘‘We’ll get there. We want to hear about Clymene first. She escaped? How?’’ asked Jin.
‘‘Don’t know,’’ said Diane. ‘‘That seems to be up in the air at the moment. Jin, I want you to search the DNA databases for anyone related to Clymene.’’