He clearly wanted to control the situation, thought Diane, making all the information come to him.
‘‘Let David do it,’’ said Diane. She met Garnett’s eyes. He nodded, probably remembering that David had a special rapport with the Odells, earned from a previous case they had worked on.
David shot her a you-owe-me-big-time glare as he reintroduced himself to Veda Odell.
‘‘Yes, I remember you,’’ Veda said. ‘‘David, isn’t it? We have some new photographs in our collection I’ll bet you would like to see.’’
‘‘I would indeed, Mrs. Odell. Do you mind if I ask you and your husband a few questions? I know it’s early in the morning.’’
Neva chuckled under her breath and shook her head. ‘‘He’s going to get you for this,’’ she said.
‘‘Is any of this blood yours?’’ asked Jin. He stood staring at the red pool.
‘‘No,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I don’t think so.’’
‘‘Lord have mercy.’’
The newest member of the law enforcement entourage to arrive was Lynn Webber, medical examiner for Hall County, just north of Rosewood. Like Garnett, she was never caught anywhere—even at a crime scene—without being well dressed. She was wearing designer jeans, a blue silk blouse that went great with her short, shiny black hair, and a lightweight brown embroidered jacket. She watched carefully where she stepped with her Ferragamos.
‘‘Are you all right?’’ She turned to the paramedics. ‘‘Let me see her vitals.’’
After exchanging a brief glance, the paramedics handed Lynn a clipboard.
‘‘What are you doing here, Lynn?’’ asked Chief Garnett. ‘‘A little out of your jurisdiction, aren’t you?’’
‘‘I heard on my police scanner that the paramedics were called to Diane’s....’’
Garnett jerked his phone from his pocket. He looked around for a safe place to walk and finally decided it was out in the hallway where he had entered the building. Lynn and Diane watched him go. Lynn raised her eyebrows at Diane.
‘‘A long and political story,’’ said Diane.
In an effort to protect the interests of the city and of the museum, Garnett had a standing order that any police business having to do with Diane, the museum, or the crime lab was not be broadcast on the police radio but should be called in by phone. That order certainly extended to emergency services.
Lynn nodded, a knowing look glittering in her dark eyes. Garnett returned frowning. Lynn stared at the pool of blood as if she had just noticed it.
‘‘What happened?’’ she asked. ‘‘Did someone break into your apartment? Where’s the body?’’
Then she saw the drag marks out the door. She lifted her eyebrows and looked back at the pool of blood. Diane knew what she was thinking, what Jin was thinking as he looked at all that blood.
Chapter 17
The human body has ten pints of blood. If you lose four pints you die. There were easily more than four pints on the floor. All that blood amounted to a dead body. Jin knew it, so did Lynn, so did Diane, so did the paramedics. Diane guessed that Garnett and the policemen knew it too.
Provided all the blood came from one person. Diane hoped it didn’t. She hoped that when they canvassed the area hospitals they would find two or three very anemic people who could tell her why they decided to battle it out in her home. Why didn’t I hear it?
Garnett sent the paramedics outside. Diane didn’t hear what he said to them. When they were gone he pulled up a chair and sat down.
‘‘Was this a home invasion?’’ he asked.
‘‘If it was, they didn’t invite me,’’ said Diane. ‘‘You slept through it?’’ If Garnett, who was both
politically and by friendship predisposed to believe her, looked that skeptical, she was in for a difficult time.
‘‘Apparently I did,’’ said Diane.
‘‘You know, if someone came in and attacked you in your home, you are entitled to defend yourself,’’ said Garnett. ‘‘I need you to try to remember. We don’t want anyone thinking you did this for any other reason.’’ He stopped as if waiting for her to respond.
‘‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous,’’ said Lynn, using her mildly scolding southern voice. ‘‘If she wanted to kill someone, she wouldn’t do it here and ruin her hardwood floors, for heaven’s sake. Besides, Diane is just like me. We both know a dozen ways to kill a person without making such a mess—and without detection, I might add.’’
‘‘I’m not suggesting anything like that and I didn’t mean it the way it sounded,’’ said Garnett. ‘‘I’m just afraid others might interpret things in the most negative way. You know how newspapers are.’’
Indeed Diane did. ‘‘I know this is strange. I’m not understanding it either...’’
The paramedics came in rolling a stretcher.
‘‘What’s that?’’ asked Diane. ‘‘I don’t need to go to the hospital. Neva has to process me and I have to shower and change. I don’t know if you have ever had occasion to wear bloodsoaked clothes, but it is not comfortable.’’
‘‘You can be processed at the hospital,’’ said Garnett. ‘‘I’ll be in charge here so there will be no—’’
‘‘Neva needs to stay here and help process the site.’’ Diane said site as if it were someplace other than her home.
‘‘I’ll go with you,’’ said Lynn. ‘‘I process bodies all the time. They’re dead, of course. But I can do yours, no problem. You need to go to the hospital. I don’t like some of your readings, and any hit to the side of the head like that needs to be looked at more closely. And I don’t like that nausea you’ve been feeling.’’
In the end, they won. Before Diane left on the stretcher—which she was sure Garnett ordered in case any reporters were lurking outside—she directed Neva to process outside the apartment and have Jin do the inside. Neva was only too happy to let him take care of the blood. Diane expected Neva would find a dead body somewhere around the apartment building. It was still the early hours of the morning, so with good luck, it would be one of her crew who found it and not one of her neighbors.
Fortunately there were no reporters waiting outside. She was embarrassed to be riding to the hospital, taking up valuable ambulance space and the paramedics’ time. She was fine. Garnett simply wanted Diane to appear as the victim in case anyone was watching. Which was true, she was a victim, but not in the way he was staging it. She didn’t know how he would spin the presence of all that blood and no body.
As for Lynn, she was going along with Garnett. Lynn knew her way around politics, had sized everything up quickly, and fell easily into helping Garnett. Diane doubted that Lynn would be riding to the hospital with her under different circumstances. But then maybe she would have. Lynn wasn’t a brutally scheming person any more than Garnett was—but she was a player. Diane might have felt better about all this attention if it had actually been about her well-being. It wasn’t. It was all about the crime lab and maintaining its reputation.
The ride to the hospital was uneventful. Thank goodness they didn’t use the siren. Diane was rolled right into an examination room and the paramedics left, taking the gurney with them. She removed all her clothing and sealed it in a plastic bag for processing by the crime lab. It was a relief to get out of bloodsoaked clothes, even if it meant putting on one of the skimpy hospital gowns.