“Again?”
“Yes, again. Will you take me to the museum, please?”
“Of course.”
“Dr. Fallon, thanks for the job,” yelled Hector Torres as they drove off.
“How is he working out?”
“So far he’s found you, so I guess he’s doing pretty good. He says his mother is a women’s guard at the jail?”
“Yes. She said her son was looking for a job.”
“I know there are some interesting stories here,” he said as he drove the cart up to the rear of the museum. “Can I help you inside?”
“If you don’t mind walking with me. I’ve been in the water all night.”
“All night?”
“I know this must all sound incredible, and when I can I’ll tell you all about it.”
They walked down the hallway past the restaurant to the mammal exhibit, where she cut through to the Pleistocene room and to the lobby just as Andie, Korey and Mike Seger entered through the large double doors.
Chapter 44
“Dr. Fallon. Oh, my God, what happened to you!” Andie came running and grabbed her around the waist just as her knees were giving way.
Diane could only imagine what she must look like, not to mention smell like. She felt like a wet cat, standing in her bare feet, dripping water onto the marble floor. The initial relief of getting out of the lake was wearing off, and now she felt herself sinking against Andie, unable to stand. Several more staff arrived and they all gathered around, some helping Andie support her, others mumbling and asking questions. She felt suffocated-and afraid.
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.”