pursuit. Just then three of her security guards came running out of the building, their hands on their guns ready to pull.
“We need to help Dr. Price inside,” said Diane when they reached her. She and one of the security guards helped Juliet to her feet.
“I’m sorry,” Juliet whispered.
“It’s all right,” said Diane.
As she spoke, she watched the police car cut one of the runners off so that he slammed into the side of the car. The other man ran past the car and into the woods.
With the help of a guard, and flanked by the two other guards, Diane helped Juliet inside.
“Thanks for coming so fast,” said Diane when they were safely inside the building.
“Sure thing, Dr. Fallon. What was that about?”
“I don’t know. Can you take Dr. Price to my office and let her lie down on my sofa? And get her some water, or whatever she wants from my fridge.”
The security guard nodded and walked with Juliet across the granite foyer and through the double doors that led to the offices. The other two guards stayed with Diane.
“Go outside and see that the restaurant personnel and patrons get to their cars safely. Don’t make an issue of it. Just keep an eye out. Call for someone to keep a lookout on the terrace side of the restaurant.”
“Yes, ma’am.” As the two guards left the museum to go to the parking lot, one was on his radio.
Diane had a feeling that the men with the bats were after her, though she didn’t know why, except that she was the intended target of all the other attacks that took place at the museum. Better her as the target, she thought, than the patrons. Who would want to send their kids to a museum targeted by gangs wielding baseball bats?
Diane watched the activity at the police car from the doorway. She wanted to walk over to them and find out who the hell the guy was, but she would just be a distraction. She suddenly wondered what the police car was doing here in the first place. Had someone called them? Were there other problems she didn’t know about?
For whatever reason, the police were there and she was glad of it. It was clear that one guy would have gotten off at least one blow before her security people reached her.
She saw another patrol car join the first one and watched as they transferred the prisoner. The perpetrator looked to be about six feet and heavyset. The police had removed his ski mask, but she couldn’t see his face.
Two policemen from the first car, her rescuers, were walking toward the museum. When they were near enough, she recognized Archie from the morgue tent and Izzy Wallace.
Dear God, she thought. Izzy wants to talk about his son.
Diane opened the door wide for them. “Thank God you were here,” she said as they entered the museum.
“We got one of the guys,” said Archie. “You OK?”
“Yes. I’m fine. I wouldn’t be if it weren’t for the two of you. They were about to do us some real harm, and they really frightened one of my employees.”
“I need to talk with you,” said Izzy.
He’d taken his hat off and he held it in his hand. Diane thought of the phrase “hat in hand.” It seemed to fit. Izzy wasn’t someone she got along with, but now he needed something. Something she wasn’t sure she would be able to give.
“Dr. Price is in my office. Let’s step into the Security office and talk there,” said Diane. They nodded.
Diane led them through the same double doors that Juliet and the guard had gone through, but Diane headed to Security instead of the Personnel offices. There was a small refrigerator in the office, and she got the three of them bottled water.
“My boy,” said Izzy, “could you have made a mistake?” He looked at Diane with eyes that pleaded with her to tell him it was a mistake.
“How . . . ,” began Diane.
“It wasn’t Archie,” said Izzy hurriedly. “It was someone else. Is it true?”
“We need to have the DNA results to know for sure,” said Diane. “Right now, we just have the x-rays.”
“But you could have made a mistake in reading the x-rays,” he said hopefully.
“Yes, I could have. Dr. Rankin, Dr. Webber, and Dr. Pilgrim also read the x-rays separately, and we all reached the same conclusion.”
Izzy groaned.
“We all could be wrong. X-rays are not absolute. That’s why we’re trying for DNA.”