One Grave Less (45 page)

She stopped and swung around to him. “What? Korey? What is this?”

“This is practically everyone I know being paranoid.”

Korey looked pointedly at David. David shrugged at Diane.

“I was supposed to get you up here, but not to trust anyone I didn’t know personally. So I made up a story.”

“I don’t understand,” said Diane.

Korey smiled. She thought she saw tears in his eyes, of all things.

“The environmentals need checking,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “We’re getting too many particulates in the air. Just come to my lab. It will be clear.”

Diane exchanged bewildered glances with Frank and David, then followed Korey to the lab. Korey shut the door behind him and locked it.

The first person Diane saw was Jonas Briggs. He was standing by a tall woman and man. The man was American Indian. The woman, if she wasn’t mistaken, was Dr. Lindsay Chamberlain. Diane smiled. Chamberlain was safe. Why the secrecy? Was she afraid the people were still after her?

“Mama. Mama.”

Diane stopped still. She couldn’t move. A flashback. She was having an auditory hallucination. Diane took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.

“Mama.”

Diane saw her. Between Lindsay and the Indian. Apple green overalls, pink and green striped shirt, and bright sparkling red shoes. She ran to Diane and stopped in front of her.

“Mama. I’ve tried so hard to get back. You still want me, don’t you?”

It was when David fell to his knees sobbing that Diane realized she wasn’t the only one who saw her.

Diane kneeled to meet the little girl’s eyes.

“Ariel?” Diane’s voice cracked. She could barely get sounds to come out of her throat.

“Dear God, Ariel?” Diane grabbed her and held her. Felt her beating heart against her own. “My baby,” she whispered.

Diane looked into her face, her bronze skin, dark eyes, perfect little nose and lips, her long black hair that someone had braided for her, wrapping the plaits in light green ribbon. Diane caressed the downy hair at her hairline, rubbed the back of her hand on the little cheek, touched her perfect little ears, examined her small little-girl hands. Diane hugged her close and cried, long, shaking sobs.

“How is this possible?” she said finally.

Diane looked over at Frank, who stood quietly with tears streaming down his face. She stood, still holding on to Ariel, holding her close. How small she was. How light.

Diane walked over to Lindsay Chamberlain, carrying Ariel on her hip, holding her around the waist, feeling the little arms snake around her neck. Lindsay’s eyes, like everyone else’s in the room, brimmed with tears.

“How?” Diane said.

“She saved my life,” Lindsay said. “Some very bad and dangerous people thought I was you and kidnapped me. Ariel saved me. She told me who she was and we traveled across the Amazon searching for a way home. She is a remarkable kid. She has been looking for someone who could take her to you ever since she became separated from you. Her story is extraordinary. But there are evil people out there and we feared they had made their way here.”

“You need to tell her the whole story, the way you told it to me,” said the Indian.

Diane looked at the stern face and Korey introduced John West.

“He’s the man who built the cofferdam at that galleon site I worked on,” said Korey.

That experience was the main reason Korey got the job at RiverTrail.

“Were you in the Amazon with them?” Diane asked John.

“Briefly, at the end, to extract them from Tabatinga,” John said.

They sat down at one of Korey’s worktables, Ariel in Diane’s lap. She didn’t see how she could ever let the little girl go again.

Ariel peeked around Diane. “Hi, Uncle David,” she said.

David broke down again. “Hi, Ariel, baby. I can’t think of when I’ve ever had a more wonderful day,” he said. “I may become an optimist after this.”

Frank sat next to Diane and she introduced Ariel to him.

“We are getting married,” said Diane, smiling at Frank.

If there was ever a sign, this had to be it. She decided to tell her up front because she knew others would.

Ariel looked a little uncertain. Frank smiled at her and put out his hand.

“I’ve heard so much about you, Ariel, that I feel like I know you. You are your mother’s heart and I am so happy to meet you.”

Ariel grinned and snuggled close to Diane. Diane kissed the top of her head. Her hair smelled like shampoo.

“Someone fixed your hair pretty,” said Diane.

“That was John’s sister. She opened her store for us and we got some clothes. That was a good thing because ours didn’t smell so good.”

Diane laughed. “What about those glittering red shoes?”

Ariel pointed at John. “He said to get home I needed ruby slippers.”

“Looks like they worked,” said Diane.

“We flew into the Cherokee Indian Reservation,” said Lindsay. “The weather was bad here and we wanted a private airport. We tried to call but were unable to get through because of the weather. We drove down here and finally were able to get hold of Korey at his home. He and Jonas helped smuggle us into the museum.”

Before they started their story, Korey brought cold drinks from the small refrigerator in his office. He gave Ariel an orange juice. She sipped it and smiled.

“This is better than the orange juice at the airport,” she said to Lindsay.

Lindsay and Ariel, as they had with John, took turns telling the account of what had happened to them. It was a long narrative but they were not interrupted.

Diane listened. Horror and guilt filled her alongside the joy. She held Ariel tighter, stroked her hair, listening to each of them. Lindsay was right. Ariel was extraordinary. The thought of her going from family to family trying to find a way to her was breaking her heart. Why hadn’t she kept looking? Why had she left Ariel in the jungle?

Lindsay stopped talking, reached across the table, and grabbed Diane’s forearm, squeezing so tightly Diane almost cried out. Lindsay frowned. She was looking sternly into Diane’s eyes.

“Ariel was taken far away very quickly with the other children. For whatever reason, the engineers of this atrocity wanted you to believe she had died in the massacre. She went to amazing lengths to get back to you. She deserves your unadulterated joy.”

Diane cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Your face is easy to read,” said Lindsay. “And I am very straightforward. I owe Ariel. Without her intervention they would have killed me when they found out I wasn’t you. Whatever I can do in my life to make Ariel’s life better, I will. That includes being frank with you.”

Ariel looked at Diane.“She got a lot stronger after dealing with the snake in the truck,” Ariel said. “By the time we got to the mountain pass, Lindsay set up a good bushwhack.”

Diane laughed. So did the others. Lindsay smiled and shook her head.

Ariel and Lindsay finished their stories. Diane wasn’t keeping track of time and she didn’t know how long it took, but it was a long time. She looked forward to telling Gregory.

“You think you were followed here? Do you know the name of the man who is behind this?” asked Diane.

Lindsay nodded. “He’s the man who tried to take Ariel from me in Benjamin Constant and Tabatinga. His name is Cameron Michaels,” she said.

The weather was in full force outside the building. The wind buffeted the huge museum windows, rattling the glass so much that Diane thought they might break.

She sat with Frank, David, and the others in the conservation lab, discussing what they were going to do.

“Those mercenaries of his are outside around the museum,” said Diane. “I thought I saw some movement when we let Cameron in the front door. I wasn’t sure then, but I am now. So, any ideas?”

Korey and Jonas had none.

“You have children in the basement?” said John.

“We have lots of potential hostages,” said Diane.

“Get Cameron,” said Frank. “He’s the one in charge. He’s the one cutting their checks. Cameron is in here with us. It should be easy.”

“The mercenaries can easily get in here with us too,” said Diane. “They are so rabid, the possibilities frighten me.”

She hated speaking like this in Ariel’s hearing, but the little girl absolutely refused to be away from Diane. She had tried to get her to take a nap on the couch in Korey’s office, but she refused, shaking her head vigorously. Diane understood. She could hardly bear to let her go for a fraction of a second.

“Frank’s right,” said David. “We have to get Cameron before he makes his move.”

“What does he want, exactly?” said Lindsay. “The package that seems to obviously be some kind of evidence against him? To stop me from telling you of his involvement?”

It hit everyone at the same time: Of all of them sitting in the room, Ariel was the only one who could put him at the scene of the massacre.

Diane hugged Ariel tighter.

“You’re right. We’ve got to get to Cameron,” said Diane. “First I need to alert security that there is a problem.”

“It would be good to get in touch with Liam. He is very handy in these situations,” said David. “Is he on the premises with Andie?”

“I don’t know,” said Diane.

She went to Korey’s phone and called Andie’s office. Fortunately the in-house lines were working. But no one picked up. They were probably in the basement helping with the kids.

Diane knelt by Ariel. “Baby, I need to get the bad man out of our lives. I want you to stay here with Jonas and Korey. I know you are brave. After what you went through, you are the bravest person in the world. Will you stay here with them and let me take care of this?”

Diane thought of asking Lindsay to stay, but she could tell Lindsay wanted a piece of Cameron and she had proved to be tough in the face of bad guys. Diane guessed her boyfriend, John, was pretty tough too. And frankly, until she could get a handle on things, she needed as many tough people with her as she could find.

Ariel nodded and hugged Diane. “I love you, Mama,” she said.

“Oh, Ariel, I love you so much,” she said. “This is the happiest day of my life. You remember Gregory?”

Ariel nodded.

“When he came to visit this time, he brought your adoption papers. They came through just before the bad things happened. He was going to surprise us with them. I have them now. It’s official. Not only are you my little girl in my heart, you are my little girl to the whole world.”

Ariel hugged her neck.

A knock on the door brought all their heads up. Korey went to the door.

“Yes?” he said.

“Hey, Korey, is that it? It’s Steven. Is Diane there?”

Korey looked at Diane and she nodded. He opened the door and Steven hobbled in.

“What happened?” said Diane.

“Oh, I tripped and fell. One of those teeth-rattling thunder episodes . . .” His eyes grew wide.

“She looks like Ariel,” he said, staring from Ariel to Diane.

“It is Ariel,” said Diane. “She’s alive and home with me.”

Steven put a hand over his mouth. “Oh my God. Ariel. My God. How in the world?” he mumbled.

“Very long story,” said Diane. “It was Cameron. He’s the person Simone was trying to tell us instigated the massacre.”

“Cam? No,” said Steven, rubbing his ankle. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, and he has men stationed outside the museum,” said Diane. “I’m going to confront him.”

“I should have guessed something when I saw those shoes of his. I’ll go with you.” He stood and winced.

“You stay here with Korey, Jonas, and Ariel,” she said. “I’ll be back when the museum is secured.”

“But,” he said.

“Protect Ariel and the others,” said Diane. “I’m counting on you.”

“Good luck,” he said.

Diane, David, Frank, Lindsay, and John left the conservation lab and took the stairs down to the first floor. The security guard was not on duty.

“Damn,” said Diane.

She looked on the floor of the kiosk where the guard had been sitting. Gone. Diane checked the front doors. Locked. Maybe she went to the bathroom, she thought.

Diane went though the double doors to the east wing where the security office was, expecting the worst. What she found was the security guard. Chanell, Diane’s head of security, came out of her office.

“The wind was whipping the glass so, I was worried it was going to come crashing in,” Chanell said. “We’re watching the monitors. Liam has been helping us with surveillance.”

Diane nodded. “It just worried me when I didn’t see the guard. I think those soldiers are out in the woods around the museum, so get ready. Do you know where Liam is?”

Chanell shook her head. “He’s supposed to call in in fifteen minutes,” she said.

“Can we call for help?” said Diane. “Are the phones working?”

“Still dead,” said Chanell. “We’re on our own.”

“Okay, Chanell, we have a lot of people in the museum that need protecting.”

“Don’t I know it,” she said. “We are on top of it, Dr. Fallon.”

Diane nodded. “We’re going to the basement to confront Cameron,” said Diane.

“You’re sure you can trust that Steven guy?” said Lindsay.

Diane nodded.

“He’s been a friend for a long time,” said David. “He worked with us bringing mass killers to justice, or at least trying to. Steven Gavin Mays the third is a good guy, if a little stuffy.”

They went out into the lobby, heading for the stairs. Lindsay stopped suddenly.

“Shit,” Lindsay said. “I thought something was happening on May third.
Tres de mayo
was what Julio said, I thought. People who are somebody the third are often nicknamed Trey. He wasn’t saying the third of May, he was saying Trey Mays. Damn it. Steven Mays is the guy who had me kidnapped.”