Christmas Male(28)

“Right. Natalie gave me an address on him. But I didn’t add him to our to-do list because I couldn’t figure out a way to pay him a visit without revealing what we know about Amanda.”

“That may be a moot point by this afternoon. There’s no telling how long we can keep her name out of it.”

Fiona bit into a scone, then plucked a fallen crumb off of her lap. “Hemmings made a number of other calls to Fort McNair.”

D.C. swung the car into the gate at Fort McNair and grabbed another donut while he waited to be waved on. “What else did you get from Natalie?”

“The warrant came through to search Hemmings’s apartment. She’s sending it to the two uniforms we have stationed out front and they’re going to wait for us.”

D.C. pulled into a parking slot. “I vote we go there before we visit the museum.”

“I agree.”

He grinned at her. “See. I’m trying not to take charge of the investigation.”

“Yes, but what if I’d voted to go to the museum first?”

“Then I would have had to persuade you.” D.C. slid out of the car, grabbed the donut box and his cane, then joined Fiona on the passenger side. “Let’s see what light the General can throw on this case.”





6




GENERAL MYRA EDDINGER wasn’t at all what Fiona had expected. She was medium height and plump with a round, finely lined face and curly red hair just long enough to tuck behind her ears. From the brief search she’d done on her laptop the night before, Fiona knew that Eddinger was married to a doctor stationed at Walter Reed, and she had two grown sons.

Her handshake was warm, and her smile brightened the moment she spotted the box D.C. carried. She winked at Fiona. “Captain Campbell knows the key to my heart.”

Taking the box, she placed it on a small credenza near her desk, then turned up the volume on a small flat-screen TV. “You might want to see this.”

Captain Natalie Gibbs-Mitchell was standing in front of a podium speaking into a bank of microphones. The commissioner stood to her right and Chance stood to her left. When the camera went wide, Fiona caught a glimpse of another woman next to Chance. She was tall and striking with just a touch of gray in her hair.

Fiona had seen Natalie face the press before and she was just as admirable now. Her report was concise. There had been an unsuccessful attempt to steal the Rubinov diamond from its display at the National Gallery, but the necklace had been recovered. Then Natalie introduced the woman to Chance’s left as Dr. Regina Meyers.

“So that’s the woman who’s been Gregory Shalnokov’s spokesperson for the past ten years,” Fiona murmured.

“Yes,” Myra Eddinger said. “She’s good at her job. The news clip has been running for the past hour, and she’s assuring the public that the exhibition will remain open as scheduled until the twenty-third. There ought to be record crowds after this.”

Fiona saw an image of her own face flash on the screen, as Natalie identified her as heading up the investigation.

When the news channel switched to another story, General Eddinger clicked off the TV and waved them into chairs at a small conference table. Her expression sobered as she sat down across from them and folded her hands on the desk. “How is Amanda? All I can get from the station nurse is that X-rays and a CAT scan show she has a skull fracture and a probable concussion, but she’s in stable condition.”

D.C. brought his general up-to-date on Hemmings’s condition.

“Amnesia.” General Eddinger drew the word out as if she were considering it. Then with a frown, she began to tap the fingers of one hand on the table. “I’ll have my husband contact a specialist.”

“She could be faking it,” Fiona said.

Slowly the general shook her head. “I’ve known Amanda Hemmings for a year now, and from my observation, she doesn’t have a deceitful bone in her body. You’re going to find that even though she was found with the Rubinov diamond on her, she’s innocent.”

“How can you be so sure?” Fiona asked.

The general sighed. “Partly, I’m relying on instinct. The rest comes from my knowledge of people. I imagine as a cop, you depend on both of those.”

“I do.”

“Well, I can only hope that neither is failing me in this case. Amanda comes from a very sheltered background. Her father was a conservative Christian. He died when she was ten, and after that, her mother worked two jobs to keep Amanda in a private faith-based school. When her mother died, the authorities contacted an uncle. But evidently Amanda’s father had insisted his wife make a complete break with her former family, and the uncle refused to take her in.”