A Rumor of Bones: A Lindsay Chamberlain Mystery (4 page)

"Found three more today," he said, pointing to a
patch of black plastic. They walked to an area adjacent to the open excavations. Derrick kneeled and
lifted the plastic, revealing a large dark stain in the
smooth soil in the shape of a lopsided heart with a
rounded point. "Looks like one burial intrudes into
the other," he said, "I don't know which is older. Jane
gave them numbers: 22 and 23"

"Okay. Heard the weather report?"

"Clear. Looks like the rain may have passed us by.
I guess ole Ned was right about the weather."

Derrick supervised the digging crew, whose job was
to remove the overburden from the site floor, then shave
it clean, revealing patterns left by the ancient inhabi tants. He was also in charge of mapping. It was the services of Derrick and his crew that Lindsay may have
committed to the sheriff. She must have had a guilty
expression, because Derrick gave her a quizzical smile.

"And just what are you up to?"

"You said there were three new burials?" she
asked, diverting his attention. She wanted to speak to
Frank before she discussed digging the crime scene
with Derrick.

"The other burial is near the new structure." He
placed the plastic over the burials and pointed across
the site.

"Where is Frank?"

Derrick frowned. "Arguing with Ned."

"Doesn't Ned ever get tired of arguing?"

"I think he probably gets more tired when nobody
pays attention to him. He's going on like Chicken Little
about the dam"

"Even if they were to start on the dam today, we
would still have time to finish a thorough investigation before the place is flooded, wouldn't we?"

"Yes. But you know Ned. Just because he spent his
summers surface collecting around here, he thinks
he's got some psychic link with the place."

"You'd think he would appreciate Frank's thoroughness"

Derrick shook his head. "Ned's really just upset
because Frank has top billing here."

Lindsay frowned and gazed out over the site. She
spotted a lone crew member digging just outside the
main boundaries of the site. He looked down at his
work, cursed, and went to another spot, where he
started digging again.

"What is Thomas doing?" she asked.

Derrick grinned. "Thomas wanted to dig something
really significant, so Frank and I gave him a piece of
ground just outside the palisade to work on his own.
We thought we could watch him and make sure he
didn't screw up too much. He uncovered some parallel
rows of stains, and he thinks they were the posts of a
long house"

"A long house? Here? You're kidding."

"No, I'm not kidding. He's cross-sectioning the
holes. I think he's finding that they were rows of trees
and not post-holes. He curses every time the crosssection shows up the tree roots."

Lindsay smiled for the first time since she got back,
then sobered. "I need to talk to Frank. Point me in his
direction, and maybe I can rescue him from Ned"

"They're down at the flotation dock"

Lindsay walked to the large covered dock extending into the river that bordered one edge of the site.
As she got closer, she heard Frank's raised voice.

"Dammit, Ned, what is wrong with you? Do you
know how much we would miss if we take your
approach?"

"Why don't you listen to me?" Ned yelled back.
"I'm not saying we just sample artifact clusters. I'm
saying we combine sampling techniques. The way
you are going about it, they will flood the place before
you finish, and how much will we miss then?"

"According to the schedule ..."

"Damn the schedule! I'm telling you, Frank, if you
would listen, they are going to advance the schedule."

"They have not told me ..."

"I'm telling you, dammit. I'm telling you ... why do I bother, you are so pig headed. You think you
know every damn thing!"

Frank spotted Lindsay and turned away from Ned.
"How did it go?" he asked with that earnest expression in his hazel eyes that often made Lindsay's heart
beat faster.

"Marsha didn't come by?" she asked.

'No"

"The remains didn't belong to the Pruitt child."

"Could you tell anything about the death from the
bones?"

She shook her head, telling him nothing about her
finds. Instead, she took a deep breath and told him
about the suggestion she made to the sheriff about
using Derrick's crew to excavate the crime scene.

"You did what!" Ned's voice was so loud Lindsay
was sure it carried over the site. "I don't believe this. I
don't believe this. We are never going to get this site
dug. If you two can't focus your attention on this site,
you should just turn it over to me."

"Ned," said Lindsay, "These people need our help.
The crime scene is small. It won't take that long."

"Then why don't you do it?" Ned retorted.

"That's enough, Ned," said Frank.

"No, it's not enough. We have a tight schedule."

Frank's voice was very calm, but Lindsay could
see him clinching his jaw.

"The schedule is under control. I don't want to discuss this anymore"

"This is an important site," said Ned, unwilling to
let go.

"We all agree," said Frank.

"I believe it is a very important site," Ned repeated.

"I know your theories about this site, and I believe
they have merit. We will get the site excavated. Now
let's drop this."

Ned hesitated a moment, torn between continuing
the argument or accepting the bone of professional
recognition that Frank had thrown him. Finally, he
left the flotation dock with a nod.

"You are a good diplomat," she said to Frank.

"I have my moments. However, about loaning the
crew, you should have talked to me first"

"It was kind of in the emotion of the moment. Are
you going to fire me?" she teased.

"Oh, come on. I suppose I deserve this, after volunteering you"

"That's true," Lindsay said.

"I'll talk to Derrick about excavating the crime
scene, and we'll come up with a plan."

"Good. Well, since I'm not being fired, I'll make
plans for opening up the new burials."

Frank frowned. He seemed to hesitate before
speaking. "I had a strange call from the Archaeology
Department head about Coosa Valley Power Company's part of the excavation contract. He said one of
the directors of the company tried to cancel the contract. He said they wanted to withdraw permission for
us to be on the land and for us to get off the site.
Impossible, of course, but curious."

"That's odd. I wonder what that is about."

Frank shook his head. "Historical recovery is written
into the law, and we have a contract" Frank ran a hand
through his hair. "You know, between that and Ned..."

"Do you want me to talk to Ned, maybe smooth
things over?" Lindsay asked.

"He's not your problem. I'll handle it." Frank
smiled. "Maybe I'll drown him in the river."

Lindsay returned his smile. "By the way, the sheriff is sending a patrol by here at night to watch for
pothunters."

Frank nodded, "Good, maybe that's one worry off
my shoulders."

Lindsay stood with Jane over the dark stain in the
earth that was designated as burials 22 and 23. She
took her trowel and drew a line around one lobe and
the rounded point of the heart-shaped stain, making
an oval. "This one is the first; we'll label it number
22." Again, she drew an oval with her trowel, this time
around the other lobe of the "heart" and inside the
boundaries of the first oval. "This one intrudes inside
the first; we'll call it 23. Twenty-three will probably
be on top, but you may have to dig them both simultaneously. Get Sally to help."

"Couldn't it be the other way around?" Jane asked.
"Couldn't 23 be the first and 22 the intrusion? How
can you tell which is first?"

"I can't, but this one, 22, has an east/west orientation, which is the predominant burial direction so
far at this site. Twenty-three is northwest/southeast,
an uncommon direction here. I'm assuming one
anomaly goes with another, and that the burial with
the less common direction is the intrusion."

"Makes sense to me," Jane agreed.

"I may be completely wrong. We'll find out
shortly."

Lindsay left Jane and was headed toward Burial 24
when she saw Frank and Deputy Littleton walking across the site in her direction. A sick feeling rose in
her stomach.

"Howdy, Dr. Chamberlain," greeted the deputy.

"Call me Lindsay, please," she said.

He smiled and nodded. "Sure thing."

"Can you go into town with the deputy?" asked
Frank. "There's another couple who have a missing
daughter. They think the bones may be hers"

Lindsay sighed with resignation. "All right. I've
put Jane and Sally on burials 22 and 23. I'll hold off
on 24"

Frank nodded his agreement and headed toward
the flotation dock. Lindsay turned to Andy Littleton.
"What do you know about this couple?"

"They're from the next county. Their little girl,
Amy Lynn Hastings, went missing about three years
ago. She was about the same age as little Peggy when
she disappeared."

"I need to get my tools. It won't take a second. I'll
meet you at your car."

The sheriff was behind his desk when Lindsay and
the deputy arrived. It looked like a replay of the previous day with the Pruitts. A man and woman sat
clinging to each other, looking scared and full of
dread. The man and the sheriff rose as she entered,
and the sheriff introduced Lindsay to Anne and Guy
Hastings.

Sheriff Duggan handed her a large envelope.
"These are some x-rays taken of Amy about six
months before she disappeared."

"She fell from a tree," explained Anne Hastings.
"She had no broken bones, but we had her x-rayed anyway, just in case. They were taken of her shoulder
and right arm and her head"

"They will help a great deal;' said Lindsay.

"And this is a photograph of her." The expression in
the sheriff's eyes was intense, like a communication, as
he handed Lindsay the envelope, so she opened it and
pulled out the picture. It was a little blonde pixie-looking
girl with a heart-shaped face, a small, pointed chin, and a
slight overbite. Lindsay felt her stomach lurch as she
looked at the mother, who was asking her a question.

"How long will it take?"

"Several hours," she said. "Can you tell me something about her disappearance? What month did she
disappear, for instance?"

"It was the end of summer, the 25th of August. We
had gone camping at Olika. She had Pepper with her."

"Pepper?" asked Lindsay.

"Her dog, a cocker spaniel. They both disappeared." Anne began to cry softly.

"All that's in the police report," said her husband.
"Can't you read it there?"

"Of course." Lindsay had heard what she wanted to
know.

"I can tell you what she was wearing," Anne offered.

"I'll read the report," Lindsay smiled at her. She
did not want to tell her that the remains were not
found with clothes. Anne Hastings nodded, but her
husband was not fooled by Lindsay's evasion. He
understood and put his arm around his wife, while
avoiding her eyes.

"Look," Lindsay said, "the garden club built a
beautiful park a block from here. It is a peaceful place
to wait."

"I'll send the deputy to find you wherever you are,"
said the sheriff.

They agreed, and Guy Hastings led his wife out of
the sheriff's department.

"There's a good chance it's her," the sheriff commented as he led Lindsay to the back room.

"It certainly doesn't look good"

"You said it would take several hours?"

"If I don't find anything that definitely rules out an
identification, like with Peggy Pruitt, it will take a
while. It takes a lot more information to say the bones
do belong to a specific person."

The tub of bones was on the table, as before. Lindsay sighed, put on her gloves, and began laying the
bones out again.

"I don't suppose you have a light table I can use for
the x-rays?" she asked.

"We don't, but I sent Ricky out ... Here he and Ray
come now" Two deputies came in carrying a glasstop drafting table between them.

"This will do fine," said Lindsay as the deputies
scrambled around unwinding the cord and plugging it
in. Lindsay turned on the light and set the x-rays on
the glass top. On the table she arranged her calipers,
magnifying lenses, and report forms. She sat at the
light table and began the meticulous measurements of
the images on the x-rays.

After several hours, Lindsay walked around the
room to stretch. She had made all the measurements
and observations at least three times.

"Are you finished?" She looked up to see the sheriff. "The Hastings came back an hour ago."

"Yes. I'm finished." She handed him a page. The measurements for both the hones and the x-rays
were listed next to the description of what was measured. He glanced at each entry-identical all down
the list.

"It is her, then," he said.

"Yes. The report is here." She handed it to the
sheriff.

The sheriff shook his head. "I'll tell the parents.
Andy'll take you back to the site. Thanks. I'm sorry
you had to come back to do this."

As before, the main crew had left by the time Lindsay
got back to the site. She did not feel like talking to
anyone, so she went to her tent, turned on her radio to
a classical station, took off her shoes, and lay down
on her bed with a mystery novel she had been trying
to find time to read.

"Lindsay?"

She looked up from her reading and saw Frank's
silhouette outside her tent.

"Yes"

"Are you all right?"

"I'm just tired."

Frank stepped into her tent. "It was that couple's
little girl then?"

"Yes."

"I'm sorry," he said, sitting down at the foot of her
bed.

"It had to be somebody's child," she said.