A Rumor of Bones: A Lindsay Chamberlain Mystery (5 page)

"Let me buy you dinner," he offered.

"I'm not really hungry. How did things go today?"

He picked up one of her bare feet and began to
knead the sole. "Fine. No problems. That feel good?"

"Yes. Is this a new service to keep the crew in
shape?"

"No. This is just for you" He put down her foot
and picked up the other one and massaged it. His
hands were warm. "Lindsay, you need to eat. Come
with me. I found a great place to get chicken fingers
and margaritas. I'll buy"

"Chicken fingers and margaritas. You know my
weakness" She reclaimed her foot and swung her
legs to the floor. "I need to talk to Derrick about excavating the crime scene first."

"I've already talked to him."

"How did he take it?"

"Well, he actually seemed interested."

"Good. Let me clean up. I'll meet you in about 20
minutes."

"Sure, take your time."

The shower was a wooden outdoor structure that
the supervising crew had built for themselves. Lindsay stepped in and pulled the cord, drenching herself
with cool water from the reservoir. It washed away
more than the day's accumulation of sweat and dust,
and Lindsay stepped out feeling that her sad mood
had been rinsed away as well.

Frank took her to a restaurant were she had a
margarita with beer-battered fried chicken fingers
and spuds. "I guess I was hungry after all," she
said, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

"I'll say," Frank told her in mock seriousness. "I
was afraid you would eat mine, too. How do you keep
such a slender figure and eat like a horse?"

"You work us to death" Lindsay smiled at him.

"I have to, so I can keep Ned off my back." When he smiled, he had a boyish face, which was enhanced
by the lock of black hair that kept falling over his
eyes. "I thought we could go to a movie," he said.

"A movie? Sounds like you have the evening all
planned."

"You can use a diversion. I know it was hard to
examine those bones, then have to meet the parents. I
should have been more sensitive."

"That little girl was really hurt before she died. She
must have been terrified. I don't understand how
people can do such things. What kind of society are
we that we're producing so many monsters?"

"I don't know," Frank said.

"The bastard even killed her little dog. Probably in
front of her."

Frank reached out and took Lindsay's hand. "Try to
clear your mind of it now. Your part is over. Come on,
I'm taking you to a nice little light-hearted movie."

At first glance the town of Merry Claymoore
looked as if it had stayed in the fifties. Brick stores,
crammed together so close they looked like one long
building, made up the business district. A single main
street, called Main Street, ran through the center of
town. Diagonal parking spaces and parking meters
lined the two-laned street.

Even a second look didn't indicate that Merry Claymoore was approaching the millennium. The hardware
store still carried wash basins, old-fashioned looking
stove pipes, water pitchers, and an assortment of faded
cardboard packaging containing miscellaneous tools
that the proprietors had not given up on eventually
selling. Even the dress shops and shoe store seemed to
cater to a clientele that preferred older styles.

The drug store beside the hardware store was perhaps the favorite spot of the site crew. It had a soda
fountain with ice cream sundaes, malts, cherry cokes,
and an assortment of pies and served BLTs and egg
sandwiches.

Downtown also boasted Mickey Lawson's portrait
studio, a flower shop, an antique store, and several
vacant buildings. The only business reflecting the current decade was the video store with movie posters
plastering its tall glass windows. Most of the people
who lived in Merry Claymoore shopped in the new
mall fifteen miles away near the town of Cullins.

The theater was strategically situated beside the
drug store. Lindsay read the marquee: Young Frankenstein.

"You're kidding? Isn't this an old movie?"

"1974. Directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene
Wilder and Peter Boyle. It's absolutely hilarious.
Have you seen it?"

"No.

"Great. The Cinema Plex at the mall gets all the
new movies. This theater shows only oldies. This
month they're doing nothing but Mel Brooks. They
have a huge screen, plush seats, carpeting, everything
but usherettes in those little red uniforms with gold
braids. You'll love it." He took her hand and led her
up to the ticket booth.

Lindsay laughed at Frank's enthusiasm and tried to
push all thoughts of Amy Lynn Hastings from her
mind and enjoy her date. Occasionally, in the darkened theater, she glanced at Frank's profile as he
laughed out loud and wondered what had happened
with their first try at romance.

Coming out of the movie, they met Jane and Alan,
from the site.

"Hey, didn't see you guys in the theater," Jane said.

"Great movie. Marty Feldman made a great Igor,"
said Alan.

As they walked to their cars, Alan and Frank did a
fair imitation of "Putting on the Ritz." When Lindsay
and Jane finished laughing, Lindsay asked Jane about
the excavations.

"How did 22 and 23 go today?"

"I'm half finished with each of them. You were
right. Twenty-three intrudes into 22. Twenty-three is
a lot more shallow, too. Twenty-two is flexed, and
the bones are in bad condition. Twenty-three is
extended. Those bones are in great condition. I wish
they were all like that. I don't see how there could be
such a difference in burials that close together."

"Depends on how the water drains through the soil
and such," said Lindsay. "Could be that the bones in
the other half of 23 are in as bad condition as 22."

"I'll know tomorrow," said Jane.

"Come on," complained Alan. "No site business
tonight. We're still out on the town, what there is of it.
So far, besides the movie, the biggest attractions are
watching some local amateur magician at the summer
school fair and cruising McDonald's. Want to go have
a Big Mac and fries with us?"

"No, you guys enjoy yourselves, I think we'll head
on back," said Lindsay, waving them on.

"Come have a glass of wine at my place." Frank
took Lindsay's hand in his.

"Just one. Then I'd like to turn in."

"I can work with that."

"I'm sorry I got you involved in identifying those
bones," Frank said as they entered his house.

"It's all right. I'm not a hothouse rose, you know"

"I know. You're tough when you want to be °"

"How are you doing with Thomas?" asked Lindsay.
"Derrick told me about the area you let him have"

"He's not so bad. A little over enthusiastic at times.
He could make a halfway good archaeologist. Ned
hates him."

"Well, to be honest, you did sort of promise
Thomas's father to give him significant assignments. I
can kind of understand Ned's disapproval." They sat
down on the sofa.

"So can I. Assigning Thomas to a feature now and
then is a small price to pay for the funding his father
contributes. I'm not compromising the dig in any way.
Thomas still has to do his share of shovel shaving."
Frank squeezed her hand. "I'm glad you are here."

He rose and took a bottle of wine from an old sideboard standing against the wall and poured two
glasses, handing one to Lindsay. She smiled when she
saw that it was really one of the plastic variety that
could be bought at any grocery store.

Frank grinned, too. "I couldn't bring my good
crystal around this rowdy bunch," he said. "Let's
forget about archaeology for the rest of the evening."

The sudden loud knock on the door brought a curse
to his lips.

He walked over and jerked open the door. Hurricane Thomas blew in, carrying an armload of books.
"I have this great idea," he said, ignoring Lindsay, the
low lights, and the wine glasses.

Lindsay rose and smiled at Frank. "I'll take your
car back to the site. You can come in the van with the
crew." She left Frank glaring at Thomas.

There was no moon, so as Lindsay drove away
from the lights of Merry Claymoore, the night became so dark and clear that the sky was thick with
stars. Lindsay could see the slash of the Milky Way
across the night sky. She rolled down her window and
let the cool night air blow on her face. It was a pleasant end to a nice evening. Only one other car was on
the road. She didn't really notice it until it was close
behind her, shining its bright lights into her car. Lindsay tapped on her brakes, warning it to back off. It
dropped back for a moment, then sped up again, following close to her bumper. She slowed down, hoping
it would pass. The car slowed, too, maintaining the
close distance. Lindsay reached down and took the
car phone out of its cradle. The turn-off to the site was
just ahead. She put down the phone and gripped the
wheel, then sped up until she came to the dirt road
that led to the site and turned off, creating a cloud of
dust in her wake. The car drove on by, staying on the
paved road. Lindsay breathed a sigh of relief.

"Jerk!" she muttered to herself as she headed up
the road to the site.

-epitaph on Shakespeare's tomb at Stratford

OH, DAMN," exclaimed Lindsay, sitting back on her
haunches and staring down into Burial 23.

"Oh, no. What'd I do?" asked Jane.

"I don't believe this."

"What?"

"Jane, don't tell anyone about this. Do you understand?"

"Tell what? What are you talking about?"

"If anyone comes over here, gently send them
away and don't say anything."

"Don't say what?"

"I'll be right back"

Lindsay looked around the site for Frank and
finally spotted him in Structure 4, turning a large rock
over in his hands. She hurried over to the edge of the
structure, leaving Jane staring down into the pit.

"I need to speak to you"

He replaced the stone, rose, and, carefully stepping over artifacts, followed her to the edge of the site.

"This is about Burial 23," she said in a low voice.
"It has a gold filling in its lower second molar."

"Good God, Lindsay! How do you do these things?"

"Me? It's not my fault."

"I suppose we can't cover it back up.

"I think it's classified as a dead body. We have to
report it to the sheriff."

"Good thing you're so friendly with him."

"I'll help Jane finish and get Derrick to photograph
the bones. Derrick and I can take them up, but we'll
have to talk to the sheriff and coroner first"

"How long has it been in the ground? Can you tell?"

"Not yet. Jane has only uncovered the upper half.
I'll have to wait until the bones are out of the ground.
When did gold fillings come into dentistry?"

Frank shrugged. "I don't know. Well, we sure didn't
need this. And Ned will pitch a fit when he gets back
from whatever thing he had to do today. Damn!" He
hesitated a moment, then finally nodded. "Okay, I
suppose there's no choice. Go ahead and call the sheriff. We'll get Derrick to take the photographs after
everyone has left the site this afternoon. I hope this
doesn't get around. We'll have every sightseer and
ghoul in the county out here stomping around. Derrick!" he called.

Derrick left the transit and walked over to them. His
hair was damp and pulled back in a pony tail. Sweat
made little trails through the dust covering his body,
and he wiped it from his brow with his forearm.

"Damn! It's hot today. We could use a little rain.
What's up'?" Frank told him, and he winked at Lindsay. "Way to go."

"Honestly, you guys, the way you talk you'd think
I killed someone, undressed their bones, and buried
them. You don't happen to know when gold fillings
came into use, do you?" she asked Derrick.

Derrick thought for a moment, then to Lindsay's
surprise said, "The Italians used gold leaf for fillings
in the 1400s."