Lovely In Her Bones

sound casual.

Milo grunted. “What about the computer damage? Was that a coincidence too?”

“I guess not,” Elizabeth admitted. “I wish I knew what Alex wanted to talk to you about.”

Milo looked up. “What do you mean?”

“Before you got back from town last night, he came into the church looking for you. I got the impression that he wanted to ask you something.”

“What else did he say?”

“Just that you should go up to the site when you came in. Oh, and before that he told me that he had checked my skull measurements.”

“How were they?”

“He didn’t say. What do you suppose that means?”

“I don’t know. Maybe nothing, but it’s all we have to go on. I’m going to check those skulls.”

“So we’re going on with the project?”

Milo poured his untasted coffee into the weeds. “I am, anyway.”

Milo waited until after breakfast to talk to the group. Not that a discussion of business would have dampened the meal; hardly a word was spoken. Still, he wanted their full attention when he spoke, because he was conscious of the formality of the occasion. They were all looking at him with the embarrassment caused by the presence of unshared grief. He wondered if Mary Clare had recovered from her infatuation, or if she was trying to avoid pity.

“I think we should talk about what we’re going to do,” Milo began uncertainly. “I guess all of you realize that Alex Lerche was a dedicated scientist who was about to make a great contribution to anthropology when he… when he died,” Milo finished faintly.

“And Milo wants us to carry on with the project,” said Elizabeth quickly, before he could get wound up again.

“Of course he does,” said Mary Clare.

“But the man was murdered!” sputtered Victor. “Surely we can’t stay up here in the woods with a killer loose!”

“Maybe we ought to vote on it,” said Milo.

Jake stood up. “It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work they have thus far so nobly advanced,” he said solemnly.

“Damn straight,” said Mary Clare. “Y’all can vote all you want. Alex told me to do research at MacDowell, and I’m going.”

“Jake, that was a beautiful speech,” whispered Elizabeth when he sat down.

“Yep.” nodded Jake. “Gettysburg Address. It seemed appropriate.”

“I’m going to stay,” said Milo. “And since I’ll be heading up this project, maybe I’ll be in the most danger, but I think I owe it to Alex to finish. Anyone who wants to stay with me is welcome.” He looked doubtfully at Elizabeth. “Maybe you ought to check with your folks or something, though.”

Elizabeth was indignant. “I’m a college graduate too, you know! Just because you live with my big brother doesn’t mean you have to act like him! Of course I’m staying!” She had not considered the question at all, but Milo’s protective attitude had settled it.

“I’m staying too,” said Jake.

Victor signed. “I suppose I shall carry on,” he said grudgingly. “I know how much Dr. Lerche relied on me.”

Mary Clare stifled a giggle. “Well,” she said. “I’m all packed, so I reckon I ought to get on the road.”

Elizabeth frowned. “What about the funeral?” she asked. “Shouldn’t we go to that?”

“No,” said Mary Clare. “That funeral is going to be a faculty meeting run by the well-dressed widow. If you want to remember Alex, you’d best do it right here.”

“I’d like to go,” said Milo softly, “but I think if it were up to Alex, he’d want us right here.”

“It’s settled then,” said Jake. “We carry on.”

Daniel Hunter Coltsfoot accepted the thermos of coffee as if he were a prisoner instead of a deputy. He had passed an uneasy night among the skulls in the site tent, listening intently for mountain lions and ax murderers- neither of which had disturbed his night-long vigil. Elizabeth and Milo had taken the precaution of hailing him from the edge of the clearing, in case he had been provided with a loaded gun for the occasion. When he peered out of the tent at them, Elizabeth waved the thermos and called out, “Good morning!”

Coltsfoot hurried out of the tent, remembered the possible presence of evidence, and began to tiptoe toward them like one crossing a minefield. “Boy, am I glad to see you guys!” he announced. “Is that for me? Wow, thanks. You think it’s okay to drink on the job?”

“As long as it’s coffee,” Milo assured him with a straight face.

“Thanks. Have you seen Pilot Barnes this morning?”

“I expect he’ll be along,” said Milo. “We wanted to get back to work.”

“Oh, gee, I don’t know about that,” said Coltsfoot. “They said something about coming back this morning to check for evidence.”

“It’s okay. We won’t disturb the site until they’ve been over it. But they took pictures in the tent last night, didn’t they?”

Coltsfoot tried to remember. “I think so.”

“All we want are the skulls from inside the tent,” Elizabeth said. “I want to remeasure them. I expect you’ll be glad to have them out of the way, won’t you?”

Coltsfoot frowned, suspecting a slight on his bravery. “It’s all in the line of duty, ma’am,” he drawled.

“I’m sure it is,” said Elizabeth quickly. “I only meant that an outdoor man like yourself must feel cramped in that tiny tent, and we could get that box out of your way.”

“We’d be right where you could see us,” Milo put in. “Just under that tree over there, doing measurements. You can watch.”

“I don’t know…” Coltsfoot struck a pose, pretending to conjure up the regulations he had never seen.

“We’d like to go on with our work… as therapy for our grief,” said Elizabeth with a soulful look into the deputy’s eyes.

“Well, gee… I can relate to that. Okay, pack ’em up. I don’t see what harm it could do since the body’s gone.”

“I don’t see what those skull measurements have to do with Alex’s death,” Elizabeth whispered when they were out of earshot.

“Just a hunch,” murmured Milo, turning a skull upside down. “Did you have to say that bit about therapy for our grief?”

“I’m sorry, Milo. But it worked. It got you the skulls. Now what are you looking for?”

“Never mind,” said Milo, intent on his examination.

“You don’t think I killed him for criticizing my work?”

“Shhh! Keep your voice down. Anyway, he didn’t criticize your work, did he?”

“No,” Elizabeth admitted. “But you have only my word for that. Anyway, I’d be surprised if I did everything exactly right. I am new at it.”

“I don’t think that’s what Alex wanted to see me about,” Milo whispered. “He would have understood all that. Besides, I’m not checking measurements.”

Elizabeth looked at the way he was handling the skull, noticing for the first time that he had not picked up a measuring tool at all. “No, you aren’t,” she agreed. “What are you doing?”

Milo glanced furtively in the direction of the tent, but Coltsfoot was not watching them. “I’m looking for a ringer.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“A ringer. Now, you can’t mention this to anybody. Do you understand that? Especially not the sheriff’s department.”

“I promise, Milo.”

“All right. Don’t react when I tell you this. I think one of those skulls isn’t what it’s supposed to be. Alex must have noticed it.”