“All of a sudden, you seem anxious for them to get to work.” He shot her a glance from the side of his eye.
“It’s like a bandage. Peel it off all at once.” She jerked her thumb toward a food truck to the right. “I think this one has the chili Gran wants.”
They shuffled in line until they reached the window, and Sam ordered three cups of chili and some bottles of water. He grabbed a straw when he picked up the food, and on their way back to Gran, he and Jolene squeezed their way through the people gawking at the excavators gulping up the sand and spitting it out in big piles.
When they reached Granny Viv, Sam placed the chili in her hands and put the bottle of water with the straw sticking out of it on the empty chair next to her. “Watch out. It’s hot.”
A clap of thunder boomed in the distance as if to emphasize his precaution.
The chatter level seemed to rise with the echoes of the thunder, and a mass of people began to surge toward the build site, knocking over a few chairs in the process.
“What’s going on?” Jolene poked him in the back. “You’re tall. Can you see what’s happening? Something other than the thunder got all these people excited.”
“I’m not sure.” Sam peered above the bobbing heads. “A couple of the workmen are shouting and running toward the stage.”
“I hope nobody’s hurt.” Granny Viv held her spoon full of steaming chili suspended in the air, halfway to her mouth.
Sam placed his food next to the water on the chair. “I’ll check it out.”
“I’m coming with you.” Jolene added her bowl to the collection on the chair and hooked a finger in his belt loop. “Lead the way.”
If she were willing to follow him, he’d lead her wherever she wanted to go.
Sam plowed through the clutches of people, with Jolene right behind him. When he reached the stage, he grabbed Clay’s arm. “What’s going on, Clay?”
“Not sure.” He nodded toward the piles of sand and dirt. “The work crew found something, I think.”
Sam edged closer to a couple of guys throwing their arms around and talking a mile a minute.
One shouted in Wade’s face. “We have to stop. We have to stop.”
A flush rose to Wade’s cheeks. “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s nothing. Keep going.”
The driver of one of the excavators dug his work boots into the sand. “I won’t. I won’t continue.”
The other worker crossed himself and said, “Dios mio.”
Jolene called out, her voice rising above the din. “Wade, what’s wrong? What is it?”
Wade’s head whipped around, a scowl marring his smooth face. “It’s nothing. Nonsense.”
The mayor shook his head. “Well, I’ll be damned. Seems like the boys dug up some bones. We might’ve just stumbled on a graveyard.”
Chapter Three
Jolene folded her arms across her midsection. “Bones? Human bones?”
“That’s just it, Jolene, it could be anything, one of those extinct animals you care so much about.” Wade flicked his long fingers toward the two workmen. “Do these guys look like archaeologists to you?”
“Are you?” She slashed a hand through the air, figuratively trying to wipe the smirk from Wade’s face. “Watch your tone. They know what they saw.”
Sam whistled through his teeth and murmured in her ear. “That’s going to put a crimp in old Wade’s plans, isn’t it?”
She whispered. “He’s right. Those bones could belong to anything.”
“Or anyone.” Sam’s jaw tensed. “Didn’t the mayor mention a graveyard? More than one set of bones?”
“Whatever it was, it shook up the crew.” Jolene put a hand on Sam’s back as he made a quick turn. “Where are you going?”
“I figure Clay and I know a human bone when we see one.” He waved his arm in the air at Clay. “Hey, Clay!”
Clay joined them. “Did you hear that? They dug up some bones?”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Let’s go have a look. It doesn’t seem like anyone else wants to investigate.” He squeezed Jolene’s shoulder. “Wait here.”
“No way.” She strode after the two Border Patrol agents. “You don’t think I know animal bones when I see them? Ruling out is as important as identifying.”
Sam cranked his head over his shoulder. “I know better than to try to stop you from doing anything.”
He couldn’t stop her from loving him, either. But then, he hadn’t tried that hard.
The three of them trudged through the sand toward the heavy equipment, its jaws suspended in the air, wide open and frozen. They stopped at the edge of a hole in the ground and peered down into it.
Clay jabbed a finger toward the sand. “There. It’s a long bone. Looks like a femur.”
“Could be a coyote, a sheep.” Sam slapped at a big drop of rain that had fallen on the side of his neck.
Jolene’s gaze darted between the bones in the pit, and then she twisted her head over her shoulder and surveyed the ground to the side of the excavator. A smooth crescent protruded from the sand.
She broke away from Clay and Sam and wandered toward the pile of dirt the excavator had dumped after a few digs. Crouching down, she brushed the sand away from the white dome and called over her shoulder. “You think this is from a coyote, too?”
Both men strode toward her and peeked over her shoulder at the human skull next to the wheel of the excavator.
Clay got on his phone. “I’m calling Paradiso PD. They should have a car out here anyway, monitoring those protestors.”
“I’ll give Wade and Mayor Zamora the bad news. This construction has to stop now. This could be a crime scene.” Sam pivoted in the sand and scuffed toward the stage.
Jolene’s heart pounded, and she tugged on the back of his shirt. “Crime scene? What do you mean a crime scene?”
“Those bones could belong to a murder victim.” His eyebrows snapped over his nose. “You’re the one who found the skull. You know it doesn’t belong to an
