LC 02 - Questionable Remains (6 page)

"Do you know what person? Was it the medical examiner? Did they show the bones to a forensic anthropologist?"
asked Lindsay.

"We don't know that," said Miles. "We were lucky to get
these photographs."

"Were you asked to identify any of his belongings?"

Miles nodded. "Yes. We went up to Tennessee, and they
showed the effects to us and Jennifer, his wife. They were
Ken's, without a doubt."

"You said they were found last month. When did they
disappear?"

"February 26 two years ago was the last day anybody
remembered seeing any of them," Miles said.

"It's been two very hard years," said Grace.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" asked Lindsay.

"Dean Howard, our sheriff, is a friend of Sheriff Duggan over at Merry Claymoore. Sheriff Duggan told him that you
are really good with bones."

Lindsay wanted to tell them that yes, she was pretty good
with bones, but she needed some bones to work with. Here
she had only pictures of bones, and they didn't show much.
Instead, she asked, "Why do you think someone murdered
your brother, Grace?"

"The insurance. He and his wife were partners in the
sporting goods store, and she had insurance on him for the
business, and she also had personal insurance on his life.
Since he died by accident, she got over a million dollars."

Lindsay raised her eyebrows. "That is a lot of money,
but-"

"Like Miles said, she was seeing somebody else while
they were married. I think he might have helped her," said
Grace.

"Do you know who she was seeing?" asked Lindsay.

Grace shook her head. "A friend saw them together. He
had dark hair, that's all I know."

"She is a businesswoman," said Lindsay. "The person she
was seen with may have been a client or a business associate."

"You don't kiss clients or business associates," Grace
Lambert said emphatically.

"All right," said Lindsay. "However, none of what you
have told me is evidence of murder."

"She got the money to open their sporting goods store
from insurance money when her first husband died," Grace
said.

"How did he die?" Lindsay asked.

"A heart attack," Grace answered.

"Was the death investigated?" Lindsay asked.

"Not that I know of," Grace replied.

"It could have been a heart attack," Lindsay told her
gently.

"Look," said Miles. "I know we haven't got much to go
on. We don't even have his bones. But we thought maybe they'd give information to you where they wouldn't to us."

"You just want me to have a look at the medical examiner's report?" Lindsay was still not sure what they wanted
her to do.

"Yes, and anything else you can find out." Grace looked
down at her hands and back up at Lindsay. "Maybe there's
something in the pictures. Maybe they took other pictures
they didn't show us. Maybe there's something you can find.
He was my brother, and I have to do all that I can."

Lindsay understood that. She had a brother, estranged
from their family, but he was her brother, and even if she
wasn't his favorite person, she loved him and was glad to
know that he was somewhere in the world.

"Tell me what county he died in, and I'll see what I can
discover."

Both Grace and Miles looked relieved.

It was almost ten when Lindsay went to the guest room
to get ready for bed. She was about to turn down the covers
when she heard a gentle tap-tap at the door and opened it.
Marilee was standing there in her nightgown.

"Hello, Marilee. Do you need something?"

Marilee came into the room. "Why is Mommy crying? Is
it for her brother?"

"Were you listening?" asked Lindsay. Of course she was,
Lindsay thought. When you're a kid, you make it a point to
listen to adult conversations. And a child as smart as
Marilee could understand a lot of what they talked about,
but she still had a five-year-old's fears and anxieties, and it
worried her when her mother cried.

Marilee nodded. "Are you going to look for him? Will
that make Mommy feel better?"

"I'll try to find out what happened to him," Lindsay said
as she carried Marilee back to her room.

"I hope you find something," said Marilee.

Lindsay tucked her in. "I can't promise anything. Sometimes a person just can't find the answer. But I'll try."

Lindsay awoke early to the confusing sound of a rooster
crowing and the aroma of bacon frying. She smiled as she
realized where she was and that today she would be starting, for sure, her long-needed vacation. She showered and
dressed, stripped the sheets from her bed, and folded them
to be put in the hamper before she carried her things to the
Rover. On the way back to the house she met Grace at the
door.

"I've made breakfast. We can't send you on your way on
an empty stomach."

The Lamberts' kitchen was a sunny farm kitchen: large,
bright, and shiny clean. Lindsay sat down to a meal of
bacon, eggs, fried apples, and biscuits. Miles and Marilee
were already at the table. Grace called for Joshua. He came
carrying something wrapped in a handkerchief and handed
it to Lindsay.

"Joshua, what is that?" asked Grace.

"That's what I want to find out."

Lindsay unwrapped the object. It was a rusty piece of
metal.

"Joshua, don't bring that dirty thing to the table," Grace
said.

"Where'd you get it?" Miles asked.

"I traded Marilee my tooth for it."

"Joshua!" Grace cried.

Marilee laughed.

"Well, you guys would only give me a dollar. Marilee had
a better deal."

Miles shook his head with a bemused smile.

During the conversation Lindsay had been examining the
object. "Joshua, I'm not sure, but I believe you have a fivehundred-year-old Spanish knife."

"What?" Marilee slapped her hand to her head.

Grace, who had been passing the food around the table,
stopped and looked over at the object again.

"Wow, really?" said Joshua.

"You're kidding," said Miles. "A five-hundred-year-old
Spanish knife? You can tell that from that chunk of rusty
metal?"

"I'm not sure, but I believe it may be. We know that expeditions of the Spanish conquistadores passed through this
general area, and I have seen similar objects recovered from
archaeological sites in Georgia. If you like, I'll have it
cleaned for you."

"You can make it like new?" asked Joshua.

"No, not like new, but it may clean up so that we can tell
more about it."

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Find a box for it, and I'll mail it to someone at the university."

"Well, I like the tooth," said Marilee.

Lindsay grinned at her. "It's a fine tooth."

"Do you think the knife belonged to the gentleman in our
field?" asked Grace.

"It might very well have," said Lindsay. "There is no real
way to know for sure."

"Well, we just have all kinds of interesting things on the
property," said Miles.

"Dr. Terry said it's a rare tooth," said Marilee.

"It is," said Lindsay, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, that's what he said about my back teeth," said
Joshua. "What did he mean?"

Lindsay wrapped the knife back up in the handkerchief.
"Your tooth has an extra cusp," she said as she went to the
kitchen sink to wash her hands. "Those are the lumps on the
tooth that help you chew food."

"Does that mean I chew better?" asked Joshua.

"Could be," said Lindsay, taking her seat again and helping herself to fried apples that Miles passed to her. "This is
good."

"Grace is an excellent cook," said Miles, smiling at his wife.

"My niece is coming over sometime this morning," said Grace. "I hope you're here to meet her. You'll like her. She's
the first one in our family to get a college degree. We're real
proud of her."

"She's a lawyer," said Joshua.

"She's dating the children's pediatrician," said Grace. "A
really nice young doctor in that new medical building with
Dr. Terry."

"He's Dr. Tim," said Marilee.

"Did someone mention my name?"

Lindsay looked over to see a handsome man in his midthirties, dark blond hair, athletic build, coming into the
kitchen carrying a bouquet of daisies and daffodils. "Kelley
will be here soon. She called and said she was leaving the
same time I did," he said, giving the flowers to Grace.

"How pretty," she said.

"Aren't they?" replied Dr. Tim. "I don't think Mrs.
Stevens will miss them from her garden, do you?"

"Oh, you ..." began Grace, cuffing him on the shoulder
as she rose and took the flowers to put them in a vase. "This
is Dr. Lindsay Chamberlain," said Grace. "Lindsay, this is
Dr. Timothy Scott. Lindsay is a bone specialist."

He reached across the table and shook Lindsay's hand,
then sat down between Miles and Joshua. "Bone specialist?"
he asked.

"Lindsay identifies bones," said Miles.

"Yeah, you won't believe what we found buried in the
field," said Joshua.

"What did you find?" he asked as he reached for a biscuit.

"An old skeleton of a Christian with spools in his ears,"
said Marilee.

Tim stopped in the middle of buttering his biscuit.

Joshua and Marilee giggled at the look on his face. No
one noticed the kitchen door opening until they heard the
voice.

"What are you doing here?" The statement was not loud, but it was severe enough that everyone stopped and looked.

Lindsay was surprised to see Denny Ferguson's cocounsel standing in the Lamberts' kitchen glaring at her.

"Kelley," said Grace. "What's wrong, dear? This is Dr.
Lindsay Chamberlain. She's our guest."

"We've met," said Lindsay. "Miss Banks and I were on
opposite sides of a recent court case."

"Oh." Grace smiled. "I guess that would happen in your
lines of work. Lindsay came here to identify some bones
for us."

Kelley looked sharply at her aunt. "Excuse me?"

"Yeah," said Joshua. "Dad was plowing and found some
bones in the field. The sheriff called Dr. Chamberlain."

"What was it?" Kelley asked.

Dr. Tim nodded to her. "Marilee just explained to me it
was a Christian with spools in his ears. I'm waiting to find
out what that means. Sit down and pull up a biscuit and let
them tell us." Tim looked at Lindsay. "Well, bone doctor?"

Miles moved his chair and Kelley sat down beside Tim
and gave Lindsay her attention. Her eyes sparked with
antagonism as Lindsay explained about the skeleton and
the Mississippian earspools.

"I found the other one," said Marilee.

"And the poor fellow was holding a rosary," added
Grace.

"A rosary?" said Tim.

"That's how it appears," said Lindsay. "The bones and
artifacts have to be examined in the laboratory to be sure."

"I'm surprised you couldn't tell at a glance," said Kelley.

"She pretty nearly did," said Miles, oblivious to Kelley's
sarcasm.

Lindsay could see that there was a good chance things
were about to go downhill from here. She folded her napkin
and rose. "I had better be on my way. I want to thank you
for the hospitality you've shown me."

"We enjoyed it," said Grace.

"Yes," agreed Miles. "It has been a bit of excitement for
us."

"Let me get a box for the knife," said Joshua, jumping up
from the table.

Lindsay shook hands with Grace and Miles and said
good-bye to Marilee, who wanted to shake her hand, too.

"Come back and see us. Won't you?" said Marilee.

"I'll tell you what," said Lindsay. "I'll return the knife
personally when it is cleaned and analyzed."

Lindsay went out to the Rover to wait for the package.
She was followed shortly by Kelley Banks.

"What's this Uncle Miles is telling me about your investigating my Uncle Ken's death?" she said.

"Grace and Miles asked me to look into it for them,"
Lindsay told her.

"Aunt Grace is having a difficult time with Uncle Ken's
death. I don't want you dragging it out for her."

"What are you talking about?" asked Lindsay.

"Aunt Grace just can't accept his death. She has some
notion that Aunt Jennifer had something to do with it. It's part
of her grief. She needs to get over it, not have you feeding it.
Aunt Grace has been through a lot. She doesn't need this."

"I take it you don't think Ken's wife had anything to do
with his death?"

"No, I don't. Jennifer isn't the nicest of people, but she's
not a murderer."

"Why are you so hostile? Are you like this with every
expert witness every time you lose a case?"

Kelley narrowed her eyes. "I've never had an expert witness refuse to admit that there was room for doubt, when
there so clearly was. You went beyond stubborn, to criminal, and I'm taking steps to have you sanctioned by the
courts."

"I couldn't express doubts I didn't have."

"No doubts? You had-what-a ten-second glimpse of
his mouth? Denny's a troubled kid, an easy target when someone is throwing blame around. You didn't know for
sure it was him, but because you're labeled a so-called
expert, they believed you. You know that you need more
corroborating evidence to make a positive ID."

"I said this at the trial, but I'll say it again. Denny
Ferguson's lower incisors overlap in front, his lower left second premolar has a pronounced lingual lean. He was missing his right second mandibular molar and his upper
incisors both had a mesial chip that made a V-shape in front.
Even if he had a twin with the same occlusal pattern, his
twin wouldn't have broken his teeth in the same way.
Denny Ferguson has a distinctive tooth pattern that is
unique to him that I recognized and could reproduce in a
drawing. It was that drawing that both Albert Kim and the
policeman recognized. I think you have a deep misunderstanding about identification. Take all the steps you want.
You'll only look like a fool."