Миранда Джеймс - Digging Up The Dirt

“Except now we know that maybe it wasn’t,” Barbie said.

Dickce waggled her fingers in Barbie’s direction.

“Yes, that’s presuming a lot,” Barbie said in response. “But surely if Ashton Hall were built on a Native American site, they would have found evidence of it when they were building it.”

“But that was nearly two hundred years ago,” An’gel said. “At the time, if they had discovered anything, they might not have thought too much about it. They didn’t have a lot of respect for Native American culture in the early nineteenth century.”

“That’s true,” Dickce said.

Clementine brought in the fresh pot of coffee then, along with extra cups. She accepted their thanks and withdrew.

An’gel poured coffee for Reba and Martin first. Martin had been so quiet that Dickce had forgotten he was in the room. She noticed now that he had his phone out, and his gaze seemed focused on it, even as he accepted his coffee.

An’gel offered refills to Barbie and Lottie, but they declined. An’gel set down the carafe and leaned back in her chair.

“How long is it going to take before they decide who was buried there?” Barbie asked.

“Several weeks at least, if not two or three months,” Dickce said.

“Can’t they match up dental records?” Lottie asked. “I’ve heard of that, and surely it can’t be that hard.”

“If they have access to the records,” Barbie said, “it probably isn’t all that hard. But that was forty years ago. Who knows what could have happened to any dental records Callie might have had?”

“I hope it does turn out to be a Native American burial from centuries ago,” Reba said. “That would mean poor Callie might still be alive somewhere.”

“There ought to be one way to tell,” Lottie said. “Grave goods.”

Dickce stared blankly at Lottie for a moment. The she realized Lottie was right. Native Americans, from what she knew, did bury their dead with objects of different kinds.

“Did you see any grave goods?” Barbie asked.

An’gel answered. “No, all we saw were a few bones.”

Dickce had not mentioned the ring Endora found, and An’gel apparently wasn’t going to mention it either. Had the ring, however, been the grave goods buried with Callie? She shivered at the thought.

“They might have been looted by the Partridge that built Ashton Hall. So all they could have found was the bones.”

Dickce glanced toward the front window in surprise. Martin evidently was paying attention to the conversation, though she had assumed he was focused solely on his phone. After those two sentences, though, he turned back to the device.

“That’s an excellent point, darling,” Reba called out. “Thank you.” Martin did not appear to hear his mother, Dickce noted. Perhaps he’s used to tuning her out . They had an odd relationship, or so it seemed to Dickce. Martin acted more like a henpecked husband than he did a son, but he appeared content to let his mother run his life.

“We can speculate all we want among ourselves about those remains,” An’gel said. “But I think we should all be careful around Hadley and not bring them up unless he does.”

“Yes, it must be terribly upsetting to him,” Lottie said. “To think that your own brother might have killed his wife and buried her in the garden.”

“We’ll have to rally around him and give him all the support he needs.” Barbie assumed a doleful expression. “Poor Hadley.”

Dickce could picture it now. A steady stream of casseroles and various delicacies making their way to Ashton Hall, all borne there by women eager to offer solace to the master of the house. She permitted herself a brief smile. Hadley might actually enjoy the attention, unless he had changed dramatically in the past forty years.

“How did they find the bones in the first place?”

Once again Martin Dalrymple startled them all by speaking from his seat at the desk.

“An excellent question, darling,” Reba said. “Yes, just how did they find the remains? You never told us that part.”

“And how you came to be there when it happened,” Barbie added.

“I told you that already,” Dickce said. “Hadley asked us over to consult on the garden.”

“Hadley had pictures of the gardens from when his mother was still living, and he wanted us—well, me, actually—to help him identify plants. We were discussing roses, I believe, when Benjy came in with Peanut to tell us there was something Hadley needed to see right away.” An’gel glanced at Dickce.

“Yes, that’s right,” Dickce said. “We went out with Benjy to the side of the house where an old tree had come down. Hadley said the tree was dying, and the storm uprooted it. There, in the disturbed ground near it, was where we saw the remains.”

“They weren’t actually under the tree?” Barbie asked.

“No, I don’t believe so. They were in the ground near the trunk, however,” An’gel replied.

“Did Native Americans place burials beside trees? Do any of you know?” Barbie asked. “I think I’ll go to the library and look that up.” She stood. “Come on, Lottie, we don’t want to outstay our welcome.”

“Goodness, no,” Lottie said as she popped up from the sofa. “Thank you for the coffee and those delicious cookies, An’gel, Dickce.”

Nice words considering you showed up at the door without letting us know you were coming . Dickce smiled as she and An’gel rose to see their guests out. She saw An’gel look pointedly at Reba.

“Come along, Martin,” Reba said. “We’d better be going, too. I’m sure An’gel and Dickce have things to do.” She waited until Martin approached her and held out a hand to assist her before she rose from the sofa. “I’m sure we’ll all be talking more about this in the days to come.”

“No doubt,” Dickce murmured as she trailed behind the group headed for the front door, preceded by An’gel.

The moment the door closed behind the visitors, An’gel turned to Dickce. “Thank the Lord they’re gone. I couldn’t believe they all showed up on our doorstep like that without even calling first.”

“Curiosity is more powerful than good manners, I reckon.” Dickce shrugged. “They probably realized that if they had called first, we would have told them we were too busy.”

“We certainly would have,” An’gel said. “Now that they’re gone, I am moving ahead with my plan. I need to talk to Kanesha.”

Dickce was struck by a sudden thought. “I wonder why Arliss didn’t show up. Since the others did, I’m surprised she didn’t pop in, too.”

“Perhaps she hasn’t heard about the discovery at Ashton Hall,” An’gel said. “Nor the ghost at Sarinda’s place. Interesting that Barbie and Lottie didn’t bring that up after Reba arrived.”

“Reba didn’t exactly give them much chance,” Dickce said. “By then they were probably more interested in hearing about the remains and speculating on whose they are.”

“True,” An’gel said. “I wonder if the police have checked Sarinda’s house yet. Perhaps Kanesha will know. I’m going to call her right now.” She walked back into the parlor to use the phone.

Dickce stood where she was, lost in thought. An idea had occurred to her, and she wondered for a moment why neither she nor An’gel had thought of it before. While An’gel talked to Kanesha, Dickce went to look for Benjy. He was just the person to carry out her idea.

CHAPTER 16

An’gel debated whether to call Kanesha’s cell phone. She preferred not to unless there was an emergency, and she couldn’t justify wanting to poke her nose into the investigation as an emergency.

Instead she punched in the number for the sheriff’s department. “Good morning, this is An’gel Ducote. Could I speak to Chief Deputy Berry if she’s available?” She was put on hold for a moment, and then the receptionist came back on the line to inform her that the chief deputy was not available at the moment. An’gel declined to leave a message and ended the call.