“Aw shucks,” Ryan retorted.
“Yeah, that’s too bad,” Cathy answered.
The group toiled under the hot sun for about four hours before taking a lunch break. They all went and sat under a shaded rock formation.
Jody turn to Caroline and asked, “Did the sheriff find out who killed that man the other day?”
“Not that I know of. He couldn’t talk about it yesterday when he told me that we could come back to the dig site today. He did give me a name of Marc Baker and Michael Seprino for the victim. Does that ring a bell with anyone?” Caroline asked as she took a drink of her water.
“Not to me.” Jody wrinkled her nose.
“Me either,” Eddie blurted out.
Cathy, Ryan, and John all shook their heads no as well.
Caroline then changed the topic of the conversation. “How is everyone doing on their dissertations?”
“I spend my ‘free’ time putting together the findings and results of the first dig I did last summer. I’ve got a lot of data to sort through, but I’m getting there,” Eddie answered.
Then John gave his report. “This is my third dig. I did one up in Canada, and the one before that I did in North Dakota. I hope I have enough information to start writing. The problem is that I ended up leaving the one in North Dakota before we were finished. If I don’t have enough information from that dig, then I’ll have to wait and do another dig next year to make up for it.” Caroline noted that John was the quiet one in the group. He was usually contemplative and could sometimes be intense when one communicated with him.
Caroline looked at Jody, who was the youngest of the group. She was a short, freckle-faced young woman with lots of enthusiasm. She said, “I’m doing my dissertation on the Cretaceous period. I’ve studied the Triceratops and the Velociraptor, and of course I am working now on what I hope is a Tyrannosaurus rex. I haven’t decided what I will do next year yet, but I have my papers written on the first two and I’m writing this part each night as I work it. I’m taking pictures and everything so I can have accurate records.”
After Jody finished her report, Cathy said, “I’ve got a ton of paperwork, pictures, data, and everything you can think of stacked from the floor almost to the ceiling of my apartment at home, and I’ve started one here in the corner of our room, but I haven’t started writing yet. I like to get the entire field and lab work done and then do the paperwork. I think I can do it as long as I label everything correctly along the way.”
Caroline observed how all the young men liked to hang around Cathy. She looked more like a beauty queen than a serious PhD student. Caroline also noted that she had taken more pictures at the dig site than anyone else in the group.
Ryan sat eating his sandwich for a few minutes then spoke. “I’m doing it pretty much the same way that Jody is doing it. I’m writing at least every other day, giving myself reports so I have it all done, and will probably combine the reports I’ve written when this dig is over with. I’ll then submit my dissertation and hopefully have my PhD.”
“I’m glad everyone seems to be on top of their thesis. If any of you need help with resources and stuff like that, let me know as I can grant you access to a large library database if you need it.”
“Okay, thank you,” Jody responded. And the rest said the same.
“Time to get back to work,” Caroline said, getting up to stretch and brush off the crumbs and dirt from her clothing. She put her work gloves back on and went to the area where she had been digging before, wondering where she had put her pick. Of all the tools she had, she used that one the most. She could have sworn she left it there at the site, thinking she’d be back the next day, but after searching this area and the second area, she hadn’t seen it.
She heard Ryan holler, “I think I found something!”
Everyone went over to Ryan to see what he’d found.
“Nice work, Ryan,” Caroline praised him. “It definitely looks like a femur bone. See how it’s rounded right here? It could very well be a T-rex’s femur. John, you and Cathy spread out over this way and start digging. See if we can get the tibia, tarsals, metatarsals, and phalanges. If we’re lucky, it will all be right here next to the femur bone.”
“Okay, let’s get digging, Cathy.”
“Yep,” Cathy responded excitedly.
After a few hours, John and Cathy both let out a “Yee-haw!” then called to Caroline, “Come and see this!”
Caroline made her way back up to site number two to see what they’d found.
“Oh yeah, we have the phalanges! So cool!” She was excited for the team, but secretly felt jealous. As she walked back and forth, helping the students, she didn’t get enough time to make her own discoveries. “Did you take pictures?”
“Yes,” they both said in unison.
Caroline stood back a few steps and looked at where the phalanges laid in comparison to where the femur laid.
“How’s that digging going over there, Ryan?” Caroline asked.
“It’s coming, I got a little more of the bone showing.”
“Based on what I’m seeing, this area here...” Caroline pointed and waved her hand out over the area between Ryan and John. “...is where the rest of the bones related to the leg should be. John, you continue to excavate the phalanges, moving to the left, and Cathy, why don’t you start a fresh dig here. Maybe you can find the tibia or tarsals.”
“Okay,” Cathy agreed happily.
* * * *
After a few days of uninterrupted work at the dig site, it got very hot and Caroline noticed that off in the distance it looked like rain. At four-thirty in the afternoon, Caroline stopped the dig for the day and the team covered everything with plastic, using large rocks to hold the plastic down.
While talking to the team, Caroline’s cellphone rang. She looked and saw that it was the sheriff’s office so she walked to the other side, out of earshot, to take the call. “Hello.”
“Caroline, it’s Rand. How are you doing?”
“Okay,” she said slowly, wondering why the heck he was calling her. Was there something about the body they found at the site?
“Are you doing anything for dinner tonight?”
Surprised, she hesitated for a minute. “No, I’m not.”
“Would you like to go to dinner with me in Cohagen?”
Caroline had enjoyed the previous dinner, despite her irritable mood. However, she didn’t know if she wanted to spend any more time with Rand. She searched for an excuse she could give him, she but couldn’t come up with one. She started fidgeting. “Oh, well, that might be nice I guess.”
“What time are you closing the dig tonight?” Rand asked.
“It’s looking like rain, so I’m closing it down now.”
“Okay, want me to pick you up about six o’clock?”
That would give her enough time to get to her room, take a quick shower, and put on some clean clothes. “Okay.”
* * * *
Rand answered his cellphone. “Callahan.”
“Hello, Rand. How is the investigation going in this murder case?” Lavina Davis asked.
“I’m still investigating. I’m waiting on evidence from the CSI,” he answered.
“Have you got any leads?” Lavina asked.
“Yes, I have leads,” Rand responded tersely.
“Tell me what you have thus far, Rand.”
Rand let out a sigh. “The victim died between the hours of ten and twelve, Monday night. His name is Marc Baker, also known as Michael Seprino in his previous life. He was part of the witness protection program—he was head of a drug smuggling operation with the mafia before he turned on them and testified against them in court. He lived in an apartment at the Big Sky apartment complex. There was a large pool of blood in the small bedroom of his apartment. There was also what looked like a blood trail on the carpet, indicating that the victim was dragged. The victim didn’t have ID on him nor could we find any in the apartment. A neighbor said he heard
fighting and a woman threatening to kill the victim. We found a business card with the name Caroline Priest on it in the apartment along with a couple of strands of what looked like human hair.”
“It sounds to me that you’ve enough for a warrant. I’ll get the judge to sign off. Who’s the perp?”
“Who do you think I should arrest, Lavina?” Rand asked tersely. “I don’t have any suspects yet.”
“Yes, you do. You just said you found a business card with the name Caroline Priest on it at the victim’s apartment.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s a suspect.”
“Quite the contrary. I think it’s good enough for a search warrant.” Lavina was starting to get irritated with Rand.
“Well, I don’t. We’re not ready yet. It’s all circumstantial and nothing has been proven yet.”
“Rand, the more you stall, the more likely the perp will get away.”
“I’d rather do the job right than to have it thrown out on a technicality. Sorry, Lavina, that’s the way it has to be.”
Lavina let out a sigh. “Don’t wait too long.”
Dane sent Diana over to the sheriff’s office with the phone records then Rand and Carlson sat down and went through them. There were numerous calls to South America. Rand called the number and asked, “What is this please? Uh-huh. Thank you.” He hung up. “Tobacco company, also known as drug cartel,” Rand said knowingly.
“There were calls made to a private airline in Florida, and to Venezuela. Did he get involved in drug trafficking again?” Carlson said.
“This actually poses more questions than it answers,” Rand mused as he looked over the pages.
* * * *
Rand knocked on Caroline’s door promptly at six o’clock. Off in the distance thunder rumbled and lightning flickered when Caroline opened the door and let him in. She looked him up and down. He wore a nice short-sleeved shirt, a pair of jeans, and dressy western boots. She felt an instant attraction to him, and her heart pounded as excitement began to build up inside her. She wondered what it would be like to go to bed with him again after all these years. All sorts of sensations went through her body as she thought about him naked, in bed with her. What is it about this man that makes me get all wildly excited?
They arrived at the Hickory Farm Family Restaurant in Cohagen, and walked in. People were sitting in the lounge area waiting to be seated. Rand gave the hostess his name and then he and Caroline sat down to wait. Caroline sat with her right leg crossed over her left leg. Rand sat next to her and his left fingers drummed absentmindedly on her crossed knee. He turned his head slightly toward her and spoke softly and quietly. “This place is supposed to have great food.”
“You never ate here before?” Caroline asked in surprise.
“Nope. It just opened a couple of months ago. How’s the dig coming?” Rand asked quietly in her ear.
“It’s going good. We found what looks like the femur bone, and we found the phalanges.”
“What’s that?” He looked at her with an eyebrow arched.
“Finger bones,” Caroline said, equally as quiet.
“Oh.”
Then Caroline asked Rand, “Have you found out anything more about the murder victim?”
“No.”
“That’s too bad. I think his family would want to know what happened to him. Do you think you’ll ever get this solved?”
“I hope so,” Rand answered quietly.
Finally the hostess called, “Callahan for two.”
Rand got up and reached for Caroline’s hand, and they followed the hostess to their table. The restaurant had a delightful ambiance and comfortable atmosphere.
As they looked over the menu, Rand asked, “Do you think you will get the dinosaur excavated yet this summer?”
“It depends on how much of it is there that we can excavate. Plus, it depends on how many days we actually have left to excavate. Having a dead body at my site certainly didn’t help time-wise.”
“No, and I’m sorry about that. There was really not much I could do. I had to follow the protocol.”
“Well, anyway, if it’s a full body, there would be the neck vertebrae, back vertebrae, hip vertebrae, and the tail vertebrae. For the tail vertebrae, there would be about forty caudal. With that, it would probably take another summer to complete the excavation,” she explained.
“So I could get you back here next summer, huh?” he asked smiling.
Caroline became enraptured by his dazzling display of straight, white teeth. She laughed. “Be careful what you ask for.”
Rand smiled. “I’ll have to come out and visit the site and see what you’ve got. I haven’t done any hiking and digging in years.”
Caroline reminded him, “You said the other day that you’d get bored with it.”
“Yeah, maybe so, but I still like to hike. Don’t you?”
“Yes, I like to hike too.”
The waitress came and took their drink orders, delivered them, then took their food order.
“I noticed we have wild fires coming our way. I hope they miss us,” Caroline remarked.
“I hope they get it put out soon. They called in the smoke jumpers, but so far, it’s still out of control. These dry storms don’t help any. We need some heavy rain to help put it out,” Rand said.
“You know, these wild fires are almost like a way of Montana life,” Caroline mused.
“Yeah, it sure seems like it sometimes.”
Changing the subject, Caroline asked, “Do you still like to hunt?”
He smiled at Caroline. “Yes, every winter I go out hunting for elk and deer.”
Caroline shook her head and said dryly, “You must have a house full of trophies.”
Rand laughed. “I have a few.”
“Mule deer come up near us while we’re digging. One of them keeps coming back.”
“A buck?” Rand asked.
“Yeah, he’s got a nice set of racks on him.”
“Hmm, maybe I need to come out and take him off your hands.” He had a thin smile.
“Oh, you just want to hunt it down.” Caroline chuckled.
After they ate dinner, Rand ordered a double chocolate lava cake to share. While they were eating the cake, he whispered little love nothings in her ear. “I love the way you look. You’re so beautiful.”
“Must be that aphrodisiac in the chocolate,” Caroline said.
“Naw, it all has to do with a beautiful woman sitting at my table.” Rand smiled seductively.
“Hmm, using flattery to have your way?” Caroline asked.
“Hey, anything that works,” Rand continued, smiling widely.
“You sure know how to flirt. Years of practice maybe?” She fidgeted nervously.
“Not really. It just seems to come naturally when I’m with you.” Rand reached over and ran his fingers like a feather up and down her arm, setting off tingling sensations along the way that she felt through her body. “Are you nervous?” he asked, noting her involuntary shiver.
“No.” She smiled slightly at him. She didn’t want him to know she was scared to death of any kind of a relationship with a man.
“Do you think maybe one Saturday or Sunday afternoon you’d like to go hiking with me at Fort Peck Lake?”
“I don’t know, Rand. I really don’t have the time to do stuff like that anymore.”
“I can remember a lot of fond memories up there,” Rand said wistfully.
“Yeah, I have some wonderful memories there too,” Caroline agreed.
Caroline’s stomach churned and she could feel the fear rising up in her as Rand flirted with her. She didn’t want this. She was too scared from her ex-husband. She knew that Rand was different and would never abuse anyone, but she wasn’t ready to trust again. She had to stop this from going any further.
Chapter 9
When they got back to the motel, Rand got out of the truck and came around to Caroline’s side as she stepped down from the door. They walked to the door of
her room, and she unlocked it and walked inside. Rand followed her in and quickly scanned the room. He closed the door behind him and pulled Caroline into his arms.
She reluctantly wrapped her arms around his waist. He put his hands on her shoulders and slowly, seductively, rubbed his hands softly up and down her back. She laid her head on his chest to drink in the faint, beautiful smell of his aftershave. Rand brought his hands up to cup her chin, then bent down to kiss her. His mouth covered hers hungrily, which sent new spirals of ecstasy through her. He showered kisses around her lips and along her jaw, finding that sensitive spot, then he nibbled at her earlobe for a few minutes before finally searing a path down her neck.
She let out a soft moan as she found herself responding to his kisses. She wanted to stop and pull away, but she had never been kissed like this, or felt such ecstasy as she did in his arms. He brought his hands slowly around to the front of her, took a half step back, and reached for the buttons on her blouse. His hands felt hot on her flesh as he undid each little button. Her heart hammered loudly, and she felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. She had to stop this, but how could she?
Suddenly a shrill ring startled the both of them and provided the escape she needed.
Rand reached for the cellphone clipped to his belt and flipped it open. “Callahan,” he barked into the phone. “Why do they want me to come?” he asked after listening for a few minutes. Rand let out a sigh and then replied, “All right, I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He snapped the phone shut. “I’m sorry, Caroline, there’s a domestic abuse case I have to attend to.”
“Okay.” Caroline looked away quietly. Even though she wanted what had happened between them to stop, she was disappointed when they were interrupted. She stepped back out of his arms and chewed her bottom lip. “Thanks for dinner, Rand,” Caroline said as she followed him to the door so she could lock it behind him.
The Last Dig Page 6
