David Wolf series Box Set 2

by Jeff Carson

  He nodded.

  She shrugged and looked away. “I haven’t noticed. Why?”

  He stared at the back of her head until she turned around.

  “Are you telling me the truth?”

  “Am I telling you the truth? Geez. I mean, I have a pair. Why? Why are you asking?”

  Resigned, he walked back to the driver’s-side door.

  They got in and Wolf eyed Jet in the rear-view mirror. “You got that out of your system now?”

  Jet barked and looked out his window again.

  “All right, that’s enough.” He put the truck in drive and the tires spat dirt.

  A few seconds later they were at the top of the plateau, and looking at the flat expanse he’d seen earlier from the visitor center, but from a different angle. Off to his left he could see the gleaming windows of the structure far away, and the shining red mountain of rock that butted up to its rear. Further down the two-track in front of them, Boydell and Shumway had parked their trucks next to a red one, and they were milling around a complex of tents and tarps with a man and a woman.

  “So, Levi camps all the way down here and walks to the dig? Do you know why that is?” Wolf asked.

  She laughed, like Wolf had asked the funniest question in history. “He probably can’t sleep with all the sex noises coming from the other tent.”

  He raised his eyebrows.

  She stopped laughing and looked at him. “A guy named Dr. Mathis heads up this dig, and the other student besides Levi is a girl named Karen. Dr. Mathis and Karen think they’re keeping it secret, but they’re clearly screwing. So Levi gives them their space. Although now that I think about it, even if they weren’t screwing, Levi would probably be camping back there. He’s kind of a loner.”

  “And you’re friends with Levi, too?”

  She looked out the window. “Yeah, I guess. We’ve gotten to know each other.”

  A few minutes later of relatively smooth driving over the flat terrain, Wolf and Megan approached the camp. Outside, Shumway stopped in mid-sentence with Boydell and shielded his eyes. His facial expression showed he’d just realized his daughter was in the car with Wolf, and he was none too happy about it.

  “Stop here. Wait,” Megan said. “Wait, wait, wait …”

  Wolf stopped the car.

  Before he could ask why, he pressed himself back into his seat as Megan leaned over him and out his window.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he asked.

  “Hey, sister!” Megan shouted out the window. “Long time no see!”

  The woman Wolf assumed was Karen paused in mid-sentence and waved.

  “When did you get back?” Megan asked.

  Sheriff Shumway stood next to Karen, his head tilted, his eyes wide and locked on Wolf’s.

  Megan and Karen chatted for another few moments, and then Megan drew a hand down into the cab and planted it squarely in Wolf’s crotch as she launched back into her seat. Without a word, she opened the door, jumped out, and slammed it. With a happy jog, she ran around the front of the SUV and went to embrace her friend.

  Wolf sat still for a second, then let his foot off the gas and pulled alongside the other trucks.

  A few seconds later, Wolf had Jet out from the back seat and they were walking toward the camp—Wolf pointedly ignoring Shumway’s red-faced glare.

  With the commotion, he almost forgot his duty. He stopped and turned around, and went back to study the trucks.

  Bradley Boydell’s BLM truck had the Goodyear P265/70R17s, and so did the red truck with civilian Utah plates, which, since they’d passed Levi’s truck, by process of elimination would have to be either Mathis’s or Karen’s.

  Add Sheriff Shumway’s tires, which also matched, and the whole tread piece of evidence seemed less useful by the second. But, as Wolf knew, that’s how the truth lulled you to sleep—by hiding in a sea of anonymity.

  Chapter 18

  “Hello, I’m Detective Wolf.” Wolf held out his hand to the man standing next to Shumway.

  “I’m Dr. Mathis.”

  The short man stepped forward and pumped Wolf’s hand with a firm, rough grip. He wore Birkenstock sandals with dusty white socks, cargo shorts and a T-shirt that had a picture of a dinosaur with glasses and The Saurus Knows All The Words written underneath.

  “Welcome to Dig 1, as they call us.”

  “I’m Karen.” A bright-eyed woman stepped away from Megan with an outstretched arm.

  Wolf took in her slender hand, which was callused and dusty. She was a couple of inches taller than Mathis, a comparison Wolf made only because of Megan letting him in on the “secret.” Karen wore jeans shorts that displayed thick tanned legs. A mesh, wide-brimmed hat sat on her head of short black hair, shading a smile that was bright and pleasant.

  “And where’s your other grad student?” Wolf asked. “Levi Joseph?”

  Mathis and Karen looked at one another. “Beats us. Been gone all morning. Heck, he was gone all day yesterday too.”

  “Without taking his truck?” Shumway asked.

  “Sometimes he takes long hikes,” Karen said with a shrug.

  Mathis looked skeptical. “Yes, but he usually tells us when he goes on his little treks. He brags about them first, talks about the route for days, then shows us the map in case he doesn’t come back.” He waved a hand. “Sorry, we’ve just been discussing it. He kind of up and disappeared on us this weekend.”

  Shumway glared at Boydell. “You haven’t seen him?”

  Boydell shook his head.

  Shumway put his hands on his hips and shook his head. Then he gave his daughter a sidelong glance.

  There was real urgency in Shumway’s tone.

  “Should we be putting out a search party?” Wolf asked.

  “Oh my,” Karen gasped.

  Shumway peered down the two-track toward Levi’s camp, which was out of sight over the edge of the plateau. “No, but keep us posted if he doesn’t show himself.”

  They stood mute for a few seconds, and then Wolf cleared his throat.

  “I’m not sure what Sheriff Shumway has told you two yet, but he and I are conducting an investigation and we have some questions.”

  “Yes, he told us. What’s it about?” Mathis asked. “What kind?”

  “I can’t discuss the particulars.”

  Mathis gave a skeptical frown. “Well then we can’t answer any questions you might have. I’m sure you understand, Detective. I don’t want to implicate myself in anything. So I’m going to respectfully decline speaking to either of you. And I advise Karen to do the same.”

  Karen looked dumbfounded.

  Mathis folded his arms and pretended that everyone around him had vanished.

  “We’ve had a homicide,” Wolf said. “A fossil dealer in Rocky Points was shot twice and killed.”

  Megan gasped, then put her hand over her mouth.

  Karen blinked rapidly.

  “Wow. A murder in Colorado?” Mathis unfolded his arms and pulled his eyebrows together. “So why are you here?”

  Wolf nodded toward the centerpiece of the camp, which was a wide, shallow hole in the ground. “Could I see your dig?”

  “Yes, sure.” Mathis looked at him suspiciously for a moment, then led the way and waved them to follow.

  They stopped at the edge of the hole. Inside the opening, a grid of string bounced on the breeze. Underneath it, digging tools were strewn near exposed fossils.

  “What are we looking at here?” Wolf asked.

  Mathis’s face lit up. “It’s really quite a find. An ornithopod from the late Cretaceous. A hadrosaur.”

  Wolf made a show of not knowing what the heck he was talking about.

  “An iguanodon?”

  “Yeah, okay. I remember those,” Wolf said, referring to memories from his own childhood dinosaur phase.

  “The hadrosaurs were prolific in the late Jurassic through the Cretaceous. In the Jurassic they were small, and then,” he paused for effect as he sto
pped at the edge of the hole and spread his arms, “they grew into giants, like these.”

  Shumway leaned over and squinted, looking unimpressed.

  The pieces of bone were a jumbled mass that was hard to put into context in the mind’s eye.

  Boydell kicked at a rock.

  Mathis eyed them all in turn. “Well, you’d have to see the GPR readouts to really get a sense of it.”

  “GPR?” Wolf asked.

  “Ground-penetrating radar.”

  “Ah.”

  Mathis looked dejected, like he was surrounded by three-year-olds.

  They were standing in fine dirt, and Wolf took the opportunity to study shoes. None of the prints they were leaving matched the crime scene at Rocky Points. Mathis’s sandals didn’t match. Megan’s and Karen’s feet were way too small. Boydell’s feet were average size, about a ten, but the imprints of his well-worn boots didn’t fit either of the patterns at the scene.

  And Shumway’s? They were about the same size as Boydell’s, but the tread was deep and jagged, not the same pattern either. Wolf had the circles, squares, and rectangles of the killer’s shoe sole memorized, and none of these matched.

  He realized they were stuck in silence once again. “Do any of you own a pair of Converse All Star shoes?”

  Megan raised her hand.

  “That’s quite a change of subject,” Mathis said.

  Wolf shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

  “Not me.” Mathis looked at his own feet, “I just stick to my good ol’ Birks. These students, though, they wear that kind of stuff. Used to be popular in the eighties, and now they’re all the rave again.”

  “Steven has a pair,” Karen said.

  Wolf looked at her.

  “Purple ones. Can’t miss him when he’s got those things on.”

  Wolf and Shumway exchanged a glance.

  “We’re talking about Steven Kennedy?” Wolf asked. “Down at Dig 2?”

  Karen nodded. “Yep.”

  Megan avoided eye contact with Wolf. He noticed her face turning red.

  “Did Steven kill a fossil dealer?” Mathis asked. There was a hint of amusement in his eyes.

  Wolf gestured to the bones in the ground. “Were these predators? Or plant eaters?”

  “Ha!” Mathis leaned his head back. “The subject changes once again. Yes, it’s an herbivore. Did Steven Kennedy kill someone? I think we have a right to know, him being so close.”

  “We’re not sure who killed the fossil dealer at this point.”

  They stood in silence.

  “How often do you two visit Professor Green’s dig?” Wolf asked.

  Mathis and Karen looked at each other.

  “Last time we saw it was last year.”

  “Early last year,” Karen said.

  “When Green and his students used to be more social,” Mathis said.

  “Yeah,” Karen said. “Now we all call them the hermits.”

  “And why’s that?” Wolf asked.

  “Professor Green’s made it clear he doesn’t want anyone near his dig.” Mathis stepped around the pit. “It’s like he’s protecting some art masterpiece he isn’t ready to unveil to the world yet.”

  Wolf frowned. “Can’t you just go down there?”

  Mathis shrugged. “Done that a couple of times. Trying to sneak a peek. But the last time I went, they had it all covered up. Told me point blank to get back to my own dig. He did pretty much the same thing the first time I went down. And when I asked him about it he just flat told me to leave. I said fine. No sense dealing with crazy people.”

  “So you haven’t seen the dig at all?” Wolf asked.

  “Yeah, at the beginning, but not recently, though, no.”

  “So you have no idea how far along they are with their specimen?” Wolf asked.

  “No.”

  “You and Professor Green both work at the University of Utah, correct?” Wolf asked.

  “Yes.”

  “We’ve gathered that Dr. Talbot is Professor Green’s boss … is he your boss, too?”

  “Yes, he’s the head of the paleontology department.”

  Wolf nodded. “That is odd, you being part of the same university and all. I would think the two teams would be on the same side.”

  “You’re telling me.” Mathis leaned forward and stepped into the pit by accident.

  “Why do you think they’re acting the way they are?” Wolf asked.

  “Internal politics that we don’t know about,” Karen said. “Gotta be. Green’s vying for a job, doesn’t want to share any credit. That, and he’s straight crazy.”

  “Pssh.” Mathis waved a hand. “We both have tenure and the guy is most definitely not looking for more responsibility, believe me. The guy doesn’t even read half the papers he makes his students write. If anything, he wants less responsibility.”

  Karen made a sour face and glared at Mathis.

  Mathis shook his head. “Anyway, politics wouldn’t make sense. That’s not how things work.”

  “When Dr. Talbot came a month ago for his ‘surprise’ visit, they drove away together,” Karen said. “Went to lunch or something. Remember that? I’m telling you, Green’s looking for some sort of promotion or something. Maybe it has to do with—”

  Shumway cleared his throat. “If we could maybe get back on track here?”

  “Dr. Talbot came in a month ago to check the dig?” Wolf asked.

  “He does that from time to time,” Mathis said with another wave of his hand. “Comes down and checks our progress, updates for his report to the board of regents. Peels his butt off his desk chair and makes the obligatory rounds.”

  Twisting on his heels, Wolf gazed back toward the two-track road that ran on a straight line across the plateau. “Have you seen Professor Green or any of his dig members drive a moving truck through here recently?”

  Mathis looked confused.

  “A UrMover truck,” Shumway said. “Like a rental truck you use to move from one house to the next.”

  “You just drove up that road. You think one of those could get up here?” Mathis chuckled.

  Shumway looked nonplussed. “So is that a no?”

  “Yes, that’s a no.”

  Karen shook her head. “I haven’t seen anything like that.”

  “So, Professor Green is secretive. What about the other three students of his dig team? What do they act like?” Wolf asked.

  Karen and Megan glanced at one another.

  “They’re all right,” Karen said. “They’re definitely friendlier than Professor Green. At least Mo will come up and have a beer or two. We’re kind of friends.”

  “Mo. Meaning, Molly Waters?” Wolf asked.

  “Yeah. She goes by Mo.”

  “She’s a lesbian,” Mathis said.

  Karen looked horrified. “So what, Ted?”

  “What? I’m just saying. She is.”

  “And what does she say about the dig when she comes up from her camp?” Wolf asked.

  Karen peeled her death stare away from Mathis. “Not much.”

  “She keeps her lips as tight as Professor Green,” Mathis said. He ticked off three fingers. “Steve, Felicia, Mo, they’re all just like Green. The whole team’s the same. They’re all hiding something down there.”

  Like an empty hole, Wolf thought.

  “Did you see Professor Green leave past here on Saturday afternoon at all?” Wolf asked.

  “Yeah,” said Karen. “I do remember him leaving. It was like noonish. I think Felicia was with him, and Steven followed them in his truck.”

  “And not Mo?” Wolf asked.

  “No. They always keep someone there to keep guard,” Mathis said. “Someone at the camp to make sure we don’t snoop.”

  “And this was at noon?” Wolf asked.

  “Yep. Right around noon.”

  “Did you see them return?”

  They both pondered.

  “Steven’s truck came back,” Mathis said. “Not Prof
essor Green’s.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Karen said to Mathis. “You’re right.”

  “Do you remember who was in Steven’s truck when he came back?”

  “Felicia,” Mathis said. “It was Steven and Felicia.”

  Karen agreed and glanced at Megan once again.

  “So, no Professor Green,” Shumway said, his eyes narrowing.

  “Yeah. That’s right. No Professor Green.” Mathis eyed Shumway, and then Wolf. “Why?”

  “And what time was this they returned?” Shumway asked.

  “A few hours later, I guess. We were sitting here grilling, so must have been like four?”

  “So at noon they left,” Wolf said, “and they came back at four. Four hours.”

  Karen nodded.

  Shumway had his head leaned back, eyeing Wolf.

  Mathis looked between them. “What? Why?”

  “Like I said, Dr. Mathis, I really can’t discuss the particulars,” Wolf said.

  Mathis rolled his eyes and folded his arms.

  “Is this road the only way in and out of here for Dig 2?” Wolf asked, this time addressing the whole group.

  “Yep,” Karen said.

  Mathis silently agreed.

  “Technically, no.” Boydell raised a finger. “It’s a little rough but you can keep following the wash along the bottom of the plateau. You don’t have to climb up here.”

  Wolf nodded. “Was there any other vehicle traffic past here Saturday?”

  They shook their heads.

  “And how about the rest of the weekend? Sunday?”

  Karen shrugged. “Just the two deputies last night, and Mr. Boydell with them.”

  Boydell nodded. “I escorted them in.”

  Wolf looked at Mathis and Karen. “And what were you two doing Saturday night?”

  Mathis raised a finger and shook it. “Now, wait a minute. Do we need a lawyer now? What is this? Are you saying we’re involved?”

  Shumway held up both hands. “Dr. Mathis, Detective Wolf is just covering every base. It’s within your rights to not answer, but—”

  “We were here all night. I thought that much was clear,” Mathis said.

  Karen nodded so hard her hat threatened to fall off.

  They looked like they were telling the truth.

  “And so it’s clear now,” Wolf said. “Thank you. You two have been a real help.”