Forbidden Ground (Cold Creek #2)(20)
“His place had been ransacked when his wife was away. She has an alibi—more or less—so it must have been thieves.”
“I can’t believe you got yourself into that. Are you all right? Is it safe for you to be staying there alone at your sister’s place, with lunatics like that loose?”
“I’m not afraid to be out here.”
“Anyone you could stay with?”
“Carson, I haven’t lived here for years and I was young when I left, but I’ll be fine. It might have been a big happy time for my father to be back here seeing old friends, but not me, so I don’t have anywhere else to stay.”
“So how did that go—with your father?”
“Not that well—for me, anyway. I remember what he was like, though Tess and Char really don’t.”
“That’s my Kate. A mind like a steel trap.”
“But I’m sorry I didn’t ask about how your talk went. Things got so intense here—”
“Really? Have you convinced Grant Mason to let you excavate Mason Mound yet?”
“I’m working on it, but I can’t push. Besides, the murdered man was a good friend of his, and Grant recently had another personal setback.”
“That might make him more vulnerable.”
“You sound like you’re pushing me into his arms.”
“My darling, you’re the one who is desperate for links, so link away—within reason. I still think you and I could have a brilliant future. And proving the prehistoric Europe-America link could be our big break.”
They chatted about his talk at the Smithsonian. She realized it was so unlike him not to speak about himself first. But then, it wasn’t every day that a former research assistant and protégée of Dr. Carson Cantrell found a recently deceased corpse instead of an ancient one.
7
For once the floor of the Mason Lumber Mill was quiet. Grant stood on the metal stairs to his office so the staff gathered around could see and hear him. Yesterday, he’d shared details with Brad and Todd about what had happened to Paul and that it wasn’t clear if it was an accident, suicide—or even murder. Todd had taken the news badly and was very emotional; Brad was much more stoic. Grant knew people processed grief in their own ways. Their group of five friends was permanently splintered. Gabe, of course, would be back in two weeks, but Grant had decided to let him enjoy his honeymoon. He’d learn the terrible news about Paul soon enough.
“I know you’ve all heard what happened to Paul Kettering yesterday,” Grant told the gathered men and women. “It’s hit the news, and Deputy Miller tells me a reporter from the Chillicothe Gazette is asking questions around town. Since many of you knew Paul, I just wanted to say a word. He is a great loss to me, to us, to the wider community and, of course, to his wife, Nadine. It’s possible the reporter or others may be asking questions, and I’m aware rumors are floating around. Please refer questions to me, since I was one of the ones who discovered his body.”
Grant’s stomach cramped as he went on to explain that the funeral would be Wednesday or Thursday, as soon as the coroner released the body, and the mill would close so all could attend. As everyone returned to work, Grant realized he didn’t see Brad in the crowd. Brad had given him the idea he had been at the mill on Sunday afternoon, helping Todd with inventory since they’d been at the wedding most of Saturday. He’d mentioned that Todd had gone home for a couple of hours. But Grant had noticed this morning that not much of the inventory had been done. He’d inadvertently given Jace Miller alibis for Brad and Todd when he didn’t know enough about where they had been.
He tried to avoid heart-to-hearts with Brad since he was so touchy, but he’d better talk to him again about when Todd left and whether Brad was here the whole time. And he wouldn’t talk to them together. Grant knew Brad put Todd on edge, so he had to be sure his brother wasn’t trying to cleverly, carefully sabotage Todd to get his foreman job.
Lost in thought, he started up the stairs toward his office. Paul was desperate for money. Was he the second one in their once-youthful band of brothers who might have been desperate enough to sell his Adena artifact? It had really shaken Grant that Brad had threatened to do the same.
Gabe had been away that fateful weekend years ago when the other four boys crawled through the old entry to the mound. No way would Gabe approve of years of a cover-up, even if it had started as a youthful mistake. They’d never told him, especially since his dad was the sheriff then. Grant, as head of their pals and the older of the Mason boys, had had first choice of the awesome things they’d seen in the dim depths of the mound, under the timbered roof that held the earth above their heads. He had picked the weird antlered mask Kate had called the Beastmaster, one of the links she was evidently looking for. Brad, choosing next, had taken a large arrowhead, Todd an ax head and Paul the eagle pendant.
Cutting their fingers with the arrowhead and mingling their blood, they had sworn a secret pact to hide the objects and never tell another soul what they’d done. But Grant had been spooked about it ever since, fearing they’d robbed the dead. He’d read a book once about how the people who’d entered King Tut’s tomb in Egypt had been cursed for disturbing the dead and had died strange deaths themselves. And he’d never been able to forget that the bodies interred in Mason Mound, the ones evidently guarding the more decked-out corpses, all had their skulls smashed in—just like Paul.