Forbidden Ground (Cold Creek #2)(23)

He had to grin, the first time in a couple of days, at least. “Yeah,” he said, “sadly so. And I’m thinking the reporter the Chillicothe paper is sending out will be here any minute to cover that as well as Paul’s death.”

“Any more news from Jace Miller about cause of death?”

“Only that he has to consider it suspicious until he can prove otherwise.”

“I didn’t come about that,” she said. “I hate to ask you this when things are so crazy but—”

“Come on up to my office. Noisy in here again, so I hope it drowns out their chanting.”

“The protesters were chanting?”

“Yeah, as I started out to talk to them. ‘Green Tree says no cut trees! Green Tree says no cut trees!’ Are you okay?”

“Two things,” she said as they walked into his office. “First, I was measuring the mound out by the falls, the one near Cold Creek. Where it caved in on top years ago, I spotted a shiny gold star—kind of like an old Western sheriff’s badge, come to think of it. Gabe or Jace don’t wear anything like that, do they?”

“Used to, I think. Didn’t Jace have one on yesterday? Did you bring it with you?”

“I was scared to step out where it is, because of the depression, the old cave-in. Grant, can I go up on the top of your mound just to be sure there’s nothing like that there? Ohio has had cases where vandals tried to put something into the mounds as well as take something out—and they went to jail for it.”

“Whoa! Slow down. I’ve been up on top of Mason Mound from time to time and looked at it for years from the tree house. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“But the star looks shiny—new.”

“Our whole mound is pretty overgrown. But if I go with you, okay. So what else did you want to say?”

“I should have mentioned it to you earlier—and to Deputy Miller when he interviewed me yesterday,” she said. “It was something I overheard, and I think that’s hearsay anyway, so—”

“Something about Paul?”

She nodded. He didn’t like the fact Ms. Calm finally looked nervous. “What?” he prompted.

“During my father’s toast to Tess and Gabe at the reception, I stepped out onto the lodge veranda and overheard Paul and Todd arguing.”

“Really arguing or just discussing something? They’ve been friends for years and neither of them has much of a temper.”

“I’m sure they were arguing.”

His gut twisted tighter. “Over what?”

“Over Paul being short of money, which we both know about—and, of course, Deputy Miller does now, too.”

“And?”

“Paul was threatening to sell something, and Todd was really upset about it.”

Grant feared he knew what they’d argued about—maybe the same thing he and Brad had.

“So,” he said, quietly. “That’s it?” He was suddenly aware of choosing his words carefully. Kate was so bright and perceptive, and gung ho on getting not only on top of but also inside of Mason Mound. He should distance himself from her right now, put her off somehow. His temptation wasn’t to sell his Adena artifact, but to keep Kate close yet keep her from realizing what vandals he and his friends had been years ago. Somehow he had to distract her—give her something but get her off on another tack. He’d held back information from Jace Miller, too, that Paul’s house could have been ransacked by someone looking for his Adena pendant—if he’d told anyone about it—or if Brad had blabbed. For sure, he’d have to talk to his brother again.

“Grant, should I have told the deputy? Or should I still? I don’t want him to think I’m saying he should look at Todd for being the one who came to Paul’s house, especially not to continue their quarrel.”

“I’m sure Todd has an alibi. He and Brad were doing inventory here, and Todd only briefly went home.”

She nodded, but he could see—almost hear—her quick brain clicking through the information—and maybe noting the nerves that showed up in his voice. But, thanks to Green Tree and Lacey, he had an excuse for that right now.

“Tell you what,” he said. “Let’s take a look at the top of Mason Mound during my lunch break today. It’s almost time. Wait here for a few minutes while I check some things down on the cutting floor, okay?”

“Sure. Great,” she said, looking surprised but pleased.

He hoped it would be great, but it sure didn’t seem to be his day.





8

Grant fixed them a quick lunch in his kitchen—peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches with soft drinks—but Kate was almost too excited to eat. She could see the top of the mound out the window now that the big maple was gone and that, combined with Grant’s presence, really made her edgy.

Grant got up to take their dishes to the counter. “We’ll just take a quick look on top of the mound,” he said. “The grass is high there and things have grown up over the years. We used to roll down it as kids, screaming like savages, until Dad and Grandpa made all of us show more respect.”

“For the dead. ‘Let the dead stay dead,’ your father said.”

“Right, even though I’ll bet the bodies would be totally gone by now.”