Read A Rumor of Bones: A Lindsay Chamberlain Mystery for Free Online

down and took the
car phone out of its cradle. The turn-off to the site was
just ahead. She put down the phone and gripped the
wheel, then sped up until she came to the dirt road
that led to the site and turned off, creating a cloud of
dust in her wake. The car drove on by, staying on the
paved road. Lindsay breathed a sigh of relief.
    "Jerk!" she muttered to herself as she headed up
the road to the site.

    -epitaph on Shakespeare's tomb at Stratford
     

Chapter 3
    OH, DAMN," exclaimed Lindsay, sitting back on her
haunches and staring down into Burial 23.
    "Oh, no. What'd I do?" asked Jane.
    "I don't believe this."
    "What?"
    "Jane, don't tell anyone about this. Do you understand?"
    "Tell what? What are you talking about?"
    "If anyone comes over here, gently send them
away and don't say anything."
    "Don't say what?"
    "I'll be right back"
    Lindsay looked around the site for Frank and
finally spotted him in Structure 4, turning a large rock
over in his hands. She hurried over to the edge of the
structure, leaving Jane staring down into the pit.
    "I need to speak to you"
    He replaced the stone, rose, and, carefully stepping over artifacts, followed her to the edge of the site.

    "This is about Burial 23," she said in a low voice.
"It has a gold filling in its lower second molar."
    "Good God, Lindsay! How do you do these things?"
    "Me? It's not my fault."
    "I suppose we can't cover it back up.
    "I think it's classified as a dead body. We have to
report it to the sheriff."
    "Good thing you're so friendly with him."
    "I'll help Jane finish and get Derrick to photograph
the bones. Derrick and I can take them up, but we'll
have to talk to the sheriff and coroner first"
    "How long has it been in the ground? Can you tell?"
    "Not yet. Jane has only uncovered the upper half.
I'll have to wait until the bones are out of the ground.
When did gold fillings come into dentistry?"
    Frank shrugged. "I don't know. Well, we sure didn't
need this. And Ned will pitch a fit when he gets back
from whatever thing he had to do today. Damn!" He
hesitated a moment, then finally nodded. "Okay, I
suppose there's no choice. Go ahead and call the sheriff. We'll get Derrick to take the photographs after
everyone has left the site this afternoon. I hope this
doesn't get around. We'll have every sightseer and
ghoul in the county out here stomping around. Derrick!" he called.
    Derrick left the transit and walked over to them. His
hair was damp and pulled back in a pony tail. Sweat
made little trails through the dust covering his body,
and he wiped it from his brow with his forearm.
    "Damn! It's hot today. We could use a little rain.
What's up'?" Frank told him, and he winked at Lindsay. "Way to go."

    "Honestly, you guys, the way you talk you'd think
I killed someone, undressed their bones, and buried
them. You don't happen to know when gold fillings
came into use, do you?" she asked Derrick.
    Derrick thought for a moment, then to Lindsay's
surprise said, "The Italians used gold leaf for fillings
in the 1400s."
    "You're kidding," Lindsay and Frank exclaimed.
"That early?"
    "Amalgams with gold as a component didn't come
until much later," Derrick explained. "You don't think
the guy's a European, do you? Now that would be
interesting."
    "I guess we had better have a look," said Frank.
    The three of them casually walked over to the
burial. Jane greeted them with a wide grin.
    "I found what you were talking about"
    "Don't talk too loud," cautioned Frank.
    They stared down into the grave. The bones, similar in color to the soil, stood out in relief. The skeleton lay on its back with its jaws open wide as though
the person had gone to the grave screaming in
protest.
    Derrick took a dental pick from Jane, lay on his
stomach and leaned into the pit. Lindsay lay beside
him, took a brush, and cleaned dirt away from the
molar. Derrick carefully cleared around the filling
with the pick, then gently scraped it.
    Lindsay and Derrick