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gullibility. It was nothing at all and she was overreacting. She pulled up her computer screen and got back to her e-mail.
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    T HE DOOR OPENED unexpectedly, and a tall, well-built man with a light olive complexion, short black hair and dark twinkling eyes stuck his head in. “Time to eat!” he said.
    She looked up from her computer screen, smiling at the deputy sheriff. “Hi, Drake. Marie said you were bringing lunch. Thanks!”
    â€œNo sweat. I get hungry, too, Miss Keller, and sometimes I have to eat on the run,” he drawled, moving into the office with two box lunches. “Which is why mine is still in the car. I’m on my way to a call now. I brought these for you and Marie.”She punched a button on her phone. “Marie, Drake’s here with food!”
    â€œI’ll be right there!” she called excitedly.
    â€œAt least somebody’s happy to see me, even if it’s just my cousin,” he said with mock disappointment. “You’re preoccupied.”
    â€œI am,” she agreed, closing down the computer program. She looked up worriedly. “I just had a call a couple of hours ago. Maybe he was a crank, or a crackpot. But he sounded scared.”
    Drake’s easy smile faded. He moved closer. “What was it about?”
    â€œHe said something about human skeletal remains that might date to the Neanderthal period being covered up by some contractor,” she said, boiling the conversation down to its basics. “He hung up abruptly. I tried to get his number, but he had it blocked.”
    â€œNeanderthal remains. Uh-huh,” he said mockingly.
    She smiled. She’d forgotten that he’d taken an Internet course on archaeology that had been offered through the museum.
    â€œI suppose it was just a joke,” she added.
    â€œSomebody hoping to graduate from high school. He’ll trip himself up, like that kid who wrote a bomb threat to his school on his father’s letterhead paper,” he added.She nodded. “Thanks for bringing the salads. It’s a long way to food from here,” she pointed out as she dug in her purse to pay him back.
    â€œI can’t get you to come out with me,” he commented on a sigh. “It’s the next best thing to have lunch here,” he added. “I’ve got to go.”
    Marie stuck her head in the door. “I’m starved! Thanks, Drake. You’re a sweetie, even if you are my cousin!”
    He cocked an eyebrow at her. “At least somebody thinks so,” he said morosely, with a speaking glance at Phoebe.
    â€œOh, she’s off men,” Marie told him chattily.
    He frowned. “Why?”
    Phoebe shot Marie a warning glance. She held up both hands, looking sheepish, and changed the subject.

CHAPTER THREE
    T HE NEXT MORNING , Phoebe heard sirens racing past her small cabin just as she woke up. She hoped there hadn’t been some terrible accident. The mountain roads were narrow and some were dangerous in this part of the area. They’d had flatland tourists go over guardrails occasionally. The drop was inevitably fatal.
    She dressed and grabbed a quick cup of coffee before she drove her old Ford to work. The museum parking lot was usually empty at that hour, except for her car and Marie’s. But a sheriff’s car was sitting at the entrance with the motor running.
    Frowning, she got out of her vehicle, shuffling her purse and briefcase. At the same time, Drake got out of the patrol car. But he wasn’t smiling, and he looked uneasy.
    â€œHi,” she greeted him. “What’s up?”
    He rested his hand on the butt of his service revolver in its holster as he approached her. “You said you talked to a man yesterday about some skeletal remains, right?”
    â€œRight,” she said slowly.
    â€œDid he give his name?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œCan you tell me anything about him?” he persisted somberly.
    She hesitated,