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the Civil War connection,’ Peake said. ‘Are there relics as well as bones?’
    ‘Give us time. We’re still digging.’ He made it sound as if he wielded a spade himself.
    ‘Now that you’ve found more bones, I’d better visit the site and see for myself.’
    ‘Be my guest.’
    ‘Mr Diamond, are you certain that the femur I was sent belonged to the skeleton you’re talking about?’
    ‘Put it this way, doc. It came from the same hole in the ground and the headless soldier is missing a thigh bone. Why?’
    ‘Because the first indications are that this bone is comparatively modern.’
    Diamond said nothing for several seconds. ‘What exactly do you mean by that?’
    ‘Not from the Civil War era. More recent. Say within the last twenty-five years.’
    ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘“Sure” isn’t a word much favoured in my profession. We prefer “probably” or “maybe”. There are too many variables. Going by the state of the bone I wouldn’t say it’s been buried more than a quarter of a century.’
    ‘Did you carbon date it?’
    ‘I hate to disillusion you, but radiocarbon dating isn’t of the slightest use for the short periods in forensic medicine. There was no indication that this bone is ancient.’
    ‘We’re not talking ancient , doc. A few centuries.’
    ‘Anything over fifty years is classed as ancient in my work.’
    ‘Ouch. You don’t have to get personal.’
    Peake didn’t get the joke. To be fair he hadn’t met Diamond to know he was over fifty. ‘These are the terms we use.’
    ‘What are your reasons?’
    ‘For saying the bone is modern? For one thing, the appearance. A modern bone has a smooth, soapy texture. And for another, the density. Bones a hundred years old or more are lighter in weight and tend to crumble.’
    ‘That’s observation. Have you done lab tests?’
    ‘On the femur? Indeed we have. The nitrogen content is a good indicator. It reduces with time. Typically, a bone three hundred and fifty years old contains a percentage of 2.5. Your femur came in at 4.3.’
    ‘Too much for a dead cavalier?’
    ‘Way too much. We also ran a fluorescence test. A modern bone will fluoresce under ultraviolet light, but an ancient one fades away to nothing. The femur gave a positive result, not the strongest, but fitting into the time frame I’m suggesting.’
    ‘Twenty-five years or less?’
    ‘Approximately.’
    ‘I don’t know whether to thank you or not. You’ve made me look a bloody fool, but on the other hand you’ve given me a mystery to work on. Shall we meet up at Lansdown this afternoon?’
    Later the same morning he went looking for John Wigfull and found him in a small office studying a computer screen. ‘Is this urgent?’ Wigfull said, his face with the big moustache rising above the screen like a surfacing walrus. ‘I’m at work on a press release.’
    ‘I didn’t think you were playing online poker,’ Diamond said. ‘Is it about the missing cavalier, by any chance.’
    ‘No, that went out yesterday.’
    ‘Any response?’
    ‘It’s early days. Peter, if you don’t mind, I’m in the middle of something. My time is precious.’
    ‘Mine is as precious as yours, old chum. I’m not here on a social call. How long is it since the re-enactment man dis -appeared?’
    ‘Rupert Hope? Over two weeks now.’ He frowned. ‘Why – have you heard something?’
    ‘It’s just a coincidence. I’m dealing with a buried skeleton found up at Lansdown. I thought he was a Civil War soldier – a real one – but I’m told the bones are modern.’
    ‘My man wouldn’t be bones already,’ Wigfull said. ‘Not in our climate.’
    ‘I worked that out for myself.’
    ‘So I don’t see why you’re bothering me. It can’t be Rupert Hope.’
    ‘This one is without a head.’
    ‘I wouldn’t attach too much importance to that. Ploughing of the land does it.’
    ‘Under a fallen oak tree? That ground hasn’t been ploughed in a thousand years.’
    ‘You think he