Read Terry Odell - Mapleton 02 - Deadly Bones for Free Online Page A

case? Off the record, of course.”
    Since they’d started seeing each other, Angie had managed to draw a line between her love for gossip and keeping her mouth shut when it pertained to Gordon’s work. They’d come to an understanding that if he said something was off the record, then it was.
    “It’s not a case, per se . Dog found a bone, and it turned out to be human. But it’s old. The deputy coroner said it’s from an adult. He estimated it’s been in the ground at least thirty years. I was digging through databases last night and came up empty, more or less.”
    “More or less? That would mean not totally empty, right?”
    He frowned. “Getting a list of cold cases with names of persons gone missing thirty years ago without any details doesn’t help. I didn’t find anything from around here. Until the forensics lab gives me more to go on, it’s a wild goose chase.”
    “Yet you’re going to investigate. Because you’re—I was going to say like a terrier with a bone, but that might not be appropriate here. Because you’re… you.”
    He exhaled. “It’s nagging at me. How did a human bone end up buried somewhere in Mapleton? I’m going to meet with the people who own the dogs that found the bone later this morning. Maybe they’ll be able to lead me to where the bone was found, so there’s a slim chance we’ll find others. If we have more to go on, we might be able to identify the person.”
    “You don’t think you’ll find more bones?” Angie asked. “You don’t think someone buried a body out in the woods?”
    “I don’t think anything.”
    “Oh, come on. You’ve got to be thinking about it. Wondering who the bone belonged to. If there are more.”
    “Of course I’m thinking about it. But without facts, the possibilities are endless. And it’s usually better to go into any investigation with no preconceived hypotheses. Otherwise, you end up making the facts fit your theory instead of going where they lead you.”
    “Makes sense when you put it that way.” Angie deftly rolled the dough into a fat log and sliced it into sections, which she laid out in a large pan.
    They were smaller than the ones he was used to seeing. “Mini-rolls?”
    Another smile. “No, they have to rise.” She covered them with a cloth and moved them to a rack. Her hips swayed as she walked. Damn if he wasn’t rising, too.
    “More coffee.” He refilled his mug from the urn out front. When he came back, Angie was standing by a mixer that looked like a super-size version of one his mother had. She appeared lost in thought. He set the mug on the counter and nuzzled her neck. “Quarter for your thoughts?”
    She flipped a switch and the machine whirred. “Nothing like that. Thinking about the bone. Trying to keep my senses open.”
    Gordon rolled his eyes.
    Angie hadn’t turned from the mixer. “And don’t think I don’t know you’re rolling your eyes, Chief. I can’t help it if I get these feelings.”
    Angie’s feelings . She claimed to know that things were going to happen. It didn’t seem to bother her that she was wrong most of the time. Knowing Gordon’s skepticism, she rarely mentioned them in front of him.
    “Not sure your—talents—are needed, since this is something that already happened.” Gordon kept his tone level.
    Angie tapped a spatula against the counter. “Either way, I’m allowed to ponder the possibilities. Wondering if I might have heard something about it.”
    “Thirty years ago, you were what, two? You wouldn’t remember stories of someone gone missing. And for all we know, it might have been fifty years ago. And even if we find more bones, that doesn’t mean the person died around here.”
    “You mean, someone might have brought the body here from somewhere else? That doesn’t make any sense.”
    “Does if they wanted to get rid of it as far away from home as possible.” He rested his hand on her shoulder. “That’s why there’s no point in thinking too much.