Both victims had been buried on battlefields.Faith didn’t know if that was significant yet, or if the killer just looked for archaeological digs, but in the words of one famous sage, “there ain’t no such thing as a coincidence.”
“Do you guys often leave the dig site unattended and drive back to Yale for meetings?”Michael asked.
“We don’t always go back to Yale,” Raymond replied, “but the dig site isn’t always watched.I tried instituting a rotating watch, but park management didn’t like us here overnight.”
“So it’s empty every night.”Another parallel to the previous murder.
“Yes.That’s actually why I was at Yale today.I was asking for a few thousand dollars to put up a chain-link fence and some barbed wire.You’d think that’s a worthwhile investment considering the importance of this find, but the administration is so tight-fisted these days.I offered to pay with my own money, but they freaked out about that.If people start using their own money for things, the University is going to get audited, and they don’t want that.”
“Who knows about the dig?”Faith asked.“Besides your team, of course.”
“Well, we’re not keeping it a secret.We’re not advertising it, but we’re not hiding it, either.That being said, I guess I have to admit that this just doesn’t interest a lot of people.I really don’t understand that.I mean, this is American history!Thestartof American history!”
“Other than your team, who could you say for sure knows about this dig and the exact location of the dig site?”Faith specified.
“I can make you guys a list when I get back to my hotel room.I can’t promise to get every name on there, but I know the people who were most curious.”
“Any of them from any other university?”
“Yeah, a few.”
“New York State University, perhaps?”
“Or people from your school who visit New York State,” Faith added.
“I’ll have to doublecheck,” Raymond replied.He gave them a sheepish grin.“Sorry.I didn’t really know what I was supposed to prepare for.”
“That’s all right,” Faith said.“Is there a reason you took your entire team back to Yale with you instead of leaving a few of the students behind to keep things moving?”
Raymond shifted his feet uncomfortably.“Well… they’re not very experienced yet.Part of not having a budget is that I couldn’t hire an assistant lead researcher.The students aren’t getting paid for their help.I feel like an asshole saying it, but I’m getting what I paid for.They’re trying hard, and they’re all very passionate, but I can’t trust them to do anything with the site on their own.I told them I needed them to address the administration and tell them why they each believe the site deserves more funding, but really I just wanted to keep them from poking around without my supervision.Good kids, but… you know.”
They paused the questioning while Raymond ordered some food.A bored teenager slid across a greasy paper bag bearing a brightly colored admonition to “recycle this package!”and containing an equally greasy burger that had probably been fried that morning and left on the warmer until just now.Yellowjackets and bees competed for space around the condiment counter, several of them landing on Raymond while he added ketchup and mustard to his burger.He didn’t seem to mind the stinging bugs at all.To be fair, they left him alone once he took his food back to a table.Turk showed a little too much interest in a yellowjacket that had landed on the side of one of the trash cans, but when Faith called him away, he left without swiping at the wasp.
Raymond sat down and bit into his burger.Faith was amused but not surprised that he was the sort who chewed with his mouth full.“So this guy they found here.Was he homeless?”
Faith frowned.“No.Why do you ask?”
Raymond swallowed and took another big bite.“We had a problem at the last dig site I worked where homeless people would enter the site and try to camp in our tents.No tents here, but the ground’s been cleared, so I thought maybe a guy sneaked in.”
Michael frowned.“You realize he was murdered, right?As in his life was taken against his will?”
Raymond blinked and colored slightly."Yeah, right.I'm sorry.I just… I mean, I can't figure out whyhere.It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“That’s why we’re talking to you,” Faith said.“We wanted to know what about this site might make it appealing to the murderer.”
“Hell if I know,” Raymond said.“Unless he’s a…” His eyes widened.“Oh.That’s why you wanted a list of everyone who knows about the site.You want to know if one of them might have chosen to bury a victim here because he’s passionate about American history.”
That wasn’t quite correct, but Faith didn’t see a need to share every detail of the investigation with Raymond.“Any names come to mind?’
He shook his head.“No, sorry.I mean… We’re all nerds.Academics, I mean.We’re the last people on Earth you’d expect to kill other people.Hell, I can’t even speak up when the waitress gives me a rare steak instead of a well-done one.I can’t imagine the frame of mind you’d need to be in to kill someone else.”
His smile faded, and his demeanor sobered.It looked like he was finally realizing how serious this situation was.“Damn,” he whispered.“This guy who was killed, did he have a family?”
“He did.An ex-wife and four children.”
Raymond’s shoulders slumped.“Aw hell.That really sucks.”
“Yeah, it does,” Michael agreed.“We just talked to the ex.She’s trying to figure out how to tell her kids that they’re never gonna see their daddy again.”
