High Desert Detective, A Fiona Marlowe Mystery (Fiona Marlowe Mysteries) by Marjorie Thelen Read Free Book Online Page A

bank in the sun.
Fiona moved in to have a look. Fred went back into the water and brought up a
shovel full of muck, and there on the end of it sat a human skull grinning at
them. He waded to the bank and deposited the find.
    Jake had seen a lot of weird things in his life, but human bones
in a hot springs beat them all.
      Dora saw what was
happening and joined them. “I wonder who that is. I don’t know anyone who’s
been missing in these parts.”
    Caleb shook his head. “Doesn’t look like anyone I’d know, not
that I can tell much from bones. All my friends are accounted for. Anybody
could wear jeans and a shirt like that.”
    Jake leaned on the shovel, looking at the bones. “The Sheriff
will send someone out here. He may come himself. Dora, is the little girl all
right?”
    “She may have a broken leg. It needs to be X-rayed. I called
about the ambulance. Their injuries don’t appear life threatening so they won’t
send the helicopter. I’m concerned about head injuries. The father keeps
complaining about his head but I didn’t find any open wounds.”
    “We’ll have to wait until they arrive,” Jake said. “Fiona, lend
me your phone. Mine’s in the truck. I want to call the Sheriff.”
    She handed over the cell phone. “Does this happen very often? Didn’t
they just find that other skeleton in the desert?”
    Jake nodded. “Yep. This makes two in a short period of time. Both
were skeletons before anyone found them, but that doesn’t mean they are related.”
    He climbed the rise to find a signal and dialed Hoover’s direct
line. Nathan, one of the deputies, answered.
      “It’s Jake. We’re at an
accident scene at the hot springs on the east side of the Steens. No deaths, no
apparent life threatening injuries. The ambulance is on the way. The car ended
up in the hot springs, and the Easton Brothers pulled it out, but the car
disturbed a buried human skeleton. We have skeleton parts drying in the sun.”
    Jake answered Nathan’s questions. Hoover was in the Fields area,
not far in Harney Valley terms from where they were. Nathan said he’d contact
Hoover and not to leave the scene until he got there.
    “Will do,” said Jake and closed the connection.
    Fiona was already scouring the accident scene for clues and was
full of questions. He knew she’d already be formulating a theory about what
happened.
    Caleb had a mobile ham radio in the truck. Jake went over and
listened to the police scanner.
    “Do you hear that?” Caleb asked Jake. “That’s Hoover. He’s on his
way. Might be here before the ambulance gets here. I
sure hope Farley and Molly are going to be all right. I guess Zeke and I better
follow the ambulance.”
    Hoover arrived and started taking statements from everyone. The
ambulance pulled in shortly thereafter.
    Jake didn’t like how close Hoover was standing to Fiona or the
way he was smiling at her, but maybe that was his imagination. They had pulled
the accident car to the side of the road. The medics were loading Molly and her
father in the ambulance with Caleb and Zeke hovering over the operation. The
rest were looking at the bones.
    “What do you make of this, Jake?” asked Hoover.
    “Looks like foul play to me,” he said. He gave Hoover his side of
the story of the accident and finding the body.
    Hoover shook his head. “It’s mighty strange that we find two
skeletons on the same side of the Steens so close together.”
    “Are there any unsolved missing persons?” Fiona asked. Jake could
see she was dying to ask questions.
    “Hank Little’s wives. We’ll check the
files to find if there are any other unsolved disappearances. The bones might
not be from around here, so we’ll do a regional search, maybe further than
that.”
    “I guess you’ll do forensic work on the bones,” Fiona said.
    Hoover nodded and smiled. “Have you ever done any detective work,
Fiona?”
    She smiled. “No, it’s not my line of work. I just like
mysteries.”
    “You can