On a white towel covering a camp table were three tiny weirdly shaped bones. “These are the ilium, pubis, and ischium of a baby T. rex,” he said. “I dug them out while the others were working on the hilltop.”
“Where’s the rest of it?” I asked.
Pick chuckled. “I think we’re going to find the rest of it this time, Mike. But, look, just these bones are incredible. The question that rises in my mind is why weren’t these bones ingested by the animal that killed this juvenile? Something very strange happened here.”
“Something very strange happened at the marina last night, too,” I said and told them about Toby.
Jeanette listened, then said, “It sounds like someone should talk to Cade.”
“I already have. He says he doesn’t know who did it.”
“He would say that, wouldn’t he? Anyway, it’s just as well. A man like that Toby character has no place in Fillmore County.”
Pick had gone quiet. He picked up one of the bones and put it back down, which I took as a nervous gesture. I said, “Jeanette, you don’t understand. The people who sent Toby here are going to be very unhappy. They may come to find out who did it.”
“Let them come. We don’t have anything to hide.”
I absorbed that, then said, “I have some ranch business I need to talk to you about.”
Jeanette and I walked outside the tent. Before I could say anything, she looked toward the top of the hill and said, “I see the Russian woman is back. You two spent the night together, did you?”
“No, we did not,” I answered. “And her name is Tanya.”
“Yes, that’s right. I remember now.”
“Look, I want to make sure you understand how serious this is. Toby was a member of a very violent fraternity, possibly the most violent in the United States.”
“You think one of his own killed him?”
“Not likely. I think we would have noticed another tattooed Russian mobster at the dance.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know but the note on him means he had something to do with our dead bull and the other murdered cows.”
“Or,” she posited, “the murderer put the note on him to throw us off.”
“Off what?”
“I don’t know, Mike. You’re the detective.”
“No I’m not. Right now, I’m a dinosaur digger until you tell me to do something else.”
This earned me a smile. “What if I tell you to be a detective?”
“Then I would tell you to go to hell.”
This earned me the unhappy Jeanette face.
“Please understand,” I said, “who killed Toby isn’t as important as who comes from California to see about it. If they think it was someone on this dig, then they might come here. There’s nothing to stop them. The only law in this county…well, there is no law in this county. The state trooper that came up here is probably already back in Billings drinking coffee and telling his fellow troopers about the antics of the crazy ranchers in Fillmore County and some tattooed freak drifter who got himself murdered.”
“Well, I don’t see what we can do about it,” Jeanette said.
Actually, I didn’t, either, except to be well armed, which, considering the weapons I’d brought with me, I guess we were. “I just wanted you to know,” I said, then told her about the little arsenal strapped to my four-wheeler.
“Bringing the guns out here was a good idea,” she said. “I’ll take one of the handguns. Give Amelia and Ray one. You’re the best shot so you keep the rifle with you.”
Since that was already my plan, I said, “Agreed.”
She went on. “On a happier note, Pick says those little bones all by themselves are worth a fortune. Of course, he’s still not thrilled by the idea of selling them. He never misses an opportunity to tell me about how important they are to science.”
I surprised myself by what I said next. “I think he’s right. They belong in a museum to be studied, not on the auction block. Jeanette, you’re doing OK. You’re not rich but you have a fine ranch and a great son in Ray. I think maybe you’ve got your head screwed on wrong about this one. Why don’t we just go back to ranching and let Pick and his girls do their thing out here? We could also do a better job of watching what might be coming up Ranchers Road at us.”
Jeanette was not pleased by my little speech. In fact, I could tell she was steamed. “Those bones are on the Square C and they belong to me and Ray. I don’t understand why that doesn’t mean anything to you.”
I didn’t reply to her accusation, mainly because I thought it was obviously ridiculous. Hell, who worked harder for Jeanette and Ray than me? Now I was the one getting steamed. I nodded toward Blackie Butte. “OK, boss lady, have it your way. I’m going back to work.”