Free Dressed to Die: A Lindsay Chamberlain Novel by Beverly Connor

Derrick's over, she thought.
    "You'll consider, then?" Monica's voice brought Lindsay out of her reverie.
    "Do you know Will Patterson?"
    Monica slumped farther in her chair. "He thinks Daddy
did it."
    "But you know him. He's been working on your
mother's case for a long time. It was he who brought me in.
Whatever he thinks of your father, I believe he wants to
find out who killed your mother. Besides, it's my understanding he and your dad used to be friends."
    "A long time ago. Mother and Will were still pretty good
friends when she died. They were engaged once, you know."
    "No, I didn't."
    "Yeah. Gran and Grampa didn't want Mother to marry
him. They had Daddy picked out for her."

    "How did Will feel about that?"
    "You don't think Will did it-after all that time? Surely
not." Monica shook her head. "That was in high school.
Both of them got over it."
    "What about Irene Varnadore?" asked Lindsay.
    "She didn't like Mother. You know how it is. Mother was
the prom queen, got a Ph.D. and Daddy. Irene was jealous,
but I can't imagine her murdering Mother." Monica shook
her head. "Everyone who knew Mother-her friends and
family-they all loved her. A stranger did this. Maybe if the
police looked for, you know, similar murders, they would
see that some serial killer did it."
    "Is that what you believe?" Lindsay asked, and Monica
nodded. "Was it a coincidence that the stranger buried the
body on your father's family land?"
    Monica was taken aback for a moment. "The killer
could've stalked her. He could have known about Daddy's
land."
    "What about the other relatives? Your father's people?"
    "Now there's a thought. Georgina didn't like Daddy
either-they're cousins. Georgina's a secretary here at
UGA. Daddy's brother is mad at Daddy, because of the
land. And there's another cousin. All of them are fighting
over Daddy's property. They could have done something to
Mother to get back at him."
    Lindsay was unable to simply say no to Monica. "I'll
tell you what. I'll ask someone if they've searched the
records for similar patterns, and I'll talk with Will Patterson. That's all I can do right now."
    "Thank you, Dr. Chamberlain. Maybe something will
come of that." Monica stood up and held out her hand.
Lindsay shook it and ushered her out the door.
    Sally had arrived and had commandeered Brandon.
They were busy looking over her grandfather's crates for
stencils and other markings, copying them down.

    Lindsay turned her attention to the crates. It seemed
impossible that her grandfather would forget about having
stored five crates of artifacts. She tried to remember the
times when he was in his workshop. It wasn't often. He
always said he wanted to retire and be a cabinetmaker, but
he never did. His love of archaeology was too deep. She
tried to remember the building behind the workshop. All
she remembered was the kudzu.
    "This is the crate opened by your father," said Sally. "He
re-nailed it. Do you want to start with it?"
    "Yes. What we'll do is unpack and record everything.
Brandon, get a camera from the main office and photograph
each artifact. We can do a more thorough cataloging later."
    "I'll use mine. It's an old-fashioned 35 millimeter and
takes great pictures," said Brandon, fishing in his backpack.
    They moved the crate close to a table and Sally pried it
open. Sitting amid shredded paper and old newspaper
packing material was a large, cord-marked ceramic jar
with a globular body and two ceramic strap handles on a
tapered neck.
    "This is really nice," said Sally.
    "What kind is it?" asked Brandon
    "I don't know," Sally said, looking at Lindsay.
    "It looks like a Fort Ancient jar."
    "Fort Ancient?" asked Brandon.
    "Late prehistoric culture in Kentucky," said Lindsay.
    "Kentucky?" Sally asked. "I thought these were from
Georgia."
    "This one isn't," said Lindsay. "The only reason that we
thought it might be from Georgia was that the stenciling on
one of the crates seemed to indicate