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

it."
    Brandon snapped a picture of it and Sally wrote a
description on an item list.
    "If you find any notes or papers, be sure to handle them
with care. By this time I'm sure they will be brittle and fragile. Put the newspapers in a box carefully and let Greg
take care of them when he comes in," Lindsay told them.

    They found two more ceramic pots and a cache of triangular projectile points. The next crate contained two
chipped stone maces, a pair of yellow pine figurines of a
seated man and woman, five engraved conch shell gorgets,
and three tetrapod bottles-all Mississippian and all, Lindsay believed, from Kentucky.
    "Where are the newspapers from?" she asked Sally.
    Sally carefully took one of the old packing papers from
the box and looked at the masthead. "One says: Macon
Telegraph, June 18, 1935." She picked up another one.
"This one's from the Kentucky Herald, August 5, 1934."
    "Let's get the others unpacked and recorded," said Lindsay uneasily.
    The next crate had similar Mississippian artifacts. The
fourth contained hundreds of smaller items: copper
bracelets, clay platform pipes, ceremonial knives, chipped
stone hoes, stone celts, engraved stone tablets, mica and
copper crescent headdresses, numerous ground stone gorgets, and a large, beautiful shiny mica cutout of a hand with
an eye etched in the center.
    "Wow," said Brandon. "Nice. I'm doing my honors
paper on Mississippian eye motifs. I'd like to use a photograph of this." Sally held it for him and he took several pictures, having Sally turn it one way and another.
    "Don't use up all the film on this one piece," said Lindsay.
    Brandon grinned and patted his backpack. "I've got
plenty of film."
    "What's your paper about, exactly?" asked Sally.
    "Some articles say that the hand-eye motif may symbolize the holding of a crystal in the hand to foretell the future,
the way some southeastern Indians did. I'm hypothesizing
that the crystal was a kind of primitive remote sensing, like
finding where game is located." Brandon eyed the mica as though wondering if he had taken enough photographs.
"Anyway, I'm comparing the onset, frequency, and disappearance of the motifs in the archaeological record with
weather patterns of that time. I know that's the hard part,
and I don't know if I can find that data, but I think it's a
neat idea."

    "It is a neat idea," said Sally. "I'd like to see what you
come up with."
    "You might check with Ronan in Geography and Hoff-
stedder in Botany," said Lindsay.
    "Great. Thanks, Dr. Chamberlain."
    "What's this?" Sally held up what looked like a paddle
with animal teeth at one end.
    "It's a cut animal jaw. It's thought that it was inserted
into the mouth of a skull, something to do with burial practice," said Lindsay absently. "All these are Adena artifacts,
also, I think, from Kentucky."
    "These are really valuable, aren't they?" said Brandon,
"and they're in such good condition."
    "Yes, they are," said Lindsay. She noted that neither
Brandon nor Sally asked why the artifacts had been stored
by her grandfather all those years ago.
    It was getting late in the day. Brandon kept checking his
watch and Lindsay was tired. She decided to wait until
tomorrow to open the last crate. She locked the storage
room and sent the students home.
    "Is your brother going to stay a few days with you?"
asked Sally as she helped Lindsay clean up.
    "I don't know. Maybe."
    "I'll put this box of old newspapers in my workspace,"
said Sally.
    Lindsay nodded in agreement.
    "He's a great-looking guy," Sally said.
    "I've always thought so."
    "I don't suppose he's talked about me?"

    Lindsay smiled. "Well, he did say you're a nice kid."
    "Kid? He said I'm a nice kid?" She stopped and turned
to Lindsay, her arms around the box full of old newspapers.
    "Well, he is thirty-six," said Lindsay.
    "That's not old," Sally answered.
    "No, but how old are you?"
    "Twenty-one-and a half. I'm not all that much younger
than you."
    "He thinks I'm a