Meghan arrives at the farm early Wednesday morning, where Jackson Carter waits for her in the parking lot. Her nose crinkles at an unfamiliar smell in the air.
“Everyone’s at the house, Dr. Bode. Miss Evelyn is in a right state.”
“What happened?”
“Last night I was leaving my office around seven o’clock. And I noticed a light coming from your site. It took a few seconds to register, but then I realized it was a fire.”
“A fire? In an empty field? How does that happen?”
“I don’t know, but the police and fire department are checking it out. They want to talk with you at the house first.”
They walk to the house in silence, and Meghan’s thoughts race. The fire must explain the smell in the air. But there’s nothing on the site that’s flammable. She doesn’t even leave the wood shaker screens behind at the end of a day. There’s no way the fire could have started naturally.
Upon entering, Meghan sees the current guests seated in the dining room as they talk with the police about anything they might have seen or heard. Jackson leads Meghan to a drawing room, where Evelyn is seated on a small sofa, crying, as her husband tries to comfort her. Detective Tom Sandberg sits in a nearby chair.
Evelyn looks up. “I’m so sorry, Meghan, it’s terrible. Why would anyone want to destroy the site?”
“Destroy it? What did they do?”
“We’re not sure,” Sandberg says. “The fire department wants you to look at it with them. They don’t usually deal with this kind of scene.”
“It’s all too much, Meghan. Finding that skeleton, that awful Mr. Sloma taking photos for a newspaper story. People are beginning to talk. They’re saying Abraham Walker really was a Tory, and he killed some Patriot during the War.”
“We don’t know that. Anyone in the house could have done it.”
“It doesn’t matter. That awful skeleton has ruined all my plans. What kind of museum can I do now? Why did you have to find him?”
Meghan searches for the right words. Her dream project is crashing around her. And she can’t remember what Irene suggested she say if this situation arose.
“It’s not Meghan’s fault,” Douglas says. “The legends were always there. And there’s usually some kernel of truth behind them. She just happened to find that kernel.”
“It might not have been Abraham,” Meghan says weakly, rubbing her neck and trying to think of something encouraging to say.
“It doesn’t matter,” Evelyn says again and then blows her nose. “Everyone will say it was him. I can’t go on with this.”
Sandberg clears his throat. “Maybe you two can talk about this when you’re less upset, Mrs. Browne. Right now I need Dr. Bode to come out to the site and help the arson unit.”
“I’ll go with you, if you don’t mind,” Douglas says. “Maybe I can help.”
He hands Evelyn a fresh tissue. “You’ll be all right if I go with them for a few minutes, won’t you?”
Evelyn sniffles and nods. “Don’t be too long.”
“I won’t,” he says, kissing her cheek.
“I take it archaeological sites don’t spontaneously combust,” Sandberg says as they walk to the site.
“No, there’s no fuel,” Meghan explains. “We’re not in the middle of a dry forest, and there’s no crop stubble. But if you want to destroy this site, a fire alone won’t do it.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a historic site. We don’t need things like soil samples for dating techniques that a fire would ruin. God forbid there are any more human skeletons, but even if there were, they’re not excavated yet. Unless they’re just below the surface, the heat wouldn’t alter them. Any ceramics that were exposed might be burnt so badly that we can’t figure out what type they were, but we’ve got plenty of others that tell us what we need to know. A fire can’t destroy enough of the archaeological remains to skew my analyses.”
“So your excavations could go on with good results?” Douglas asks.
“Well … yes. But it sounded like Evelyn doesn’t want me to finish.”
“To be honest, that’s why I came out here. I want you to keep working. We’ll have to wait for the investigation to finish, and Evelyn needs time to get back on board. But this is great publicity for us. There’s already a spike in reservation requests. Can you come to my office later this week to talk about it? It would be too hard on Evelyn to do it here.”
Good publicity, that’s what Irene told me to stress, Meghan thinks. Maybe Douglas can keep this project going.
“Um, sure. Will Friday work? I teach a class and lab tomorrow.”
Douglas pulls out his phone to check his schedule. “How about ten o’clock? I’m in meetings all afternoon.”
“That works. Then I can hit the Archives for some research on another project.”
“Perfect. I’ll see you then. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll try to get Evelyn settled down.”
***
Meghan and Sandberg continue to the site, where the arson unit is working. An expanded square of “Crime Scene” tape encircles her smaller area, which had been set up to protect visitors. She never dreamed it would be the old manor house that needed safekeeping.
The soils are damp, and the odd smell is stronger here. Meghan realizes it’s from the chemicals used to extinguish the blaze. The biggest problem will be removing the contaminated surface soils. They must be hazardous waste now.
“You’ll have to stay on this side of the tape,” Sandberg says. “For safety and to not compromise their work. But can you tell whether anything was done besides pouring gasoline over the area?”
Meghan studies the now-visible features. The plastic coverings have melted, leaving only fluttering fragments held by cinder blocks. The exposed bricks of the cellar are singed, and a few spalls lie on the floor. Otherwise the walls are intact. Except for some limited scuffing of the topsoil, probably from the firefighting crew, the damage doesn’t look bad.
“Not that I can see. If you want to destroy this site, you’d have to take a backhoe to it or blow it up. But I’d guess whoever did this wouldn’t know that.”
“Any ideas who might want to try?” Sandberg asks.
“None. It’s not like I stumbled on a modern crime scene and a murderer wants to cover his tracks. Who cares about a murder from the Revolutionary War?”
“Maybe a descendant who can’t face the fact that her ancestor might have been a murderer?”
“Evelyn?” Meghan whispers. “Are you serious?”
“I’ve seen people do worse for less cause. You heard her say she can’t go on with this. Douglas Browne may think your Josiah Kent is great publicity, but I doubt his wife sees it that way.”
“I can’t believe she’d do such a thing. Why not say Douglas Browne did it for more publicity?”
“That’s possible, too. He could have hired Frank Sloma to get people thinking about the old stories and spice up your work. Maybe Jackson Carter knows of a legend that says a slave killed Kent, and he doesn’t want any proof. Or maybe Riverton Developers wants to distract the Brownes and keep them from fighting the new building next door. Plenty of suspects with opportunity and motive.”
“I hadn’t realized that.”
“Apparently the equipment shed’s rarely locked,” Sandberg says. “The gas came from there. We found the empty cans back on the shelf. Any prints are probably from the Brownes and Jackson Carter, just what you’d expect. That doesn’t mean one of them didn’t do it. But we’ll see if any don’t match. None of the guests remember anyone smelling of gas in the house last night. If it was one of the Brownes, they were careful.”
Meghan walks around the tape barrier to warm her feet, looking for her own clues to the extent of the damage. Sandberg follows her.
“Is it a crime if Evelyn or Douglas did it?” she asks. “Or Frank Sloma if Douglas hired him?”
“Tricky. Definitely if they file an insurance claim. But I doubt insurance covers an archaeological site. I’d have to check the laws on the gasoline. There might be something on improper disposal or discharge of hazardous material. Otherwise, I doubt it. Anyone else, though, it’s arson.”
“Any idea when I can get back to work? That is, if Douglas can convince Evelyn to go on? I’m teaching another field course, and my students could use the time on this site. Unless Evelyn does shut it down. Then I have to come up with something else.”
Sandberg smiles. “As long as there’s no charred body, stashed drugs, or other TV standby, the arson team’ll be done in a few days tops.”
“Great,” Meghan says, remembering her first encounter with Tom Sandberg last fall. She felt the complete idiot talking about crime scene investigators taking over the excavation of a skeleton in a county park. Sandberg had informed her that real police work didn’t look anything like TV.
“So you don’t see any other signs of damage?”
“None. Nothing’s been dug up, just burned.”
“Good. Then I won’t keep you. I’ll let you know if these guys find anything.”
Meghan briefly considers stopping back at the house, but decides against it. Evelyn is too upset to talk about the archaeological work. I’ll wait till Friday and talk to Douglas. Maybe he’ll have gotten through to her by then.
I hope you’ll stay tuned for Part 15 next Tuesday.
jmmcdowell 
Okay now I’m stumped… more more!
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I’m glad you’re enjoying it! Things should be moving quickly now….
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I have no idea what is coming next, JM but I really want to know!!
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Meghan’s given me a few more details for next week. 😉 Now to flesh them out….!
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Oooh I have no idea what to expect in the next part **waits with anticipation**
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I may not have all the details yet, but I can say the story will move forward! 🙂
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Aha! Looking forward to reading it!
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Hmm. Your first comment appeared just fine. Your second one ended up in spam. WordPress or Akismet has some coding messed up somewhere with you. This has happened to other bloggers, and Akismet is usually good about working with people to get it fixed.
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Thanks! I’ll have to look into that!
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Fire’s an interesting twist. And I love the tension between Evelyn and Douglas now. Great work.
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In an expanded story, I would introduce him “live” earlier than I did here. I mentioned him a few times, but we should probably meet him as a character in a scene a bit sooner. That’s what I get for doing this on the fly. 😉 I think things will begin tying together soon….
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I think you are doing incredibly awesome for doing it on the fly. Fun exercise, and you might have a good story to make into a novel afterward with a little reworking of minor things like what you mentioned.
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Meghan just has to understand that we have to take a break when this story wraps up. Then she can have her choice of starting a new story or expanding on this one. But my nerves need a vacation!
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I bet.
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“Why did you have to find him?”—Hahaha. That’s like blaming the doctor for finding the tumor.
Poor Meghan. She has her work cut out for her, and as is so often the case in any occupation, it appears it’s not the usual ‘work’ that’s the problem; it’s the politics and social nuances of it that are causing the grief.
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That’s exactly the effect I was going for with Evelyn’s comment. 🙂 Like it was Meghan’s fault that Kent was in the cellar.
This was supposed to be such a straightforward project for Meghan. Her biggest worry was probably that she wouldn’t find anything interesting for Evelyn. Be careful what you wish for, right? 😉
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Always. 🙂
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The game’s afoot again, in a big way. So many suspects and motives. It just keeps getting more interesting. Very well paced scene, too.
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I’d be more comfortable if Meghan had given me more details from the beginning. She tossed in some of the side stories along the way, and I’m nervous about tying everything together in a neat package at the end. I should trust her more since we pulled off the first story in fair fashion…. But that’s not easy when I’m facing a blank scene page in the Scrivener file. 😉
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Well, as I said, great story. I am certainly caught up in it.
Scott
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I’ve told Meghan I need a break when this one’s wrapped up. I hope she’ll honor that request. 😉
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The question then would be: does Meghan need a break?
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Maybe not. But since she needs my fingers for the typing, she may have to take one for the team. 😉
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This is really getting interesting. So many suspects. The plot is still diverging. It’s interesting to know how little damage a fire would do to an archaeological site, too. Now, did the arsonist know that or not?
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The impact could be greater on older sites. Depending on the intensity of the fire, it could skew results for radiocarbon and other dating samples. Bones, both human and other, could be heat-altered if they were close enough to the fire.
Did the culprit know this? Time will tell, I think…. 😉
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Oh gee. Haz Mat. there? (That’ll slow things down)
Great way to build suspense – and enforced pause (Nooooooooooo!) and we can’t blame you.
Hope it doesn’t give the-one-who-does-not-wish-any-answers-to-appear a chance to rent a bull dozer.
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If there’s any special cleanup needed, I bet Douglas Browne can get it done quick. 😉 And I suspect Meghan will take the opportunity to catch up on some research—which just might reveal some new clues for the story…. I don’t think she’ll let us have much of a rest now. 🙂
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I wasn’t expecting a fire! This is really tense now, I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for next Tuesday.
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Shh, don’t tell anyone, but I wasn’t expecting that fire, either. I thought it would be something else until Meghan and I started writing. I guess she wanted something a bit more drastic. 😉
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Excellent. A fire was an unexpected twist. Next up a flood? Famine? Locusts? I joke, but you know how to keep us on the edge of our seats!
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I’ve told Meghan it’s time to get things moving. So I think we’ll see the pieces begin to assemble soon. 😉
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Wonderful and unexpected. Did you have to do extra research for all the fire info, or did you already know that from your experiences in the field?
I really like how Evelyn has been developed. She’s a pain, but I still want things to work out to her benefit.
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I’ve never heard of anyone trying to destroy a site by burning it. But I have read about sites out west that have been damaged by forest fires. We’ll see what our firebug knew, or didn’t know, when the story finishes….
I’m sure Meghan hopes that Douglas will find a way to convince Evelyn to keep the project going. Maybe he’ll tell us his plans for that next week? I just ask that Meghan fills me in on some details for the next installment soon. 😉
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WOW – the plot thickens! I’m loving this 😀
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I’m learning a lot about writing from this exercise, even though some of the lessons are a bit painful. 😉 We’ll see how it all affects my WIPs….
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Hm. I’m wondering if the current suspects have what it takes to destroy the site, or if they’re more red herrings. Douglas naturally pops to mind for the reasons mentioned, but Evelyn could be faking, too. I don’t like thinking ill of these characters, but maybe that’s just my cynicism showing through. Also, I’ve been watching a lot of cop dramas, lately. 🙂
I like the way this mystery is about history. There’s some danger involved, sure, but it’s mostly to reputations and the like, It’s refreshing to have a mystery that’s more about the mystery than it is about people racing around for their lives. 😉
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They’ll never make a movie or TV series out of Meghan’s stories. 😉 And I’m glad someone besides me can enjoy a mystery that isn’t a nonstop adrenaline rush. Those leave me exhausted rather than exhilarated. I’m usually thinking things like, “There’s no way he survived that explosion/fall/crash let alone got up and ran/got into another round of fighting/squeezed off another nine shots.” Or I have practical thoughts like, “You cannot get across LA in a 10-minute drive.”
I must be in an insignificant minority, though, because obviously such books and films have huge audiences and bring in mega dollars.
But if my stories can ever attract even a small audience of people who enjoy a more thoughtful read, I’ll be happy. 🙂
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Oh, I know! I can suspend my disbelief only so far, which is odd, considering I grew up on Star Wars and Star Trek and superhero comics. Even there, I get tired of the seemingly endless parade of fights (that often mean nothing). I know action sells for the genre, but I like a cerebral plot, especially when it’s a mystery. I always love it when a detective story gets solved with actual detective work, and when the heroes use their heads more than their fists. MacGyver-ing, we used to call it. 🙂
Looking forward to the next installment!
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Wow – Meghan really has her hands full. It sounds to me like she needed those few days away from the site. Maybe she set the fire? 🙂 If I were her, I’d be tempted.
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She’s wondering where her quiet, dream project disappeared to. 😉 Maybe a day in DC going to the Archives after her meeting with Douglas Brown will be a refreshing break?
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Sounds like fun! Strangely enough, I love those dusty archives.
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A growing suspense and characters that keep one digging for more!
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This story is longer than I expected when I started writing it. Meghan didn’t tell me how many layers there would be to it! She is such a sneaky character sometimes. 😉
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This is a new wrinkle to the mystery. Hmm. Looking forward to next week’s revelations. 🙂
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As I said to Char above, I’ll introduce Douglas Browne earlier in the story when I work on a revised version for publication. Had Meghan been more forthcoming with the plot when we started, I would have included him in one or two of the early scenes at the farm. Those are the perils of writing a story “live” like this, I guess. 😉
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“lord jesus…..it’s a fire!”
if that doesn’t ring any bells, do a YouTube search for “Sweet Brown, Ain’t nobody got time for that!”
Anyhow…..
I did NOT anticipate this smoky wrinkle!! Holy canoli!
I LOVE how you keep surprising us, JM. This plot twist provided the perfect segue for the “suspect list” scene between the detective and Meghan.
You know….I’m not entirely sure of Doug’s intentions; something seems a bit over-solicitous in his behaviour toward Evelyn, and I didn’t like his ulterior motive for accompanying Meghan to the fire’s remains. He seems a tad underhanded!
Can’t wait for week #15. 🙂
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Everyone has to be a suspect in a mystery, right? 😉 I know there are no more new characters to be introduced, so our firebug must be someone we’ve met. But what’s their motive? Meghan certainly wonders what it is! 😉
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I am finally catching up……it continues to tempt and torture in the best of ways :-).
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So good to see you back! It seems as if too many of my blog buddies are facing difficult times this winter. I’m hoping Spring will bring happier and calmer days to everyone.
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Hey, I know you are very busy, but check out my post tomorrow as I have nominated you for an award (well, two, actually).
Scott
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Thanks, Scott! I will check them out. 🙂
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SABOTAGE!!! Meghan will get to the bottom of this.
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Especially if she will sit down with me this weekend to WRITE THE NEXT PART!!! We’ve only just gotten a start on it. I’m getting a tad bit cranky right now. 😉
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You had me going there with the possibility of a demise of the story, JM. My mind was screaming “NOOoooooo!!!” Just not ready to let Meghan go! xoxoM
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Not to worry—there are a few more installments. 😉 And I’m breathing a sigh of relief that Meghan’s giving me some details about them! 🙂
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Oh, that was unexpected! Now we have a second mystery. You’re really ramping up the tension now JM. 🙂
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It’s actually very difficult for me to do. But my only hope of finding an audience for my novels is to increase the tension throughout the stories. I’m still not sure I can pull it off in a work of that length if it’s hard in a shorter story like this….
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