Dean felt another pang of conscience. He never could lie to Jake Weller. "Look Jake, you're a short timer. You said so yourself. You might want to leave this alone for now."
Weller seemed to consider just how much he wanted to know. "Do you think Fitzgerald was involved with that skeleton in the mine-what you've been calling 'Martha's bones'?"
Dean was happy to move the subject away from Fitzgerald's evening encounter with Lydia. "I just don't know," he answered. "At one time I was sure he was but now I don't have a clue. I don't even know the decade the guy died, much less who he was or who might be connected to him."
"My bet is Fitzgerald switched the bones to embarrass you, but that doesn't mean he had anything to do with causing them to be in the mine in the first place."
Dean remained unsure. "You're not making my job any easier," he said.
"What you need is a magnet," the sheriff answered with a grin. "You want to find a needle in a haystack, get a magnet."
"Maybe I should turn the whole business over to you now that you're back. After all, it is a murder in your jurisdiction. I'm just a curious citizen."
"Nothing doing! You said so yourself-you've got no real evidence a crime was even committed-you lost the body!" He shook his head. "You folks at Bird Song can get into more pickles than any group I know. I'm glad I'm retiring. Good luck! Beat Fitzgerald in the election and then start your term of office chasing down some ancient murder if you want. When you're sheriff you can contact all the West coast authorities and try and convince them to chase your bones. That ought to be a barrel of laughs!" Then he added, on a more serious note, "I'll give you a hand if I can, but nothing official." Then he added, "You might have better luck learning who's been trying to buy the worthless mine and who at Bird Song swiped the itsy-bitsy bone you found. That list has to be a lot smaller than who disappeared sometime between 1890 and last month." Dean nodded his agreement. "Like that weird kid you had staying at Bird Song-the one with the shopping cart."
"Pumpkin Green," Dean said. "He ended up stiffing us-left in the dark of night."
"He didn't go very far. I saw him this morning. He's gotten a haircut and almost looked normal. I hardly recognized him." Dean was surprised, but made a note to seek out Pumpkin, and talk about more than the rent.
Weller yawned, a sure end to the discussion. Kathleen and Fred were finishing the paper work and Dean readied to leave. Weller rose, picking up a form from his desk. "I can't believe Fitzgerald had the nerve to even fingerprint the old guy," Weller said, shaking his head.