"Why were you so concerned?" Dean asked. "It was over fifty years later. Your brother Ralph is dead. Why now? You've been coming to Ouray for twenty years. You could have done something about the skeleton years before now."
The old man sighed, looking every bit his age. "The mine was sealed up for years. I'd have to have broken in. Even then, I'm not sure I could have found Uncle Blackie. The body was pretty far back and even then, we were lost before we crawled our way out." His voice cracked. "Besides, this place holds terrible memories for me."
"So you tried to buy The Lucky Pup so you could cover up the whole business once and for all."
"Yes. But the mine was all tied up in litigation."
"Then you made an offer to both brothers-a really generous offer, for a fast sale."
He nodded. "But they couldn't sell because of Mrs. Dawkins's suit. At first I couldn't locate her because she was going under her maiden name, Radisson. Then it was too late. She was very stubborn about holding on to it. Then I remembered the skeleton from the play. I knew the props were still stored in the same place where I store my seasonal things. I took the key from the office and made a copy. I snuck down at night and went through all the trunks until I found the bones."
"All the trunks were locked," Cynthia said. "How could you tell which one contained the bones?"
Westlake laughed. "They weren't locked. The keys were with each of the trunks. The auctioneer just removed them later, knowing no one would buy the junk if they could see what was inside. I heard he was going to give them out after the sale, after the trunks sold, but the keys all got mixed up so he simply tossed them."
"Did you plan on leaving the real bones in the trunk?" Cynthia asked.
"For a time, anyway. The trunks had been there for two years with no one touching them. If they were claimed, they'd be taken somewhere else with no connection to me. And I was quite sure they would be accepted as props. I cleaned the skeleton up pretty well."
"But then they scheduled an auction," Dean said. "Were you going to bid on the bones?"
"I thought about it, but I couldn't tell the trunks apart. I knew where it was located when it was in storage, but they all looked the same outside at the auction."
"Weren't you nervous when the trunks were opened?"
"Somewhat, but I had to take the chance that they would be accepted as props and leave it at that. They would have if you hadn't been so nosy. And then you found the dropped finger bone."