Lovely in Her Bones by Sharyn McCrumb

window, looking for the shine of headlights that would signal Milo’s return, but the road was dark. Since she wasn’t hungry and didn’t owe anyone a letter, she began to wander about the room, peering over Victor’s shoulder at his drawing and studying the plaques and pictures on the wall. A sepia photograph of some bygone Sunday school class attracted her attention.
    “That’s funny!” she said aloud.
    “What?” asked Jake, turning a page.
    “This picture must be fifty years old judging from the outfits they’re wearing, but the people look just the same.”
    “Mountain witch woman discovers elixir to keep people from aging,” Jake intoned without looking up.
    “Idiot! That’s not what I meant. Of course they’re different people, but they’re just as much of a hodgepodge as the ones today. Blonds, people with dark straight hair, people with dark kinky hair, lightones, dark ones. I thought that the farther back you went, the more pure Indian they’d look.”
    “Not the Cullowhees,” Jake told her cheerfully. “They’ve always been like that.”
    Elizabeth considered this. “What do you think of them?” she asked. “Are they the Zone Six people?”
    Jake shook his head. “I’m no expert, but for what it’s worth, I think Lerche’s wrong about the Cherokees being recent invaders. I think they’ve been in these mountains all along.”
    “That’s not what Amelanchier told me. She—”
    “Where’s Alex?”
    They turned to see Milo standing in the doorway, pale and breathless. Jake and Elizabeth glanced at each other, and silently agreed to an edited version of the truth.
    “He’s out walking,” Elizabeth answered lightly. “He should be back soon. Come in and let me tell you about—”
    “Not now, Elizabeth!” snapped Milo, slamming the door behind him.
    Victor looked up, disturbed by the noise. “What was that all about?”
    “Trouble, I expect,” Jake answered.
    “If there isn’t, there’s going to be,” said Elizabeth grimly.
        Milo ran along the dark path to the gravesite. He knew the way well enough to dodge tombstones and tree branches with only the moon to light the way. He was too worried to consider the etiquette involved in interrupting a love tryst or to let his fancy make ghosts of the graveyard’s shadows. Milo had enough to worry about already.
    He stopped just short of the excavation trench and looked around. There was no one in sight, and the tent was dark, as he expected. Everything seemed to be in order, though. He decided to let them find him.
    “Alex!” he shouted, cupping his hands to his mouth. “Where are you? It’s Milo!”
    Having made that announcement, Milo sat down on a rock to wait. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so short with Elizabeth, but a crisis is no time for remembering one’s manners. He would explain it to her later, and he hoped that she wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. He sighed. One romance gumming up the works was enough for any dig. After a few silent minutes, he thought he heard footsteps running through the trees in the direction of the church. A moment later, Alex appeared in the clearing.
    “Milo? What on earth’s the matter?”
    “Somebody trashed the computer,” said Milo grimly.
    “Trashed—when?”
    “Earlier tonight. I drove back to town after supper to add some more data to the program, and when I got to the motel room, I found the disks had been ripped apart and the computer screen was smashed.”
    “Damn!” Alex motioned him down the path toward the church. “We’ll have to report this, of course.”
    “I already did. The guy on duty at the sheriff’s office took down the information, but he didn’t seem too upset. I take it the Cullowhees aren’t too popular around here.”
    “I’ll go and see them in the morning. Then I guess we’d better see about replacing the equipment. Damn!”
    Milo nodded. “How many days is this going to cost us?”
    “I don’t know. A couple. I have duplicate