Lovely in Her Bones by Sharyn McCrumb Page A

disks back at the university, thank God! And we ought to be able to borrow another computer from the department for the time being.”
    “Okay. Do you want me to drive back to campus tomorrow and pick up the replacements?”
    “No, I’ll go. Do you have any idea who did this, Milo? Did it look like a burglary? Kids, maybe?”
    “I’d say whoever did this knew something about computers. Enough to go after the disks, anyway.”
    Alex grunted. “From now on, one of us stays at the motel room on guard. This isn’t going to happen again.”
        Alex sat on the top step of the church, watching the sky grow light. It was too early to go to the sheriff’s office, even too early to start breakfast; but he hadn’t been able to sleep. The smashing of the computer was probably a senseless act of violence, but he couldn’t escape the feeling that it was an omen. He was taking it personally. He watched the trees become distinct shapes in the graying light. The cold light of day, he thought, smiling to himself. It seemed silly to think such things in daylight. Obviously, someone didn’t want the Cullowhee study to continue, but that wasn’t what troubled him. That was a minor annoyance. He kept feeling that there was some other message in the incident. A twinge in his lower back made him wince. He missed his bed at home and the luxury of long hot showers, which would loosen his muscles. Apparently the rigors of excavation work taxed muscles that racquetball left untoned. He wasn’t as young as he used to be; there was no getting away from that. Still, it was strange that, after last night, he should be up at dawn thinking of Tessa.
    Why had he volunteered to go back to campus for the disks? If he went home, there might be a renewal of the cold war that existed between himself and Tessa. Surely he wanted to stay with Mary Clare—especially after last night. He shrugged. There was no point in worrying about that now. He would go back to campus for the disks, and sort out his feelings later.
    *    *    *
    Elizabeth appeared at the opening of the tent holding a cardboard box. “Excuse me,” she said with frosty politeness. “I wonder if you would have time to look at these now? I have done twenty already and no one has checked my work.”
    Milo looked up from his column of figures. Alex had taken the van to go to the sheriff’s office in town, and then he was going to drive back to the university. Milo, in charge until Alex’s return, was feeling particularly harassed after listening to a recital of imagined illnesses by Victor, a request for more help in the third trench from Jake, and a cross-examination by Mary Clare on “what Alex said about his plans before he left.” Elizabeth’s chilling courtesy made it plain that there was trouble in that quarter as well.
    Milo decided that he had better make time for this interview. “Look, Elizabeth, I know I’ve been cross lately, but—”
    “Don’t bother to explain,” said Elizabeth coldly. “It spoils your image. Why don’t you just go and eat a village?”
    Milo sighed. “I’m sorry.” He took the cardboard box from her with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. “Let’s see what you’ve found.”
    Elizabeth brightened a little. “Okay. First I cleaned them off very carefully before taking any measurements.”
    “That’s good. Those teeth are easy to lose.”
    “Excuse me, Milo!” Mary Clare was peering into the tent with a worried frown. “Can you come out here?”
    “Uh … is it important?”
    “Yes! Somebody from the sheriff’s department is here about the computer. He wants to talk to the person in charge. I think it had better be you.”
    With a sigh of resignation, Milo set down the boxof skulls. “If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. We’ll have to do this later, Elizabeth.”
    She managed a weak smile. “Sure, Milo.”
    Near the first trench, a short, thin man in a khaki uniform was bent over the transit instrument,