Murder Bone by Bone by Lora Roberts

“That tickled me. I almost went up and asked her if she was drawing from her own experience.”
    “People change.”
    “That they do,” Claudia agreed with good humor. "That’s what makes them so interesting.”
    We were silent for a moment. “So you think this drug dealer overreached himself in some way and was killed and buried beneath the sidewalk.”
    “Melanie couldn’t remember if the sidewalk was torn up just then or not,” Claudia said, sounding disgruntled.
    “Who could? It must be fifteen years or more since then.”
    “At least fifteen years. But it narrows it down a good deal.”
    “This is total speculation.” I glanced at Claudia, who was working on her second bagel. “You have no basis for any of this.”
    “I have a feeling,” Claudia said darkly. “And at least I’m looking around. Your Drake is so involved with digging up the here and now he can’t be bothered to dig up the past.”
    “He’ll get there.” I had another thought. "Did you tell him any of this?”
    “He’d be even less inclined than you to believe it.”
    I had to agree that was true. “Nevertheless, he should know. And I don’t think you should go asking around anymore, Claudia. You might provoke someone.”
    “You think Melanie is the killer?” Claudia chuckled. “I don’t think so. She doesn’t have the guts.”
    “She might spread it around that you’re interested, though. The killer might hear—” I caught myself.
    “If it’s all a crock, as you just said, there’s no danger, is there?” Claudia stared at me with bright, amused eyes. “And if it’s not, then any interest in me is proof I’m on the right track.”
    “Would that be any satisfaction if the killer comes after you?” I shivered. “That is not a pleasant experience.”
    Claudia patted my arm. “Just be thankful you aren’t mixed up in it this time, Liz. I’m not in any danger just from poking around. Heavens, I don’t even know any of their names, except Melanie’s. I didn’t remember Richard’s name until I met him again. Most of them went by nicknames anyway. That flaky baby-sitter called herself Primrose. I think her real name is Jane Holfinger. There was another one they called Mondo Man, and a girl named Wendy, I think. Don’t know any of the rest of them, and believe me, they came and went. That house must have seen upwards of twenty young people in the space of a year.”
    “Drake ought to know, anyway.”
    “You’re so loyal.” Claudia made me sound a bit like Barker. I wondered if he was giving Drake a hard time. I wished that Bridget’s mom hadn’t broken her ankle. I wished that Emery hadn’t chosen this week to have a conference in Hawaii. I wished I were holed up in my cottage, peacefully writing about winter aconites for Ornamental Horticulture .
    “Anyway,” Claudia said, “Melanie agreed to tell Drake whatever she knew.”
    “Maybe she’s in danger, too.”
    Claudia sounded impatient. “No one’s in danger now, Liz. This all happened so long ago. If it turns out to be this drug dealer under the sidewalk, he might even have died of an overdose and panicked someone into planting him there. Whoever did it is probably long gone now.”
    “Maybe not.” I slowed for a turn onto Brotherhood Way that would take us the back way into Golden Gate Park, avoiding the traffic on 19th. “You just pointed out that all those people turn up again, and some of them never left.” I shook it off. “This is all stupid, anyway. No way could you come up with the identity of those bones just from gossiping with Melanie.”
    “You’re probably right.” Claudia sounded disappointed. “So Drake shouldn’t know. He’s so competitive about his cases.”
    “He is?” I smothered a laugh.
    We managed to find a place to park not too far from the museum and marched our troops inside, where there were bones enough to please everyone. However, when I had my turn at a bathroom break, I found a pay phone and left a message