I was surprised and relieved to see Amy standing nearby talking with Beau. She was smiling. That meant she didn’t know about her father yet.
Mo turned, spotted me, barked, and all heads turned.
I waved and made my way carefully down the rise, not wanting to repeat my memorable fall down a hill to land on a dead guy and meet Ian for the first time.
Ian met me at the bottom, his arm going around me to yank me close and plant an eager kiss on my lips, which was most welcomed.
“I’ve never been kissed by a Viking before,” I teased.
“This Viking is going to do a lot more than only kiss you later tonight,” he whispered and kissed my cheek.
“Will he be wearing this outfit when he ravages me?” I chuckled.
Ian grinned. “I can make that happen, lass.”
“A Viking with a Scottish brogue, be still my heart.”
His voice turned gruff and deep. “It won’t be a Highlander in your bed tonight, woman.”
“I think tonight might not be soon enough,” I said seriously.
“We could forgo breakfast,” Ian said with a wink.
“Enough with the two of you. We have work to do,” Beau ordered playfully.
I turned to see Beau decked out as a Viking as well. He fit the image with his broad chest and shoulders and his dark blond hair.
Amy has repeatedly denied a relationship with Beau since she has been in love with my middle brother Thomas since she’s been young. But Amy has been questioning her unrequited feelings for Thomas the last few months, and for the last month, she and Beau have been inseparable.
“What’s wrong, Pep?” Ian asked. “I can feel your worry.”
“Something that I have to talk to Amy about,” I said.
“Bad news,” he asked, concerned.
“I’m not sure how she’s going to feel about it.”
“Mo, stop that. You’re going to wreck the scene,” Thad, one of the models, yelled.
I looked to see Mo digging like crazy near a tree. “Mo!” I shouted, but he ignored me.
Dirt was flying everywhere spoiling the pristine snow as Mo continued to dig madly.
“MO! STOP NOW!” My stern shout caused him to stop but only for a moment.
I went over to him, concerned since Mo knew the difference in my commands and obeyed them. Not this time, which meant he’d uncovered something important.
“What is it, Mo?” I asked.
He turned to face me. A long bone stuck out from either end of his mouth.
“That’s a femur bone,” Beau said.
Ian hurried over with me to Mo, and he took the bone from him. Mo surrendered it easily, then sat and glanced to where he had been digging and back at me. Ian and I stepped closer to have a look.
I stared, not sure what I was seeing. “Is that a skull?” I asked and looked to Ian to confirm it.
“Looks like it,” Ian said.
I bent down to brush more dirt away, but Ian’s hand on my arm stopped me.
“This might be a crime scene, Pep,” Ian said. “We need to ring your dad.”
I shook my head, hearing my dad’s chuckling response when I told him, and sure enough, he responded just as I thought he would.
“So, you’re telling me Vikings have landed and their beast of a dog pillaged a grave.”
2
My dad stood staring down at the partially covered skull. “The Crime Scene Unit will be here shortly to collect the bones and whatever else they find in that hole.” He looked at Ian. “This area will be locked down until CSU releases it.”
“Not a problem, Sheriff,” Ian said. “I have a vast forest at my disposal. I sent the models who were here at the time back to the lodge if you need to talk to them.”
“I doubt it will be necessary but give me a list of their names just in case.”
“Amy was here as well,” I said.
“Did you tell her?” my dad asked anxiously.
“I haven’t had the chance yet. I’ll see to it before she leaves the lodge.”
“Another dead guy, sis?” my brother Josh and one of the sheriff’s department’s finest asked as he stepped into the clearing and laughed. “At least you didn’t face plant on this one.”
I wisely chose to ignore my brother.
“Snap some pictures with your cell, before the snow covers everything.” my dad ordered.
Josh approached the gravesite. “Probably a lone hiker that had an accident.”
I asked the obvious. “Why would he be buried if it was an accident?”
“No accident if he was buried.”
The familiar voice had me turning to smile at Stan Richards. He was once the medical examiner for the county, but health issues forced him to retire early. He was only sixty, a couple of years older than my dad, and a widower for two years now. They had become good friends through the years.
“I thought you were visiting your daughter in Florida, Stan,” my dad said. “Get tired of the sunshine?”