person.” “Let’s just say I’m an animal person.” Actually, I was allergic to cats-big time. “I’m Mallie Monroe” I held out my hand.
“Everett Jacobs” He kept his hand firmly fixed to his forehead. “Pleased to meet you” I waved my fingers in lieu of shaking hands. “And my best wishes for Mabel’s speedy recovery.” “She’ll be fine now that things are quiet again.” A note of triumph entered his voice. Was he so obsessed about his cat that he’d actually kill to protect her good health? It hardly seemed possible. But, then again, Everett certainly gave the impression of being a cranky old codger who might not need much of a push to become a vindictive old killer. “I heard that you and Mr. Hillman had some kind of dispute over the boundary line-“ “He was fixing to encroach on my property” The old man’s arm came down, hand curled into a fist. “I saw him out here one day with a surveyor and I knew what the two of them was up to” “But why would he want part of your land?” “He said it was for some damn privacy fence, but I think he wanted things that weren’t his-that’s just how he was. But I wasn’t about to give him one foot of my property. I already lost part of my acreage to that Henderson Research Center.” My ears perked up. “Research Center?” “Yep” He pointed to the back of his property where the shell mounds were the highest. “Some archaeologists from the University of Florida got a grant to go digging up there, and I had to let ‘em-something about the area being declared a historic site. Next thing I know people are poking around at all hours, turning up things they shouldn’t be messin’ with.”
“That’s an archaeological dig?” I followed his glance toward the highest mound and noticed a roped off area on the top. “I had no idea.” “Well, now you know, missy.” He emitted a loud cackle and wagged his head. “The only good thing is they also dug up Hillman’s part of the mound, too. He didn’t like it anymore than I did.” “So you had something in common” “Yeah, we hated trespassers.” His fierce old eyes fastened on me again. Pikes! “Would you mind if I took a look at the dig?” “Why?” I smiled, stalling for time until I could think of a good reason. “I’ve never seen one before.” Oh, wow, was that a compelling reason. I mentally kicked myself for the lame excuse, but I never was good at lying. Maybe that’s why I wasn’t as successful as my sister. I could never fib enough to get the kind of job where you had to stretch the truth so thin just to make it through the day that reality became a distant dream. It had been hard enough for me to tell people “Welcome to the Magic Kingdom-Where You’ll Have the Time of Your Life,” when I knew the reality was that they’d be dragging screaming kids around with them for ten hours and then stagger back to their hotels as food-splattered, foot-aching zombies.
I waited to see if Everett would order me off his land faster than you could say “burial mound” “All right, but don’t whine if the prickly pears scratch your arms to smithereens.” “I’ll be careful” But I’d also be sniffing around. Maybe something about the dig held a clue to Hillman’s murder. Everett turned on the heels of his scuffed wingtips and motioned for me to follow with his gnarled old cane. We started up a narrow shell path flanked on either side by gumbo limbo trees and huge bougainvillea bushes. An occasional prickly pear cactus stretched its long, thin barbs toward my arms, but I successfully dodged most of them. Higher and higher, we climbed. Perspiration beaded on my forehead and my breath came in ragged gasps but, surprisingly, my intrepid guide scrambled up the path with the alacrity of a mountain goat-even in his unsuitable footgear. When we reached the top, I bent over and took in a couple deep