Read Online A Mammoth Murder by Bill Crider - Free Book Online

camped all along this creek,” Turley said. “Larry and I found arrowheads here a long time ago, like I said.”
    The creek had likely looked pretty much the same when the Comanches had lived there a hundred and fifty years ago or more, but Rhodes was sure it had been different when the Clovis people had been there.
    Rhodes wondered what Vance thought about Turley’s arrowhead hunting. The few archaeologists Rhodes had talked to over the years didn’t like to have amateurs picking up arrowheads or pieces of clay pots. They thought things should be left in place for the professionals to find them, even if there were no professionals in the area at the time.
    â€œI figured that maybe the rain had washed up some more arrowheads,” Turley continued. “Clovis points, and some that are a lot newer than that. When it’s rained a lot, you never know what you might run across. And I thought maybe if a Bigfoot had walked along the creek, it might have left some footprints.”
    Rhodes looked at Vance, who smiled at the Bigfoot reference.
Jennifer kept a straight face. Rhodes didn’t know if that was because she was a believer or because she didn’t want to upset Turley.
    â€œI asked Larry to come looking with me,” Turley said, “but he didn’t want to. Said he had something else to do.”
    Jennifer Loam had probably questioned him about Colley during their ride, Rhodes thought, assuming she could be heard over the roar of the wind in the Jeep.
    Turley looked off into the distance, as if he might be thinking about Colley and how things would have been different if his friend had come along with him to look for footprints and arrowheads.
    â€œDo you think this creek was here ten thousand years ago?” Rhodes asked Vance, who was already beginning to sweat through his blue dress shirt.
    â€œNot likely,” Vance said. “A lot of this area was under water. We might be standing on the edge of what was once a huge lake. Or there might have been a creek here, just not this one. We can tell more about what was here when we see where the bones are.”
    Rhodes glanced down at Vance’s feet. The professor was wearing black dress shoes.
    Vance noticed where Rhodes was looking and said, “Don’t worry about me. I’ve ruined more than one pair of shoes in my day.”
    There was still some mud along the sides of the creek down near the water, but the upper sides of the bank had dried out on both sides. Tall weeds grew along them, and Rhodes thought about mosquitoes and chiggers. He could see the trees of Big Woods about a quarter of a mile away.
    â€œHow far from here did you find the tooth?” he asked Turley.
    Turley took off his welding cap and wiped the top of his head. “Maybe a little more than fifty yards,” he said as he put the cap
back on. “You know, I didn’t really notice the other day, but this land’s not even fenced on the other side of the creek.”
    Rhodes hadn’t noticed, either, but now that Turley mentioned it, he saw that the fence ended at the creek.
    â€œMaybe Bolton thinks the creek is enough of a fence,” he said, and maybe it was.
    The banks were steep and the creek was plenty wide, at least fifteen yards wide, maybe twenty. Bolton’s cattle wouldn’t want to go to the trouble of crossing it, not when there was plenty of grass on their side.
    â€œIf the place isn’t fenced, Bolton’s not gonna have much to say about anybody digging for a mammoth’s bones,” Turley said. “I found that tooth on the unfenced side.”
    Jennifer Loam swiped her hand at a bug that flew in front of her face. “Why don’t we look at where you found it, if we’re going to,” she said.
    â€œSounds like a good idea to me,” Rhodes said. “You lead the way, Bud.”
    Turley went down into the ditch beside the road. The weeds reached up to his armpits, and he