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Dr. Raymond Cuthbert was tall, but he was as thin as a willow reed. Even if his alibi hadn't been confirmed, Faith would have had difficulty believing he could have carried Paul's and Kevin's bodies up hills and then dug their graves.

He made up for his slight build with an almost manic energy.

When he greeted the agents, he pumped their hands rapidly up and down—including the paw of a befuddled and slightly amused Turk—and grinned as though being interrupted by a murder investigation was just the most exciting thing that ever happened to him. Who knew? Maybe it was.

“Did you guys get a chance to check out the dig site?” he asked eagerly.

Faith had to reach back to elementary school American history to remember that the Minutemen were one of the first attempts to organize the colonial militias into a legitimate fighting force that could oppose the British presence in America.

“That’s very interesting, doctor, and under other circumstances, I would love to hear all about it.

However, you were called back here to assist us in a murder investigation, so I have to insist that you stay on topic. ”

No sooner had she said that than something clicked in her head. “Wait. This was a site of a battle?”

“Yes. A fairly small one but an important one. This battle and others like it were catalysts for the formation of the Minutemen. See, the British weren’t keen on violence with colonials prior to the 1770s. Before then, most encounters with colonial militia were bloodless.”

“Thank you,” Faith interjected. “That’s good to know.”

Both victims had been buried on battlefields. Faith didn’t know if that was significant yet, or if the killer just looked for archaeological digs, but in the words of one famous sage, “there ain’t no such thing as a coincidence.”

“Do you guys often leave the dig site unattended and drive back to Yale for meetings?” Michael asked.

“We don’t always go back to Yale,” Raymond replied, “but the dig site isn’t always watched. I tried instituting a rotating watch, but park management didn’t like us here overnight.”

“So it’s empty every night.” Another parallel to the previous murder.

“Yes. That’s actually why I was at Yale today.

I was asking for a few thousand dollars to put up a chain-link fence and some barbed wire.

You’d think that’s a worthwhile investment considering the importance of this find, but the administration is so tight-fisted these days.

I offered to pay with my own money, but they freaked out about that.

If people start using their own money for things, the University is going to get audited, and they don’t want that. ”

“Who knows about the dig?” Faith asked. “Besides your team, of course.”

“Well, we’re not keeping it a secret. We’re not advertising it, but we’re not hiding it, either. That being said, I guess I have to admit that this just doesn’t interest a lot of people. I really don’t understand that. I mean, this is American history! The start of American history!”

“Other than your team, who could you say for sure knows about this dig and the exact location of the dig site?” Faith specified.

“I can make you guys a list when I get back to my hotel room. I can’t promise to get every name on there, but I know the people who were most curious.”

“Any of them from any other university?”

“Yeah, a few.”

“New York State University, perhaps?”

“Or people from your school who visit New York State,” Faith added.

“I’ll have to doublecheck,” Raymond replied. He gave them a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I didn’t really know what I was supposed to prepare for.”

“That’s all right,” Faith said. “Is there a reason you took your entire team back to Yale with you instead of leaving a few of the students behind to keep things moving?”

Raymond shifted his feet uncomfortably. “Well… they’re not very experienced yet.

Part of not having a budget is that I couldn’t hire an assistant lead researcher.

The students aren’t getting paid for their help.

I feel like an asshole saying it, but I’m getting what I paid for.

They’re trying hard, and they’re all very passionate, but I can’t trust them to do anything with the site on their own.

I told them I needed them to address the administration and tell them why they each believe the site deserves more funding, but really I just wanted to keep them from poking around without my supervision. Good kids, but… you know.”

They paused the questioning while Raymond ordered some food.

A bored teenager slid across a greasy paper bag bearing a brightly colored admonition to “recycle this package!” and containing an equally greasy burger that had probably been fried that morning and left on the warmer until just now.

Yellowjackets and bees competed for space around the condiment counter, several of them landing on Raymond while he added ketchup and mustard to his burger.

He didn’t seem to mind the stinging bugs at all.

To be fair, they left him alone once he took his food back to a table.

Turk showed a little too much interest in a yellowjacket that had landed on the side of one of the trash cans, but when Faith called him away, he left without swiping at the wasp.

Raymond sat down and bit into his burger. Faith was amused but not surprised that he was the sort who chewed with his mouth full. “So this guy they found here. Was he homeless?”

Faith frowned. “No. Why do you ask?”

Raymond swallowed and took another big bite. “We had a problem at the last dig site I worked where homeless people would enter the site and try to camp in our tents. No tents here, but the ground’s been cleared, so I thought maybe a guy sneaked in.”

Michael frowned. “You realize he was murdered, right? As in his life was taken against his will?”

Raymond blinked and colored slightly. "Yeah, right. I'm sorry. I just… I mean, I can't figure out why here . It doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“That’s why we’re talking to you,” Faith said. “We wanted to know what about this site might make it appealing to the murderer.”

“Hell if I know,” Raymond said. “Unless he’s a…” His eyes widened. “Oh. That’s why you wanted a list of everyone who knows about the site. You want to know if one of them might have chosen to bury a victim here because he’s passionate about American history.”

That wasn’t quite correct, but Faith didn’t see a need to share every detail of the investigation with Raymond. “Any names come to mind?’

He shook his head. “No, sorry. I mean… We’re all nerds.

Academics, I mean. We’re the last people on Earth you’d expect to kill other people.

Hell, I can’t even speak up when the waitress gives me a rare steak instead of a well-done one.

I can’t imagine the frame of mind you’d need to be in to kill someone else. ”

His smile faded, and his demeanor sobered. It looked like he was finally realizing how serious this situation was. “Damn,” he whispered. “This guy who was killed, did he have a family?”

“He did. An ex-wife and four children.”

Raymond’s shoulders slumped. “Aw hell. That really sucks.”

“Yeah, it does,” Michael agreed. “We just talked to the ex. She’s trying to figure out how to tell her kids that they’re never gonna see their daddy again.”

Faith squeezed Michael’s forearm and gave him a look. Raymond’s personality grated on her too, but he wasn’t their killer, and it wasn’t their job to instruct him on social niceties.

“Jesus,” Raymond said, slumping further. “I guess… I mean, I didn’t think much about it. I didn’t know how to…” He lifted his hands and gestured aimlessly. “I mean, a murder ? Here ?”

“Murders happen everywhere, unfortunately,” Faith said.

Although saying that that reminded her that they still didn’t actually know where their victims had been killed, only where they had been buried.

They knew that Paul had been ambushed somewhere between his house and his friend’s house, but they didn’t know exactly where, and they didn’t know the circumstances of Kevin’s death at all.

She decided to release Raymond. He didn’t have anything useful to contribute, anyway. She stood and offered her hand, regretting it immediately when he gripped it with his own grease-laden paw.

“Thank you for your time, doctor,” she said. “If you think of anything, give us a call.”

“Yeah, definitely,” he replied. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help.” He flinched slightly as he thought of something. “Hey, should we, uh… I mean, do you think we’re in danger?”

“Are you or anyone on your team veterans?”

“Veterans? Like military veterans?”

“Yes.”

He shook his head. “No. Is that who this killer’s targeting?”

“It’s a possibility,” Faith replied. Before Raymond could pry, she said, “If you don’t fit that bill, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Got it. Well, geez, what an asshole.”

“World’s full of ‘em. Have a nice day, doctor.”

The three agents returned to their car. Turk growled menacingly at a paper wasp that drifted a little too close but kept his paws and jaws to himself. The paper wasp sashayed in front of the dog as though daring him to do something, then sped off in search of food.

When they were in the car, Faith said, “We need to put together a solid timeline for Barnes.”

“We also need to get a list of people of interest,” Michael said. “Whoever committed these crimes had to at least have known where these dig sites were.”

“How about you start working on that when Cuthbert gets you his list?” Faith suggested. “I’ll see if I can dig into Barnes’s last hours.”

“Works for me. Should we find a place to stay in Danbury?”

“Yes. We don’t have any leads in Hancock right now, and I want to be nearby in case I find a lead on Barnes’s end.”

“Fair enough. Might get a nicer room, anyway, since this is a bigger town.”

She rolled her eyes. “Because that’s what’s important right now, Michael.”

He shrugged. “If we’re going to be doing tedious work, we might as well do it in a comfortable room.”

“Well, we probably aren’t going to spend much time in that room,” Faith said. “Once we have a lead, we’re out and about again.”

The SUV reached pavement and accelerated smoothly out of the park. The transition from a rough dirt road to smooth asphalt made Faith think that there was something to be said for comfort after all.

It was certainly important to their killer. He’d gone to great lengths to ensure that his victims were laid gently to rest.

But why? And why in old battlefields?

Elusive as the answer was, Faith was still convinced that was the most important question.