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A wo on the stair rail She was dressed in late-Victorian attire, in a dark green travel suit with a slight bustle and a tailored jacket over a high-buttoned blouse A green hat orn at an artistic angle, her dark hair neatly tied at her nape Her facial structure was elegant, handsoht she was an employee orked in the bar or food area--or perhaps sold tickets or souvenirs But as she watched Jane, she raised her hand frolove and slowly faded away, her eyes on Jane all the while
Sage McCormick? Jane wondered And if so, what had happened to her?
Judging by the way the woe--if that was indeed who it was--liked her or felt happy to have her there
She didn’t ponder the question long She felt a real presence nearby and turned
Sheriff Trent was back She glanced up at hiain that he fit his Western town very well He had the rugged good looks of a cowboy, a frontiers her heart rate increase as he stood before her; she was afraid she was going to blush But, like it or not, he was a very attractivecasual confidence
"May I?" he asked her
"Please," she said, indicating the seat across froht now," he told her "The show’s al to do, refusing you a chair," Jane said Sloan Trent had made it fairly evident that he didn’t approve of her anyhere?" he asked
She smiled "Well, I’ve only had a few hours But the room is both historic and lovely, the employees and the theater people all seee the food"
"Sorry, please, eat!" he urged "Liz" He greeted the waitress who’d seen him and she came over
"Sloan, nice to see you!" Liz said with her natural waruest is having It looks good," he said
"Sure" Liz nodded and uess you really were desperate for a chair--since you don’t seerinned at that and shrugged "Have I been an ass?"
"Yes I would say so Especially since you’re the one who called Logan and asked if he knew a forensic artist he could reco personal And yes, I called Logan I wanted the skull sent out, say, to the S But when Henri, as mayor, said no" Sloan shook his head "I don’t understand Henri Coque’s motivations I’m worried that he wants to use a dead wohost storya fabrication"
"Maybe he’s just clinging to history," Jane suggested
"He’s got a notion that he can create soreat romantic story that willYou know, hit up the travel sites and ?" Jane asked
Liz delivered an iced tea to Sloan and he thanked her "I don’t know I just think that there are labs better situated to deal with this"
"In ot where it was"
"That’s right Henri is always saying that one day he’ll get all the ‘treasures’ in the bases down there really are priceless Old cutouts for advertising and promo, dressmakers’ dummies, mannequins--some are wire, some are wooden, some are cardboard Some are junk and some are certainly collector’s itee, the actors seldos are used, but they hadn’t been in about a year What happened was that the shoas about to open and Valerie’s wig had been daed, so she went to see what else they had down there until it could be fixed Butif she hadn’t needed a wig, the skull could have sat there for weeks or er They hadn’t been touched in ages, so"
"There was powder residue on it so I assume you tested for prints?" Jane asked "Or was it just seen as an act of --since no real crime was committed? At least, not a current crime"
"Mischief, but the kind of mischief that infuriated Henri Yes, we tested for prints and found none It had been wiped clean Iat all Soh to wipe it down"
"So, you’re thinking maybe it was someone who’d been in law enforcehed "No! I was thinking so his or her life--and that’s practically everyone The woman’s been dead for over a hundred years, so as you said, we’re not looking at current crireat for tourisht help hi on the skull, and he wants to know that so he can fire his or her ass"
"You believe whoever did it had to be an actor or crew member or Gilded Lily eht all the time It’s unlikely that anyone not associated with the theater would have wandered in with a skull in hand to hide it under a wig in the base "So, yes, it had to be so to cause trouble"
"Someone likea trickster," Janeat her curiously "Yes, I guess"
"Ah, beware tricksters"