Walking back to Bird Song, Dean mulled over what he'd learned. Josh Mulligan-the bones finally had a name. A red headed con man who impregnated a young girl and then either skipped or got caught, most likely by an irate father, who in turn also exited town. While that conjecture made a nice pat story, it didn't answer who was now so concerned with forty-year-old happenings to switch the skeleton, steal a finger bone, offer a substantial price for a virtually worthless mine, and perhaps take a shot at visitors to the Lucky Pup. . .assuming the events were even related, which was a giant leap in itself.
One logical candidate was the offspring of Edith Plotke and Josh Mulligan: someone forty years old, perhaps a red head. Dean thought about Lydia Larkin, the new redhead in town. He had thought her younger than forty when they first locked horns over the speeding ticket, but he was admittedly inept at guessing women's ages-or guessing practically anything about the fairer sex. When he visited her, she'd mentioned marriage and divorce. He did the math-married seven years, divorced ten years- depending on her age when she married, she might be a young-looking forty.
Dean tried hard to exclude Jennifer Radisson from consideration as a malefactor, although he reluctantly admitted his sole reason to pass on her as a suspect was his belief in her story. A poor example of being objective. After all, Jennifer was born in Ouray and was connected to the disputed land.
Then there was Fitzgerald, Dean's prime candidate for any nefarious act, most notably some involvement in Billy Langstrom's death. But Fitzgerald had to be older than forty-he certainly looked it-a fact easily checked on his election application. Don't forget the Dawkins boys, Dean told himself. Either one of them might have stolen the bony digit from Cynthia's jewelry case and fired a gun at the Lucky Pup Mine.
Who else had been staying at Bird Song throughout this whole business? Dean stopped to think. In addition to the four Dawkins, there was Pumpkin Green, the grocery cart vagabond, and old Brandon Westlake, camera buff supreme. Maybe Dean should consider those two as well.