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“Max says there’s a skeleton lying in the field behind the house,” said Odelia, translating my words for her husband, who sat reading a comic book he’d borrowed from his father-in-law, and sipping from a cup of piping hot black coffee. He looked up at the mention of the word skeleton, and, not unlike a pointing dog, was ready for action. “A skeleton?” he said, sitting upright and ready to go where duty called. “Who found it?”

“Fifi,” I said dutifully. Though I didn’t mention the Yorkie was about to bury the bones, and if Dooley and I hadn’t arrived on the scene, that skeleton would probably never have been found. But then that’s dogs for you: they tend to go off half-cocked.

“I’m going to take a look,” said Chase, getting up while still holding onto his cup of coffee and taking a sip then putting it down. “Are you coming?”

“Absolutely,” said Odelia, and then both of our humans were off, with Dooley and myself and of course Fifi leading the way.

“An actual skeleton,” said Chase, sounding as happy as a kid who’s found buried treasure. “I wonder how it got there, and how long it’s been there, and who it belongs to. Are you sure it’s human, Max?”

“He’s sure,” said Odelia, without consulting me.

“Human skeletons have a tendency to decay,” Dooley explained for Fifi’s sake, “and the level of decay can tell an expert how long ago the person died. I saw a documentary about this on the Discovery Channel. There’s a place where they keep bodies in all kinds of different circumstances and then monitor the decay. It’s very yucky, but also interesting.”

“Trust me when I tell you, Dooley,” said Fifi, “that this person has been there exactly three months, three days and five hours—could also be six.” She stuck her nose in the air. “You don’t have to teach me bones,” she explained. “As a dog I’m an expert on bones.”

“You should have been a police dog, Fifi. They could really use a dog like you.”

Fifi gave us a wistful look.“I wish,” she said fervently. “But I’m too small to be a police dog.”

“Would you like to be a police dog?” I asked now. I’m not a big fan of dogs in general, but it is true that they have a certain usefulness when set about performing a specific set of tasks. Not as useful as cats, obviously, but then most cats have no interest in entering the field of policing, and dogs do, since their natural tendency is to obey orders, something cats feel goes against their innate sense of independence. And if you say: but, Max, you follow orders all the time, then I’m going to tell you that I don’t. I respect Odelia, and if she asks me to do something, I weigh therequest, then decide for myself whether to engage or not. Big difference!

We arrived at the spot indicated, and Chase looked about as giddy as a puppy ready to try out a new bouncy ball.“It’s a skeleton, all right,” he announced happily. “Max called it.”

“Actually I called it, Chase,” said Fifi.

“Fifi called it,” I told Odelia, who decided not to translate this message for her husband, since it didn’t make any difference. Also, Chase was studying the scene now, an intense frown cutting a groove in his brow. He crouched down and inspected the bones, getting close and personal with theremains. “If I’m not mistaken there’s parts missing,” he said. He then darted a curious look at Fifi. “The dog been at it, you think?”

“Must be,” said Odelia.

“It wasn’t me!” said Fifi, clearly resenting the accusation. “I didn’t touch them!”

“You touched one bone, Fifi,” Dooley reiterated his earlier statement.

“One is none, Dooley! One is none!”

“There’s one more bone over there,” I said, and pointed Odelia in the right direction.

“I think it’s time we called your uncle,” said Chase, as he rose again and took out his phone. He now directed a curious look at the car wreck which sat only a dozen or so feet away from the skeleton. “Whose car is that?” he asked as he put his phone to his ear.

“The land belongs to Blake Carrington,” said Odelia. “So the car must be his, too. I know Dad has been begging the town council for years to get rid of it, but no luck so far.”

“Years, huh? I wonder if this poor schmuck has been lying here for years, too. Alec? Yeah, I think you better get down here. To the house. We found a skeleton in Blake Carrington’s field. Oh, and better get Abe out here as well. Looks to me like it’s human.” After he’d disconnected, he frowned pensively. “Odd,” he said, glancing around.

“What?” said Odelia as she snapped a couple of pictures of the skeleton with her phone.

“This field is surrounded on all sides by houses, right?”

“Except on that side,” said Odelia, pointing in a south-southwestern direction, if I wasn’t mistaken.

“So how come it took Max to finally make the discovery?”

“It wasn’t me,” I said quickly as Fifi opened her mouth to speak.

“I see what you mean,” said Odelia, nodding. “You think someone recently put this here?”