Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding GWTW

Author's Notes: Thank you for all the reviews and feedback.

Chapter Twenty-Six

After a long flight Rhett and Scarlett finally got to the Best Western in Thermopolis. They had no problems along the way, which was always nice. After they were in the room, he said, "They have room service." Rhett looked at the menu and said, "I'm going to have an eight oz. filet, baked potato, salad with ranch, and a roll."

"Make it two."

"Let me call them now."

After Rhett was finished with the call to room service, Scarlett said, "We will visit the local sheriff's office. His name is John Lumley."

"Alright. Tomorrow morning."

"Yeah. No point in rushing out there. The bones are in a footlocker under the sheriff's custody. They aren't going anywhere."

After thirty minutes, their food was delivered. Although it wasn't piping hot, it also wasn't cold. The steak wasn't the best steak either one of them had ever eaten, but it was certainly edible.

Rhett talked about what he was doing at the Jeffersonian and Scarlett pretended that she cared. Rhett returned the favor when she talked about her cases and pretended to care.

Scarlett watched a little TV, but Rhett did not. Not even the news. He thought everything coming out of a TV was inane babble. Although he never insisted that she turn the TV off, she could tell when he had enough of that noise as he called it. They were both working to be in a relationship. It was the first time for both of them. Rhett had not been in a relationship with his wife and Scarlett had more of a friendship with Charlie. They both knew they would have to rub off the rough spots, but both knew it, and both wanted it to work.

The case in Thermopolis was more of a who was it than a who done it. Scarlett wanted to find the person responsible, and she would do due diligence in pursuit of the perp, but as of now she didn't know if it was anything more serious than someone hauling a skeleton around in a footlocker for fifty years. It would be up to Rhett to identify who the skeleton once belonged to. Rhett and the entire Jefferson team.

After Rhett and Scarlett had eaten breakfast, she called the sheriff, John Lumley. She arranged to meet him in his office in thirty minutes. Mr. Lumley greeted the couple warmly and Scarlett returned the greeting. Scarlett said, "This is Rhett Butler. He is a renowned Forensic Anthropologist. Best in the country. If you don't believe me, just ask him." Both men smiled at her statement. She continued, "Tell me what happened."

"One of Thermopolis' residents Newel Session had been left a shed by his friend, John Morris. Inside the shed was a footlocker. It had been several years since Mr. Morris had left town and Newel was going to clean the shed out. There was a footlocker in there and before Newel threw it away, he opened it to see what was inside. He found a skeleton. That is when he contacted me. I went out to his home and took the footlocker into custody. Newel contacted his friend and John denied knowing anything about the skeleton. In fact, he claimed he hadn't even known there was a skeleton in the footlocker. Which is strange because a few years back John had told Newel he had the footlocker for years."

Scarlett said, "It seems to me that if a person is going to the time and trouble to haul something around the least, they would do is find out what was inside it."

"I agree."

Rhett said, "Can I look at the skeleton?"

"Yes, of course. It is in the back room."

After the footlocker was opened, Rhett picked up the skull. After looking at the skull for a few minutes he said, "Sheriff, you have a murder victim on your hands, but the person has been dead for a while. There is a bullet lodged behind where the left eye once was. Scarlett, I am going to have to take this back to the Jeffersonian with me."

"We can ship it overnight with UPS."

"No, Honey, I meant we are going to have to drive the footlocker and the bones back to the Jeffersonian."

"You need to go get us a bigger vehicle then if we are going to be traveling by car back to DC."

Lumley said, "I called John Morris in Texas and talked to him."

"What did he say?"

"He said, "He had bought the footlocker in Oklahoma or Iowa. He didn't remember where. He had moved from town to town, state to state, and he claimed to have never opened it. Yet, he never left it behind either until now."

Scarlett turned to Rhett and said, "Looks like I am going to Texas, and you are going to drive back to DC."

"Alright. I can get Miguel to create a picture."

Lumley said, "Or a bust and then you can get it featured on Unsolved Mysteries."

"We sure can."

A week later, both Rhett and Scarlett were back in DC. Miguel had agreed to take the skull and create a face. Rhett had identified that it was a white man in his late thirties or forties, height 170 to 174 cm. The bullet was from a twenty-two-caliber weapon available in the United States starting in 1908.

Scarlett's attempt to question John Morris was abruptly brought to a close when the man refused to speak without counsel. The public defender would not let him speak to Scarlett at all.

The producers from Unsolved Mysteries contacted Scarlett through the FBI. They agreed to run a segment on the skeleton if she could find someone to create a bust of the man. Miguel agreed to do it.

Two months later the segment ran. They were to contact Sheriff Lumley. After the show aired there were several calls, but only one panned out. It was from a woman who thought the man was her long-lost grandfather. The story her grandmother told was that her husband had just walked away one night. At the time he had been living in Des Moines, Iowa with his wife and three children. But the grandmother had never reported her husband missing.

It was the man's jawline that made the woman, Shelley Statler, think it was her grandfather, Joseph Mulvaney. She had never met her grandfather, but she had enough relatives with that jawline that she was sure they were related somehow. Shelley gave a DNA sample, and it was a match. 99%. Shelley's mother, Joseph's daughter believed that her mother killed her father and got Joseph's nephew, John Morris, to help her get rid of the body.

As Scarlett finished reading the report to Rhett, he said, "So is it going to trial?"

"No, there isn't enough evidence. The most they can prove is that Morris carried a body around with him."

"Where is Morris now?"

"In the wind."

Rhett smiled and said, "At least, the family has closure. They know their father never ran off."

"And they know their mother was a murderer."

"Closure is not always pretty."

Scarlett smiled and said, "You are right, Rhett."

A few days later, Rhett said, "How is Melly's divorce coming along?"

"Despite all Ashley's attempts to derail everything, it will be final next Monday. It seems Amy has kicked him out of her house and ended their relationship. He tried to reconcile with Melly, but she would have nothing to do with him. Not only had he been cheating on her with Amy all this time, but he cheated on her with me also. As Melly said, 'He didn't know I had arranged everything. As far as he was concerned, he was cheating on me with my best friend."

"Dear, did a little birdie tell Ms. Morton that Ashley had cheated on her with you?"

Scarlett smiled slyly and said, "Maybe."

Rhett laughed and said, "Who is paying for Melly's divorce?"

"I am loaning her the money."

"Can you afford that?"

"Yes. I'm selling her my house also."

Rhett smiled and said, "Where are you moving to?"

"Nowhere. I'm going to continue to live here with you."

Still smiling Rhett said, "I haven't asked you to move in."

"And you never will. Just like Miguel, I will just have to move in." Rhett had told Scarlett the entire story about Miguel. She paused then added, "For your own good."

"If it is for my own good then I will have to tolerate your presence in my home."

"Don't be silly. You know you love me." Rhett went perfectly still. Scarlett smiled, "Just as I love you. We must love each other. We have broken all our rules for each other."

"Indeed. I certainly have. I love you."

Scarlett went with Melly to court for her divorce petition to be granted and finalized. When Ashley tried to make a case for why he was a better parent than Melly, Melly's lawyer, Carolyn Goodman, pointed out that Mr. Wilkes did not have a home of his own while Mrs. Wilkes was buying a home. There was an after-school program at Beau's school that he was enrolled in. Every day Jack dropped Melly off at Beau's school and mother and child walked the short distance home. Ashley also asserted that Melly didn't need spousal support because she already had a job. Carolyn had stated that while Mrs. Wilkes did have a job, it was that of a file clerk, not exactly the highest paying job in the world. Neither Carolyn nor Melly admitted that even the file clerks at the Jeffersonian were well paid. Carolyn stated that Mrs. Wilkes was going back to school and in two years should receive her master's in library science and by that time would be able to get a much better paying job. On that point the judge split the difference and awarded Melly spousal support for a year, starting after the divorce was final.

At the end of the day Melly Wilkes was a single woman once again. As they were driving home, Scarlett said, "Ms. Goodman was good."

"Pun intended?"

Scarlett laughed and said, "No, but it was good."

"Yes, she was good. She wasn't cheap, but she set me up on a payment plan. Ashley's spousal support payment will cover Ms. Goodman's bill."

"So, Ashley is paying for your lawyer."

With a smile Melly said, "That is one way to think of it."

"Is it how you are going to think of it?"

"Oh, yes. I love the ironicness of it."

"Me too. Do you want me to set you up on some dates?"

"No, I have my eye on a technician in Paleontology. His name is Marvin Smith."

Marvin and Melly met in the cafeteria. They had both reached for the same Jello salad at the same time. They had ended up splitting the salad. They had to sit at the same table to make that happen. Marvin wasn't a young man. He was in his mid-thirties. He was a widower with three children. Yes, he was looking for a mother for his children, but more importantly he was looking for someone to spend the rest of his life with. Marvin arranged to always be going to lunch at the same time Melly went to lunch. It was easy enough. She had to walk right by his office on her way to the cafeteria. They would always share a table because the seating was limited in the cafeteria. Marvin was thrilled when he finally told Melly about his children, and she was excited about the fact he had children.

Melly continued, "He thinks I don't know that he waits for me to pass by his office on my way to the cafeteria before he goes to lunch. We always arrive at the cafeteria just about the same time. Everyday. That's too much for it to be a coincidence."

"Ah. I'm so proud. My little Melly is all grown up."

Melly laughed and said, "Maybe not completely but she is well on her way."

Author's Notes: This was a true crime that was featured on Unsolved Mysteries. All the names I have used were the real people involved. Shelley Statler really did recognize that the John Doe was one of her relatives by his jawline. I think that is amazing. In real life the person who created the bust was Sandra Mays, the director of the Wyoming State Crime Lab in 1992.