The Body In The Bog

The wind howled along the lonely moor, pelting the two pathetic figures trudging across it with bitter, cold rain. A furlong away, three men with umbrellas stood beside a bright blue tarp covering a ditch in the peat. Fiona Ross thought it looked rather out of place compared to the drab landscape.

"This had better be good. I hate this weather," muttered her companion, Gareth MacLean. The torrential rains of the past few days had turned the peat field into a morass of churned mud and turf, and both archaeologists had been less than thrilled by the weather that day.

As they approached the three figures by the tarp, one detached himself from the animated conversation taking place there and came up to greet them.

"Dr. Ross and Dr. MacLean?" They nodded. "I'm Lieutenant Andrews, and those two gentlemen there are John and Alan MacDonald, the farmers who found the body," he indicated the two grizzled Scotsmen hunched under an umbrella by the tarp. "We appreciate your coming on such short notice. Our police force is rather small, and we thought it best to call in a couple of experts in case this body turns out to be less-than-recently dead." The policeman led them down the makeshift peat-cut stairs into the ditch where they shook hands with the farmers. Fiona, noting their marked resemblance, guessed that they were brothers.

"So what exactly have we got here?" Gareth asked, pulling a notebook and pen out of his coat pocket.

"Well, we were out the other day cutting peats here—brings a bit o' extra coin, ye ken," Alan began and Garreth nodded sagely. "We've been cuttin' sa deep here because the fertilizer companies pay more for it. Anyway, I swung my spade doon like I always do, and when I pulled the peat away, there was a nasty brown hand sticking oot of it!"

"Gave you a bit of a start, I shouldn't wonder," Gareth commented.

"Aye, like hell it did! He shrieked like an old woman and nearly wet himself," John grinned. His brother glowered at him, and Fiona laughed.

" The rest o' the body is 'ere under the tarp...that what's sticking out of the peat, leastwise," Alan said. "We called the police as soon as we found it, and they put the tarp over it to protect it til you came."

"The hand, as you know," the lieutenant continued, "is on the way to your lab in Edinburgh."

"Right. It'll take a couple of weeks after we receive it to get any results from carbon dating," Fiona replied. "I'm dreadfully curious to know who's in there," she said, gesturing to the wall of earth beneath the tarp.

"Any idea what likely might be there?" John asked.

"Well, there are several possibilities, really. The first is that the body is that of some victim of a recent crime. But because it's so deep in the peat and the layers don't appear to have been disturbed recently from what I can see, that isn't very likely. Quite probably, it's a Covenenter who was prosecuted for religious reasons sometime in the seventeenth century. Most bodies that turn up here in Scotland tend to be that recent," Fiona explained.

"Your perception of recent is most amusing, Ms. Ross," Gareth chided. Ignoring him, she continued with her explanation.

"There is a remote chance that the body is ancient, like Lindow Man. They found him near Manchester in 1984. But again, that's awfully unlikely, and even the most recent bodies up here tend to be poorly preserved. We find woollen clothing sometimes, but rarely any flesh or tissues."

"Well, miss, we've found a right lovely hand, and it might be that the rest of 'im is under there," Alan said, pointing to the tarp.

"Cross your fingers it is," Fiona said smiling.

"Sicko," Gareth teased.

Miraculously, the next few days were free of rain, allowing the field to drain a little. As soon as it was possible, Fiona, Gareth, and a team of their associates from the lab began the delicate process of removing the slab of peat in which the body was encased. After a long, back- breaking day, they managed to hoist the enormous chunk of peat onto the bed of a pick-up truck. It was wrapped in tarps and firmly secured with ropes before it was sent on its way south to Edinburgh.

Fiona and Gareth said their good-byes to the MacDonald brothers and three of their co- workers who were remaining behind to search for more artifacts in the peat. The pair walked back across the field to Fiona's Land Rover to head for home.

"Fee, you look exhausted. Why don't you let me drive," Gareth suggested as she dug her keys out of her purse. Fee was his pet name for her. She smiled wanly at him.

"You don't fool me for a moment, Gaz. You just want to drive this beast," she replied. Gaz was her nickname for him, mainly because he couldn't stand it.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said, taking her keys, "And don't call me Gaz."

The ride back to Edinburgh was relatively quiet. Fiona dozed much of the way, only half-conscious of Gareth's off-key humming. At some point, she fell fast asleep, so when she awoke with a start sometime later, Gareth nearly drove off the rode in surprise.

"Jesus Christ, Fee, you scared me half to death!" he said in alarm.

"Sorry..." she said, her heart racing. "I just had this horrible dream. Something about a mob lynching, I think. Lots of angry men by a lake, and one of them had his throat cut..."

"Lovely. Sounds like you've been reading too many thrillers," Gareth replied.

"Yeah, something like that..." But she couldn't shake the memory of the dream.

She let Gareth drive her to his flat where he made dinner for her, and then they watched a quirky romantic comedy that he had rented. Because they worked together almost exclusively, they had begun to see each other after hours to finish up projects or even just conversations. Their meetings recently had had a tendency to get off track, and instead of discussing their archaeological work, they had been discussing everything but. She had a feeling that Gareth was interested in pursuing a relationship with her, but she was unsure of her own attachment to him. He was fun to hang out with, and handsome, and charming, but something was missing, and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Around midnight, Gareth nudged her awake.

"Fee, you're drunk, and you're drooling on my couch." She lifted her head groggily and wiped at her mouth.

"I am not drunk, just tired..."

"And drooling."

"Yeah, well, comes with the territory. I should head home, I s'pose."

"You shouldn't drive when you're that tired," Gareth admonished. "Why don't you crash here? You can take my bed, and I'll sleep on the couch."

"That's kind of you to offer, but it would be cruel of me to deprive you of your own bed after the hard day you put in..."

"Fine then, we'll share the bed," he said, smiling lewdly.

"Gaz, you're awful! I am going home---I'd like to wear clean clothes to work tomorrow, after all," she laughed.

"Ah well, you've got to give me credit for trying," he replied, helping her into her coat. "Drive carefully, and try not to have anymore nightmares." He stood in the doorway and watched her drive out. Driving away, Fiona had a feeling that his offer to share a bed with her hadn't been said entirely in jest.

The following day, Fiona spent most of her time readying the lab to receive the body which was temporarily stored in an airtight vault. In the middle of the afternoon, Gareth and four technicians carried it upstairs to the lab and laid the peat slab out on the table.

"Here are the x-rays they took yesterday," Gareth said to Fiona, handing the transparencies to her. They showed a skeleton flat on its back locked in the peat slab.

"Well, that should make it easier to dig this poor guy out. Looks like all of his pieces are still there," she said, satisfied.

"He?" Startled, Fiona turned to the doorway where the speaker stood. He was tall and rugged with flaming red hair, and he gave Fiona a dazzling smile. "I'm Ian MacLachlan from the Edinburgh Times. Jean at the front desk said it would be okay for me to come back here and ask you guys some questions."

"Oh, pleased to meet you. I'm Fiona Ross, and this is my partner Gareth MacLean," the two men nodded at one another. "And yes, the body is a 'he'—you can tell from the way the pelvis is shaped. It's rather different from a woman's since men don't have to give birth."

"Right," Ian said, scribbling furiously in a notebook. "How old is this fellow then?"

"We don't know yet," Gareth said before Fiona could speak. "We probably won't have the carbon-14 testing results for at least or week or two." Fiona went to work while Gareth answered Ian's questions. He seemed anxious to divert the other man's attention away from her. Fiona smiled to herself. It was not the first time Gareth had done so in the presence of another attractive, young man.

Carefully, she and one of the grad student technicians who had helped Gareth bring the body up began to peal away the layers of peat enclosing the body. They used the x-rays for reference to help them find the body and thus not inadvertently damage it.

"Dr. MacLean is very protective of you, Fiona," the student, Maria, said softly, smiling wickedly. She and Fiona were close in age and were good friends.

"If you're implying that there is something going on between us, then you're wrong. If Gaz had his way, there would be, but I'm not ready for it," she replied in a low voice.

"Poor man...I bet you would go for handsome Mr. MacLachlan there, though."

"You wicked girl," Fiona laughed, "but you're right. A fling with him could have it's merits. Maybe he even has a brain to go with that body." Maria giggled, and the two men looked over at them.

Eventually, Gareth moved over to help with the peat removal, and Ian perched himself on a chair to watch. The work was slow and tedious, but by the end of the day, they'd revealed the lower legs of the body, which were in a remarkable state of preservation, though slightly flattened.

"This has been a truly fascinating day for me," Ian said sincerely. "Do you mind if I come back every other day or so to see how this fellow comes along? I'm sure our readers will be interested."

"Sure, come back any time you like," Fiona smiled at him. He grinned back at her.

Gareth cleared his throat. "I'll show you out, Mr. MacLachlan. Oh, and Fee, I'll give you a lift if you want."

"No thanks, Gareth," she said, intentionally not calling him by his nickname. "I've got work to do here yet." He frowned slightly and walked out with Ian.

"Ooh, now you've done it! Refused a jealous lover---I think he was expecting Ian to suddenly be all over you," Maria snickered.

"You're terrible, Maria."

As it was, Gareth stayed behind after hours to do some work in his office, and Fiona sat with the body, taking photographs of their progress and making sketches. After a few hours, she sat down at the computer in the lab room and began typing up her notes on the day's progress. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of movement from the doorway. Startled, she looked up, but there was no one there.

"Gaz, is that you?" She rose and walked over to the door. She looked down the hall only to see someone disappearing around the corner. She called out to Gaz again, but got no answer. Suddenly uneasy, she picked up a flashlight that was sitting on the counter, and hurried down the hall and around the corner. The figure once again flashed out of sight around a corner.

"Gaz, this isn't funny! You're scaring me!" she called down the hall. Behind her a door opened, and she whirled around in surprise. It was Gaz stepping out of his office.

"What's wrong, Fee? I'm right here."

"There's someone in the building. He's just gone down that hall," she said, trying not to sound frightened. He hurried down the hall to her, and they turned the corner where Fiona had seen the figure disappear. The hallway was long, and they were just in time to see a tall, blond man turn the next corner.

"Shit, he's heading for the exit. Let's try to catch him." Gareth took the flashlight from Fiona, and they raced down the hallway. When they reached the end, there was nothing there but the outer door below the red exit sign.

"What the hell?! There's no where else he could have gone, and he would have set off the alarm if he opened the door!" Gareth sputtered.

"Is the alarm working?" Fiona asked.

"Only one way to find out," Gareth said as he shoved the door open. The lights began to flash, and an obnoxious siren sounded.

"I guess we'd better go up front to wait for the cops," Gareth said ruefully.

The police had searched the grounds and the building that night, but no sign of an intruder was found. They could offer no explanation as to how the man Gareth and Fiona had seen had left the building without setting off the alarm. Fiona and Gareth had called it a night then after making sure that nothing had been disturbed in the labs. The next few days passed quickly for Fiona; she went to work early and left at five like the rest of the staff, refusing to stay late because she had been so unnerved by her late night encounter. At the end of the following week, she decided to stay late against her better judgement, but Gaz was only in the next room, so she felt safe.

The body was almost entirely uncovered except for the head and shoulders, and Fiona had spent much of the day studying the man's chest and crushed ribs. He also had a fascinating tattoo across his belly that she was trying to sketch. It was a stylized deer being pursued by tall, lanky hounds. While she was busy sketching, she felt a gentle touch on her neck.

"I didn't hear you come in, Gaz. What's up?" He didn't reply, but the fingers began to gently stroke her hair, and she felt a warm breath by her ear.

"Gaz, don't. I..." She turned around, only to find that it was not Gaz at all behind her, but a tall, blond man. He was wearing strange clothing, a long, dirty shirt of some sort and trousers, and as she gazed up at his face, she saw that it was covered in bruises, and his eyes bore a haunted expression. Her gaze strayed to his throat which was torn open from ear to ear and oozing blood. She screamed in horror, and fell to the floor in a faint.

She awakened what seemed like hours later to find Gaz cradling her head in his lap and wiping her face with a cool cloth.

"Wake up, Fee. Come on, love, there's a girl," he crooned. She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Gaz? What's...?" she asked groggily.

"Hush, are you hurt?"

"I don't think so. Why am I on the floor?"

"You must have fainted. I heard you scream bloody murder a few minutes ago, so I rushed in here only to find you in a heap on the floor. What happened? Why did you scream?"

Suddenly, she remembered the man she had seen and she shuddered. She told Gaz haltingly what she had seen.

"I swear, Gaz, he seemed as real as you do now. But there was something very odd about him, besides the horrible wound. His clothing seemed old fashioned, like something out of some ancient history documentary..."

"I think you need a day or two off. You've been working too hard and now you're seeing things." Gaz helped her to stand up, but she was woozy.

"Sit down for a minute while I get our things together."

"I think I'll come with you..." She followed him into the next room, and leaned against a desk while he gathered up his papers. Then he picked up her things, and took her arm as they walked out. They double checked all the locks, and left.

"You want to come stay with me tonight? I can take you by your place in the morning to get a shower and a change of clothes," Gaz offered.

"Thanks, Gaz, but I think I'll just go home, turn on all of the lights, and stay up all night..." she replied sardonically.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay? Just call me if..."

"Gaz, I'll be okay.

"I think I'll take you up on that. I'd rather not be alone tonight." They drove to his apartment in silence. Gaz made some tea for them both, and tried to distract her from her scare with cheerful conversation. They were both tired, though, so he led her down the hall from the kitchen to his bedroom, and gave her one of his old t-shirts to sleep in. He graciously let her have the bed, and pulled out a sleeping bag to sleep beside it. He listened to her toss and turn for awhile before she fell into a fitful sleep. Only a few hours later, he was awakened by a strangled cry and a sob.

"Fee, what's wrong?" he asked, anxiously sitting up.

"Gaz? Oh, sorry, I forgot where I was...I had...I had an awful dream...that man again," she drew a ragged breath. Gaz climbed onto the bed and under the covers with her, wrapping her up in his arms. He rocked her gently until her breathing slowed.

"I'm sorry to keep you up like this...I'm acting like a little girl..." she murmured.

"Shhhh, not to worry. You can't help it," he replied, kissing her hair. "Come on, go to sleep. I'll be right here if you need me." He lay down beside her. She wasn't entirely comfortable having him in the same bed with her, but she was too tired and too shaken to give it much thought.

In the morning, she woke slowly from a blessedly dreamless sleep. She was lying on her back, and there was a strange weight across her chest. She remembered suddenly where she was, and discovered that the weight was Gaz's arm. He was lying on his side beside her, his one arm holding her protectively. She was afraid to move and wake him, but she was also reluctant to stay and have him wake up while in such a compromising position. It would be too awkward, she thought. She extricated herself carefully, and Gaz snored on softly, undisturbed by her escape from his bed. She dressed quickly and went into the kitchen to make some strong coffee.

By daylight, her experience the night before seemed unreal, and she wondered if she had been seeing things. If so, she thought, she hallucinated very vividly. Gaz shuffled in a quarter of an hour later, awakened by the scent of coffee.

"Should I brag to everyone at the lab that we slept together?" he asked, leering at her cheerfully.

"If you do, I'll have to kill you," she replied, sipping her coffee.

"I could win a pretty solid bit of cash. Me and the guys have a pool for whoever sleeps with you first."

"You don't!...Do you?" she asked in surprise.

"Actually, yes. It's all in fun, of course."

"You are too much," she laughed.