Dinosaur Blackout Read online

  Corporal Fraser nodded. “Sure looks like it.”

  “But why?” asked Pederson, bewildered. “We haven’t done anything to anyone.”

  “At least, not that we’re aware of,” added Mildred.

  Pederson stared at her in shocked confusion, the way cattle do when they touch an electric fence that wasn’t there before.

  “But who?” He began coughing and Dr. Roost walked with him over to a shady spot under an overhang, where they sat on a ledge and watched the proceedings.

  Once he’d examined the site, Corporal Fraser allowed Daniel and Mildred to take photographs with their cameras, telling them what he needed for official documentation, including the use of a tape measure to indicate the scale of what was being documented. Ole Pederson then instructed Craig and the men in preparing plaster of Paris samples of the tire tread marks and the almost obliterated footprints. While they waited for them to dry, Dad, Doug, Craig and Corporal Fraser fanned out and examined the tire tracks across the hills.

  When Corporal Fraser indicated it was okay to go back to the site, Daniel squatted beside the mound of dirt the thieves had disturbed, gently searching through the dirt. Dr. Roost and Ole Pederson peered over his shoulder. Several handfuls later, he found a small bone fragment and handed it to Mr. Pederson.

  “Hard to say what it is; could be part of a foot bone.” The old man caressed it.

  Daniel stared at the empty bed. Fragments too tiny to be of much use lay scattered about, but the main sections were long gone. They might find something more buried deeper, but there was no way of knowing that and additional bones wouldn’t be of much value without the skull.

  Daniel watched the trackers disappear over another rise. “Doesn’t seem like we can do much more here. Maybe we should go back to the house.”

  “Might as well,” agreed Dr. Roost.

  “Hrmmph,” Pederson grunted and began climbing the hill, still muttering to himself, his back hunched, his strides a little less sure.

  Mildred Roost sighed. “I’m worried about Ole. You know what this means to him.”

  “Surely we’ll find the Stygimoloch!”

  “I wouldn’t count on it, Daniel. Even if we find the remains, they may be badly damaged.”

  Daniel wondered how they were going to find the culprits. Surely it couldn’t be anyone from the community. But then why would anyone anywhere want to sabotage the operation? He hoped Corporal Fraser would come up with some clues soon. Otherwise, where would they start looking?

  As Daniel contemplated the disaster, he wondered why Todd hadn’t rushed to the site with the others. He’d thought Todd wanted to come with them to the dig this morning, but then he’d said that he’d better finish the harvesting. That must be what he was doing. Surely Todd couldn’t be involved – could he?

  Chapter Three

  As Daniel walked back to the farmyard with Mr. Pederson and Dr. Roost following some distance behind, he thought about the missing fossils. They had lost not only months of research and painstaking work, but also the exciting proof that the species had existed in Saskatchewan. He would never forget the devastated look on Ole Pederson’s face. As he shuffled across the yard, Dactyl came to greet him and licked his hand as if he knew how distraught Daniel felt.

  When Daniel reached the house, his mom, Greta Lindstrom, Lucy and the two younger girls with Cheryl between them emerged from the outdoor kitchen and Jed arrived from the campsite.

  “All that work gone!” Mom hugged Daniel tight.

  “We can only hope the rcmp can pick up the trail.” Greta shook her head in dismay.

  Daniel pulled away and caught sight of Todd Nelwin walking slowly towards them. The stony look on his face puzzled Daniel.

  “Did you hear the news?” Daniel asked.

  Todd nodded. Daniel wondered if something was bothering him.

  “Can we go help search?” Lucy asked.

  “Yeah, let’s go look,” her two younger sisters said.

  Daniel’s mom raised her hand. “Corporal Fraser is there, so we’ll wait and see what he has to say.” She and Greta herded everyone toward the outdoor kitchen.

  Lunch was a sombre affair. Even Jed’s sisters were quieter than usual, taking Cheryl outside as soon as they’d finished eating. Everyone looked up when Dad came in with Craig, Doug and Corporal Fraser. Todd sat quietly, staring down at his plate.

  Dad shook his head. “No sign of where the tracks lead.”

  “We picked up a bit of a trail about a mile east,” said Corporal Fraser, “but it petered out and there’s no way of knowing which way the thieves headed after that.”

  “There are several sets of tire tracks out there,” said Doug. “And lots of footprints.”

  “We brought the casts back with us so we can compare them. We’ll have to eliminate all of you first, of course,” Corporal Fraser said.

  “We can do that right after we finish lunch,” Mom suggested.

  Amid the babble of other suggestions from everyone in the kitchen, Daniel noticed that Todd still said little. Whenever Daniel looked at him, he saw a flash of uneasiness in Todd’s eyes. The little hairs on Daniel’s arms tingled. He decided to keep a close watch on Todd.

  When the comparisons were done between everybody’s shoes and plaster casts from the scene of the theft, Corporal Fraser concluded that there were at least two and maybe three thieves. “It’s almost impossible to tell, because you have visitors here everyday. The only way we could prove anything would be in a backwards kind of way.”

  Daniel attempted to figure out what that meant.

  “I can see you’re puzzled, Daniel,” smiled Corporal Fraser. “What I mean is, if the footprints turn out to be from someone you know for sure has never been here as a visitor, then we might have something to work with.” He continued to explain, “Of course, that won’t help us until we find the culprits and compare their shoe prints.”

  “I get it now,” said Daniel. “If you have suspects and they deny being here, you can prove they were by their prints.”

  “Yes, but that’s a very long shot and still doesn’t prove they stole anything.”

  “But what about the tread marks from the vehicles?”

  Corporal Fraser said, “I have to run them through the system, but I’m fairly certain they’re from all-terrain vehicles. I don’t know if we can isolate the exact ones until the treads are studied, but the casts will help.”

  “Just one atv?” asked Ole Pederson.

  “I’d say at least a couple of them, and maybe with trailers attached,” suggested the officer.

  “I guess we have our work cut out for us,” Pederson said.

  “No,” interjected Corporal Fraser, “you don’t. We do, meaning the police force. Let us deal with the situation.” He surveyed them all. “That goes for every one of you.”

  They all nodded in agreement, though Daniel crossed his fingers loosely behind his back. He still wanted to see what he could find out.

  “Could I suggest that we keep the type of dinosaur to ourselves?” asked Pederson. “We’re trying to keep its discovery a secret until we have confirmed all the evidence. Only a couple of experts at the museum know anything about it. We don’t want the media or the public to know yet.”

  “Sure thing,” agreed Corporal Fraser. “Besides, it’s always good to keep some information back to compare with evidence that comes in which might lead us to an arrest.”

  “The more discreet you can be about everything the better,” Dr. Roost added.

  “I can even try and keep back that it’s a dinosaur skeleton we’re looking for from your place, at least for a day or so while we do a general inquiry,” offered Corporal Fraser. “But eventually it will have to come out if we need the public’s help in locating it.”

  “Fair enough,” said Pederson.

  Corporal Fraser left shortly afterwards. Lucy and Jed continued to take the last of the visiting groups on tours of the quarry for the rest of the afternoon. Meanwhile, the
adults tidied up the kitchen, yard and campsite, and mulled over what they should do about the sour turn of events. Daniel managed to slink away, rounding up his horse, Gypsy.

  Not bothering with a saddle, Daniel flung himself onto his grey pinto mare, loping bareback across the fields. He avoided the tour groups, circling wide around the quarry. Approaching the area where the tracks led away from the site, he scanned the hard ground looking for impressions. In an ever-widening circle, he searched, but there was nothing visible.

  As Daniel headed home, several flocks of honking geese flew south in wide Vs across the bright blue sky. He guided Gypsy to the edge of the drying pasture and they entered the ditch along the grid road. As they crossed a dirt trail into a field that neighboured the Bringham land, Daniel pulled Gypsy to a sudden halt.

  A forty-five gallon metal barrel with a gash in it lay on its side, spilling oil into the ditch that drained into a nearby stream. Had it fallen off a load by accident, or had someone dumped it there on purpose? Either way, Daniel had to do something fast before the contaminated stream reached the main creek that flowed across their land.

  Although the oil spill was relatively small compared to oil tanker leaks on the oceans, Daniel knew the negative ecological effects could last for many years. Besides the damage that would be caused to the land, birds and animals could die from drinking the water or eating contaminated plants. Daniel wheeled Gypsy away from the dangerous area and raced home.

  Back in the yard, Daniel found Mom and Greta drinking coffee at the picnic table with recipe books spread out in front of them. When he explained what he’d found, Mom raced to the house to call Dad on his cell phone and then to advise the local environmentalist group.

  Within minutes, Dad and Doug arrived from the campsite. Daniel helped them gather ropes, a tire jack, pails, rags and other equipment, including rubber gloves and face masks for themselves. They placed everything on the stoneboat, while Doug hitched his Jeep up to it. Daniel was just about to hop in, when Dad stopped him.

  “You stay here, Daniel,” he advised. “It could be dangerous if there are any toxic fumes and I don’t have another mask for you.”

  Disappointed, Daniel stepped back and watched the men drive out of the yard. Already a stream of vehicles was heading past their farm on the way to the danger zone. He knew it would take several hours to ensure the habitat was thoroughly cleaned and he might as well do something else. He still had Gypsy to see to. He’d left her tied by the water trough.

  “Have you seen Mr. Pederson and Dr. Roost?” Daniel asked, as he walked Gypsy past Mom and Greta.

  “They went to Eastend to talk to the paleontologists there,” Mom said. “They’re going to see what can be done to get the news discreetly out to various museums and contacts so they can keep watch for any unusual activity.”

  “What about Craig?” Daniel asked. “What’s he doing?”

  “He went to Eastend too. You weren’t around or they would have asked you to go along.”

  Daniel nodded, feeling left out of everything.

  “So is Todd still down at the campsite?” He nodded towards the valley below.

  “Todd had to go home,” Mom said.

  “Why?” asked Daniel. Todd had never left early before. Did he know something?

  Mom shrugged her shoulders. “He remembered something he had to take care of.”

  Daniel mounted his horse. “I’ll go see if I can give him a hand.”

  “No, Daniel,” Mom called out. “I don’t want you going over there.”

  “I’ll be fine.” He nudged Gypsy forward.

  “No! I don’t want you anywhere near their dad or their dogs.”

  “Okay,” Daniel reined Gypsy in reluctantly. “When will Mr. Pederson and the others be back?”

  “Hard to say. They talked about stopping at other places along the way.”

  He guided Gypsy to the corral gate, slid off her back and opened the gate. Then he removed her bridle and released her.

  As he headed to the house, Daniel wished he were with Mr. Pederson, Dr. Roost and Craig. There was nothing else for him to do except think of the problems they had. The oil spill would be cleaned up by the end of the day, but the loss of the Stygimoloch meant he and Pederson couldn’t do any further research on the species, and there wasn’t much information available about them.

  The laboratory examinations of the fossils would have been so rewarding – especially as he’d seen a Stygimoloch in real life on his last trip to prehistoric time with Dr. Roost. They’d brought photographs back to help with their investigations, but that wouldn’t mean much now. And they couldn’t show the photographs to anyone, because no one would believe they weren’t faked.

  Daniel stopped in his tracks. There was one way of studying the Stygimoloch, but it was simply too dangerous. Besides, he’d promised himself he would give up travelling to the Cretaceous Period. He did have a way to go, though, because he had managed to bring back a pressed leaf and a small piece of branch – both keys to the doorway into the past. Daniel had hidden the specimens where he hoped no one would find them. He didn’t want to chance anyone accidentally being transported into the time of the dinosaurs, as he had been before.

  Wait a minute! Why was he even thinking about going back to the past? Did he really want to go? Daniel shuddered. No way! He continued walking to the house.

  In the dining room, Daniel dug around in the bottom drawer of his dad’s desk for the Rural Municipality map. Spreading it out on the table, he traced the various roads and trails, trying to guess where the load of fossils might have been hauled. But no one route stood out in his mind, even though he was more familiar with the local landscape than most people were, because he had travelled throughout the surrounding area many times while searching for dinosaur fossils. Was there something he hadn’t considered? He closed his eyes and tried to imagine being a thief, but moments later Cheryl’s nap waking-up chatter disturbed him. He hurried upstairs to retrieve her.

  From her room, he waved out the window at Mom to let her know that he was taking care of his little sister. Putting her socks and shoes on, he led her downstairs and into the yard where Leanne and Lindsay snagged her and ran to the sandbox to play. Dactyl joined them with happy barks.

  “Has Todd returned yet?” Daniel asked, sitting down at the picnic table beside Mom.

  “No, but that’s okay. None of us feel much like working today anyway.”

  Darn! Daniel would have to be patient until he could talk to Todd.

  “Someone’s in a hurry,” commented Greta, motioning to the vehicle speeding down the gravel road in their general direction.

  “Wonder where they’re headed?” Daniel watched as waves of gravel dust swirled over the fields in the car’s wake.

  All of a sudden, the driver applied the brakes and skidded towards their approach.

  “Who is that maniac?” Greta asked.

  Within seconds, the 1989 Chevrolet Celebrity turned down their drive and screeched to a halt a few yards from where they sat.

  “Adrian McDermott! From the newspaper office,” Mom answered.

  They all stared as the young man emerged and ran over to the passenger side, where he pulled out camera equipment, a tape recorder and a microphone. Flinging the straps on his shoulders, equipment dangling across his chest, Adrian McDermott looked like a pack mule. He hurried towards them in a clatter of banging gear.

  “Good morning, ma’am. I’m here to interview you about your new developments.” Daniel noticed the young man wasn’t much taller than his mom. He was dressed in casual pants, a shirt and a blazer with patches on the elbows. His green eyes glowed with keen interest and he had a friendly smile on his face.

  “I’m afraid you’ve had a wasted trip. There’s nothing we can tell you since the last story you did,” Mom said, with a pleasant smile.

  “I heard something unusual was going on here with your dinosaur operation.” He set his gear on the ground. “I just want to be the first t
o break the news.” He reached for his tape recorder and swung the microphone towards Mom.

  “Mr. McDermott,” Mom said firmly. “I’m sorry you came all the way out here on a wild goose chase, but...”

  “Can you at least confirm that the rcmp came to your farm early this morning?”

  Daniel felt his pulse racing. He was torn between wanting to give Adrian the story to get help in locating the missing fossils, yet hoping his mom would keep it secret. Mom’s face was flushed and he could see her wrestling with how to be nice yet get him to leave without telling him what was going on. Daniel moved closer to her.

  Mom shook her head. “We don’t have anything that we can tell you at the moment.”

  “Something must have happened.” He stared from one to the other. “I know they were here.”

  Greta shrugged, giving him a quick smile. “Well then, you already know the answer to your question.”

  The reporter picked up his camera bag. “I won’t push it for now, but how about you promise me that when you’re ready to talk that it’ll be my exclusive story.”

  “If and when there is something of interest for the public to know, we’ll be sure to let you know,” said Mom, with an encouraging smile. “In the meantime, you might want to follow the story about the oil spill.”

  McDermott’s face became animated. “When? Where?”

  Daniel gave him quick directions, but before he’d even finished explaining, McDermott scrambled to his car and shoved all his equipment in beside him. Within moments, he gunned the car and whirled off.

  “That certainly is a dedicated young man!” Greta said.

  “I wonder how he got his information about the theft so quickly, though,” Mom said.

  Daniel chewed on his lip as he pondered the question. They’d been very careful to keep their knowledge about the Stygimoloch theft quiet. They’d only discovered it a few hours ago. Was someone close leaking information?

  Chapter Four

  While they discussed Adrian McDermott’s sudden appearance, Ole Pederson and the others returned from town. Daniel rushed over to them even before Mr. Pederson could park his old Studebaker truck.