***
“So I’m going down there tomorrow sometime and talk to the old man about what he was supposed to have seen.” Ann had been retelling the story about Sam Cutler and the mysterious water creature he’d claimed had rammed his boat.
Like Zeke, Henry knew Sam Cutler, too. He’d gone out on Sam’s boat with tour groups, many times. Sam was a good guy, but spun a lot of tall stories and exaggerated things somewhat. His boat’s compartments were stuffed full of tattered science fiction paperbacks. The old codger had a heck of an imagination.
“Do you believe he saw a monster in the water?” Henry asked softly.
“How do I know, honey? I haven’t talked to him yet.”
He glanced at Justin, whose interest was captured. He had this feverish glaze in his eyes.
To Henry, as well, the tale seemed to have an uncanny coincidence. Why now, of all times, were people reporting these sightings in the lake? Unless…. No, it had to be someone’s idea of a practical joke. How many could be in on it? One person could have created the tracks, another mutilated the animal carcasses and another was swimming around in the lake in a monster suit? The thing that baffled him was why would anyone want to go through that much trouble? For attention? Publicity? He couldn’t guess.
But he sure as hell didn’t believe it was a real monster.
“By the way,” Ann turned to catch Justin’s eye, “have you already told the place you work for about the bones up near the rim?”
Justin pulled his eyes away from Laura long enough to answer, “Ah, not yet. In a few days, perhaps. There’s no hurry. Truth is, I want to keep the discovery to myself for a while, before the crowd arrives. Once I let my colleagues know, there’ll be a whole flock of scientists here.”
Ann hadn’t noticed her husband had fallen silent since she’d mentioned Sam Cutler’s story. She was too busy observing Justin’s reaction to Laura, and vice-versa.
All evening the young man had been watching her daughter closely, smiling at her and engaging her in conversation. The repartee between the two appeared natural and unforced from the first minute they’d laid eyes on each other. Usually Laura was withdrawn and uncommunicative, but not with Justin. After an hour or so the two were talking up a storm and Laura seemed happier than she’d been in months. She was excited about going back to school, confided the situation to Justin, and he openly encouraged her.
Ann told Henry when they took the empty plates into the kitchen she was positive something was happening between them. Sparks were crackling. They looked right together, even if Justin was older. Henry knew Ann was crossing her fingers under the table, and then she offered the young man another piece of homemade cherry pie.
She was in seventh heaven and was having a hard time hiding it.
Little Phoebe had also taken a fancy to Justin. She was in his lap in no time, cooing and grabbing at his glasses or his long hair; gurgling and grinning impishly up at him as he patiently dealt with her. He seemed unsure with the child, as if he hadn’t had much experience with kids, but he went out of his way with her.
“Okay, but what exactly did your boss say Sam told him about the thing in the lake?” Henry asked abruptly, sitting forward.
Justin threw him a funny look.
“Honey, I told you everything I know,” Ann spoke. “The man claims some kind of big greenish monster was in the water and it rammed his boat. A serpent-creature is what Sam called it and swears it was after his boat. Doesn’t know why it finally left him alone. It sounds to me like nothing more than a big fish tale,” she laughed, “but our readers eat up stories like that, you know. So I’ll talk to the guy. Sometimes I wonder if I’m working for a small town newspaper or the National Inquirer.”
She caught the surreptitious glance between Henry and Justin. “Are you two keeping something from me?”
“No,” both of them said too quickly.
“All right, you two. What’s going on? I know something is. Tell me now or, I promise I won’t give either of you any more pie.”
Henry tried not to smile as he confessed about the tracks Justin had found down by the lake the day before.
Ann’s reaction wasn’t what he’d expected. “My god, maybe there is something peculiar going on in that lake. What a story that’d be!”
“Oh, no,” Henry groaned, feigning fear. “You’re right. Maybe there is a monster prowling in the water.”
He and Justin chuckled as if it were a big joke.
Ann was watching them. Henry knew he wasn’t fooling her. Her reporter’s sixth sense was humming at full power.
“Well,” she simply said, “now it’s even more important I get those photos of that wall of bones. I could tie that in with the mysterious happenings at the lake.”
Henry and the paleontologist exchanged another startled look.
She turned to her husband. “Since I have to go to the lake anyway tomorrow, why don’t you finally show me where those bones are, at the same time? After I take the pictures, I’ll speak to the captain.”
“Sure,” Henry recovered enough to reply with a faint smile. “Bright and early. You got a deal. No rain in the forecast.” He couldn’t get what Ann had said about tying in the two stories out of his head. He believed in freedom of the press, but he wasn’t sure he liked the idea. It could create problems.
Justin stood up from the table. “I should get going. Let you guys get some sleep.”
It had gotten late. Phoebe was asleep, curled up in her mother’s lap. Henry was yawning behind his hand. Laura had to get up early the next morning for work.
Ann was obviously tickled when their daughter suggested, “Justin, it’s spooky out there, and you haven’t seen dark until you’ve been in the park at night. It’d be easy for you to get lost on your way back to the lodge. But I’m driving by there on my way to the dorm so I’d be glad to drop you off.”
Justin didn’t hesitate. “That’d be kind of you, Laura. I really wasn’t too hot about trekking through the woods in the dark anyway.”
“You ready to go then?” As if she couldn’t see him standing there, books in his arms, coat already on.
“I’m ready.”
Justin smiled at Ann. “Thank you both for a great meal, a nice evening. The food and the cherry pie was delicious, Mrs. Shore.”
“You’re welcome. But call me Ann. Mrs. Shore makes me feel old.”
“If you insist.”
“I do and I hope we’ll see you again soon. You’re welcome here anytime.”
“Thank you. I might take you up on that. The way it looks I’ll be around for a while.” He signaled goodbye to Henry with a salute of his hand.
After Laura hugged him and her mother goodbye, she carried the baby through the door into the night. Justin trailing behind her.
After the sound of the car’s engine moved off into the night, Ann glanced at him. That match maker glint he knew so well in her eyes. “Got a feeling about that young man.”
“You do, do you?” Henry teased back.
“Yes, I do.” Contentment shone on her face and they embraced, knowing each other’s thoughts.
Henry helped clear the table, rinsed the dirty plates and put them in the dishwasher. They straightened up the kitchen. But his mind was somewhere else. Ann’s remark about connecting Cutler’s sighting with the bones haunted him. What would she say if she knew about that other woman’s sighting last summer, about his last night?
There were just too many coincidences, his mind told him. The earthquakes…the bones…George’s dead animals…those tracks. And now Sam Cutler and his water monster. Too darn many coincidences.
“You ready for bed, honey, or do you want to watch television for a while?” Ann asked as they headed for their room.
“Bed sounds better. We have to get up early, anyway. Remember?”
“And I bet after you show me those bones you’ll want to dig around in the dirt with Justin?”
“Possibly.” He was getting undressed for bed. �
�I’d like to be a small part of this thing. The dig. It’s a dream come true.”
“I know.” Ann laid a kiss on his lips and he gently returned it. They made love as they had so many times before, soft and sweet. Comfortable with each other. Sure of their love.
They were long asleep when the strange night noises began down on the lake. Like some ancient beckoning cry on the wind, something called out across the tranquil water and through the silent trees. Lonely sounding.
And somehow unearthly.
Dinosaur Lake Page 10