“Sorry about that,” she said. “Danny and I tend to be on the same wave length and forget that other people aren’t a lot of the time.”
“What does paleontology have to do with this flipper?” McIntyre asked. “I mean, the marine biologist made sense but a paleontologist? Why is that important?”
“Take a look at this flipper,” Devon said as she leaned in towards her laptop and typed away. “I mean, really look at it. There’s no fur or feathers, which means it’s not seal, sea lion or aquatic bird. There are scales which means it doesn’t come from a mammal like a dolphin or whale or even one of the shark species. But the scales are smooth and even and lie flat on the skin as well as being all an even colour which means it doesn’t belong to a turtle or other sea living reptile we know of.”
“So what does it come from?” McIntyre asked.
“I think…” Devon said. “I think that maybe it comes from an animal like this…”
She leaned back and let McIntyre see the screen. On it was an image of a creature with a small head, four wide spade-like flippers, a long graceful neck leading to a large body and a straight cone-like tail that stretched out behind it.
“Plesiosaur,” McIntyre read aloud. He jumped and stared at Devon. “You have to be kidding me?”
“I’m afraid not,” Devon said. “I’ll have to dissect the flipper to be sure but I believe that it comes from a creature very similar to this one.”
“But it’s a dinosaur!” McIntyre cried. “They’re all extinct.”
“Maybe not,” Devon said. “As I said though, I can’t be sure. I’m going to dissect the flipper, take tissue and DNA samples and make sure Doctor Edwards gets a copy of all of my files. Once I get my results back and I’ve seen the bone structure of the flipper for myself I’ll be able to tell for sure whether it is from a plesiosaur or not.”
“And if it is…what then?” McIntyre asked. “Are we going to go public?”
“I’m not sure,” Devon said, preparing to dissect the flipper. “Until we know for sure what we’re dealing with though I think it’s best to keep quiet about this. I’ll have more information for you soon.”
“Ok,” McIntyre said. He glanced at his watch. “Well it’s getting late… early…. Midday? Whatever. It’s well into morning now and I reckon the sun’ll be up. If what your friend said was true then I best be getting the boys together to keep the peace. The journos are going to be going crazy.”
“That’s probably for the best,” Devon said, glancing at the police chief. “Dissections like the one I’m about to do are never pretty. You won’t want to stick around, believe me.”
“Good luck Lassie,” the Chief said as he clapped his hand on her shoulder. “Hope you find us some answers.”
“So do I,” Devon said.
The Police Chief made to leave but when he reached the doorway Devon called out his name. He stopped and looked at her.
“If Nessie is as big as I think she is and last night they killed her babies…” she said quietly. “Well, let’s say she’s going to be very mad and very dangerous. She’s already taken out McCallum’s divers. I think it’s probably best we don’t piss her off any more than he already has. We don’t know much about plesiosaur in general and this is starting to look unlike any subspecies that’s been recorded. We have no idea what Nessie’s capable of.”
“I had the same thought,” the Chief said. “Don’t worry. I’m keeping everyone off the loch and away from the water’s edge. Those who don’t listen will be arrested for endangering public safety. Who’s to say Nessie won’t come crawling out of the loch and devour everyone if someone goes too close?”
“Sneaky,” Devon said.
She grinned before she pulled her mask over her face and looked at the flipper again. Chief McIntyre watched as she cut into the flipper then turned and hurried from the room.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Three hours later, as the church bell in the town tolled twelve, Devon stared at her computer screen in disbelief. The flipper lay in front of her, almost completely pulled apart with surgical precision. Its bone structure was almost identical to all of the bone structures that she’d seen online of plesiosaur flippers. It was definitely a part of the plesiosaur family though however it was unlike anything that had been found in the fossil records. But the bones weren’t fully developed. They were light and thin with no breaks or healing marks like there were on the adult flipper bones. The flipper had come from a baby.
Fury roared through Devon. The special forces had killed a baby, all of the babies. Helpless, unable to defend themselves, they hadn’t even realised that they were in danger when they had approached the lures. They’d been curious, shy and inquisitive. Just like any other animal. And their mother had only approached in order to protect them.
Devon packed up her belongings, shoving things away with force. All the recordings were saved and she carefully packaged the flipper away. She handled it with care, like a delicate object and reigned in her anger as she did so. The moment that the flipper was carefully sealed away and safe though she let it all come rushing back.
She stormed from the morgue building, through the village and back to the camp from the previous night. It was all gone. Every tent and supply box had been packed away. The only sign that anything had happened there the night before was the churned up mud and grass. She stood there, staring in disbelief. Then she yanked out her phone and punched in McCallum’s number.
“This is James McCallum,” his voice said over the phone.
“McCallum! We need to talk,” she snapped.
“I can’t come to the phone right now, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you,” his voice continued, cutting her off.
She hung up angrily and stormed around the abandoned campsite, looking for any clues where he might have gone. She kept dialling McCallum’s number but her calls all went through to answer phone.
“It’s no use lassie,” Helen called out after Devon had circled the campsite for the fifth time. She was stood by the pub and Devon walked over. “He’s not answering for any one. The mayor tried to talk to him earlier about what happened last night but got ignored as well.”
“Unbelievable,” Devon spat. “That no good, pile of crap!”
“Aye lass,” Helen said. “Come on, let’s get you some food. I bet you haven’t eaten yet?”
Devon sighed but followed the forceful landlady into the hotel and through to the bar. The smell of cooking food assailed her nose and she realised that she was starving, the pangs in her stomach screaming at her for food. Helen led her over to a table and within moments a bowl of steaming stew was in front of her, complete with crusty bread and rich yellow butter. Devon tucked in and enjoyed every bite. When she was almost finished she realised how quiet it was, how empty the bar was for the first time in days.
“Where are all the journalists?” she asked through a mouthful of vegetables. “Shouldn’t they be here?”
“We don’t know,” Helen said. “They cleared out about half an hour before you started storming around the quay. Didn’t say a word where they were going but all got messages on their phones at the same time.”
“Helen!” a man cried out. Jeff rushed in from another room with a laptop in hand. “Helen you need to see this. It’s all over the internet.”
He put the laptop down on the table. And both Devon and Helen crowded around to see the screen. On it was McCallum, stood in front of a white background emblazoned with his company logo. The mayor was beside him and in front of him a lot of the locals were visible, watching and listening.
“Guess we know where everyone is,” Devon said. “I wonder what he’s going to come out with this time?”
“Somehow I doubt he’ll be talking about the divers that died,” Helen said, finally sitting down. “Oh, I think he’s starting.”
Jeff reached forward and turned up the volume as McCallum began his speech.
“Ladies and gentlemen, people of Loch Ness,” h
e said pompously. “I thank you for taking the time to come out today. As you all know these last few weeks have been troubling for us here at Loch Ness. Men have died, good men. They were killed by the monster of the loch. Yesterday I vowed my time and resources to finding and destroying the creature responsible.”
Shouts rang out immediately and flashes of lights went off as the journalists fired up.
“Please, save your questions until the end,” McCallum said. They all instantly quietened and he continued. “I am pleased to report that just last night, barely twelve hours after I made that promise we found the beast. We were successfully able to contain it and then destroy it. I have managed to free these townsfolk from the curse which had plagued them for so long.”
The room erupted into chaos as everyone talked over each other. The locals on screen were all cheering and celebrating with each other, talking loudly. Devon examined the crowd. It was only the people who had supported McCallum the day before, no one who had showed doubt was there. She shook her head. McCallum started to speak again.
“In an ideal world, we would simply have contained the creature,” he said. “However this is not an ideal world. Shortly after capturing the beast it attempted to break free and several of my men were injured. In order to maintain the safety of the men in my employment I gave the command to end its life, to spare it any further suffering and to ensure the safety of all involved. I wish it could have been done another way but this was a living creature and as we all know, living creatures have a habit of being unpredictable.”
Devon pushed the laptop away as McCallum started to take questions. She sighed and put her head in her hands.
“That son of a bitch,” Helen said. “A few injuries my arse. People died. Those poor men in the water died, torn apart by that monster and he’s not even mentioned it.”
“He also didn’t mention that Nessie’s still alive,” Devon said quietly.
She was met by silence. She looked up to see Jeff and Helen staring at her in shock.
“You don’t remember what I said last night Helen?” she asked, “about the babies?”
Helen shook her head.
“It all happened so fast,” Helen said, “I was still half asleep. It’s a bit of a blur love.”
“Makes sense,” Devon said. She sighed. “I guess that’s why no one’s mentioned the truth then.” She looked at Jeff and Helen. “This goes no further, ok?”
They both nodded quickly and Jeff squeezed on to a seat beside Helen. They leaned forward and listened intently. Devon leaned in as well.
“The men did shoot and kill something last night,” she admitted, “But it wasn’t Nessie. It was her babies. They killed her babies. That’s why she killed them. She survived, took her revenge and disappeared again, just like she always does. I have a feeling that this isn’t the end of it but Nessie is definitely still alive.”
“Oh my goodness,” Helen said. She sat back and frowned at Devon. “Is that where you’ve been all day, making sure Nessie’s ok?”
“No,” Devon said. “I wish. They found something in the water, a piece of flipper. I examined it and figured out that it came from a baby plesiosaur unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.”
“And McCallum’s saying he’s killed Nessie?” Jeff cried. “We need to tell people!”
“We can’t,” Devon said with a shrug. “We’ve got no proof other than the flipper. Any marine biologist who examines it, anyone in the scientific community who tries to look at it now won’t tell the truth. Not with McCallum holding the purse strings like he does.”
“So what do we do?” Jeff asked.
“We do nothing,” Helen snapped. “Dr. Childs is going to sleep. She’s been up for hours and I know she didn’t sleep last night. You, Jeff, are going to go back to work and not breath a word of this to anyone. Do you understand me?”
She stared at Jeff. He tried to stare her down for a moment but quickly looked away and nodded.
“Helen, I can’t go to sleep,” Devon said. “I have too much to do.”
“Nonsense,” Helen said. “Nessie’s been avoiding people for years. I think she can manage a few more hours without you helping her. Now go, off to bed with you.”
Devon thought for a moment about arguing but one look at Helen’s face convinced her not to. She nodded and climbed to her feet. Up the stairs she went, Helen calling that she’d wake her in the morning, and she let herself into her room. It was exactly the way that she had left it. Devon looked at all of the paperwork stuck on the walls, thought about doing a bit more work but the moment she sat down to remove her shoes was the moment that she was struck with a bone deep weariness. She didn’t even undress after that, just threw herself back on to the pillows and fell straight into a sleep full of blood and screaming babies.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The next morning Devon decided to take breakfast out on the tables in front of the hotel, watching the loch. It looked completely normal, as though there hadn’t been a massacre of children in the waters just a few days ago. She sighed, shook her head and returned to her full English breakfast.
“Good to see you up and about again,” Arthur said, appearing beside her as if by magic. “I called for you yesterday afternoon but Helen said you were sleeping and weren’t to be disturbed.”
“Helen was right,” Devon said with a mouthful of toast. “She checked in on me and I didn’t even hear a thing.”
She’d woken up that morning covered in a blanket with her shoes and bags neatly stored away against the wall near the door. Her entire body had even been rearranged on the bed so that she was more comfortably in the middle. It had to have been Helen’s doing.
“I didn’t see you yesterday,” Arthur said, probing for information in a very unsubtle manner. “Did the hunt upset you that much?”
“No,” Devon said quickly. Too quickly. “Well yes. But I was examining the item they pulled from the water just before the divers were killed. I had to figure out where it came from and then send my findings back to England for Danny to pass around. After that Helen pretty much ordered me to bed.”
“Aye, that woman’s a force of nature,” Arthur said. He took a seat beside Devon and leaned in close. “Listen, there’s something I think you need to see. It’s some footage that I managed to get, not long before the first body showed up. I think it’ll help you.”
“Really?!” Devon asked. She wiped her mouth and stood up, throwing the napkin on to the plate. “Let’s go then.”
Arthur nodded, stood and led her through the village. Right on the outskirts, close to the water’s edge they stopped outside a small two bedroom cottage. Arthur led her inside and into the living room. A large tv was in one corner with a high-tech camera plugged into it.
“Hey,” Devon said. “Isn’t that one of mine?”
“Erm…” Arthur mumbled. He rubbed at the back of his head. “I may have borrowed it lassie and set it up somewhere around the loch. I had this feeling you see, that there was something going on. And it caught something. I was right.”
“You stole my camera?” Devon said. “Arthur…”
“I was going to give it back!” he cried. “But then the body was found and I’d fetched it but hadn’t had time to watch the video. Then things kept happening and last night, after the attack in the loch I remembered the recording and came to get you.”
“That’s why you wanted me,” Devon said. “Let’s see it then.”
She took the seat that Arthur indicated and he sat in the armchair beside her.
“I set this up on the opposite bank,” he explained as he fast forwarded through hours of darkness. “I’d noticed strange folk round and about as well as movement that weren’t animals in the woods near there. So I went over and saw footprints in the mud on the shore. That’s when I decided to set this up. Ah, here it is,”
Torches suddenly appeared on the screen, lighting up the darkness but making it hard to see too much of anything. The camera quickly adjus
ted itself though and Devon spotted two men in dark clothing, clutching torches. Their faces were lit up by the headlights of a vehicle parked just behind them. They were familiar to her somehow.
“The sound’s a bit crap,” Arthur said. “It was windy and I’d hidden the camera in the middle of a bush. Watch the jeep.”
Devon leaned forward and watched as another two men appeared. They were carrying something, something heavy that sagged and dipped in the middle. The two men were also familiar. They juggled their load and the lights of the first two men spilled over it. She sat back and gasped.
“Is that?” she said, not willing to finish her sentence.
“Aye,” Arthur said with a nod. “That’s the first boy they pulled from the water.”
“He’s already dead,” she said. “And where are all of the injuries?”
Arthur didn’t need to reply. Devon watched, speechless as the men dropped the body on the ground and knelt over it. She caught the flash of a knife and saw it cutting into the flesh. She shook her head. She leaned forward again as the four men all took a limb and lifted the body up. They shook it around before throwing it, carelessly tossing it, into the loch. She could hear the splash over the rustling of the leaves.
“They get the other boy too,” Arthur said. “Then they cut him up as well.”
She watched as the men did just that, repeating exactly what they had done to the first body on the second. She could hear mumbled voices and the words ‘McCallum’, ‘plan’ and ‘orders’. She watched as they threw him into the water too. They turned around and headed back to the jeep. Their faces were brightly lit for the first time since the recording had begun. Devon cried out as recognition sparked in her mind.
“Pause it!” she shouted. She knelt down in front of the tv and stared at the frozen faces. “I thought I recognised them.”
“I thought so too,” Arthur said, “I just can’t work out how.”
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