novel.'
Dowling finishing up her note-taking with a sharp tap of her pen. 'Shall we take a look in the database? But first, Mr. Maddox, do you have a price range in mind?'
'Money is no object. And please call me Jim.'
'Can you wait a moment, Jim, while I look at our database?'
'Of course.'
He recrossed his legs while Trina hammered away on the keyboard.
'Well.' She smiled again. 'I've got several suitable properties here, but here's one that really pops out. The old CCC Camp up on Perdiz Creek, in the foothills of the CanjilonMountains.'
'CCC Camp?'
'That's right. The Civilian Conservation Corps put a camp up there in the thirties for the men building trails in the national forest-a dozen or so wooden cabins surrounding an old dining hall and lodge. Some years ago a gentleman from Texas bought the whole camp. He renovated the lodge, turned it into a really cute three-bedroom, three-bath house. Left everything else as is. He lived up there for a while, found it a little lonely, and now he rents it out.'
'Sounds like there might be tourists.'
'It's gated. Sits in the middle of a section of private land surrounded by national forest. It's at the end of an eight-mile dirt road, the last two miles four-wheel drive only.' She glanced up. 'You do have a four-wheel drive vehicle?'
'Range Rover.'
She smiled. 'A road like that would tend to keep away visitors.' 'Right.'
Its got some interesting history here. Before it was a CCC Camp Perdiz Creek was an old gold-mining town. There are some old mines up there and'-
she smiled at him-'they say there's a ghost. I wouldn't mention that to everyone, but seeing as how you're a writer . . .'
'My story could use a ghost.'
'It says here it's a great place for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding. Surrounded by national forest. It's not off the grid, though: power and telephone to the site.'
'It sounds ideal. Only thing is, I wouldn't want the owner dropping in unannounced.'
'He's in Italy and I can tell you he's not that kind of owner. We manage the rental for him and if anyone needed to come up, it would be us-and only then for a good reason and with twenty-four-hour notice. Your privacy would be respected.'
'Rent?'
'Quite reasonable. Thirty-eight hundred a month if you take it all summer.'
'Sounds perfect. I'd like to see it.'
'When?'
'Right now.' He tapped his jacket pocket, where his checkbook was. 'I'm prepared to conclude the deal today. I'm anxious to get to work on my novel. It's a murder mystery.'
22
TOM STARED INTENTLY at the white screen of the PowerBook. At first nothing happened, and then an image began to crawl down the screen, a blurry first iteration.
'Takes a while to process,' murmured Wyman.
The first pass was complete, but the image remained a shadow, a blob. It didn't look at all like a chest of gold or a lost mine, but maybe it was delineating the cavern itself. A second pass began, the image sharpening, line by line. Tom caught his breath as the blob became an object. An unmistakable object. He could hardly believe it, he felt it must be an optical illusion, that it was actually something other than what it seemed. On the third pass he realized it was no optical illusion.
'My God,' Tom said. 'It's no treasure. It's a dinosaur.'
Wyman laughed, his eyes sparkling. 'I told you it would blow your mind. Look at the scale bars. It's a T. Rex, and according to some research I did, it's by far the biggest ever found.'
'But it's the whole thing, not just the bones.'
'Correct.'
Tom fell silent, staring. It certainly was a Tyrannosaurus rex-the outline was unmistakable-lying twisted and on its side. But it wasn't just a fossil skeleton- much of the skin, internal organs, and flesh appeared to have been fossilized along with the bones. 'It's a mummy,' said Tom, 'a fossilized dinosaur mummy.'
'That's right.'
'This is incredible. This must be one of the greatest fossils ever found.'
'Right. It's virtually complete, except for a few teeth, a claw, and the last foot of tail, anyway. You see how some of it appears to be emerging from the rock.'
'So the murdered man was a dinosaur prospector.'
'Exactly. This 'treasure' he was talking about may have been an attempt to mislead, or it may have simply been a manner of speaking. That is a treasure, only one of the paleontological variety.'
Tom gazed at the image. He could still hardly believe it. As a child he had always wanted to be a paleontologist, but while other kids had grown out of dinosaurs, he had never managed to shake his dream. His father had pushed him into becoming a vet. And now here he was, staring at what had to be one of the most stupendous dinosaur fossils of all time.
'There's your motive,' said Ford. 'That dinosaur's worth a fortune. I did some poking around the Web. You heard about the dinosaur named Sue?'
'The famous tyrannosaur at the FieldMuseum?'
'That's it. Discovered in 1990 by a professional fossil hunter named Sue Hendrickson in the South Dakota badlands. Largest and most perfect T. Rex ever found. It was auctioned at Sotheby's ten years ago, pulled down $8.36 million.'
Tom gave a low whistle. 'This one must be worth ten times that.'
'At least.'
'So where is it?'
Ford smiled and pointed to the screen. 'You see that fuzzy outline encasing the dinosaur? That's a cross- section of the rock outcrop the fossil's imbedded in. It's a big formation, more than forty feet in diameter, and it's such an unusual shape that it should be easily recognizable. All the location information you need is right there. It's merely a question of hiking around until you find it.'
'Starting with TyrannosaurCanyon.'
'That would be a charming coincidence. The fact is, Tom, it could be anywhere in the high mesas.'
'It could take forever to find it.'
'I don't think so. I've spent a lot of time hiking around back there and I believe I could find it in less than a week. Not only do you have the shape of the formation, but you can see that part of the dinosaur's head and upper body are exposed along the side. That must be quite a sight, the dinosaur's jaws emerging from the rock like that.'
'Like that black monolith that gave TyrannosaurCanyon its name?' said Tom.
'I know that monolith-it's got nothing to do with the fossil. With this plot, now we know just what to look for-eh, Tom?'
'Wait a minute. Who says we're going to look for it?'
'I do.'
Tom shook his head. 'I thought you were studying to be a monk. I thought you'd left this sort of thing behind.'
Ford looked at him for a while and then dropped his eyes. 'Tom-the other day you asked me a question. I'd like to answer it.'
'I was out of line. I really don't want to know.'
'You weren't out of line and I'm going to answer your question. I've bottled it all up, I've used silence as a kind of crutch, a way to avoid the issue.' He paused.
Tom said nothing.
