Kate and the Wyoming Fossil Fiasco (7 page)

McKenzie laughed at that one.

A shiver ran down Kate’s spine. She thought at once of Grumpy Gus. Maybe Elizabeth was right. Maybe he was on the run from the law. Maybe he was just pretending to be a quarry worker.

On the other hand, what about Mr. Jenkins? Sometimes the most honest-looking person turned out to be the real bad guy.

And then there was Joel! Hadn’t she already suspected him?

“She’s right,” McKenzie told Kate. “Six of us are all agreeing and praying!”

“True.” Kate smiled, suddenly feeling better. She glanced at the screen, noticing Bailey’s next comment:

“She’s right, you know,” McKenzie said, reading over her shoulder. “Things would be easier with Biscuit here.”

Kate sighed. “Megan was really nice to say I could use my gadgets. I don’t think she would be as nice if I asked to bring my dog to fossil camp!”

“You never know.” McKenzie shrugged. “Maybe you could ask your dad to bring him when he picks us up. Might be fun. Ask Megan first, though.”

“I’ll do that.” Kate turned her attention back to the screen, smiling as she read Elizabeth’s last line.

All of the girls said their good-byes and before long the chat room was empty. Kate turned to McKenzie and sighed. “Looks like we’ve got to be extra careful, now that the suspects are piling up.”

“Suspects?” Patti’s voice rang out. “What do you mean?” She sat on the edge of Kate’s bed.

“Yes,” Lauren said, joining them. “Sounds like this secret thing you’re working on is getting exciting. Are you sure you can’t tell us something about it?”

Kate shook her head. “I promise we’ll tell you later. Right now I need to pray about all of this.”

“Did I hear someone say something about praying?” Megan’s voice rang out as she entered the room, her hair still wet from the shower.

“Yes.” Kate nodded. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”

“Well prayer is the answer.” Megan winked. Drawing near to Kate, she whispered, “Remember what I told you earlier today. Spend some time digging in your Bible while you’re here. Do a little excavation in the scriptures. I think God will shine some light on your situation … whatever it is.”

Kate nodded. “Okay. I’ll do it.” She smiled at her counselor, and then thought about all of the questions rolling around in her mind. Who forged the fossils? Why was Gus so grumpy? Was Joel somehow involved in all of this? And what about Mr. Jenkins? Was he just pretending not to know who replaced the real fossils with fakes?

Kate padded off to the showers, her mind reeling in several directions at once. Tonight she had more questions than answers. Hopefully, tomorrow she would have more answers than questions.

Early the next morning—long before the sun came up—a loud clanging woke Kate.

“What is that?” she grumbled, sitting up in the bed. “It’s the quarry bell,” Megan said, stretching. “It goes off every morning at five thirty.”

“F—five thirty?” McKenzie bounded up from her slumber. “A—are you kidding me?”

“Nope.” Megan laughed. “I’m used to it.”

“Well I’m not.” Kate yawned.

“Why are we up at five thirty?” Lauren asked from a bed on the other side of the room.

Megan yawned. “It’s better to work early in the morning before it gets too hot. Besides, we have a busy day planned for you kids. The sooner we get going, the more we’ll accomplish.”

“Ugh.” Kate rolled over in the bed and pulled the covers up over her head, wishing she could catch a few more Zs. Unfortunately, the bell started clanging again. She pushed the covers back and got out of bed, heading into the bathroom to

change into her clothes.

“What time is breakfast?” she heard McKenzie asking Megan.

“Six o’clock. And the excavation begins at seven,” Megan explained. “But I think that still leaves you girls plenty of time to read your Bibles and pray, if you’d like to do that before breakfast.”

Kate yawned as she thought about the busy day ahead. She was tempted to skip her Bible reading and just go straight to breakfast, but decided against it. Maybe God had something He wanted to show her in the Bible. She reached for her laptop and signed on to the Internet, going at once to her favorite online Bible site.

“Where is the story of Jacob and Esau again?” she whispered to McKenzie.

“I think it’s in Genesis … right?” McKenzie didn’t look convinced.

“Maybe.” Kate began to type in the words Jacob and Esau until the scripture came up. “It’s Genesis, chapter 25,” she said. Skimming over it was the easy part. Trying to figure out what a story about two brothers had to do with this case was quite another! She read the story more carefully the second time, really thinking about it as she did.

“So Jacob wanted something that rightfully belonged to his brother Esau. He wanted his birthright … right?”

“I think that’s it,” McKenzie said.

“To get it, Jacob dressed up in a hairy costume and

pretended to be Esau so his father would give him the blessing that really belonged to his brother.” She stopped reading and thought. “Sometimes people really
do
pretend to be one thing when they’re really another,” she whispered. “People aren’t always who we think they are.”

“Are you thinking of someone in particular?” McKenzie whispered.

“Maybe.” She shook her head. Who did she suspect the most, after all? Gus? Mr. Jenkins? Joel? It would be hard to say at this point.

She wrapped up her Bible study and walked to the dining hall with the others. Once inside, Kate noticed Gus standing near the kitchen door. She nudged McKenzie.

“Look. There he is again.”

“He still looks grumpy,” McKenzie said. “I think we need to stay away from him.”

“I’m not so sure.” Kate paused. “Hey, I have an idea.” She looked down at her lunch tray and saw the two doughnuts. “I’m going to try an experiment. Watch and see. I’ll make him smile.”

McKenzie shook her head. “I don’t think so, Kate.”

“It never hurts to try.” Kate walked over to him, and he looked up from his work.

“What do you need, kid?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing. I just wanted to give you something.” She reached out showed him the doughnut. He looked at her with a stunned expression.

“What’s that for?”

Kate shrugged. “Just because. I thought you might like it.”

“Well I don’t. I’m diabetic. Can’t eat sugar. What are you trying to do? Kill me? Did some of those kids tell you to do that?”

She put the doughnut back on her tray, suddenly nervous. “No. No one said a word about it. And I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were diabetic. I was just trying to be nice.”

“Well be nice to someone else. I have work to do.”

“But …” She watched as he disappeared through the door with the No C
AMPERS
A
LLOWED
sign above it. As he disappeared from sight, a creepy feeling came over her. She still wondered what he did back in that room. Sure, he probably shipped fossils. But what else?

“That didn’t go very well, did it?” McKenzie asked, drawing near.

“No.” Kate shook her head. “He’s diabetic. Who knew?”

“Oh wow. And you offered him sugar, of all things.”

“Yes, he thought I did it on purpose. Can you believe that?”

“Well maybe other people have been mean to him,” McKenzie said. “You never know.”

“Maybe.” Kate sighed. “But McKenzie. If he’s diabetic, why was he carrying around a jumbo-sized bag of brown sugar yesterday? Answer that.”

McKenzie shrugged. “I have no idea, but you’re right. It doesn’t make sense! I will say this though. If he’s claiming to be a diabetic, that’s the perfect cover.”

“What do you mean?” Kate asked.

“I mean, no one would ever suspect a diabetic of using sugar to forge anything. See?”

“Ooo yeah. Good point.” Kate nodded. “Gus will be a tough nut to crack. But I feel like we need to know more about him.”

“It’s getting more and more obvious that he is behind this, don’t you think?” McKenzie asked.

Kate shrugged. “Maybe. Only time will tell. One thing is for sure. He has access. He’s in that room all alone.”

“True.”

A familiar voice interrupted their conversation. Conner walked by carrying a large bag. “Hey, kids.” He flashed a warm smile. “What did you think of the breakfast?”

“Good.” Kate nodded. “I really liked the doughnuts.”

“Doughnuts?” He held one up. “Girls, these aren’t doughnuts. They’re life preservers!” Conner doubled over in laughter and before long they all joined him.

“He’s really funny,” Kate whispered.

“Yeah,” McKenzie nodded. “And he’s a great counselor, too. I heard some of the guys talking about him yesterday. They really like him a lot.”

“Just like we like Megan.”

Conner shifted his bag to his other arm. “We’re going to have a great morning, but I need to drop off these samples first. See you soon.” He walked through the door into the private area.

“Maybe Conner will catch Grumpy Gus in the act,” Kate whispered.

“Maybe.” McKenzie shrugged.

Kate yawned as Megan passed by.

“Sleepy, Kate?” her counselor asked.

“Sort of.”

“Didn’t you sleep well?”

“Not really.” She shook her head.

“Miss your family?” Megan asked.

“Sort of, but I have something else on my mind. It’s hard to sleep when your thoughts are tumbling around in your head.”

“Anything I can do to help?” Megan asked.

Kate shook her head, knowing better than to say too much.

Megan said, “The second day at fossil camp is always the best. We’re going to have a treasure hunt.”

“Treasure hunt?” McKenzie looked confused.

“Yes, we’ll divide the campers into two teams—boys and girls. I’ll lead the girls’ team and Conner will lead the boys’. We’ll give you kids a list of fossils—three different kinds—and the first team to find all three wins.”

She began to talk about the treasure hunt so much that Kate found it hard to focus. She kept yawning. Hopefully she would wake up before heading out to excavate. She needed to pay close attention today. Surely an adventure lay ahead!

As the campers gathered at the excavation site, Conner turned to them with0 a smile.

“I have some news for you,” he said. “Most of you know Joel.” He gestured to Joel, whose cheeks turned red.

“Because of Joel’s skill in locating valuable fossils, he’s our resident ‘rock’ star.” Conner slapped his knee and laughed. “Get it? Rock star?”

Kate laughed. So did McKenzie. But not Megan. She rolled her eyes and whispered, “Don’t let Conner distract you. He’s just trying to get you girls worked up to think the boys are better than you are. He pulls something like this at every camp.”

Kate giggled. “I won’t let him get to me, I promise.”

Conner rubbed his hands together in excitement. “What we’re about to do is my favorite thing at fossil camp. We’re going to have a treasure hunt.”

“Let’s divide into teams,” Megan instructed. “Girls, come and get in line behind me, and boys, you line up behind Conner.”

Everyone quickly got into place.

“I can tell you’re excited,” Conner said. “But try to stay calm, cool, and collected. That’s the best way to win this challenge.” He reached for his clipboard and pulled off two pieces of paper. “Each team has a list of three items. Three different kinds of fossils—
Mioplosus, Phareodus
, and
Knightia
. You will see the pictures here.” He turned the paper to face them. “The first team to return here to this spot with all three fossils will win.”

“What do we win?” McKenzie asked.

Conner’s face lit with excitement. “The winning team gets to go into the prep room to watch me clean and prepare the fossils. Then we’ll show you the process of packaging and shipping them all over the world.”

He began to talk about all of the work that went on in the quarry’s prep lab, how the lab tech worked carefully to remove rock from ancient fossils, then prepare them for handling. The whole thing sounded really complicated … and exciting!

Kate’s heart began to race. How wonderful it would be to get in that room! She would take her fingerprint tape and look for prints. Maybe they would match the ones on the fossils back home. Then perhaps Alexis’s uncle could help the girls figure out whose prints they were!

“Conner does most of his work in that room,” Megan said. “He’s one of the best in the nation. He gets the fossils stabilized, cleaned, and prepared. Then Gus—I believe

some of you met him—gets the fossils packaged to send out.”

“We’ve got to get in that room!” McKenzie whispered. “So let’s win the treasure hunt.”

Kate nodded.

“It’s really an amazing honor,” Joel explained. “I’ve only been in there a couple of times over the years. The prep lab is usually off-limits to campers and quarry guests. But it’s by far the coolest place here.” He began to explain the process of cleaning the fossils, but Kate couldn’t keep up with him, he was talking so fast.

“All we have to do is win the treasure hunt,” Kate said. “And then I’ll get to see it for myself.”

“Not possible!” He laughed. “Sorry, girls, but this is my specialty. I’ll find all three specimens before you find even one!”

“Campers, let’s get suited up,” Megan announced as she handed out hard hats, vests, and jackets. Then she gave the campers their backpacks, which were loaded down with tools.

“I feel like I gain ten pounds when I put this on,” Patti complained as she struggled to get the backpack in place.

“Just think of how strong your muscles are getting,” Megan said with a wink.

Kate couldn’t help but think of Dexter. He would have loved this part. Maybe she could do more than win the treasure hunt today. Maybe she would locate a fossil that she

could give him … something really special. That would make him feel better about not being there. And maybe—she grew more excited as she thought about it—maybe she and McKenzie would find enough fossils for each of the Camp Club Girls, too! Wouldn’t Bailey and the others love that!

“Everybody ready?” Conner hollered.

When the campers cheered, Conner lifted his hand and hollered, “On your mark, get set …” As he shouted “go!” he dropped his hand. The girls took off running toward the dry lake bed and the boys headed off to the field to their right.

When they arrived, Kate and the others paused to catch their breath. She didn’t want to start out feeling so winded, especially when she hadn’t had much sleep.

“I’m going to dig for a
Mioplosus,”
Lauren said. “My brother found one of those last year when he came to camp.”

“I would suggest starting with the
Knightia,”
Megan said. “The quarry is filled with them.”

Kate watched out of the corner of her eye as Joel went to work with his large chisel. “Man, he’s fast,” she whispered to McKenzie. “He really knows what he’s doing.”

“You won’t find any fossils if you spend all of your time worrying about how much better he is than us,” McKenzie whispered back.

“I know you’re in a hurry to get started,” Megan said, “but I always like to say a few words before the hunt begins. If you listen to my advice, you’ll be more likely to find fossils quickly.”

Kate paid close attention.

“Okay, girls, this is what you do.” Megan’s voice grew serious. “Notice that this whole area is filled with flat slabs of rock. It was formed a long time ago on the bed of the lake.”

“Bed of the lake,” Kate whispered. Sounded funny.

“You heard Conner explain yesterday how fossils are made. Can you remind me how the fossils got here, in the dry lake bed?”

Kate raised her hand. “Yes. When a fish died, it would sink to the bottom of the lake, then get covered with mud, just like Conner talked about yesterday.”

“That’s right,” Megan said. “And over a long period of time, the lake dried up and the mud turned to stone. So buried deep within those slabs of stone are priceless treasures. In order to find them, you have to pick up the rock and split it. You might be surprised at what you find inside.”

Kate paused to think about how life was sometimes like that. Sometimes you really thought you knew someone … knew them really well. Then, after a little digging, you learned something else entirely new about them. For example, after a little digging, she had learned that McKenzie snored. Only a little, but still it was a snore. And hadn’t she learned a lot about each of the Camp Club Girls since they started solving mysteries together?

“This is one of the things I love most about leading excavations,” Megan said. “Sometimes I look around at all

of the reminders of life that came before us, thousands of years ago. It’s pretty amazing, really, when you think about it. We can hold the past in our hands.” She looked at the group, her eyes getting a little misty. “Then I look at all of you campers and I realize that I’m looking at our future. So the past and future come together every year when we lead these excavations. That means so much to me.”

“Oh wow.” Kate swallowed hard. How interesting, to think that she was part of a project that represented the future. Carrying on a project with fossils formed thousands of years ago.

“When I look at all of you, I also realize that each of you is a treasure, far more valuable than anything we could ever find in the stones here. You are created in God’s image. His imprint is in your heart.”

Kate smiled as she thought of that. Her mom often told her how much she was loved. Still, it felt good to have someone she barely knew tell her just how precious she was. Megan’s words made her day!

“Now go dig up some fossils,” Megan said. “But while you do, remember how valuable you are. How priceless.”

Kate headed off with her chisel in hand. She found a spot and began to dig. All around her the other girls were laughing and talking, but she didn’t join in. Who had time to chat with so much at stake? She had to find those fossils to win the prize! Then she and McKenzie could figure out who was forging the fossils and help Mrs. Smith keep her job.

The morning passed with the girls working extra hard. Kate let out a holler as she located a
Knightia
and the girls all cheered. However, off in the distance they heard the boys cheering, too.

“Sounds like we’re tied!” Megan said. “So keep at it, girls. You can do this.”

About a half hour later Lauren located a
Mioplosus
. She beamed with joy as she held it up for all to see. “I knew it!” she said. “I knew I would find one!”

“You did a great job!” Megan said, examining the fossil. “I’m so proud of you. Now if we can just find the
Phareodus
. Then you girls will win the treasure hunt and you can tour the prep lab!”

From the other side of the dry lake bed, Kate heard Joel’s voice ring out. “I found it!” he shouted. “I found the
Phareodus
!”

“We have all three!” another one of the boys hollered. “The boys win!”

They began to cheer. Kate let go of her chisel, watching it drop to the ground. “They … they beat us?”

McKenzie sighed. “Looks like it.”

“But how will we ever get into that back room now?” Kate whispered. “This whole trip to Wyoming will be a waste.”

McKenzie looked at her, clearly confused. “What do you mean?”

“We asked our families to come to Wyoming because we thought we could solve this case. But we can’t, unless we

get into that room.”

“You don’t know that.”

Kate plopped down on the edge of a large rock. “I just don’t like to disappoint anyone, especially the Camp Club Girls. They’re working hard to figure this out. But we need to do our part, too. And digging in the ground isn’t enough. We need to get into the secret, hidden places in the quarry to know what really goes on here.”

“Kate, don’t get discouraged,” McKenzie said. “We’ll figure out who did this with the Lord’s guidance. But we have to have faith. It won’t help anything to give up.”

“I just knew the girls were going to win,” Kate said sadly. “And since we didn’t, well, it just makes me a little mad. I guess I have a bad attitude.”

Megan walked up and gave Kate a curious look. “Bad attitude? Who has a bad attitude?”

“Me.” Kate sighed as she shrugged out of her backpack. “I must be a sore loser.”

Megan laughed. “I’ve seen a few of those over the years so you’re certainly not the first, and I’m sure you won’t be the last.” She paused. “I think about it this way, Kate. You know how fossils are really imprints?”

“Sure.” Kate shrugged, not sure what this had to do with anything.

“We leave an imprint on others with our attitude,” Megan said. “Good or bad. A little bit of us rubs off on them. So when you react with an attitude to something—

good or bad—it’s like you’re creating a …” She paused and appeared to be thinking about what to say. “Like a fossil on the heart, if that makes any sense.”

At once, a feeling of shame washed over Kate.

“I’m so sorry, Megan. I have had a bad attitude today.” She turned to McKenzie. “My faith has been a little low. I guess I just don’t see how God is going to solve this.”

“Honey, if anyone knows how to dig deep, it’s the Lord.” Megan patted her shoulder then headed off to join the others.

In the distance, lightning flashed and the girls heard a roar of thunder.

“Oh man. Looks like a storm,” Kate said. She grabbed her backpack. “Better get back inside. I don’t want my stuff to get wet.” She pulled off her wristwatch and tucked it into the backpack to keep it safe, just in case rain fell.

“Race you back to the dorm!” Joel hollered out as he ran by.

Kate took off running behind him. If she couldn’t beat him at excavating, maybe she could beat him at racing!

Sure enough, she started gaining on him. By the time they reached the building, she was a few feet ahead of him. She finally stopped, huffing and puffing. Joel grinned as he stopped next to her.

“My backpack is heavier,” he explained with a sly wink. “Must be all of those fossils I found today.”

Kate and McKenzie groaned.

“I’m just kidding.” Joel flashed a smile. “Just a little friendly competition, girls. But seriously, I’m really proud of you … especially you, Kate. I understand you found the first
Knightia
. Excavating must come naturally to you.”

“I’m not sure it does,” she said. “But I did have a lot of fun.” She thought about that as they headed into the cabin to get cleaned up. So what if they didn’t win? She had learned a lot—about fossils and about her heart.