Shadow Bones (4 page)

“Fine, bring it on.” Jake scribbled his name on the release, then ripped off the collar and handed it to them. “Call the sheriff. Someone rigged a wire across the path so I'd fall down the cliff,” he told them.

“I'll call him right now.” The paramedics walked toward the ambulance.

Skye looked him over again. He must have hit his head really hard. “Who would do such a thing? No one here would hurt you.”

Jake's gaze focused on her. “You tell me. At first, I thought a rival might be at fault. But you have just as much motive.”

“You can't be serious.”

“You've been opposed to my presence right from the start. Whether you're the culprit or someone else, I have to move now. I don't scare easy. The only way to keep my discovery safe now is to announce it to the media.”

“You can't do that!” She caught at his arm. “You have to know I don't want you dead!” Skye's voice trembled, and she bit her lip. The thought of Jake lying broken at the bottom of the cliff was a mental image that made her shudder.

Jake rubbed his forehead.

“Stop, you're making it bleed again.” She grabbed his hand and pulled it away. “Jake, I wouldn't do something like that. I'll tell you to your face how I feel, but I won't be a sneak and a saboteur.”

For the first time, he looked uncertain. “Maybe you're right.” He shook his head, and his eyes thinned again as he stared into her face.

“You still don't look like you believe me.”

“I don't know what to believe.”

Skye hugged herself tightly. “Can you hire someone to guard the site?”

“You almost sound like you care.”

“I care that someone might get hurt on our property.”

“Ah, you're worried about lawsuits.” His voice was ironic. “I signed a release not to hold your mother responsible, so it's not your problem.”

But it was her problem. She chewed on her bottom lip. “I wish you'd come back to the shop with me. I'll give you some herbs to help with the healing and the muscle soreness.”

He grinned. “Not a chance. You might finish the job with poison.”

“You know better than that. You're just trying to be difficult.” She wanted to cry, to put her head down and sob. It was the reaction to the near accident, she knew, but knowing that didn't make it easier to keep her voice from shaking.

This island had always seemed a safe haven for her. To realize someone wanted Jake dead made her glance toward the dark woods and wonder if someone was
watching them. She'd never felt so exposed, so vulnerable. Who would do this?

“Don't look so scared.” Jake took her hand. “I'll come with you.”

His sudden capitulation drew her gaze from the shadowy forest. “Really?”

“I'm going to need all the help I can get to be back on the job tomorrow.” He sounded grim, and the humor in his eyes faded.

“I'll help you to my truck,” she said.

“I can walk by myself.”

“At least you're smart enough to know you shouldn't be driving.”

He got out of his SUV, and Skye slid behind the wheel and guided the SUV off the road.

“I'll have Max and Becca come get my vehicle later,” Jake told her when she joined him beside her truck.

Skye nodded and went to the ambulance to tell them to have the sheriff meet them at her shop.

Jake opened the truck door and slid inside. “Where'd you get this beauty?”

Skye warmed to his praise of her “baby.” Not many people appreciated the classic truck. “It was my father's.” She felt, rather than saw, Jake's long glance in her direction.

“Your father's desertion really affected you.”

Her heart gave a twinge at the compassion in his voice. “Yeah,” she said. There were depths to Jake Baxter she found she liked.

“Did your mother ever try to find him?”

Skye nodded. “She hired a private investigator, but the trail petered out in Detroit.”

“Had they been fighting?”

She nodded. “But no one thought he would just leave like that. Least of all me. We'd always been close.”

Skye heard the raw emotion in her voice and changed the subject. “Any other ideas who could have put that wire up?”

“Besides you, you mean?” He grinned and held up his hands in a defensive posture. “Just kidding. Actually, I'm wondering if it was Cameron Reynolds.”

“Why would you suspect him? Mother said he was charming.”

“He's the sludge at the bottom of the pond. He lives and breathes for intrigue and deception. We used to be partners until he backstabbed me one too many times. He can't be trusted.”

Skye felt the burden lighten. She'd rather believe it was an outsider, then she didn't have to worry about her friends and neighbors anymore. The sheriff would arrest this Cameron and life would resume as normal. “Are you going to tell the sheriff to check him out?”

“I might steer him in that direction.” Jake looked grim.

They arrived at The Sleeping Turtle. Inside, she found the herbs she needed. “The white willow bark is especially good for pain and inflammation,” she told him.

He accepted them with a skeptical grin. “Sounds like quackery to me, but I'll try them.”

“I think you'll be pleasantly surprised,” she said. “They work with the body and not against it like so many drugs. Natural is always better.” She measured out a dose and had him take it with a swig of water. “You're on your way to good health.”

The bell at the front door jingled, and Sheriff Andrew Mitchell stepped into the store. Around fifty, his khaki pants were cinched up over a beer belly. “You look like something the Windigo chewed up and spit back,” he said.

Jake grimaced. “I feel like it, too. It's got mighty sharp teeth.” He told the sheriff what happened.

“You up to showing me where this is?” Sheriff Mitchell asked.

“After our local medicine woman's ministrations, I'm ready to take on the world,” Jake said.

He winked at Skye, and she felt the heat of a blush move up her neck to her cheeks.

“Hey, don't be making fun of Skye. She's helped more people than you can count.” Sheriff Mitchell followed them to the outside. “We might as well all go in my car.” He opened the door for them, and they got in the back.

Once they reached the mine, Jake led them up the slope toward the dig. He moved slowly and winced several times. Skye frowned as she watched him. It would be useless to say anything. He'd never admit to the pain he was feeling.

“Right here,” Jake said. “You can see where I went over the edge.”

“Hmm.” The sheriff knelt and looked at the path. “I don't see anything but this stick.”

“What?” Jake scanned the path.

Skye knelt and looked around with him. The rocky path was free of obstruction other than the stick the sheriff indicated. No wires that she could see.

“You sure you didn't stumble over a stick?”

Jake's voice rose, and he stood with his fists on his hips. “Sheriff, it was right here. A wire tied to a stick on either side. Look, here are the holes where the sticks were.”

“Could be snake holes,” the sheriff said.

Skye could tell the sheriff didn't believe Jake. She wasn't sure she did, either. Maybe it was a way to get her to agree to announce the discovery of the dinosaur nursery.

T
he patter of rain on the tent awakened Jake. The cold ground intensified the ache he felt clear to his bones. So much for Skye's herbal remedies. He sat up and laboriously crawled out of his sleeping bag. His family had begged him to sleep at Windigo Manor last night, but he'd been adamant about protecting the eggs he'd found.

He was going to have to get help, and Skye wouldn't like what he had to do to get it.

He wished there was some other way, but this discovery was too important to risk losing. He splashed cold water on his face and downed the herbs Skye had given him. They'd helped last night, though he doubted they'd touch the pain he was feeling this morning.

Max had retrieved Jake's hat and cell phone from the bottom of the cliff. The hat was now even more decrepit-looking. Jake clapped the hat over his unruly hair and threw back the flap on the tent.

The cold drizzle depressed his spirits even further. He peered at the gloomy sky and shook his head. Trudging through the mud, he checked his site and found everything as it had been left last night.

“How are you feeling today?”

He turned to see Skye standing on the path with a plate of food in her hand.

“Sore.” His stomach rumbled at the aroma of sausage. “I hope that food is for me.”

“I'm not the best cook in the world, but at least it's hot. I hope you like biscuits and gravy. I wanted to see how you're feeling.” She hesitated, then went on. “I hope you've gotten over your suspicion of me. I wouldn't do anything to hurt you.”

He searched her face. “Are you trying to bribe me?”

Her lips lifted in a smile. “Would it work?”

“Sorry, but no. I'm going to have to call the media today.”

She sighed. “That's what I thought. But you can still have the breakfast.”

Jake grabbed a camp chair for her and one for himself, and accepted the plate of food. He tucked into his meal with gusto and downed it in three minutes. “I was starved,” he said. “I don't think I had dinner last night.”

She cocked her head to one side. “You look better this morning—not so green around the gills.”

He realized with a sense of shock that his pain had lessened since taking her remedies. “I'm actually feeling better. Those herbs must have worked.” Either that or it was being around her. He liked to watch the way
her eyes grew mysterious. The bone structure in her face intrigued him with its sharp planes and angles. She didn't need makeup.

He heard a vehicle pull into the parking lot below them and looked down. “Great, just great,” he muttered when he saw Cameron's vehicle. “I'd better head him off at the pass.”

“I'll come with you. I need to get back to town.” Skye grabbed the empty plate of food and followed Jake down the steep path.

They met Cameron about halfway up. Jake barred the other man's way to the dig. “What are you doing here again, Reynolds?”

“I thought I'd see how you were doing. I heard you had a spill yesterday.”

“Oh, you heard, did you? And I suppose you had nothing to do with it.” Jake watched his former partner's face for signs of guilt, but the man's smile didn't diminish. Jake knew Cameron was a practiced liar.

“You're jumping at shadows,” Cameron said smoothly. “I heard it was an accident. Are you saying someone pushed you?”

“I'm saying someone stretched a wire across the path in the worst possible spot so I'd go plummeting down the hill. I asked myself who would do such a despicable thing. Your name came to mind.”

“I think you watch too many murder mysteries.” Cameron's gaze traveled to Skye. “You have to be Skye Blackbird. You look just like your beautiful mother.”

Skye smiled, and Jake wanted to snarl at the bedaz
zled expression on her face. Cameron's charm had done its work, even on her.

Cameron took her hand and held on to it a moment too long. Skye finally pulled it away, but there was a flush to her cheeks Jake didn't like. He told himself he wasn't jealous.

“My mother says you're a paleontologist, too.” she said.

“If you want to call him that,” Jake muttered.

“What?” Skye finally turned her head and looked at him.

“Nothing,” Jake said. “I need to get to town. If you want to find out what I'm doing, Reynolds, you'll have to wait and see it on the evening news.”

For the first time the smooth expression on Cameron's face changed. “Wait, what are you talking about? You need my help.”

“I don't need anything from you. Least of all that ever-present knife you're about to plunge into my back.” Jake grabbed Cameron's arm and propelled him down the last of the path to the parking lot.

Cameron twisted, but couldn't slip out of Jake's grip. He'd always been a weakling, Jake thought with a curl of his lip. Jake released him at the door to Cameron's fancy truck.

“After you, Reynolds.”

Cameron gave him a furious look, but flung himself into the driver's seat. He floored the engine and spun gravel from his tires as he took off.

“You didn't have to be so rude,” Skye said.

“Don't be suckered by his good looks. He'll chew you up and spit you out before you can blink.”

“I'm not that naive,” she said with a trace of haughtiness.

“You could have fooled me. I saw the way you were ogling him.”

“I have never ogled anyone in my life!” Her eyes sparked fire, and she put her hands on her hips. “I don't know why I bothered to bring you breakfast. Obviously, the slide down the mountain failed to teach you anything.” She flounced to her pickup and sped away.

Jake gritted his teeth and got in his SUV. It was just as well they were on the outs. She was too attractive for his peace of mind.

 

Skye fumed as she raced the truck toward town. He'd taken her peace offering and flung it back in her face. Ogled indeed. Heat burned her cheeks. Maybe she'd been a little tongue-tied at Cameron's appearance, but the man looked and acted like some kind of movie star. Someone like him had never appeared in Turtle Town before. She guessed she'd been a little starstruck.

He wasn't your typical paleontologist. Could he have stretched the wire across the path? Or had that even happened? She didn't know what to believe.

Cameron's truck was parked in front of The Sleeping Turtle when she arrived. Her heart beat a little faster as she got out and went inside. Maybe he wasn't in her store at all, but in the coffee shop next door.

As she neared the door, she heard her mother's
laughter and Cameron's deep answering chuckle. Warmth traveled up her neck to her cheeks, and she smoothed the wisps of hair that had pulled loose from her braid. The fact that Jake highly disapproved of Cameron only made it more pleasant to defy the paleontologist who was such a thorn in her flesh.

She went inside. “I'm back,” she called.

“We have a special guest,” her mother called. “Have you two met?”

“I had the pleasure of meeting your lovely daughter a little while ago.”

Cameron's smile was as bright as the noonday sun, and Skye almost had to close her eyes against the brilliance. The man's charm was incredible. He'd missed his calling by choosing science over the silver screen.

“I can see where she gets her beauty,” he said, turning back to Mary.

Skye's mother simpered. That was the only word for it, Skye thought incredulously. In that moment, her bedazzlement with Cameron snapped. Had the same silly expression been on her face when they met at the mine? If so, no wonder Jake had been so contemptuous.

“I thought I'd look for something for my mother for her birthday,” Cameron said. He turned to look at the display of herbal candles on an endcap.

Did someone like him even have a mother? Skye could imagine him emerging fully grown from a magical spring like a young Adonis. “We have the candles and some wonderful aromatherapy products down the next aisle,” she told him.

“Mom might like the aromatherapy. Would you mind showing me?”

Conscious of the way her mother was looking on with approval, Skye led him to the display. “Do you know if she has a favorite scent? The lavender ones are particularly popular with the older ladies.”

“She loves lilacs, so that might be a good choice if you have it.”

She started to leave him to peruse the products, when he stopped her with his hand on her arm.

“I was wondering if you were in full agreement with what Baxter is doing at the mine site?” he asked.

“I don't have much say in it,” she said shortly. “My mother owns the mine and the land around it.”

“Yes, but I was under the impression you were the manager.”

“I am, but it's Mother's property. If she had asked me, I wouldn't have given permission for you to dig.”

He leaned toward her and turned his smile on full wattage, but this time Skye merely blinked at the brilliance.

“What he's planning will harm your mining operation. We have to delay his announcement. Once the world hears what he's found, this town will be crawling with geologists and paleontologists from around the world.”

“How do you know what he's found?”

His smile faltered. “I suspect it's a dinosaur nursery. Hundreds of eggs. Few sites like it have been found.”

Skye was careful to let her expression betray nothing. “What makes you think that?”

“I saw some shapes that looked—shall we say, intriguing—the first day I was at the site. I'm a good scientist. I recognized the site's possibilities as quickly as Jake did.”

She didn't bother to hide her skepticism. “Why would you want to help me stop the announcement?”

“I like you and your mother. I'd hate to see you taken advantage of by the likes of Jake Baxter.”

“Forgive me if I don't believe you. You don't even know us.” She was suddenly weary of the whole conversation. People using other people, each playing one against the other in sneaky ways. She wanted this man gone from her store and her life. Jake as well.

His smile faded. “Okay, I'll tell you the truth. Jake took credit for something I found. I want to get back at him, but I need your help.”

“Funny, he says
you're
the one who betrayed him.”

“Look up the Baxter find in Venezuela. You won't find a mention of my name, but I'm the one who called him in on that project.”

He seemed sincere. Skye shrugged. “I don't know how we'll stop it anyway. He went to town to call the media.”

“We have to stop him!” He grabbed her hand and propelled her toward the door.

Skye wrenched away. “There's nothing I can do.”

“Well, I can.” He left her standing in the aisle and ran out the door.

Skye stared after him. She was tempted to call Jake and warn him. But what could Cameron do anyway? It was probably too late.

Maybe she'd just follow Cameron and see what he was going to do. She wouldn't want him to hurt Jake. Not that the big paleontologist couldn't take care of himself, but what if Jake's suspicions were correct and Cameron had put a wire out to trip him?

 

The Detroit newspaper was flying in some reporters in a few minutes. Other papers has sent theirs by ferry. Jake stood in his room at Windigo Manor and tried to decide what to wear.

“Wear that tie,” Wynne said, pointing to a burgundy one. “And pair it with a navy blazer and khaki slacks.”

“I don't want to dress up,” he grumbled. “I think a clean shirt and jeans will do just fine. The newspapers like a little bit of color in their stories.”

“Maybe you're right.” Becca riffled through the clothes in the closet and pulled out a red denim shirt. “This looks good. And make sure you take your hat. I'll clean it up for you. The lady reporters will swoon over you.”

“That's the last thing I need,” Jake said. Before he could stop it, he had an image of Skye swooning into his arms. He hid a grin. She'd likely spit on his boots before she'd swoon.

“I'll be glad when this is all out in the open,” Becca said. “It was too close for comfort yesterday.”

Jake glanced at his watch. “It's almost show time. Let's get out in the yard.”

The rain had ended, and the sun's warmth left little dampness in the ground. Jake settled on the porch to
await the helicopter. Ten minutes later the sound of the rotors roused him from a near doze. He stood and went to greet the reporters just as a car bearing the rest pulled up.

Once they were set up, he stepped into place. “I've called you here to announce something of great significance to the scientific community. And not just to scientists but to the whole world. How many of you are familiar with the dinosaur nests found in Mongolia?”

“I am.” An older man of about sixty waved his hand. “Are you saying that's what you've found?”

“Exactly,” Jake said.

“Hold on a minute.” Cameron Reynolds stepped out from behind the side of the house. “This is a hoax.”

“Who are you?” the reporter asked.

“Cameron Reynolds.”

“I've heard of you. You discovered that big T-Rex last year.”

Jake gritted his teeth and forced himself not to object. It would make him look like a fool. “If you'd like to follow me out to the site, I can show you,” he said.

He was aware of Cameron's smug smile as Jake rounded up the reporters into his SUV. Cameron followed in his truck. What did he have up his sleeve? Jake didn't trust him, but there was little he could do about it in front of the reporters.

The reporters and their photographers trooped up the path to the site. Jake stepped to the dig and looked down. The dig was exactly as he left it with his tools spread out and the land exposed.

With one exception. His eggs were gone.

Rage built in his chest, and he whirled to find the other paleontologist. Cameron's smile was smug and then his eyes widened when he saw Jake leap.