The Stolen Bones (12 page)

“Grayson is a lawyer,” she said. “A federal prosecutor
out of Denver, so it makes sense that he knows about cases of fossil theft. Nothing
suspicious there. I chatted with Felix a bit, and he said he used to own a deli. That
checked out. He’s in his tent now with a book and a battery-operated fan. I found
several guys named Russell Stevens, but unless he’s a basketball player, a rock
and roll drummer, or a Belgian scientist, nothing on this one. I was just going to work
on Abby when I saw you come back.”

“That’s a good start,” I said. “But we need to
find out about Russell somehow. On the phone last night he said something about buying
and selling. He could have been calling his helpers.”

George peered through the windows of the dark SUV.
“This is Russell’s. Hey, his phone is on the console.” George cackled
and opened the door.

“What are you doing?” Bess asked, as George pushed
buttons.

“Checking what number he called last. It’s a 212 area code.
That’s New York City. Let’s go up on the hill.” She pushed buttons as
we walked. “The magic of redial,” she muttered.

“He’ll be able to tell someone was messing with his
phone!” Bess exclaimed.

“Only if he checks the calling record,” George said,
“which he won’t. And even if he does, he won’t know who it was.”
She pushed Send as we topped the hill, then held the phone to her ear and spoke.
“Hello? I’m sorry, who did you say this was? Oh, I have the wrong number.
Sorry.”

She closed the phone. “It’s a stockbroker’s
office.”

“I guess he was just keeping track of his investments,” I
said.

“All right. Let me check Abby,” George said. A minute later
she added, “Abby’s rock shop is legitimate, in Sedona, Arizona. But she
doesn’t just sell crystals and jewelry. She sells small fossils, too.”

“Interesting,” I said. “But hardly proof. All right.
Let’s look through her tent and car. Does anybody know which car is
hers?”

“I saw Abby getting something from that silver
SUV,” Bess said.

It was locked. “Who locks their vehicle out here in the middle of
nowhere?” George asked.

Bess rolled her eyes. “Yeah. It’s not like anyone would look
inside.”

“It’s strange, though,” I said slowly. “With all
her talk about nature and crystals and macrobiotic diets, I’d expect her to drive
something more energy conscious, like my hybrid.”

“Yeah, or an old VW Bug,” George said. “But not this
gas-guzzler.”

I glanced at my watch. “We should have another hour before everyone
gets back for lunch. George, see what else you can find on Abby. I want to look through
her tent.”

Bess yawned. “I’ll keep watch to warn you if anyone comes back
early.”

Abby had a small air mattress, a sleeping bag, a bag with the usual
toiletries, and a romance novel. The net pocket by the door held a good flashlight and
two candy bar wrappers. She must have been keeping everything else in her locked
vehicle.

I sat back on my heels and thought. Abby drove an SUV, and ate candy in
her tent after eating health food in front of everyone. She had secrets. But did that
mean she was the fossil thief?

I went through her tent again. This time I searched
more carefully, for any tiny clue that might be hidden. I flipped through the pages of
the book, but didn’t see any extra scribbles. I felt the lining of the makeup bag.
I even examined the attached tag, made of leather with a plastic window. Her name and
address showed through.

I stared at the name. Abby Morningstar. It sounded like one of those new
age last names people give themselves. I wondered what name she’d been born
with.

On a hunch, I slid out the name tag. The writing on the back was faded,
probably several years old. Abigail Eback.

I slid the tag back into the holder and crawled out of the tent. I waved
to Bess. “Come on. Let’s join George.”

She looked up as we crested the hill. “Nothing new yet.”

“Try looking up Abigail Eback.” I explained what I’d
found in Abby’s tent.

A minute later George said, “I’m not getting anything on
Abigail or Abby. There aren’t even too many Ebacks. Let’s see … Wait
a minute. The Arizona Reptile Zoo. Run by Darryl and Dustin Eback. They have snakes,
lizards, and spiders.” She frowned. “Spiders aren’t
reptiles.”

“Those two brothers!” I exclaimed. I frowned. “I
knew there was something familiar about those two guys. I had a
sense of déjà vu when we first saw them. It was their unusual eyes.
Abby’s are unusual too.”

“It’s Abby!” George said.

“It has to be,” I agreed. “I’ll bet those guys are
her sons, and—”

“No, look.” George nudged me. “It’s Abby.”
Sure enough, she was entering camp.

W
hat’s she doing back so early? Come
on.” I waved as I approached her. “What’s up? Where are the
others?”

“Still working,” she said. “But I have a long drive, so
I thought I’d pack up and get started. They’re just hauling heavy loads
today, and that’s not really my thing.”

“I see.” My mind raced. I’d thought we’d have all
day to get proof and confront Abby. But now that her sons had the fossil, she was taking
off to meet them.

I snuck the walkie-talkie out of the tool pile, and dragged George and
Bess behind our tent. “We have to call Kyle.”

We tried, but got no answer. I finally gave up. “They must have
turned off the other one.” I bit my lip.
“George, run
back to the dig and tell Kyle. Get help!”

She took off without a word. I hissed to Bess, “We have to stall
her.” We joined Abby, who had already emptied her tent. “We’ll help
you pack. We’re not doing anything until lunchtime.”

We were as slow and clumsy as we could be, but folding up a tent just
doesn’t take that long. We managed to annoy Abby, but she still had her SUV
packed up in twenty minutes. It would take at least another twenty minutes for George to
return with Kyle, even if they ran the whole way.

“Why don’t you stay for lunch?” I asked Abby. “The
others will be back soon.”

Abby grimaced. “I can’t eat all that rich food, full of meat
and preservatives. I have some carrot sticks in the car. That will hold me through this
afternoon.”

Bess and I tried to make small talk, but Abby got into her SUV, slammed
the door, and backed out.

“We have to follow her,” I said.

“She’ll see us,” Bess said.

“We’ll stay back, but we have to take that chance. Otherwise,
she’ll get away.”

We got into my car and turned it around. Abby was already out of sight
around a corner. I bounced over the rough road, going as quickly as I dared. I knew my
hybrid couldn’t keep up with the SUV on dirt roads, if Abby hurried.

I spotted her in the distance. “Come on, come
on,” I muttered, willing the car to go faster. Bess held on to the door with one
hand and the dashboard with the other.

The walkie-talkie crackled. “Nancy? Come in?”

Bess grabbed it. “George? Abby took off! We’re following
her.”

“We’re on our way back. Where are you headed?”

“Toward the highway.”

“We’ll be right behind you.”

I smiled. Now that we had backup, I was sure we could stop Abby.

A bang echoed through the car as a rock, flipped up by the wheel, hit the
bottom. I jumped and clutched the steering wheel harder.

We came to a rut so deep I needed one wheel in the bushes to straddle it.
I didn’t have time to crawl through that area, so I just aimed and hoped for the
best.

Bess squealed, “Watch out!”

The back of the car started sliding. I grappled for control.

The wheels slid into the ruts. I heard an unpleasant crunch as the
underside of my car high-centered.

I winced but pressed the gas. My wheels spun. The car didn’t
move.

I watched the SUV disappear.

“Oh, no!” I turned off the car.
“We’ll never get out of here in time.”

Bess sighed. “You did your best. Now what?”

I leaned my head against the steering wheel for a moment, then
straightened. “We do everything we can to go after her.”

I jumped out of the car and Bess followed. “If we can just push this
back wheel a little to the right, we should get traction again,” I said.
“Good thing the hybrid is so light.”

Bess perched on the edge of the driver’s seat, where she could
control the pedals with one foot and push with the other out on the ground. I leaned
against the back corner of the car and shoved.

“All right,” I called, “give it a little gas.”

The wheels started to spin slowly. Dust billowed in my face.

A wheel caught, then held. The car inched forward. Bess pulled both her
feet in so she could concentrate on her driving.

A minute later we were out of the rut. Bess slid over so I could get into
the driver’s seat. “I doubt we’ll catch her now,” she said.

“Our best hope is to see which way she turns on the highway,”
I said, easing the car forward.

“If we don’t get stuck again. Wait—what’s that
sound?”

I listened. “An engine? We’re too far to
be hearing Abby.”

We looked around. A dirty white pickup truck bounced across the scrubland
in the distance. “It’s Jimmy!” Bess cried. “Maybe he can
help.”

“Get out and wave.” I hit the horn—three short blasts,
three long ones, three short ones. Hopefully Jimmy recognized SOS.

The truck turned and bumped toward us. I eased my car to the side of the
road in a wide spot and got out as Jimmy pulled up. He leaned out the window. “You
stuck again?”

We ran to him. “No, but we have to follow someone.” I pointed
to where Abby had disappeared. “We have to find out where that SUV
goes.”

“Better jump in, then,” he said.

Bess slid in next to him, and I jumped up beside her. Jimmy took off as we
were still fumbling for our seat belts. “It’s one of the women from the dig.
Abby,” I said. “Someone stole a fossil last night, and we think she’s
involved.”

“That gal stole a fossil from the dig?”

“Her sons, anyway,” I said. “They tied up Steffi and
took the most valuable fossil.”

“What!” He scowled, hunched over, and drove faster. Bess and I
held on to anything we could reach.

“Steffi is all right,” Bess said.

“She wouldn’t like being tied up
none,” Jimmy muttered. In minutes we reached the highway and screeched to a
stop.

I scanned the road, first left, then right. “That way!” I
said, pointing toward a faint dot of silver.

Jimmy turned onto the highway. Bess spoke into the walkie-talkie.
“George? We’re on the highway. We turned right.”

“Gotcha.” Her voice crackled. “We’re at camp. Be
there soon.”

Jimmy gained on the SUV. I hoped we wouldn’t have to follow Abby all
the way to Arizona. What would we do if we caught her, anyway? We didn’t have
proof that she was involved in the theft, just suspicions. If she was smart, the
valuable fossil would never show up in her shop. She’d sell it secretly. She
probably already knew interested buyers who wouldn’t ask questions.

We could only wait and see what happened. A few minutes later the SUV took
an exit ramp. “Duck down,” I said to Bess. “Jimmy, keep her in sight.
Hopefully she won’t pay attention to the truck.”

We followed, entering a small town. It was basically a gas station with a
convenience store and diner, and a handful of scattered houses. I peered over the
dashboard and saw the SUV pull around behind the store.

Jimmy parked in front. “Nothing behind there.
She must be stopping. I’ll run inside and ask them to call the
police.”

Bess gave our location to George. We got out and crept around the side of
the building. Some big garbage cans at the back gave us cover so we could see.

Abby was out of the SUV, talking to the two young blond men. The off-road
vehicle sat in the bed of a cherry red pickup truck. “They figured out it was
you,” Abby said. “I told you it was a mistake to show up yesterday.
You’d better load it into my car. If anyone stops you, we don’t want them to
find that fossil.”

The men climbed into the bed of their truck. It would take only a couple
of minutes to transfer the fossil. “We have to stall them,” I whispered.

“How?” Bess asked.

Good question. There were three of them and three of us, but I
didn’t think we could hold them back physically. Jimmy joined us. “Tony, the
convenience store owner, is calling.”

“Do you think you could bring your truck around and block in their
cars?” I asked.

He studied the two vehicles, parked about fifteen feet apart. “One
of them, anyway. You want me to?”

“Yes. Hurry.”

He took off back around the corner. The men were grunting as they lifted
the heavy jacket. “Let’s
see if we can keep them from
getting that fossil into the SUV,” I said to Bess.

Abby and her sons froze as we stepped around the garbage cans.
“Fancy meeting you here,” I said. We stood between them and Abby’s
SUV.

“You again!” Abby muttered. “What are you doing
here?”

“Just stopped to say hi,” I said.

She turned to her sons. “Do something!”

They stood holding the jacket between them, sweat glistening on their
faces. The older one grunted, “Like what? We’re kind of busy
here.”

“Well, put that thing in the car and get these girls out of
here!”

We did a kind of dance as the brothers tried to move toward the SUV, and
Bess and I kept in their way. Finally Abby rushed forward and shoved Bess, who stumbled
into me. As we caught our balance, Abby held out her arms to keep us back, while her
sons staggered forward a few more steps.

An engine roared, and Jimmy’s truck whipped around the corner.
“Block the SUV!” I called, pointing. He stopped directly behind it.

The brothers groaned and started staggering back toward their vehicle.
When they got close, Jimmy pulled forward so he was behind it.