Dinosaur Lake Read online

  Chapter 5

  Henry, as the other park rangers, was licensed to carry a firearm. After all, they were commissioned law officers; not just friendly tour guides. But since his police days, he hadn’t felt comfortable carrying a gun. He’d never meant to kill the child who’d shot him in the projects. It’d been a horrible accident and he’d lived with the guilt ever since. Only human monsters, his guilt haunted him, would kill a child.

  Each day it was difficult for him to strap the gun on his hip. But knowing he’d probably only use it on some maddened animal, not a person, had kept his head on straight. In all his years at the park he’d never had to draw the thing out of its holster once.

  “Much good that gun will do you if we come across a prehistoric monster with teeth and an attitude,” Justin remarked sarcastically, his eyes skimming the dark water around them. “Since I found those prints in the mud I’ve been doing some more reading. I just finished the most recent treatise on what my fellow experts now believe to be true about certain dinosaurs, known and unknown. Your Sig there wouldn’t even have nicked their tough hides, much less stopped them from attacking you.”

  They were out on another of their evening patrols, but as with the other nights, nothing except the voices of the night insects and park animals had marred the tranquil summer darkness.

  “So what you’re saying is if we did come across a live dinosaur, or any other prehistoric beast, then, we couldn’t just shoot it?” Henry pressed.

  “No. It’d take a lot more firepower than you have.

  “And, aside from that, if such a creature exists we’d have to protect it, not try to kill it. Man has never laid eyes on a living dinosaur…except in those Jurassic Park movies.” Justin tried to lighten the mood. “It’d be the greatest wonder of the world. I’d rather have you close the lake area, heck, the whole park forever if you had to, rather than harm such a magnificent animal. And I’m sure the National Park Service would agree. If it exists, I want to find it. Get a look at it. Get pictures.”

  “Magnificent animal? You’re a little naive about the terrible lizards, aren’t you?” Henry commented carefully. “I hadn’t planned on harming it in any way, either. But if there is a dinosaur swimming around in this lake that’s developed, perhaps, a taste for human flesh, as opposed to say, fish or plants, then we’d best be prepared to defend ourselves if we have to. The magnificent animal won’t want to be friends, I can tell you that. Remember the damage done to both those boats? And what really happened to those two missing men? Were they snacks?”

  Justin appeared distressed; obviously he’d been brooding on the problem, too. And, as the authority on the subject, his opinion on what should be done if they were dealing with something unnatural unsettled Henry. They should just let it run free in the park? Fence it in and charge admission? He’d never heard of anything so naïve.

  Suddenly the night and the water seemed filled with danger.

  “But, all that aside, you want my honest assessment of what we should do right now?” Justin whispered, as if he were afraid something was listening to them.

  “Of course.”

  “After what I’ve gleaned from my research, I think we should get off this lake and not get back on again until we have either a faster boat or a bigger weapon, just in case.”

  Henry couldn’t help but laugh. Softly. “In case what?”

  “In case the creature finds us.”

  Exasperated, Henry exclaimed, “Being a little premature, aren’t we? Thinking that there is actually something in the lake is still wild speculation on our part, isn’t it? I mean, let’s face it, we don’t really believe there’s some prehistoric monster in the lake, now do we?”

  “Don’t we?” a weak reply. “Then what are we doing out here in the middle of the night, puttering around in circles, freezing to death?”

  “You got a point there. And if we do discover it exists. What, exactly, are we going to do about it? Worse yet, what if we discover it attacked those boats on purpose, maybe ate those men? And what if it keeps on attacking humans? Goes in search of them as a viable food source? If it leaves the lake and we can’t stop it?” Henry said what he’d been thinking.

  “Then, unfortunately,” the scientist replied, “something will have to be done about it.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead.”

  “Maybe we should,” Henry remarked.

  Justin inhaled. “I wish now that I hadn’t made the bones public knowledge and that your wife’s newspaper wasn’t doing that article on it Monday, along with a second story on the destroyed boats and the missing men…illustrated with her drawings of a mythical lake monster.”

  “Yep, and those stories are going to bring out a flock of the curious. Then there are your colleagues from John Day coming out next week to begin excavating the paleontological site. Long dead dinosaur bones in a place where people and boats have been mysteriously disappearing? Fertile ground for strange rumors and speculation.” Henry shook his head in the dark.

  “Your park’s going to become a zoo.” Justin’s cynical laugh echoed across the cool night.

  Henry didn’t laugh.

  “We released that information before the second boat disappeared. We thought the park was safe,” Justin reminded Henry. “Sorry.”

  “Nah, you’re not to blame.” Henry’s voice broke the hush that had covered the lake all night. “You were doing your job. But–” His voice stopped abruptly because he thought he’d heard something. They weren’t alone. His gut told him so. He shushed Justin but no further sounds came.

  Beneath it all, he felt bad he was still fibbing to his wife about the true reason he and Justin were out on the lake so much, even though he was sure she’d already guessed. Ann was a smart woman and she’d interviewed Willie Sander before he’d disappeared. She knew two boats, two men, were missing. She knew something weird was going on.

  And Henry didn’t usually do quite so much night fishing.

  Ann had kissed him every night at the door with concern in her eyes and made him promise to be careful, not take any chances he didn’t need to take, and to get the hell off the lake if trouble reared its head. But she hadn’t once asked what was going on. She would, though, eventually.

  “Don’t be a hero, Henry,” was all she’d said, and she’d meant it.

  After a little longer silence, Henry yawned. “Maybe we should call it a night?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Justin croaked.

  It was close to midnight and they were sitting in the front of the boat, shivering in their coats and life-jackets. The temperature rise in the lower depths of the lake hadn’t made a measureable difference yet, except to create the growing mist that was rising over everything more densely each night. Mist as thick and eerie as any seen on Loch Ness.

  By now Henry knew the young scientist better. Talking and hours spent chugging back and forth across the lake, the boat’s bright headlights cutting through the fog that hung about them like a shroud, their hand-held flashlights crisscrossing the murkiness consuming the boat, had given them time to get to know each other.

  Henry’s first impression of the scientist had never wavered. Justin was dedicated and single-minded in everything he did, perhaps too much. The young man was over-compensating for something, carrying a chip of some kind on his shoulder. He did a fine job of hiding it most of the time, but he couldn’t fool Henry. Henry had been a cop for too long.

  Henry was waiting for Justin to fess up on his own. Sooner or later, he would, and Henry could wait. He wasn’t one to pry into other peoples’ lives, even if that person was dating his only daughter.

  Justin stifled a yawn, and Henry repeated, “About ready to call it a night, Mr. Wizard?”

  Justin’s head came up, the lights reflected off his glasses into the inky gloom nudging in around them.

  “More than ready.”

  They were exhausted from the cruises, staying up half the
night, and weary of searching for something that might not exist. Henry had his regular job and Justin had been spending his days at the dig or with Laura and Phoebe.

  It was time to pack it in. Justin could be right. They needed to do some more planning, to be more prepared, in case.

  “We’re heading home.” Henry directed the boat towards Cleetwood Cove at medium speed. The night had turned chilly and he’d be glad to plop down before a blazing fire next to his wife.