Death by Dinosaur: A Sam Stellar Mystery

by Jacqueline Guest

  Sam thought back to the harrowing attack. With a tingling buzz, her weirdometer spiked, sending prickles coursing through her entire body.

  She hadn’t actually seen her assailant’s face and anyone can wear black gloves…

  Panic twisted her stomach again. Don’t do it. The monster under the bed can’t get you if you don’t look. She glanced back at the door.

  Then she heard it.

  The unmistakable clicking sound of a lock being released. Her heart slammed in her chest and her throat tightened, choking off a scream.

  The door slowly opened. There, silhouetted against the evening sky, was a dark figure, and he was holding the deadly blade.

  Chapter 16

  Death and Dinos

  As Sam scrambled to her feet, the setting sun lanced through the open doorway and directly into her eyes, blinding her. Blinking to clear her vision, she tried to see the man’s face but it was no good. He was a dark wraith surrounded by fiery light.

  Frantically, Sam searched for a way to escape. Her only option was to go farther into the building. She bolted down the corridor desperately trying to think of a plan as she rattled doorknobs along her way. The doors were all locked and unfortunately, her magic card only worked on certain doors in selected areas. Apparently, the doors in this area weren’t on that list.

  If only she could come up with a plan to immobilize the creep. The trouble was, she didn’t have a lot of time to set a trap. She knew her card would work on the Preparation Room and sprinted through the corridors toward her goal. Holding the card up to the scanner, she heard the welcoming click and pushed the door open. Quickly scanning the dimly lit space, she searched for anything she might use as a weapon. The room was pristine.

  On the stainless steel table was a huge leg bone being readied for display. The sling used to move the unwieldy bone hung loosely beside the table. It was attached to a large overhead winch. If she were Fred Flintstone, she’d pick it up and crack the thug over the head.

  In a desperate flash, an idea came to her. Hurrying to the sling, she pulled it toward the bone.

  Sliding a section of the canvas carrier under each end of the huge fossil, she ran for the electric control. Flicking the switch, she hoped the whirring sound meant the bone was being lifted. The cable connected to the sling snapped taut. “Score!” she crowed as the bone rose slowly into the air.

  When it was chest high, Sam halted the winch. Grabbing a length of rope from a workbench, she tied one end to the sling and the other end she passed behind a support pillar, then pulled with all her strength. The sling groaned as the massive bone inched backward.

  Just as she thought she could hold the rope no longer, the door burst open. She let go and the sling, with its heavy cargo cradled in the canvas folds, arced toward the door.

  Before the shadowy figure could react, the huge battering ram slammed into him. The force of the impact sent him back, out of the room, to collide heavily with the wall in the hallway.

  Sam didn’t wait to see if he was dead or only stunned. She ran out of the room and away from the still, silent figure on the floor.

  Reaching the end of the hall, she desperately pulled on the heavy door. It led to the front entry and freedom. But the door wouldn’t open! For security reasons, it was kept locked to seal off the work section of the museum from the front galleries.

  Her security card! Her magic card would open the door. She reached into her back pocket. It was gone. She must have dropped it…back there. Sam turned to the prone figure still sprawled face down on the floor. He hadn’t moved. Maybe she’d killed him.

  Cautiously, she edged back down the hall toward the dark prep room.

  The figure didn’t move.

  She spotted the missing key card. It was lying beside the body. Warily, she reached slowly out and picked it up.

  Curiosity had always been bad for cats, and Sam was no feline. But she just had to know who the guy was. Turning to the body, she listened for any sign of life. No ragged breathing…no faint moan of pain… The only sound in the still hallway was her own heart pounding in her ears. Cautiously, she reached out to remove the hat covering the man’s head.

  As fast as a striking snake, his hand shot out and encircled her ankle in that now familiar iron grip.

  Sam screamed and tried to pull her foot free, but it was no use. Using her best street fighting form, she kicked as hard as she could with her other foot. There was the sickening sound of a bone snapping, and she was released.

  Her assailant shrieked in pain, lunging for her with his other hand. Sam seized her millisecond and bolted. She held her card up to the first scanner she came to and pulled on the doorknob. The door swung open, and she fled through it, pulling it shut behind her.

  Sam found herself in the gigantic dinosaur exhibition hall where fossilized skeletons were displayed. It was more than a little eerie to creep through the dark, cavernous room. The huge creatures stared down at her with empty eye sockets as she silently moved among them.

  Some were stark fossilized bones, white and bare. Others, lifelike mock-ups with skin and claws and razor-sharp teeth. It was deathly quiet and gave a whole new meaning to silent as the grave. She really was walking through a seventy-five-million-year-old tomb.

  An ominous click of the locking mechanism on the gallery door warned her she was not out of danger yet. Trying not to trip in the gloom, she rushed to the nearest exit and held her card up to the scanner. Nothing happened. Her card wouldn’t work on the exit door. She was trapped!

  Sam ran back to one particularly frightening display in which the towering skeleton of an Albertosaurus stood gloating over its kill, the barrel-shaped carcass of a Stegosaurus.

  Hurrying to the unfortunate beast, Sam dropped down onto the sand and, as quickly as possible, crawled inside the large rib-cage cavity. As she scuttled forward, her glasses fell into the sand and disappeared.

  Sam peered blurrily through the bars of her bizarre sanctuary. This wouldn’t do. If her pursuer found her now, she’d be blind and helpless. She had to be able to see whoever was after her.

  Running her hands through the sand, she felt for her glasses. “Success!” she whispered, grabbing her specs and shoving them back on. They were dusty and scratched, but in one piece. Above her the huge skull of the Albertosaurus leered down. My, what big teeth you have, Grandma! She shook her head; the stress was getting to her.

  Listening intently, Sam tried to determine where her assailant was. She prayed whoever was stalking her would pass right by in the darkened room. Her heart skipped a beat when the trench-coated figure stopped in front of the display where she was hiding.

  “You may as well come out, Samantha. I’ve sealed all the outside exits. Your card won’t work on them. I’m going to find you.”

  Sam gulped. She’d know that voice anywhere.

  Chapter 17

  Unmasked!

  It was Professor Caine!

  Sam’s mouth went dry as her gaze was drawn to the deadly knife in his hand.

  “All I want is the fossil. I won’t hurt you.”

  Fat chance, thought Sam, as she watched him walk toward the wall at the far end of the gallery. She heard the snap of the main lighting switches. With a familiar hum the warming mercury vapour lights threw a faint glow. She had mere seconds before the entire exhibition hall was flooded in cold, hard light.

  Sam eased out of the skeleton and, gauging the distance, bolted for the door back to the work areas. This time the magic card was out before she was even near the scanner. She hit the door running, her shoulder solidly smacking the heavy door, forcing it open.

  The door flew back, taking Sam with it. She nearly fell as the knob wedged itself into the wall. The force of the impact jarred her security card out of her grip, but the sound of heavy steps approaching didn’t allow her time to search for it.

  This is bad; this is really bad, Sam thought, as she rocketed down the dark corridor. She could hear the professor behind her. Escape w
as impossible!

  The only door left open was the one to the Noxious Laboratory. She remembered it had windows to the outside. Maybe she could break one and escape.

  There was no point trying to hide her movements now. Racing into the room, she flipped on the lights to save precious seconds as she searched for some tool to smash the window.

  Quickly, she surveyed the room. Great! There wasn’t a chair or stool in the place. Pulling open drawers, Sam hoped to find a hammer or at least a piece of pipe. Nothing. Why were these people such neat freaks? Couldn’t they have left a convenient taser out on the bench in case some sweet, teenaged girl needed to save herself from a homicidal maniac?

  “You seem to have run out of places to hide, Samantha.” Professor Caine stood in the doorway, one arm hanging limply at his side. “It wouldn’t have done any good to try and break the glass. It’s specially reinforced – what you’d call unbreakable.”

  “Think of what you’re doing, Professor.” Sam’s voice was weak in her dry throat.”

  “Oh, I am, my dear. I’ve been working on this project for the last five years, while I rotted in Bellavista Prison, just outside my favourite holiday destination, sunny Medellin.” His face twisted into a gargoyle’s mask. “The only good thing about that Colombian hellhole was my incarceration put me in touch with the contacts who would assist me in becoming a wealthy man! Back in Canada, I spent months pretending to be a delivery driver or a technician or even a lost tourist, which allowed me to get into other museums and steal legitimate pieces. I knew this would ensure no one would worry too much when one small fossil disappeared from this shipment.” His voice rose to a roar. “Then you come along and almost ruin my whole plan!”

  Sam stalled for more time. Right now, her life expectancy was counted in seconds, and she wanted every one of those seconds. “You killed a guard at the last museum.”

  The professor seemed genuinely pained. “It was an accident. I was leaving with the fossil when the guard found me. He thought I was a weak old man. The poor fool soon found out what years of hard physical labour in prison can do for one’s muscles. We wrestled, I pushed him and the clumsy oaf fell.” He shrugged his good shoulder. “Unfortunately, there was a Triceratops model behind him and he impaled himself. Tragic really – still, not my fault.”

  Sam didn’t point out that if he hadn’t been stealing in the first place, the guard would never have tackled him. Professor Caine was insane. This fact became even more obvious as he continued laying out her short future.

  “You’re going to have a little accident too.” His face twisted in rage. “That stack of crates should have finished you off. You have an aggravating way of avoiding death, Samantha Stellar. This time I won’t miss. The headlines will read about the tragic death of a young girl in an attack by an unknown assailant. Her dead body found at the edge of town. We’ll all miss you, Samantha.” He turned the knife ominously in his good hand.

  “Wait!” Sam grabbed the straps of her pack. “You want the fossil. Maybe we can make a deal.” She rummaged in the knapsack and pulled the plaster-covered bone out. “You get the fossil, I get to walk out of here.”

  His hollow laugh was sinister. “I’ll get the fossil anyway – after you’re dead. That way I’m assured of your silence. You have nothing to bargain with!” He raised the knife and stepped toward her.

  Sam stumbled back, bumping into a counter. She’d run out of room and time. Mesmerized, she watched as the shiny blade swung up over the professor’s head.

  She fumbled behind her hoping for a miracle. Her fingertips grazed something solid. In desperation, she grasped a glass beaker that had been sitting on the counter.

  It was as though reality had become a movie where every frame was in stop-motion. The scene played out with excruciating slowness as Sam raised her hand and threw the container. She saw the label on the beaker as it and its contents arced gracefully toward her assailant. Glacial Acetic Acid.

  The instant the clear liquid touched Professor Caine’s face; he dropped the knife and screamed, clutching at his eyes.

  The spell was broken. Sam pushed forward past the professor as he clawed at the empty air.

  As she slammed the door shut, Sam glimpsed the professor reach the emergency eye-wash station. The water would neutralize the acid, which was only strong vinegar anyway.

  As the door closed, she remembered what Jackson had told her about the Obnoxious Lab. A giggle, verging on hysteria, bubbled up. The lock on the door was broken and couldn’t be opened from the inside. She’d done it! She’d bested him! He was her prisoner now.

  Exhausted and near tears, Sam leaned wearily against the wall and collapsed to the floor, still tightly gripping the fossil. “Why are you so valuable? What dusty bone could possibly be worth murder?”

  The ragged piece of plaster didn’t answer.

  The quiet was shattered as Sam heard the lock on the employee entrance click. Her head snapped up. What now? With terrifying slowness, the door inched open, and there stood Agent D!

  Chapter 18

  Mystery Solved

  Muscles frozen, Sam waited, trembling, as Agent D started down the hall toward her. She tried to get up, but her legs were jelly and she couldn’t feel her feet. Turning, she crawled toward the far door, praying her security card was where she’d dropped it. Tears blurred her vision.

  “Un minuto, señorita Stellar, por favor.”

  Sam halted her awkward flight. She was done. She couldn’t do the whole run, hide, hit or die thing again.

  “Sam, wait!” Jackson stood in the door behind Agent D.

  Groaning, Sam wondered who else was in on this plot. She struggled to her feet, leaning heavily on the wall as she lurched away. Even though her chances of escape were zero, she couldn’t give up.

  “Sam, you’re not dead!”

  This time it was Paige’s voice.

  Turning, she was surprised to see not only Agent D and Jackson, but Paige, Rose and Doctor Beech. The hallway was positively crowded.

  “Thanks for noticing, cousin. What are you all doing here?” she croaked, thoroughly confused.

  Paige and Rose pushed past Agent D and Jackson.

  “We were so worried, we had to come,” Rose explained.

  Paige ran to her, squeezing Sam so tightly she couldn’t breathe. “Are you all right?”

  “I was until you hugged me. What’s going on?” Sam wheezed as she pulled away from her cousin.

  “It’s a long story.” Paige moved in for another bear hug.

  Sam stepped back. “Can I at least have the condensed version?”

  “Right after you tell us where Professor Caine is.” Jackson gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

  Sam indicated the locked Noxious Lab. “He’s rinsing his face. There was a little accident with some acetic acid. Oh! And his elbow may be broken. You should call for some paramedics when you phone the police.”

  “Sensible idea, young lady,” Doctor Beech said. “I want this matter turned over to the authorities immediately.” He left to make the calls.

  Sam wanted to laugh. “I never thought I’d be so glad a lock wasn’t fixed. That door saved my life.” She turned to Paige and Rose. “How did you know to bring reinforcements to my rescue?”

  “It all started when I told Jack about the fossil, like we’d planned, Sam,” Paige began. “I’d barely told him you had the bone, when things went downhill.” She turned to Rose who took up the story from there.

  “Paige told Jackson about the fossil and then refused to listen when he said he wasn’t the thief and you were in danger. The idea of you in serious trouble scared Paige quite badly, and she became a little…rattled.” Rose waited for Jackson to continue.

  “By then Rose believed I wasn’t the thief and realized how serious the situation was. We both tried unsuccessfully to assure Paige, who was as tight-lipped as a clam. In fact, Sam, you supplied the one piece of evidence that helped convince Paige I was innocent.”

  Sam
was confused. “Me? What evidence?”

  He went on. “I figured you were in trouble when Paige told me your plan to turn the fossil over to Dr. Beech. I knew Professor Caine would never let you do that. When I asked her where you were, she wouldn’t answer, and when I asked her where the fossil was, she still wouldn’t answer. Instead, she started crying.”

  “I was so scared I couldn’t remember the plan so I didn’t tell him anything, Sam,” Paige piped up proudly.

  “About then, I stepped in,” Rose interjected. “I told Jackson I didn’t know where you’d gone; only that Operation Dino was in play.”

  Jackson continued, “Since Paige was being so uncooperative, I decided to do something to intercept your operation. I searched your room hoping to find the fossil. If Professor Caine came to take it, he’d have to deal with me. I didn’t find the fossil. I did find something that helped my case.”

  Sam waited for him to go on.

  “The scrap of paper Professor Caine gave you with his phone numbers on it,” Jackson explained. “I showed Paige and she compared that number with the one you’d found in the phone booth. They were the same. Professor Caine was using an office and phone that belonged to another employee who was away which made it confusing. And then I called this gentleman, señor Delgato.” He indicated Agent D.

  Sam thought of how disappointed she’d been when she’d called the number and found it belonged to Dr. Feldman, the absentee paleontologist.

  “He’s a policeman with the Colombian government and has been tracking the fossil for months,” Paige added excitedly.

  Jackson went on. “He explained to Paige how he’d phoned the museum to find out Professor Caine’s extension so he could monitor the Professor’s calls. What you’d call bugging his phone. It was the phone numbers that finally convinced Paige to let me help. I work with Professor Caine and know all his phone numbers. I wouldn’t have had to write them down.” He shook his head. “You know, none of this would have happened if my car hadn’t been in the repair shop. Señor Delgato came to Calgary earlier than we’d planned, in fact, on the day I was at the university. We decided to ride to Drumheller on the bus, and he would rent a car here. Having him arrive on a Greyhound would certainly keep him under the professor’s radar and it gave us a chance to make plans. We figured no one would suspect an innocent tourist visiting the museum.”