"A most wonderful evening, William." "Yes, the dance lessons were worth every penny" " of the eight dollars." " It's true!" "But I was actually referring to the event itself." " Ah yes, of course." " I wonder what marvel" "Mr. Blake has brought back from the bone fields?" "We shall soon see." "I believe the man himself has arrived." "Who knew dinosaur hunters would become such celebrities?" "Perhaps someday everyone will be as fascinated with pathologists and police detectives." "Rudolph." "I'm surprised to see you here." "I wouldn't miss this evening, Barkeley." "You must be a glutton for punishment." "Mr. Premier!" "Uh..." "Wait." "Wait." "I'd like a sandwich." "I heard this afternoon of a new light that can actually see through solid objects?" "Oh yes, I've heard of this as well." "Roentgen's rays." "Or, as he prefers to call them, X-rays." "Yes!" "There's actually a working prototype of this very machine, the radiograph, at the hospital." "Oh..." "Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests... members of the National Geographic Society." "My name is Mary Ann McConnell." "And for the last six years, it has been my distinct privilege to work alongside one of the world's foremost paleontologists and bone hunters, Barkeley Blake." "Foremost..." "As you are all aware, eight years ago, it was Barkeley's remarkable discovery" " of an almost intact therapod..." " Remarkably lucky." " ... that turned Canadian paleontology on its head." " I'm sorry." "Well, tonight, good people..." "Mr. Blake will reveal a find that exceeds even that success." "I give you, Barkeley Blake." "Publicity seeker." "Really, Sir, I must ask you to be quiet." " Of course." " Thank you, Miss McConnell." "Thank you all for coming." "The Alberta Badlands..." "Millions of years ago, it was a vast inland sea, its shores as lush as any jungle you could imagine." "Today, hot and barren." "Nothing I'd ever found in all my years had prepared me for what awaited me in a nearby coulée." "What nature had entombed for millions of years took me mere days to unearth." "And when I did," "I changed the face of paleontology yet again." "Ladies and gentlemen..." "I give you..." "Terror... saurus!" "Blasphemers!" "All of you!" "Praise be to God!" "Wait!" "Stop!" "William!" "He's dead." "Oh my..." "His name was Lukas DeWitt." "He was a field assistant on Mr. Blake's expedition." "Clearly, he was placed there after the dinosaur was erected." "Do we know who had access to the room?" "Constable Crabtree is ascertaining that as we speak." "some religious zealot, I take it?" "Dinosaurs and evolution are prickly subjects with the church, Sir." " Enough to kill over?" " Possibly." "However, he seemed intent on vandalizing that bone." "And he also seemed just as surprised by the murder as everyone else." "Still, we'll need to have a chat with him." "Yes, the men are searching for him now." "And have them check the local churches." "Especially the ones with ministers who are preaching the ol' fire and brimstone." "Of course." "I should take a moment with the Chief Constable." "Doctor, is our victim telling us anything?" "It appears he was shot." "The bullet penetrated the skull here." " Any gunshot residue?" " No." "Suggesting the killer stood some distance away from the victim." "Any estimates on the time of death?" "The rigor is odd..." "The best estimate I can give you is twenty-four to forty-eight hours." "May I take the body?" "Yes, of course." "We never got to try out our two-step!" "I hope to have another opportunity." "As do I." "Good night." "George." "Any luck with the interviews?" "The hall was a veritable hive of activity, Sir." "Dozens of people preparing the exhibit for the party." "Any one of them could come and go as they wished." "We'll have to ascertain the whereabouts" " of each and every one." " Sir." "What a bizarre thing to do... to make such a spectacle of the victim." "Yes." "I believe he was making an example of him." "What could he have done to deserve that?" "A very good question, George." "For six months, Lukas was by my side..." "Working, eating, digging, drinking..." "He knew his strata like no one I've ever met." "Did he have any enemies?" "None that I know of, but bone hunting can be a dangerous business." "Two men guard the perimeter of my camp at night, you realize?" "Oh?" "Why?" "The bones are priceless." "There's constant danger from raiders." "Ah." "And these raiders, who might they be?" "Sometimes they're just hired thugs, out to steal the bones and sell them to private collectors." "And... other times?" "Rival dinosaur hunters." "No doubt you know of Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope?" "The Bone Wars." "Yes, I've heard stories." "They're all true, I assure you." "That pair was notorious for trying to destroy one another's digs, for stealing one another's fossils." "Their animosity towards each other was also their downfall." "In the end, yes." "What about this young man with the hammer?" "In some ways, those religious sorts frighten me the most." "They're completely irrational." "Ah." " Had you ever seen him before?" " Never." "And Mr. DeWitt?" "When did you last see him?" "Well, that's the shocking part, Detective." "The last I saw him, he was in Alberta." " Alberta?" " Yes." "He'd stayed behind to supervise the packing up of he camp." "Do you have any idea why he would come here to Toronto?" "It's completely beyond me." "One final question:" "who would have the logistical know-how to pull this off?" "I'm not entirely sure." "With my schedule," "I really don't have time to supervise day-to-day affairs." "I see." "Then who does?" "I, uh, personally shrouded the femur and the dinosaur." "Barkeley wanted secrecy so he could dramatically reveal the fossil." "Were you the last person in the hall?" "I think so..." "It was so late..." "I wanted everything to be perfect." "Could someone have stayed behind unseen or..." " slipped in later?" " I suppose it's possible." "And when did you last see Mr. DeWitt?" "Uh, the night before we left our camp." "We worked together so closely." "I would have thought he'd tell me if he was coming." "I can't stop working, it seems." "I'm afraid if I do, I..." "Miss McConnell..." "May I?" "It's an ungula, yes?" "Most people would call it a claw." "From the Albertosaur, I believe." "You've... studied paleontology?" "Well, it's been an obsession of mine since childhood." "For me too." "It still is, obviously." "Miss McConnell, I understand that" "Mr. Blake has... enemies, rivals." "Are you suggesting that they may have done this to get back at Barkeley?" "It's a possibility that I must explore." "Is there anyone in particular that comes to mind?" "There is one person." "Barkeley Blake is a gaseous, bloated mental midget who just happened to pull the wool over the scientific world's eyes." "Clearly, Pr." "Sutton, you do not care for Mr. Blake." "No..." "I adore the way people confuse scientific rigor with nice teeth." "Perhaps you disliked him so much that you took action." "You're talking about Lukas DeWitt?" "My God, man, if I... if I had gone to those lengths, it would have been Barkeley caught in those teeth." "Professor, I don't understand your dislike of Mr. Blake." "Five years ago, Barkeley Blake was simply a geologist mapping coal deposits." "He happened to stumble upon a dinosaur skull and now, he passes himself off as a paleontologist and everyone laps it up." "But you can't deny that Mr. Blake has now made two stunning discoveries." "That is not paleontology." "That is carnival showmanship." "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah..." "Here, look." "Now take that." "That is paleontology." "That is what matters." "It's a fossilized plant." "More than that, Detective." "That is the basis of life." "That is paleontology." "That..." "This is what matters." "This is the slow, methodical exploration of a world that no longer exists." "Please... !" "My collection is very specifically organized." "Thank you." "It's not... the hunt for fame and fortune." "Professor, you are obviously very passionate about this." "My understanding is, so much so that you'd be willing to sabotage Mr. Blake's efforts." "Oh..." "Barkeley's portraying himself as the victim, I see." "Yes, yes, that's not surprising." "Do you deny this?" "Shipments of my fossils have been hijacked." "An entire rock face that I was excavating was dynamited." "Please answer my question, Sir." "If there's a war, I didn't start it." "I'll need to make an account of your whereabouts over the past few days." "I was..." "I was here." "I was cataloguing." " Alone, I take it?" " Well..." "Well, I don't have dozens of students to do my work for me while I gallivant with the rich and famous." "What became of them, Sir?" "George." "What became of whom?" "The dinosaurs." "Their extinction remains one of the world's great mysteries." "You know, I heard tales that they still exist, that they're hidden in the unexplored head waters of the Congo and the Amazon!" "That's bollocks!" "If they're anywhere, they're probably in the highlands of Scotland." "Possibly in Loch Ness." "Yes, Loch Ness!" "The Loch Ness dinosaur." "That's got a bit of a ring to it." "I put a request into the Northwest Mounted Police." "Someone's going to ride out to Blake's dig site and see if anyone left there can tell us what DeWitt was up to." "That could take some time." "George, what do you have for me?" "Well, I looked into Mr. DeWitt's personal life." "Apparently, he was quite liked by all his chums." "He also told them that he recently became sweet on somebody but he hadn't said who." "We'll need to have a word with her." "I'll track her down." "We're also looking into all the alibis of anybody who had access to the exhibit, but it's a long list..." "What about the young man with the hammer?" "We've checked with various church groups and... nothing so far." "Mr. DeWitt arrived by train." "Have we checked with Union Station?" "We have and there's no record of a Lukas DeWitt traveling by sleeper class." "He could have traveled coach." "Bugger that." "No Dewitt is going to travel coach." " What makes you so sure?" " The family stinks of money." "They're American, from Philadelphia." "Made their fortune in bedsprings, I believe." "Oh..." "Those DeWitts." "Ah, the Bedspring DeWitts of Philadelphia..." "Well, perhaps money is the motive?" "Yes, perhaps." "George, see if Mr. DeWitt's accounts have been touched." "In the meantime, I believe Dr. Ogden has post mortem results for me." "Yes, Murdoch, uh... about that..." "I can't open the body and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it." "It's signed by the Chief Coroner." "The DeWitts are sending an American pathologist?" "Apparently I'm not qualified enough." "The audacity..." "This is preposterous!" "We need those results to conduct our investigation." "Fortunately, nothing precluded me from... studying the body..." "Plaster." "Yes." "I found traces of it as well as these brownish fibers all over his clothes and exposed skin." "The fossils from Mr. Blake's dig were wrapped in burlap and plaster for shipping." "Are you suggesting his body was preserved like a fossil?" "Perhaps, a form of short-term mummification." "The lack of oxygen would have impeded the natural decay of the body explaining why I have been having trouble pinpointing the time of death." "But more importantly, it would suggest that he was killed where the fossils were prepared for shipment." "Mr. Blake's camp in Alberta." "I believe we need to rethink this entire investigation." "You're suggesting that someone shot DeWitt in Alberta, plastered his body in Alberta, transported it on a train from Alberta, and placed it in a dinosaur's jaws in Toronto." "Yes, Sir." "Excellent theory, Murdoch." "Sounds entirely plausible to me." "Sir, it would explain why we have no record of him arriving in Toronto." "Hmm." "I did hear back from the Northwest Mounted Police." "And apparently DeWitt vanished from the camp the day that the bones were shipped." "Someone wants us to think that he was murdered here." "... not in Alberta." "So who would have the means to do something like this?" "Anyone who prepared fossils for shipment in Alberta would have both the knowledge and access to necessary equipment." "Exactly." "Then we're looking for someone from Blake's camp, aren't we?" "George..." "I'd like you to find Mr. DeWitt's field journals." " Of course." " Please review them and tell me precisely what Mr. DeWitt was working on at the dig." "He was killed for a reason and perhaps they can tell us what it is." "Right away, Sir." "He was packed with the fossils?" " How monstrous..." " Indeed." "But what I find perplexing is that a bone that large went by unnoticed." "It must have been at least six feet in length..." "Well, as you can see, we... we do have many specimens." "And we ship many larger pieces." "I'll speak with my assistants and see if they saw anything." "I would appreciate that." "I see you're packing the Terrorsaurus femur." "Have you another exhibition?" "No." "Actually, it's been sold to the American Museum of Natural History." "Oh?" "Not a Canadian institution?" "I find that surprising." "Well, only the Americans could afford the expense." "And the size." "Fortunately." "Fortunately?" "Otherwise, it would end up in private hands and I believe that would be a shame." "Ah, I agree." "However, you seem to have procured a fossil for yourself." "An ammonite, I believe." "Yes..." "Well, they are plentiful and... uh... it has significance." "Lukas DeWitt had a sweetheart." "It was you, wasn't it?" "Yes." "He gave it to me, that last night at the camp, to help remember him while we were apart." "Why didn't you tell me of your relationship?" "I suppose..." "I didn't want to be perceived as anyone's gal." "Miss McConnell, that hardly seems a viable reason not to tell me." "Detective, it's very difficult to be a female paleontologist and one who does fieldwork is unheard of." "God, it's no use." "You'd never understand." "I think I do." "You wanted to be respected." "Just to be taken seriously for my abilities..." "But I would never... never harm Lukas." "He gave me that respect." "Unlike some others." "Others?" "Barkeley." "A serious misstep in my personal history." "And did Mr. Blake know of your involvement with Lukas?" "He did." "It made things terribly awkward." " How so?" " As you no doubt can imagine," "Barkeley doesn't like to finish second to anyone." "The ramblings of a bitter woman." "You deny you were jealous?" "Lukas and I had words, but only because I could see the scope of things and he couldn't." "The scope?" "When you've examined life on a scale of millions of years, as I have, you realize that we are... but a brief moment in time." "A woman won or lost... doesn't matter." "Apparently, Mr. DeWitt considered Miss McConnell more than a... moment in time." "Mary Ann is an excellent assistant." "But her dreams exceed her grasp." "To make a truly remarkable discovery, you need an instinct and an almost... pretty unnatural affinity for the world around you." "I see." "And Miss McConnell lacks instinct?" "She does." "However, her clerical and organizational skills are excellent." "Nevertheless, you admit to having words with the victim." "Yes." "Do you own a gun?" "Of course." "There are many dangers out in the Badlands." "So you won't object to me examining it?" "Of course not, but you will be wasting your time." "Mr. Blake, you do know how to prepare fossils for transport." "Really, Detective..." "Of course I know how to, and yes, I could have done that to Lukas." "But so could anyone at that camp, or, for that matter," " Sutton's." " Rudolph Sutton?" " He was there?" " He was always digging near my expeditions." "I'm sure in part to provoke me, but really it's because he's totally lacking in imagination." "And where was his camp exactly?" "A few miles from us in the Red Deer River valley." "He was digging up..." "Magnoliopsidas." "Idiot!" "The man is an idiot." "Magnoliopsida?" "No, no, no..." "It's..." "Nilssonia." "From the order Cycadales, not Magnoliopsida." "This is... you see, this is it." "It's just further proof of his incompetence." "Pr." "Sutton, why are you so adamant that Mr. Blake is undeserving of respect?" "Nothing larger than a guinea pig has ever been found at the Edmonton Formation where he was digging." "Did his..." "Terrorsaurus burrow through two hundred feet of cretaceous sediment before conveniently expiring for posterity?" "And what were you hoping to find there?" "I..." "I was nowhere near the Edmonton Formation." "No?" "Mr. Blake said that you were no more than two miles away from him." "Two... two miles, yes." "Two miles, but millions of years, Detective." "I was working the Scollard Formation." "It's as different as night from day." "What does this have to do with anything?" "Professor, we know that Lukas DeWitt was killed in Alberta." "He was shot in the head, his body was encased like a fossil, he was shipped back here to Toronto, and then his body was put on display in the dinosaur's jaws." "Right." "Oh, you think that I could do something so monstrous?" " Well, I'm a man of science." " Do you own a gun, Sir?" "Yes." "It's for fending off thieves and coyotes." "I'll need to perform tests on it." " You're serious?" " Most." "Bloody hell, Murdoch!" "How many times have I told you about firing off a gun inside the station?" "Just testing out a new design, Sir." "However, I had hoped the blast would be somewhat more muffled." " What's inside the box?" " Cotton, Sir, and straw." "What for?" "In the past, I've used water to slow the bullet's impact when collecting them." "Yes, yes, the rain barrels." "In actual fact, water is very dense and the lead slugs were being damaged by hitting it." " The cotton's softer." " Precisely." "I'm hoping to preserve as much evidentiary value as possible." "Ah!" "Here it is." "Ah..." "Perfect condition." "Now, for Mr. Sutton's gun..." "Murdoch, you can fire as many pistols as you like," " but they won't do you any good now, will they?" " Why is that?" "Because you don't have a bullet to compare them to." "Haven't I?" "There were strict orders prohibiting that body being touched." " And it wasn't." " Stop talking in riddles." "Sir, Mr. DeWitt's body has not been touched." "However, I do have the means to examine that bullet." "And how do you plan on doing that, me old mucker?" " Radiography?" " That's it, Sir." "And this enables you to see through things?" " Yes." "Amazing, isn't it?" " How is that possible?" " X-rays." " X-rays?" "So named by their discoverer Dr. Roentgen, who didn't know what they were "x-actly"." "In actual fact, they are like light rays, only made of magnetic energy." "And these rays are able to penetrate and pass through matter, allowing them to be captured on this photographic plate." "Now, since all objects have different densities..." "Murdoch, I'll take your word for it." "Where did you happen to find this contraption?" "Oh." "Well, I may have... borrowed it from the hospital." "I like your initiative, Doctor." " Can you hold this, Inspector?" " Of course." " Like this?" " Yes." "Now the gun is in position." " You may fire when ready." "Fire?" "Fire what?" " Is this thing safe?" "Oh my!" " Well, did it work?" " See for yourself, Sir." "Bloody hell." "It's the man's skull." " It's miraculous, isn't it?" " And the bullet entered here?" " Yes." " And metal is revealed by this?" "Exactly." "Then unless I'm not even more confused than I think I am, shouldn't I be seeing a bullet?" "What?" "Seems our bullet has vanished." "A bullet doesn't simply disappear from inside of a man's skull." "Are you sure this X-ray contraption really works, Doctor?" "I'm certain of it." "I tested it several times." "Then where did the bullet go?" "It was never there." "Then how did the bullet hole get there?" "Something penetrated his skull, but it wasn't a bullet." "It simply created an entrance wound similar to what a bullet would have." "So what kind of weapon are we looking for?" "May I see the radiograph again?" "Whatever it was, it must have been fairly sharp." " To puncture the skull." " Yet not shatter it completely." "Precisely." "I wonder what this area is." "Some brain tissue?" "A tumor, perhaps?" " Fragments of the skull?" " No, I see those." "Could it be debris left behind by whatever penetrated the skull?" "That's what I'm wondering." "I could possibly retrieve a sample through the wound." "That wouldn't really constitute opening up the body now, would it?" "I wouldn't think so, no." "What have we here?" "It's clumped, but it seems granular." "Could it be more plaster from when the body was wrapped?" "No, it's too coarse for plaster." "I believe it's soil of some sort..." "I suppose it could have engendered the wound when our victim fell." "William?" "A pick." "Could it have been a geologist's pick?" "I suppose..." "That would have made a hole the size and shape of his wound..." "And it would account for the debris." "A geology pick... !" "Always struck me as such an innocent, hopeful little tool." "Everyone at that site would have had access to one." "Yes, of course." "Most unfortunate for your investigation." "Do you have any idea what kind of soil this is?" "I don't know, limestone perhaps?" "What are you thinking?" "Blake and Sutton were working in different sedimentary layers." "Each layer with its own unique composition." "So if you could determine which layer this soil came from, you'd have your killer." "At the very least, I'd know which camp he came from." "I have an associate in the Geology Department at the university." "I could have a sample sent over." " Sir?" " Yes, George, come in." "What are you looking at, Sir?" "It's a geological map of the Alberta Badlands." "Mr. Blake was working here... in the Edmonton Formation." "Mr. Sutton in the Scollard Formation, right here," " further down by the river." " Sir, what exactly do they mean by "formation"?" "Well, they're layers of rock created by sediment deposited over millions and millions of years." "Millions of years ago..." "Boggles the mind just to think about it, doesn't it, Sir?" " Certainly does." " I mean, my aunt believes that the Earth is 6000 years old, based on the Bible, of course." "Well, she would be a literalist." "Much like the young man with the hammer, I would suspect." "Their views bring them into direct conflict with men like Sutton and Blake who believe in the evolutionary development of the world." "Hmm." "She believes that the world was made in six days and that's an end on it." "Myself, I take a bit more of a..." " scientific perspective." " Oh?" "I do, but I don't think the two schools of thought need be exclusive." "I mean, what if, in the distant, distant past... each rotation of the Earth took millions of years." " Well..." " Or, from a biblical viewpoint, what if God paused for millions of years between each day?" "I mean, Genesis doesn't say anything about consecutive days." " George..." " Or better yet, what if one day in Heaven is a few millions of years here on Earth?" "Maybe that's why God hasn't made Himself apparent to us in so long." "It's still the seventh day; he's still resting." "But maybe tomorrow the eighth day will begin and he'll create something entirely new." "Something just as important as land or water." "Such as?" "A horse that could run backwards." "I mean, think about it." "You would never need to turn around." "George, do you have any pertinent information about this case?" "Uh, yes, three things." "First off, I spoke with Mr. DeWitt's banker and there's nothing fishy going on with his accounts." " Secondly?" " Uh, secondly, we haven't been able to find anything about this young chap who had a go at the fossil." "We've been to every church downtown." "Nobody seems to know who he is." " That's odd." " I thought so as well." "I am confident, however, that we'll find him." "Thirdly, I went through Mr. DeWitt's journal, as you asked." "I took the liberty of copying it out." "Cursive script was not one of his strong suits." "George, did you find anything relevant to this investigation?" "Mr. DeWitt did seem to have somewhat of an obsession with one particular area." "He made note of it many times." " What area is that?" " Well, actually," "I recognize it on your map, here..." "It's right there." "As the study of paleontology has taught me, time marches forward." "We are but a small part of an ever-changing, ever-evolving world." "And the time has come for me to march forward as well." "So it is with pleasure, and admittedly some sadness" "I turn over this expedition and project to my worthy and capable colleague," "Mary Ann McConnell." "Thank you, Mr. Blake, for your confidence in me and my abilities." "The expedition won't be the same without you." "Nor will it be the same without Lukas DeWitt, whose death has cast such a pall on what was supposed to be a happy occasion..." "I hope I can make you both proud." "Now..." "Any questions for me?" " Oh, Mr. Blake." " Detective." "I'm somewhat surprised by this sudden turn of events." "Why?" "Miss McConnell is an industrious woman and a fine bone hunter." "She convinced me she deserved the opportunity." "It seems to contradict your earlier assessment of Miss McConnell's abilities." "I'm a proud man, Detective." "I don't like to lose, including at love." "I said some things about Miss McConnell to you that I regret." "But in the sober light of second thought," "I know this is the right thing to do." "Of course." "And what of you?" "I'll take some time before making a decision, but I assure you, whatever I do next will make my last adventure pale in comparison." "Now..." "Is there" " some way I can help you, Detective?" " Yes, there is." "I was wondering if you could tell me" " what was at that location." " Yes, of course." "That's where I discovered the femur." "Why do you ask?" "It's just that Mr. DeWitt noted the location several times in his journals." "As well he should." "It's a very important discovery." "Indeed it is." "Thank you very much for your time, Mr. Blake." " Ah, Detective!" " Miss McConnell..." " Have you good news?" " I hope to soon." "But in the meantime, it seems congratulations are in order." "Thank you." "It's been a long time coming." "Indeed it has." "Good day." "William!" "I believe I have something that might interest you." "The results came back on the soil we found in our victim's skull." "Oh, good." "Were they able to determine which formation it came from?" "No." "No?" "So another dead end?" "Well, they couldn't because it wasn't soil at all." " What was it?" " Pulverized concrete." "Concrete... ?" "There was plaster at the site, but no concrete." "Perhaps they were building something?" "Hmm..." "Maybe they were." "What is the meaning of this?" "That bone should be on its way to the train station by now." "Who gave you permission to examine it?" "This court order should be permission enough." "Really, Detective, what is this all about?" "Mr. Blake, I need to take a very special photograph of your spectacular find." "Allow me to introduce Inspector Brackenreid, Dr. Ogden." "They'll be assisting me." " Mr. Blake." " Doctor..." "Very well." "Shall I pose with it?" "I should think the bone will be all that's needed." "Would you once again" " hold the photographic plate, Inspector?" " Certainly." " You are sure this is safe?" " Of course!" " Everything is ready, Detective." " Very good..." "Are you sure it worked, Detective?" "I didn't see any flash powder go off." "It worked perfectly." "Mr. Blake, your prized fossil seems to have and iron rod running through the middle of it." "I don't believe it." "Fake?" "Who would perpetrate such a hoax?" "Let me think." "Perhaps someone who hasn't made a significant find in eight years..." "Someone who has been sustaining his career through a combination of luck, exploitation of his workers, and an unnerving drive for centre stage." "Do you truly think me that stupid?" "I think you're that desperate." "And I think Mr. DeWitt had discovered what you had done." "He'd been making a careful study of the area, keeping meticulous records." "In one of his field journal entries, he noted that you found the femur beneath Cenozoic detritus." "There were no dinosaurs in the Cenozoic era." "That doesn't make sense." "I agree." "And I suspect it didn't make sense to DeWitt either." "You said yourself he "knew his strata."" "So when he came to you for an explanation, you realized he could expose your fraud and killed him." "And then packed up his body, transported it to Toronto, and stuffed him in a dinosaur's mouth in order to ruin the most triumphant moment of my life?" "You had everything to lose, Mr. Blake." "And I was very nearly destroyed." "I'm the victim here, Detective." "Can't you see that?" "Someone is clearly out to destroy me." "Am I free to go?" "For now." "But I'm nowhere near finished with you yet, Mr. Blake." "Rest assured of that." "You've found the young man with the hammer?" "Actually, Sir, it was Higgins who found him." "I recognized him from this photo taken a the dinosaur ball, Sir, but he's no more a church-goer than Satan himself." " Oh?" " No, he's a panhandler on my beat, Sir." "Goes by Clyde Dunbar." "He'd even sell his own mother for a dime." " And where is he now?" " He's cooling his heels in one of the cells." "Mr. Dunbar!" "Who's asking?" "I'm Detective William Murdoch." "Is that supposed to mean something?" " Perhaps." " Such as?" "Such as whether you hang or not." "Wait a minute, what are you talking about?" "Mr. Dunbar, the last time I saw you, you had a hammer in your hand and you were attacking a fossil in the name of the Lord." "You're mistaking me for some other lad." "Moments later a man was found murdered, and I think you had something to do with it." "Now hold on there." "Look, you got it all wrong." "I didn't have nothing to do with any murder." "I'm not even a religious man." "Then what was all that yelling about hellfire and blasphemy?" "It's what he told me to say." "Who?" "It's what who told you to say?" "I don't know." "A man." "Came up to me on the street, said he'd give me a fiver if I smashed that bone with a hammer." "So..." "I got on as a waiter at the hall and..." "Well, you were there." "This man, can you describe him?" "He was old, about your age." "I see..." "Was he balding?" "Thick glasses?" "Close-cropped beard?" "Yeah, that's him." "And if you see him, tell him he still owes me the money." "A fa... a fake, you say." "Are you absolutely certain?" "I am." "I was able to examine it using a radiograph." "That is something I never considered when I devised my plan." "You admit to building the bone then?" "Proudly." "The truth finally comes out." "I, uh..." "I'm only sorry that I failed to publicly expose Blake for the fool that he is." "I don't think you quite realize the seriousness of the situation you're in, Professor." "Oh, I understand." "I understand all too well." "I was so close!" "So close!" "It was going to be Barkeley's utter ruin." "And in front of the National Geographic Society, no less." "But unfortunately, Lukas DeWitt had to get in the way." "He suspected the bone was a fake and confronted you about it." "He did no such thing." "But your need to destroy Blake was so great, you killed DeWitt to keep him from exposing your plan." "No, I only wanted revenge on Barkeley." "I had no differences with Lukas." "Detective, you may think me a small and petty man, but I'm no murderer." "Was it worth it, Professor?" "To reveal Barkeley as a fraud?" "Yes." "You will forever be remembered as the man who perpetrated this hoax." "The hoax may be remembered." "May not." "And... and as for me," "I..." "I have always been a forgettable man." "For future generations, my contribution to this discipline will never be forgotten." "And... and that, Detective, is as it should be." "I take it you received permission to conduct the postmortem?" "Under the supervision of the tiresome" "Dr. Hitchcock of Philadelphia." "Fortunately, he was more interested in a side trip to Niagara Falls than the postmortem itself." "I hope you have some good news for me." "Is the case frustrating you?" "I have two suspects." "Mr. Blake, Pr." "Sutton." "Both with means, motive and opportunity." "Unfortunately, I haven't a shred of evidence to tie either to the murder." "I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help to you." "My original supposition was correct." "Lukas DeWitt died as the result of trauma to the head." "However, the postmortem wasn't without its... interesting revelations." "I discovered some fascinating things about mummification." "Such as?" "Well, the process can actually start as quickly as within three days of death." "So Mr. DeWitt's skin had already begun to harden." " Interesting." " Isn't it?" "What's fascinating is it had actually begun to meld around his clothing." "In fact, I found tiny marks where the weight of the plaster had pressed his shirt buttons against his skin." "I could even see that he wore some sort of medallion or... or pendant." "That's odd." "Nothing like that was found on his body." "Well, it was on his person when he was wrapped in plaster." "You can see the mark for yourself." "It's hard to detect, but if you find the correct angle, you'll note it has a very distinctive pattern." "Dr. Ogden, have you a candle?" "You recognize this?" "It's a replica of an ammonite." "What of it?" "It's a cast of an imprint we found on Lukas DeWitt's body." "It was caused by a fossil-shaped pendant that was on his body when he was wrapped and plastered." "However, the pendant wasn't there when we found his body." "Must have been lost, then." "May I see yours?" "There's no need." "It will match." "I know you killed him." "You wrapped and plastered his body and shipped it here like another rock." " You don't know anything." " And then, you left his body for the world to discover." "What I can't understand is" " why?" " Because..." "I wanted Barkeley to pay." "He took everything from me." "Everything!" "He took credit for my work." "He denied me my proper due at every turn." "He took the life of the man  who loved me." "What happened?" "I  had forgotten to put my pick away, so..." "I walked back to the tent to get it." "And that's when I saw them." "Arguing." "Barkeley grabbed my pick and... hit Lukas with it." "It was an accident." "People are rarely hit in the back of the head with a pick by accident, Mr. Blake." "I mean, I was not in control of myself at the time." "Lukas confronted you about the bone, didn't he?" "He did." "He couldn't understand how I had found it." "He accused me of having faked it." "When he showed me it was concrete," "I realized I'd been had." "But what neither of you realized was that Sutton put it there for you to find." "I have to hand it to Rudolph!" "It was a brilliant plan and I fell for it." "But by then, you had already contacted the National Geographic Society about your extraordinary find." "Eight years ago, I was just another geologist, and then I stumbled on something that made me special." "I knew that until I repeated that success," "I would still be a fraud in my own mind." "And if news got out, you would have been ruined." "So you panicked." "I wanted so badly for that bone to be real..." "But it didn't end there, did it?" "There was some excavation going on in the area, new expeditions coming in..." "I couldn't risk the body being found." "The inevitable questions would lead right back to me." "So I prepared his body like... the other fossils..." "I planned to dispose of him later, after the exhibition." "And what about the Terrorsaurus bone?" "You couldn't risk it being discovered as a fake at some later date." "I'd arranged for it to be stolen in transit to the American Museum of Natural History." "Leaving Pr." "Sutton to have to come up with some other scheme to discredit you." "I suppose so, yes..." "Detective..." "I spent so much time amongst the dead..." "Yet it never prepared me for this..." "No." "I suppose it didn't." "So Miss McConnell was blackmailing Mr. Blake?" "She happened upon the murder as it was being committed." "And she chose not to go to the police?" "Yes." "She chose instead to use the murder against him." " Against him?" "To what end?" " Further her career." "But Barkeley refused to give in to her demands, initially." "So to prove she was serious, she put the body on display for the world to see." "Yes." "She took Lukas's body when it first arrived here, before Blake could retrieve it." "And, in doing so, became an accessory after the fact to murder." "Amongst a number of other charges, I should think." "Precisely." "You seem to be quite affected by this, William." "The world of the dinosaur hunter has fascinated me since childhood..." "And when I finally venture there," "I find it's a haven for ruthless ambition and petty jealousy." "For years, I've dreamt of visiting the Alberta Badlands... exploring them myself." " But now..." " William, you can't let this brief moment in history change things." "McConnell, Blake, Sutton..." "They're just blinks in time." "And as for Alberta, I'm sure that when you do get there, it'll be everything you always dreamed of." "It says here that this is where Barnum Brown" " discovered his Albertosaurus skeleton!" " Really?" "Charlie Sternberg had a camp near here too." "I suppose Blake and Sutton must have worked around here somewhere also." "Who?" "Barkeley Blake and Rudolph Sutton." "They were involved in a case I worked on, a long time ago." "Slow down!" "We have to wait for your mother!"