Mesozoic Murder Read Online Free Page A

those dinosaur nests.”
    â€œJack Horner?”
    â€œYeah. You ever meet him?”
    â€œYes. He’s the curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies. It’s affiliated with the university.”
    â€œHokay. What were you doing in Pitt’s field this morning, Miss Phoenix?”
    â€œI was conducting a field seminar in fossil hunting for the Pangaea Society. I’m the president.”
    â€œWhat does this society do?”
    â€œWe’re a non-profit, community-based organization devoted to the study of fossils. We try to advance the state of the science, educate the public, and collect and identify fossil specimens.”
    â€œCan anyone join this society?”
    â€œYes. It’s open to any interested amateurs or professionals. Even children.”
    Ansel continued to answer as Dorbandt’s questions led her up to Lydia’s discovery of the hole in the gully, and she began to shiver inside the stuffy little room. “Lydia saw something gold inside the hole. I saw it, too, but couldn’t tell what it was so I used my pick hammer to open the entrance. There was an unpleasant smell.”
    Dorbandt looked at her with new intensity. “Go on.”
    â€œI found a pair of broken glasses.”
    â€œThen what happened?”
    â€œLydia walked up the side of the wash. The dirt kept moving under her. That’s when I knew something was wrong.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œThe smell got worse, and I noticed that the rest of the gully was hard-packed and choked with vegetation. I wondered about this barren patch above the hole. On my father’s ranch we called circular, dead spots like that beef cakes.”
    â€œWhy is that?”
    â€œBecause it’s the spot where a cow dies and decomposes for a couple weeks. The body fat liquefies and leaches into the ground. This causes the soil to become so acid that nothing will grow there. The same happens if you bury a cow close to the surface. I realized it was a grave.”
    â€œHow did you discover the body?”
    â€œThe dirt wall collapsed, and we saw Nick’s face. I couldn’t believe it. I still don’t.”
    â€œYou called 911?”
    Ansel nodded. “I went back to my truck and used the cell phone. A sheriff’s officer arrived twenty minutes later.”
    Changing tracks efficiently, Dorbandt asked, “You told this officer that Capos was a botanist. Do you know where he worked?”
    â€œ Yes. He worked at the Montana Monitoring Cooperative in Glasgow.”
    Dorbandt scribbled. “Did Capos belong to your society?”
    â€œYes. He was the vice president.”
    â€œHow long was he a member?”
    â€œAbout four years.”
    â€œAnd what was your relationship with Capos, Miss Phoenix?”
    Ansel’s mouth went dry. Now what she going to say? She’d only slept with Nick one night. He had simply caught her at a weak moment, and she’d been drinking. After that one lapse of good sense, they had returned to being just friends.
    â€œI was a friend and colleague.”
    â€œWhen did you last see or talk to him?”
    â€œAbout three weeks ago. At the last board meeting for society officers held at my workshop. June second. Eight to ten in the evening.”
    â€œHow did Capos act?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œWas he unusually sad, excited, or angry about anything?”
    â€œPerfectly normal as far as I can remember,” Ansel said honestly.
    â€œDid Capos have any problems with other members?”
    Ansel tensed again. Police interview or not, she didn’t like spreading gossip. She wanted to go home. Her stomach felt better, but a dull ache pounded in her left temple.
    â€œNick didn’t get along with Dr. Cameron Bieselmore, but Cam isn’t an easy person to deal with.”
    â€œSpell that last name for me, please.” When she did, he asked, “What was the problem between them?”
    â€œCameron is