Into the Badlands

Matt looked up. “A real one?”

“As real as it usually gets. The technicians have been working on a triceratops—just like that model. They’ve made fiberglass replicas of the fossil bones. Would you like to help put them together?”

Face glowing, Matt nodded.

“Then it’s a deal. We both sign the contract, and we shake on it.” Together, they walked to the door. “Amy’s just down the hall. She’ll take you back to camp. Good luck, Matt.”

Alex closed the door and turned to face Susannah.

“A contract?” she said. “Isn’t that a bit cold?”

He didn’t answer until he returned to his desk and sat down. “I suppose it could sound cold. My sister’s a teacher and she swears by contracts. She says they help kids stay focused and grown-ups stay consistent. The stakes are too high at the quarry. Matt won’t be safe there unless he remembers the rules.”

Susannah nodded, thinking of the rocks on the sinkhole floor. “I’m concerned about your offer to take him into the lab.”

“Oh?”

“We’ve all learned what he’s like. There are tools and chemicals he could get into, and specimens he could break.”

“I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Alex’s attitude was frustrating but not unexpected. “Despite that disagreement, I appreciate the way you handled Matt. It’s easy to get mad at him. Your approach gives him a chance to learn.”

“I know the type—from experience.”

“Do you have kids?” She hadn’t noticed any family pictures around the office, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a family.

He shook his head. “I was a lot like Matt—full of energy and enthusiasm. Rules were mere speed bumps. They just slowed me down a little as I ran over them.”

Susannah didn’t have any trouble believing that. “You probably climbed a few hoodoos in your time, too.”

“I couldn’t find any in North Vancouver, or I would have. There were other things to do, though, like jump into rivers from canyon walls.”

She stared at him. “Lynn Canyon, you mean? But people die doing that.”

He nodded. “That’s what my parents kept saying.”

“But it’s illegal, isn’t it?”

“They said that, too.”

She tried not to smile. “You’re telling me you were bad.”

“I was never bad. I just liked having fun.”

The conversation had strayed far from the direction Susannah had intended to take it. “I came here to apologize—”

“For the meeting? You already have. And I’ve accepted.”

“All right.” He was making it too easy. “I wanted to thank you again for helping me yesterday. Taking me to the hospital and home, fixing dinner. The pills, too, and leaving the bottle open…” She paused, then continued with a trace of embarrassment. “And I saw this morning that you cleaned up after me…the sand, and the clothes. I’m really very grateful.”

“But?”

“But…I’d prefer a more professional relationship. I’d like you to stop deciding what I need when I haven’t asked for help. I didn’t want to sleep in today, and I don’t need to take time off.”

Alex gave a brisk nod. “You’re right. We met in a strange way. I guess the sense of emergency blurred the usual boundaries.”

“The situation with Matt…”

“Yes?”

“Nothing like that has ever happened before. I take full responsibility.”

“So did James.”

“I knew what Matt was like. I should have arranged to have him partnered with an adult.”

“That’s a good idea. You don’t have to rake yourself over the coals about this, Dr. Robb. Accidents happen. James will step up supervision at the quarry, and the contract should help.”

“Good. That’s settled, then.” She smiled uneasily. It was hard to reestablish control when he was so reasonable.

“There’s one other thing,” Alex said. “The next time you go out to the quarry—I understand it’ll be a while before you’re up to the rigors of that kind of day—I want to go along. Since you weren’t able to meet with me yesterday, and I don’t have your report, I’m not familiar with your project. You can walk me through it.”

Susannah’s neck stiffened. It was a reasonable request from the head of dinosaur research, but she’d seen his sense of ownership in Australia. “Do you plan to visit all the current projects?”

“Eventually.”

“You want to put your stamp on all the work?”

Alex looked puzzled, then a little angry. “That’s an odd thing to say. Is there something more going on here than you told me last night? You’re not just miffed about the job. Is it something about me in particular you distrust, or are you just paranoid?”

Paranoid? How many judgments did he intend on throwing around? “It’s something about you, Dr. Blake.”

“I see. I put your hostility yesterday down to shock. Is that still the problem?” When Susannah didn’t reply, he continued, “I can take a certain amount of unpleasantness, but you’re part of a team. This kind of behavior could sabotage the museum’s work if it goes on too long. Care to have it out?”

That would be some conversation—make that some outburst. “There’s nothing to have out.”

“Then I suggest you hold your bitterness toward me in check. I wouldn’t want it to be a barrier to the museum’s functioning.”

It was a threat. How on earth had she gone from being Bruce’s anointed successor to being seen as an expendable liability?

She stood up, as straight as she could. “I’m not confident that you have this museum’s best interests at heart, Dr. Blake. If you don’t, you can expect a lot more than a few hostile words from me. It’s really up to you how well the museum functions.” She wished she could stalk out of his office, but lopsided hopping was the best she could do.

More than anything Susannah wanted to go home, but she was determined not to leave before closing. Or later. She was up to the rigors of her job, whether it was lying in the sand with a chisel or sitting at a desk with a keyboard.

Slowly and painfully, she made her way to the preparation lab. She detoured around a crowd of visitors pressed shoulder to shoulder at the observation window. Another group was inside the lab, being shepherded around by a public education staffer. Charlie wouldn’t be happy. He didn’t like sight-seers taking up elbow room, getting perilously close to the fossils under his care.

As she searched the long rows of metal shelves for specimens from the quarry, she couldn’t help overhearing a snippet of conversation between Marie and Carol, lab technicians who had been at the museum nearly as long as Susannah.