“As it turns out,” she said, choosing her words carefully, “I’ve gotten to know a couple of the brothers in the last few days, so I could approach them about it. They aren’t as inhospitable as their siblings, so they might be willing to help me out. It’s not like we’re going to kill the cat. We only want more DNA samples to study, right?”
“Right. Of course. Do that. We need that cat, or this means nothing.” He waved his hand toward the computer screens and shook his head. When he glanced at her again, a look of awe shown in his eyes, a gleam she’d never seen in the six years she’d studied under him. “Think of it, Elizabeth. A whole new genetic code no one has ever discovered…until now.”
She was thinking of it and the promise it could mean for the dwindling numbers of big cats in other parts of the world. Recognition aside, she reminded herself that helping stop the path toward extinction was the most important thing here.
“I can talk to them tomorrow night, after we spend the day in the field.”
Professor Whitmore shook his head. “No, no, no. You need to concentrate on the Falke cat. Tim and I can do the fieldwork. I sent him out as soon as we got here to mark trails.”
Beth frowned. She was the one who’d laid out the maps, the areas to do the tracking. Now she was being brushed off to go cozy up to the brothers? “Prof—”
“Would you rather I entrust Tim with the task of getting the Falke sample?”
Well, when he put it that way…“No, sir.”
“I know you can do this, Elizabeth. You’ve got the important job.” He swiveled his chair around and opened the small refrigerator used for storing samples. “I also want you to mail this back to the university. Mark it for Dr. Sayers.” He put the vial of Falke’s blood—or what was left of it—into a padded cooling box. “I’ll call him tonight when I get back to the hotel to let him know to expect it.”
“Yes, sir,” she said, taking the box. “Are you going to tell him?”
“No, I don’t want to taint his findings. I’d rather they independently corroborate ours.”
“Okay.” She frowned at the box, uncertain about entrusting such an important sample—all of their evidence—to the postal system. “Are you sure—” The professor scowled. “Are you questioning me?”
“No, sir,” she said quickly, standing and picking up her purse. If she pissed him off, he could dump her like dirty underwear and get an assistant who wouldn’t second guess him. “I’ll get right on it. Could you please ask Tim to install the software he got for me?” She motioned toward her laptop case on the floor.
Professor Whitmore nodded dismissively. “Sure, sure. Just get us access to that cat, and get that sample sent off to Dr. Sayers. I want to have him start breaking down the DNA.”
“Right away.”
“Good.” He turned and opened a drawer, withdrawing a couple of capped, sterile syringes in sealed plastic. “Take these. Call me as soon as you get the new sample. Get two if you can swing it.”
She slipped the syringes into her purse. “I will, sir.” She headed out to her Jeep, just as Tim came out of the trees fifty feet to the west.
“Hey, Lizzy.”
She ground her teeth and dropped the cooling box into her purse. “Did you find anything?”
“Some scat,” he said, coming up to her. Sweat beaded his brow, and his red T-shirt had damp stains around his neck and sides. “What’d you find out from the vet?”
She shook her head. “Nothing useful. Professor Whitmore is sending me on some errands. I left my laptop under the desk. Could you install that software if you have the time?”
“No problem. What does he have you doing?”
She shrugged. “Sending off the rest of the Falke sample to the university. He also wants me to go talk to the Falke brothers again.”
“The ones—” He looked as if he literally bit his tongue.
“The ones what?”
“Are they the…? Uhm. Are you sure you should be spending more time with them?”
Her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out how to tactfully tell Tim to mind his own business.
His voice dropped lower than before when he said, “Look, I’m not tryin’ to butt in—”
“Then don’t.” She straightened her shoulders. “I’m here to do a job. The professor wants me to get more samples from that cougar, and that means I have to convince its owners that it’s in their best interest. That’s all I’m—” He didn’t look in her eyes. “I saw you.”
That stopped her. “What?” His face showed concern, which kept her from ignoring him. Pushing up her glasses, she asked, “What are you talking about?”
He glanced over his shoulder at the trailer, then back to her, and leaned closer. “I saw you with’m.”
“Saw me…” Even to her the innocence in her voice sounded forced.
“When I was at the lab, putting in the camera. I came out and…I could see in your window. You were…”
Her face flamed hot. The window was up high. Second floor. He couldn’t have seen that much.
She tried to visualize the position of the trailer in reference to the closet door against which Kelan had taken her.
“Who—” She cut him off. “I don’t know what or who you think you saw, but becoming a peeping Tom doesn’t become you, Tim.” She started to walk off again.
“Lizzy, stop. It wasn’t like that.”
“Get this straight. What I do in my room on my time is my business.”
“Look, I know that. I haven’t said anything to the professor, and I won’t. I promise, but I’m just worried about you. That’s all. I don’t want to see you hurt. This is a tourist town, and a fling with the locals could only spell trouble. I thought this research project was important to you.”
Warring between embarrassment and the fact Tim really was a nice guy, she forced a smile. “It is important to me. Thank you, Tim, for your concern, but it’s not necessary. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.” She opened the door of her Jeep. “One more thing.”
“Hmm?” he murmured, a frown on his face.
“It’s Beth, Timmy. Not Lizzy.”
He smiled, the worry melting away. “Sorry. Beth.”
She grinned. “Could you bring the laptop back to the hotel tonight? I’m not sure if I’ll make it back out here before you two close up shop.”
“No problem. See you tonight.” He gave a wave as she shut her door and started the vehicle.
As she drove the ten miles back to Leavenworth, she fretted over Professor Whitmore’s words.
Part of her said that this was his ball game, and she was there to play backup. He was the one with the grant, the funding, the support of the university. He’d chosen her to come along for the ride because he knew she needed field experience to finish her dissertation. And if he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have been in the woods that day.
Regardless, she was the one who’d discovered the Falke cat, even if by total accident. She hoped he’d share the limelight if it came to that. Starting her professional career as a Ph.D. with this kind of co-discovery to her name would be huge. She’d be able to pick where she wanted to work, and with whom.
Big cats had been her passion since she was a little girl. If this was as big as she and the professor thought, she’d be able to work in her chosen field, doing whatever she wanted. A dream come true.
If the professor acknowledged her contribution.
She pulled in front of the building that housed the Leavenworth post office and frowned. Closed for lunch between eleven and one. She glanced at her watch. Eleven-fifteen. She couldn’t sit here for the next two hours waiting, so she headed to her hotel.