"First, I have to know what it is I'm looking for. Then—"
"Then ye'll need a boat, equipment too. I can get ye a' ye need."
"How?"
"Go see Theresa. She'll be in her summer hoose, in the hills above Foyers."
"And why would Johnny C.'s widow want to help me?"
"She'd be helpin' me."
"God, you're pathetic." I shook my head and left, wondering why I was wasting my time with him.
It was almost midnight by the time I tracked down Sheriff Holmstrom in his office. "Sheriff, I need your lab to perform some blood work on these animal specimens. Any word yet about the swatches I gave you earlier?"
"We're workin' on it." He looked through my backpack. "Dead birds… a squirrel? Is this really necessary? Looks tae me like ye're shootin' in the dark."
"Maybe. But we have to… " I paused, as speakers squawked to life from outside his window. "What's going on?"
"Highland Council hired an American scientist tae organize things at Loch Ness. They're bringin' him straight from the airport, press conference's scheduled tae take place on the castle lawn the moment he arrives. Leave the specimens wi' me, I'll see the crime lab gets them."
"Thanks." I shook his hand, then headed outside, curious.
A small sound stage had been set up for the cameras, with Inverness Castle lit majestically in the background. Everywhere I looked were reporters and film crews, the whole catered affair organized by the Highland Council's Division of Tourism.
A buzz rose from the crowd, which squeezed in tighter to the stage as Owen Hollifield stepped to the podium.
"Good evenin', an' welcome tae Inverness, gateway tae the Scottish Highlands. My name is Owen Hollifield an' I am Provost o' the Highland Council, the governin' body that presides over Loch Ness. Over the last forty-eight hours, the Council's been reviewin' progress in our ongoin' investigation tae resolve the mystery o' Loch Ness an' how it relates tae the tragic deaths o' several tourists. Wi' three research teams now combin' the Loch an' several dozen smaller parties staked out on land, the Council felt it imperative that we appoint an expert tae organize our search an' resolve disputes among the, uh… monster hunters, if ye will. We searched worldwide, and while there were at least a dozen candidates we considered, one name stuck out among the rest."
Hollifield paused to read from a three-by-five card. "The scientist of whom I speak has earned a reputation for organizin' research teams an' locatin' their objective. In January o' this year, his team succeeded in doin' somethin' no other research group had ever done, track down and film a giant squid."
"Huh?" I pushed through the crowd to take a closer look. "Ladies an' gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure tae introduce tae ye, Dr. David Caldwell o' Boca Raton, Florida."
Had I been hooked to Angus's EKG monitor, my thundering heart would have exploded the graph. There was David, waving from behind the podium like some conquering hero, using my accomplishments as his proverbial pedestal.
"Thank you, thank you… my God, what a nice welcome. It's truly an honor to be here in Scotland, working with the Highland Council, and… well, what can I say, I'll do everything in my power to resolve this mystery, once and for all."
"We'll take a few questions, an' then Dr. Caldwell's off tae his hotel."
"Dr. Caldwell, wasn't it, in fact, Dr. Zachary Wallace who caught the giant squid on film?"
"Damn straight," I mumbled, pumping my fists.
David grinned his Cheshire cat smile. "Certainly my former colleague played a role on our team, but I was head of the mission, the one responsible for its success. Dr. Wallace, unfortunately, was more responsible for sinking our submersible."
You son of a—
"Yes, the young lady in that attractive blue blazer."
"Dr. Caldwell, have ye ever even been tae Loch Ness?"
"Not per se, but hey, water's water. If we can find a giant squid in the Sargasso Sea, then we should have no problem finding your plesiosaur."
Idiot …
"How do you know it's a plesiosaur?"
"Well, I—"
"What proof do you have?"
The provost took over before David could shove his other foot in his mouth. "We'll, ah, hold yer questions there. Dr. Caldwell's had a long flight an' needs his rest. Tomorrow mornin', Council will be meetin' tae discuss what we'll do wi' Nessie once we—"
"Hey, David!" My body trembled as I pushed toward the front of the stage.
The crowd encircled me, their cameras still rolling.
David looked down from the podium. "Zack? Jesus, what, uh, what're you doing here? Ladies and gentlemen, my, uh, my colleague and good friend, Dr. Zachary Wallace."
I leaped onto the stage in one adrenaline-enhanced bound. "You mean former colleague, don't you, asshole?" Before he could respond, my right cross smashed him squarely in the face, dropping him like a sack of potatoes.
Camera strobes lit the night as I stood over him, my teeth grinding my father's grin. "Welcome tae the Highlands, ye bastard."
Chapter 21
It was about 7:30 in the evening and my son, Jim, and I were working in a loch-side field about two kilometers south of Dores when we noticed something moving about halfway across Loch Ness. It was big and black, and I realized after fifteen years of farming I was finally seeing the monster. The Loch was calm and everything was quiet, not a noise anywhere, just this thing moving steadily forward. It was quite eerie.
We decided to get the boat out and try to intercept it. Four of us got in and set off. As we got closer we could see more details. There was a long head and neck coming about two meters out of the water, and the body had humps. Its color was dark and it had to be at least fourteen meters [45.9 feet] long. As we moved closer it rose up a bit, put up a great disturbance so that our boat spun around, then was gone.
The one thing I'll always remember is that eye. It was oval-shaped and jaundice and it looked right at us.
I awoke to an incessant pounding on my door. Fearing I had been screaming again in my sleep, I rolled out of bed with a groan, every muscle in my body raw and aching.
"Who the hell is it?"
"Maxie. Open up!"
I unbolted the door and opened it, then staggered to the bathroom sink, and downed several aspirin.
Max followed me in, carrying a rolled-up newspaper. "Still sleeping? It's two-thirty in the affie."
"I was up late, poisoning my body."
"And behaving like our father, yeah?" He held open the newspaper.
The black-and-white photo captured me standing over David, fists balled, face contorted in a wild leer. The caption read: "Wallace Welcomes Colleague to Loch Ness."
"At least they got my good side."
"Caldwell threatened to press charges. Don't worry, he backed off when I threatened a countersuit of slander."
"Let him sue, I've got nothing to lose." I turned over the paper, my eye catching another article.
COUNCIL AMENDS LAWS
In the wake of the gruesome attack on Alaskan resident Justin Wagner and the suspected deaths of at least two other tourists, the Highland Council voted unanimously to amend the "Protection of Animals Act of 1912" and the subsequent "Veterinary Surgeons Act of 1966." The 1912 Law prevented the water creature, known as "Nessie," from being netted by researchers and monster hunters, while the 1966 Act outlawed attempts to take tissue samples from any Loch Ness water beast. Fisheries Protection Board bailiff Theron Turman agreed with the changes, but was quick to point out that the amendments refer only to large water creatures and that it was still illegal to net trout or salmon in Loch Ness.