Conard County Watch. Rachel Lee
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of the cleft in both directions. “I’m guessing years of freezing water in some crack eventually levered it apart. But it feels like something is missing right in the middle.”
She gave him props for noticing. Narrow as the cleft was, there was still enough flat ledge to stand on and work. Rockfall must have filled in the space between the wall and what she thought of as the “tooth.” Her geologist could figure that out, though.
“Apart from that, you want to protect the cliff face. Are you going to have any kind of security?”
Her head jerked up a little. “Security? Why in the world?”
He looked down a moment, then grabbed a paper napkin and wiped his mouth. After some noticeable seconds, he answered. “You haven’t had a whole lot of time to get to know me, so maybe I’ll sound paranoid. Maybe I am. I saw too much of this kind of thing wantonly destroyed during my time in Iraq and Afghanistan. I’m not saying someone is going to have a religious objection to these fossils—although it’s possible—but there could also be looters. You don’t want folks coming up here to scavenge a dinosaur tooth or bone.”
He had a point. It wasn’t something she’d considered because of the comparative secrecy of this site, but once her team started arriving, word was going to get around this underpopulated area. Most would probably just accept it as interesting, but it was easy enough to imagine those who’d want a piece of it. And all they’d have to do would be to follow one of her team up here.
Now she felt careless not to think of it. How many sites of this nature often needed some kind of protection? Many, because Cope was correct: an awful lot of people wanted a fossil, especially if it might be unique in some way.
“My grant doesn’t run to full-time security,” she said reluctantly.
“I don’t suppose it does.” He sighed, popped the last of his roll into his mouth and wiped his hands on the napkin. “I’m probably needlessly worried. Consider where I came from not so long ago.”
But he’d caused her to think along a whole new line, and when she looked up at that rock face, she could all too easily imagine how much damage could be done to it by a careless and uncaring person. “I’d better mention this to Gray Cloud. He can probably keep an eye out better than my team could.”
“He may already be doing it. Sacred ground is an important thing.”
There was that, she agreed silently. But she’d still mention the concern to Gray Cloud. In one way they were completely united: this site mustn’t be disrespected.
“I didn’t mean to cast a cloud over the day,” Cope remarked. “Enjoy your roll and enjoy the view. That rock face is breathtaking.”
“You should have seen it in the minutes after dawn,” she answered, willing to change the subject and let her enthusiasm grow again. “The march of the shadows revealed so much. I have a bunch of photos I can show you later, if you want. And someone is sure going to be out here in the morning to start laying out a grid. Her name’s Denise. She should arrive this afternoon. Anyway, she’s a great artist, and by the time she finishes we’ll have a fantastic drawing as well as a grid to work from.”
“So everything has to be labeled as to where it comes from?”
“Totally. The rock layers will help date everything. I’m hoping they’ll also tell me why so many fossils are here in this place. You know Wyoming is full of marvelous fossil beds, but this find...it looks rather sudden. Too many bones too close together.”
“Some kind of catastrophe,” he mused, reaching for another roll.
“I’m wondering.” The coffee was staying warm in the insulated mug he’d poured it into, and she settled more comfortably, savoring it and savoring her view of the cliff. “I think I’m obsessed.”
“Hard not to be obsessed with a mystery like this.” He scooted around a little on his rock to give himself a better view, staring straight at it. “When you described it to me, I had a mental image, of course. It wasn’t anywhere near as grand as this.”
“It keeps taking my breath away, again and again.” She placed her remaining piece of roll on the edge of the container, wiped her fingers on her jeans and raised her camera again. Photographing this throughout the day today was rapidly becoming a compulsion, almost as if she was afraid it would disappear overnight. Well, it probably could, if the mountain moved again.
“How stable is this cleft?” Cope asked, practically reading her mind.
“Gray Cloud brought me to see it last autumn when I was visiting my cousin up here. It’s been stable that long. But one of our team is a geologist. She’ll be better able to tell me the situation with the matrix.”
“Matrix?”
“The rock the fossils are buried in. What kind of rock, how hard it is, whether it’s going to crumble if we use dental tools or defy us so much we need a jackhammer.”
That elicited a laugh from him, a pleasant sound on the warming morning air. “A jackhammer, huh?”
She lowered the camera, smiling. “Wouldn’t be the first time. You just have to take out huge slabs without troubling anything else. But this scene is so different, everything so close together. We’d better be able to use brushes and small tools or we’re just going to have to cover it with a protective sealant and study it from the face only.”
“That would be disappointing.”
“To say the least. Preservation first, however.” She paused, then added, “Speaking of stability, however, everyone needs to wear hard hats up here. While I was taking photos this morning, some small rocks fell from above. I’d hate for anyone to get beaned by something bigger.”
“Of course. It’s a simple precaution.” He leaned back a bit, propping himself on one arm as she helped herself to more coffee. “I’m the historian, right? I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know a whole lot about paleontology or archaeology. What I do know is how many travesties occurred in the past thanks to the first explorers around the world who saw these kinds of sites, and tombs and ancient cities, as a treasure trove to be taken and carelessly cataloged.”
She nodded, liking him more by the minute. “Sadly true. Egypt is still trying to recover artifacts from private owners and museums.”
“I know. Trying to reassemble an impressive history.” He smiled, his blue eyes bright. “So I’m glad to work with someone like you who understands how wrong that would be, sacred site or no. I saw enough looting in the Middle East to jam in my craw. I get people are poor, but the history they’re digging up and selling will never be replaced. And finding items in situ is so important to understanding them.”
“Amen to that.” She turned a bit on her rock, looking toward the other side of the cleft. Considering the tall rock face behind it, it seemed odd there was just that thin wall of rock, maybe ten feet high, facing it. Small, but it might hold treasures. Some of the split must have tumbled downward to a stream some thirty feet below, which was lined on the far side with trees. More rock had probably crumbled into the fill layer on which she was sitting. The stream below would be useful in their attempts to screen for tiny artifacts, and of course they’d have to study the tumbled rock for remnants. But still the geography appeared odd. She’d have to ask Claudia about that when she arrived. The geologist could probably explain what had happened here.
Maybe a cleft hadn’t really opened up. Maybe there’d been a rockfall on just this side only. But Gray Cloud had talked about it opening. As she sat there studying the terrain, she wondered briefly if Gray Cloud was right, if this was more than just a happy chance. Again the sense of the mountain looming over her tickled her deep inside, a sort of uneasy fluttery feeling.
But no, she wasn’t about to go down that path. This whole expedition had to be based on science, not strange feelings.
“You look troubled,” Cope remarked.
She