Kate and the Wyoming Fossil Fiasco Read online

  To Calyn Hazeltine…a priceless treasure

  © 2011 by Barbour Publishing, Inc.

  Edited by Jeanette Littleton.

  Print ISBN 978-1-60260-405-6

  eBook Editions:

  Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-60742-421-5

  Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-60742-422-2

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.

  Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

  Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

  Cover design: Thinkpen Design

  Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.barbourbooks.com

  Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  Dickinson Press Inc., Grand Rapids, MI 49512; February 2011; D10002688

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Water, Water Everywhere!

  “Kate, watch out!”

  Kate Oliver jerked her arm back as she heard her teacher’s voice.

  Kaboosh! A large glass of water tumbled over, landing directly on the fossil plate she had just unpacked from a large wooden box.

  “Oh no!” Kate squeezed her eyes shut. Surely she did not just spill water on a priceless artifact, thousands of years old!

  “Quick. Let me dry it.” Mrs. Smith, Kate’s teacher, grabbed a paper towel and ran toward Kate.

  Kate backed away, shaking so hard her knees knocked. “I—I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to spill it.”

  Of all things! She had come to the museum to help her teacher. And now she’d destroyed something of great value! Why oh why did things like this always seem to happen to her?

  “It’s not your fault, Kate,” Mrs. Smith said. “I left my glass of water sitting there. I only have myself to blame.”

  “Still …” Kate’s glasses slipped down her nose, and she pushed them back into place. Tears filled her eyes as she watched her teacher. How would the museum ever replace something so valuable? And would Mrs. Smith lose her new job as museum curator? A shiver ran down the twelve-year-old’s spine.

  “Please, Lord, don’t let that happen!” she whispered.

  “Wait a minute …” Mrs. Smith shook her head as she dabbed the fossil plate with the paper towel. “Something is very wrong here.”

  Kate leaned forward to look. “W—what is it?”

  “A glass of water couldn’t possibly harm real fossils,” Mrs. Smith explained. “But look at this.” She pulled the towel away and Kate gasped. The fossil imprint appeared to be dissolving, slowly melting away before her eyes.

  “I don’t understand.” Kate took her finger and twisted a strand of her blond hair, something she often did when she was nervous.

  “Neither do I,” Mrs. Smith said as she pulled off her latex gloves. “But I’m going to get to the bottom of this.” When her hands were free of the gloves, she pulled out a magnifying glass and examined the fossil plate. After a moment, she whispered, “Oh my. This doesn’t look good.”

  Kate grew more curious by the moment.

  “Kate, see what you think.” Mrs. Smith handed her the magnifying glass. Kate peered through it, taking a close look.

  “Very interesting,” she said. “They look like grains of

  sand, only maybe a little bigger.”

  Kate reached into her backpack and pulled out a miniature digital camera, just one of her many electronic gadgets. She zoomed in and began taking photos, documenting the changes in the fossil as they occurred. She had a feeling these photos would come in handy later.

  “Up close it doesn’t even look real. Funny that I never noticed it before.” Mrs. Smith touched a spot where the water had landed, then stuck her finger in her mouth. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at Kate. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

  “What?” Kate asked. “What is it?”

  Her teacher gasped. “Brown sugar!”

  “No way!” Kate took one final picture of Mrs. Smith with her finger in her mouth. “The fossil plates are … fake?”

  “Looks that way.” Her teacher put down the magnifying glass and shook her head. “I don’t believe it. I simply don’t believe it. These plates are on loan to the museum from a quarry in Wyoming. We’re expecting hundreds of guests to visit the museum to see them. And now we find out they’re not even real? This is terrible news!” She reached for a piece of paper and began to fan herself. “Is it getting hot in here?”

  Kate shook her head. “Not really.” She put her camera away and then looked at her teacher, trying to figure out how she could help.

  “I must be nervous.” Mrs. Smith paced the room. “What am I going to do?”

  She paused and looked at Kate. “This exhibition was supposed to be the biggest thing to happen to our museum in years. People were coming from all over the country to see these fossils. Oh, why does something like this have to happen my first week as curator? Why?”

  “I don’t know, but I would sure like to get to the bottom of this,” Kate said. “So if you don’t mind …” She pressed her hand inside the backpack, fishing around for something. Finally she came up with the tiny fingerprint kit.

  Mrs. Smith looked at her, stunned. “You just happen to have a fingerprint kit in your backpack?”

  “Yes.” Kate giggled. “I always carry it with me. I never know when there’s going to be a mystery to solve or a criminal to catch.”

  “You solve mysteries?” Mrs. Smith looked confused. “And you catch criminals?”

  Kate nodded and smiled, “Along with a bunch of others called the Camp Club Girls.”

  She would have plenty of time to explain later. Right now she had work to do. She pulled out several other gadgets, starting with a tiny digital recorder. “I’d like to record our conversation, Mrs. Smith. You might say something important to the case.”

  “Case?”

  “Sure. I have a feeling this is going to be a very exciting one, but I need to keep track of the information, and recording it is the best way.”

  “I suppose that would be fine.” Mrs. Smith shrugged.

  Kate turned on the recorder and set it on a nearby table, asking her teacher questions about the fossil plates. Then she pulled something that looked like an ink pen from her backpack.

  Mrs. Smith looked at her curiously. “Do you need to write something?”

  “No, this isn’t really a pen.” Kate wiggled her eyebrows and smiled. “It’s a text reader. Look.” She took the pen-like device and ran it along the edge of the wooden box the fossil plates had been packed in. It recorded the words STONE’S THROW QUARRY, WYOMING’S FOSSIL FANTASY LAND.

  “Very clever,” Mrs. Smith said with a nod.<
br />
  After recording a few more words from the side of the box, Kate turned her attention back to her backpack. She pulled out the computerized wristwatch her father had given her. One of his students had invented it, and soon it would be sold in stores. She could hardly believe it was possible to check her e-mail or browse the Web on a wristwatch, but it had already come in handy several times.

  Her teacher looked at Kate’s gadgets, her brow wrinkling in confusion. “Why do you have all of these things, Kate? Do you really solve mysteries, or is this some sort of game?”

  Kate shook her head. “It’s no game. And it looks like we have a doozy of a mystery here. But to solve it, I need to contact the other Camp Club Girls.”

  “Camp Club Girls? I’m not sure I understand. Who are the Camp Club Girls?”

  “We’re a group of girls who all met at Discovery Lake Camp awhile back,” Kate explained. “We solve mysteries together. If anyone can get to the bottom of this, the Camp Club Girls can.”

  Mrs. Smith’s eyes grew wide. “Really? Do you think you could help figure out who did this? That’s a lot to ask of a group of girls your age.”

  “You would be surprised what the Camp Club Girls can do with the Lord’s help!” Kate went to work, lifting fingerprints from the edges of the fossil plate. Before long, she had a couple of great ones. “Perfect. Now, if it’s okay with you, I need to send an e-mail to the girls in the club to see if they can help.”

  “Well sure,” Mrs. Smith said. “I guess that would be okay. Do you need to use one of the museum’s computers to get online? I’m sure I could arrange that.”

  “No thanks.” Kate pulled off her latex gloves and opened her wristwatch. “I can send e-mails on my watch.”

  “You … you can?” Mrs. Smith did not look convinced.

  Kate typed out a quick note to the girls:

  Emergency! Need help cracking a fake fossil case!

  Meet me in our chat room at 7:00 p.m. eastern time.

  She closed the watch and smiled at her teacher. “Don’t

  worry, Mrs. Smith,” she said, trying to sound brave. “The Camp Club Girls are on the case! We’ll figure out this fossil fiasco in no time!”

  With the tip of her finger, she reached to touch the ruined fossil plate then stuck her finger in her mouth, tasting the sweetness of the brown sugar. These plates might not be the real deal, but they sure were tasty. And Kate was convinced they contained clues to help unravel the mystery.

  Suddenly, she could hardly wait to get started!

  A Sweet Adventure

  The fossil fiasco gave Kate and the Camp Club Girls an exciting new puzzle to solve. She could hardly wait! Surely, with the Lord’s help, they would crack this case wide open! She thought about this all the way home from the museum.

  As Kate ate dinner with her parents that evening, she filled them in on what had happened. “I felt terrible when I spilled the water,” she said. “But Mrs. Smith said it wasn’t my fault.”

  “I’m sure she felt awful for leaving her glass so close to the fossil plates,” Kate’s mother said. “I guess it just goes to show you how careful you have to be around things of value.”

  “But look on the bright side, Kate,” her father added. “If you hadn’t spilled water on them, she might have never discovered they were fake. The whole thing could have been a huge embarrassment to your teacher if the exhibition had moved forward and someone discovered the forgery after the fact. People who paid money to see the fossils would have been angry to find out they’d been lied to. So you probably saved the day, whether you realize it or not.”

  “I never thought of that!” Kate suddenly felt better. “I guess it’s a good thing we found out now instead of later.” She took a couple of bites of mashed potatoes, then leaned back in her chair, thinking about her father’s words. Maybe spilling that water had saved the day, after all.

  Her little brother Dexter took a bite of meatloaf, then talked with his mouth full. “Kate, can I help you and the Camp Club Girls with this case?”

  She shrugged. “Probably, Dex. But I need to talk to the other girls.” Kate glanced at the wall clock, startled to find it was fifteen minutes till seven.

  Her dad changed the topic of conversation, talking about the family’s upcoming vacation to Colorado, but Kate had a hard time paying attention. She only had one thing on her mind right now … getting online to meet the other Camp Club Girls in their Internet chat room.

  A few minutes later, after eating a second helping of meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Kate headed upstairs. She glanced at her reflection in the large round mirror that hung on the wall. Her shoulder-length blond hair was a little messy, but she didn’t really mind. After all, she couldn’t be a supersleuth and have perfect hair at the same time, could she? Still, she needed to do something about her glasses, which had slipped down her nose again. Kate pushed them back up with her finger and shrugged.

  “C’mon, Biscuit!” She looked down at her dog. His tailwaved merrily as he followed her up the stairs. Biscuit could always tell when they were about to set off on an adventure. He was a great mystery-solving dog and had even helped the girls before. Maybe he could help this time, too.

  When she reached the top of the stairs, Kate turned to walk down the long hall toward her bedroom and almost tripped over Robby, the robovac. As always, Biscuit barked at the little robotic vacuum cleaner and Kate scolded him. “I would think by now you would be used to Robby, Biscuit! Stop barking.”

  The pooch tucked his tail between his legs and followed her to her bedroom. Once there, Kate grabbed her new laptop—the one her father had given her. It was superduper fast and Kate was so thankful that it had wireless Internet connection so she could use it anywhere in the house. Kate signed online, realizing the other Camp Club Girls were waiting for her in the chat room—Bailey, the youngest, twelve-year-old Sydney, and Elizabeth, the oldest of the girls. Somehow, knowing they were on the case made everything better.

  Kate: K8 here. Everyone else here?

  Sydney: I’m here.

  Bailey: So am I! Ready for adventure!

  Elizabeth: I really want to help. Just tell me what I can do.

  Alexis: Yes, this sounds really curious. But weneed to know more before we can help you.

  McKenzie: Kate, can you tell us more about the fake fossils? Your e-mail didn’t have much information.

  Kate quickly explained what had happened at the museum, typing as fast as her fingers could go. She told them every detail—about the accident with the water, the fake fossils, and her teacher’s fears that she might lose her new job.

  Kate: I think we can start by figuring out where Stone’s Throw Quarry is. I saw the name on the packing crates. That’s where the fossils are from.

  McKenzie: Ooh, hang on a minute. I think I’m on to something. There’s a Stone’s Throw Quarry south of Yellowstone National Park, just a few hours from where I live. I’m looking at their Web site now.

  Seconds later, she pasted in the link and before long Kate clicked it, watching as the colorful site appeared.

  Kate: Wow. Looks like a great place. This is cool. Stone’s Throw hosts a three-day fossil camp for kids, week after next. I wonder … Our family is supposed to leave in a couple of days to go on a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Maybe I could talk my mom and dad into driving up to Yellowstone National Park afterwards so I could go to that fossil camp. They could set up their tent at the park and McKenzie and I could go to the camp hosted by the quarry. I’ll bet if we spent a few days there, I could take some fingerprints and compare them to the ones I got today. Maybe we could figure out who forged the fossils!

  Bailey: Forged the fossils. That’s funny.

  Kate: If we don’t figure this out, Mrs. Smith could lose her new job at the museum. And the museum will lose a lot of visitors. We’ve got to find the real fossils and get them to the museum in time for the exhibition.

  McKenzie: I would love to help. I’ll have to ask my
parents of course. Maybe they would like to go to Yellowstone, too. It’s one of my dad’s favorite places and he’s been talking about going on a vacation soon.

  Kate: Great! Just pray that my mom and dad like the idea.

  She tucked a loose blond hair behind her ear.

  “That your mom and dad like what idea?” Her

  mother’s voice rang out from behind her.

  Kate turned and faced her mom with an embarrassed smile. “Oh hi, Mom.”

  “Hi to you, too. What have you and the other girls come up with, and how does the plan involve your father and me?”

  “Oh, it’s the best idea ever,” Kate said, giving her mom a hopeful smile. “I need to go to a fossil hunting camp in Wyoming week after next.”

  “Wyoming?” Her mother stared at her, looking a little stunned. “But we’re not going to Wyoming. We’re going to Colorado.”

  Kate flashed another smile, hoping to convince her mom. “Think about it. Wyoming would be a great place to visit. You and Dad can camp out at Yellowstone National Park with Dex while I’m at fossil camp. I know how much you’ve always wanted to do that.”

  “Honey, we’re going to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado,” her mother explained. “Not Yellowstone.”

  “Can’t we do both?” Kate asked. “Please? Oh please?”

  “Kate, you don’t seriously think …” Her mother shook her head. “Oh never mind. I can see that you do think we might consider this.” After a pause, she said, “Well I promise to talk to your father about it. But don’t get your hopes up. I’m not sure your father will like the idea. It’s a long drive from Rocky Mountain National Park to Yellowstone.”

  “But it will be so worth it if I can help my teacher figure

  out who did this,” Kate said. “Besides, it would be a great adventure. And I know Dex would love it.” She smiled as she mentioned her little brother’s name. Just as quickly, her smile disappeared as she realized he would probably want to go to the quarry camp, too. How could the girls ever solve a mystery with her little brother tagging along?