Bailey and the Santa Fe Secret (15 page)

“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 S
TONE’S
T
HROW
Q
UARRY
, W
YOMING’S
F
OSSIL
F
ANTASY
L
AND
.

“Very clever,” Mrs. Smith said with a nod.

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?” Mrs. Smith fanned herself with a piece of paper. “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:

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!

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