It was the morning of the Dino World opening and Mr. Alden had returned, just as he had said he would.
The Aldens were talking so fast their grandfather could hardly keep track of their adventures.
“We saw a man go down a hole in the street. Then we got locked up in the planetarium.” Benny stopped to take a breath. “But we still didn’t find the bones, Grandfather.”
Mrs. Diggs poured Mr. Alden more coffee, “These children have been so busy, James, they didn’t get a chance to do everything they planned during their visit.”
Soo Lee stood next to Mr. Alden. “We wanted to find bones, but we only saw ones that weren’t lost.”
Mr. Alden smiled. “Tell that to the crowd waiting outside the museum! I had a hard time getting a parking space when I arrived. Bones or no bones, Dino World is going to be a crowded place today.”
The Aldens could hardly wait for their grandfather to finish his coffee.
“Maybe you children can run ahead and take one last look around just in case our missing bones turned up.” Mr. Diggs suggested. “I just hope Titus had time to finish attaching the plastic model bones we had to make for opening day.”
Jessie sighed. “We’re sorry we didn’t find the real ones, Mr. Diggs.”
Mr. Diggs shook his head, “Well, even if you don’t find the bones, I will speak to Eve Skyler about those posters!” Mr. Diggs scratched his head. “Lately I’ve been thinking this place should be called the Pickering Mystery Museum what with all these strange goings-on.”
Mrs. Diggs handed Jessie some keys. “Here’s an extra elevator key and one for Dr. Pettibone’s office. We’ll meet you in the dinosaur hall in just a bit.”
In no time the children reached Dr. Pettibone’s office. It was pitch-dark.
Henry turned on the lights. “Dr. Pettibone must be in the dinosaur hall getting everything ready for the opening. Let’s check if he’s there.”
But when the children entered the big hall, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Pete Lawlor was up on a ladder, and he was holding up a piece of jawbone next to T. rex’s head!
“Pete! What are you doing here? And where did you get that bone?” Henry yelled out.
Pete cradled the jawbone like a baby and tried not to lose his balance.
“Watch out!” Jessie warned as she ran over to steady the ladder, When Pete looked down, he saw five pairs of suspicious eyes staring up.
“It’s not what you think,” he began. “I found this jawbone here when I came in after my shift. It was just lying on this bed of straw.” He pointed to a pile of straw on the floor. Chips of white plaster were scattered everywhere.
Hand in hand, Benny and Soo Lee raced around to the other side of the dinosaur.
“The tail is back! The tail is back!” Soo Lee called out.
The older children ran over. Soo Lee was right. Every bone on T. rex’s tail was in perfect position.
Jessie swallowed hard before she spoke to Pete again. “Did you have anything to do with these bones, Pete?” she asked when he came down from the ladder.
Pete Lawlor looked pale and sick. “Please let me explain. I did come in here a few times when I wasn’t supposed to, including the night you kids arrived. But I never took anything. I just liked looking at T. rex, that’s all.”
Violet spoke in a gentle voice. “We know you wouldn’t take anything, Pete. Did you bump into the dinosaur by accident and damage it? That could happen to anybody.”
Pete shook his head. “I know I don’t always watch where I’m going. That’s why I keep setting off the alarms. But a couple of times they went off when I had nothing to do with it. I just like seeing all the things in this museum. It gets so quiet at night, I like to go visit things. But I wouldn’t hurt a tooth on T. rex here. Honest.”
With that, Pete gently lay the jawbone section on the straw. “When I sneaked in here this morning and saw this big bone just sitting here, I tried to reattach it before we opened. I want folks to see the real thing, But there’s still a bone missing. Until it shows up, T. rex isn’t complete.”
“That’s okay, Pete,” Henry said. “We don’t really think you had anything to do with these bones. What I can’t figure is …”
Before Henry could finish, Pete and the Aldens heard Nosey’s nails clicking across the floor.
“Here boy, here boy,” Pete said when Nosey burst into the dinosaur hall whining and panting, “I sent him around to sniff things out, but all he does is keep running back to the fossil lab.”
“That’s what Watch does when he wants to show us something,” said Benny,
“Naw,” Pete said. “I already followed him upstairs. He keeps running back to the lab for no reason. There are lots of bones up there, but not the missing one.”
“Sometimes missing things turn up in the most obvious places,” Jessie said.
Soo Lee and Benny ran ahead and called out to the dog. “Come on, Nosey! Come on!”
Nosey zoomed right past the children and headed straight to the fossil lab. He sniffed at the door and wouldn’t stop whining.
“Well, doggone,” Pete said. “Not again!” He pulled Nosey by the collar.
“No, let’s see what he does,” Henry said.
“He’ll keep sniffing, that’s all,” Pete said.
Just then, the elevator door opened. Mr. and Mrs. Diggs, Mr. Alden, and Dr. Skyler stepped off the elevator.
“Why is everyone here?” Mrs. Diggs asked when she saw everyone crowded into Dr. Pettibone’s office.
Before anyone else could answer, Pete spoke up. “Some of the missing bones are back — all the tailbones and most of the jawbone!”
Mr. and Mrs. Diggs ran out to check the dinosaur for themselves. When they returned, they looked shocked and relieved at the same time.
“If this isn’t the most amazing thing,” Mr. Diggs said. “Every single piece is back except for the hinge joint that connects the jawbone to the …” Mr. Diggs paused and looked annoyed. “Why does Nosey keep whining at the lab door? I guess I’d better unlock it and find out.”
“What on earth happened in here?” Mrs. Diggs cried when she stepped into the lab. “It’s been ransacked!”
“What does ‘ransacked’ mean, Violet?” Benny asked.
“It means somebody turned everything upside down and inside out,” Violet answered.
Indeed, Dr. Pettibone’s office was a wreck. Rock and plaster chips lay all over the work tables and on the floor.
Nosey raced over to a dark corner. Mr. Diggs turned on the lights.
“It’s Mr. Bones!” Benny and Soo Lee cried at the same time.
Dr. Pettibone was hiding in the corner!
Mrs. Diggs went over to Dr. Pettibone and put her hand on his arm. “Titus, what is it? Why are you hiding here? Did someone harm you?”
Dr. Pettibone shook his head slowly, over and over. “I harmed myself, Emma. Please forgive me.”
“Whatever do you mean, Titus?” Mr. Diggs asked.
Dr. Pettibone sat down on one of the work stools and began to explain. “I’ve ruined everything. Everything. I only meant to introduce T. rex to the world, and instead I made a mess of things.”
“You mean you stole the bones, Titus?” Mr. Diggs asked.
Dr. Pettibone nodded. “I thought people would appreciate the importance of this magnificent creature if something happened to it. Last week, I disarmed the remote camera so I wouldn’t be seen. Then over several nights when I said I was in Montana, I took the bones one by one. I made plaster casts for them for safekeeping inside of one of my field crates. Last night I took the bones out of their casings and reattached them to the skeleton. But then I got confused and couldn’t find the critical hinge joint to reattach the jawbone. I don’t know which block of plaster I hid it in.”
“What a terrible thing to do, Titus,” Mrs. Diggs said. “Everyone recognized the importance of T. rex’s discovery without all this fuss!”
Just then, Dr. Skyler spoke for the first time. “Mr. and Mrs. Diggs thought I had something to do with the missing bones, Titus,” Dr. Skyler said. “I just came to apologize to you for some awful things I did do.”
Dr. Pettibone looked more confused than ever. “What are you talking about, Eve?”
Dr. Skyler took a deep breath. “I … I tried to delay the opening of Dino World. I’m afraid I even involved the Aldens, sabotaging their work and locking them in the planetarium. I made so much work for them at the planetarium, I knew they wouldn’t have much time to help you with your exhibit. And I …”
Jessie faced Dr. Skyler. “Were you the person who took down all the posters we put up? We found them hidden in the storage closet.”
At first Dr. Skyler didn’t answer. Then she put a hand on Jessie’s shoulder. “It was me. I took down every poster I could find. Please understand. It was so hard for me to see Dino World getting all the attention. I thought my planetarium would seem very dull after everyone saw Dr. Pettibone’s magnificent dinosaur and all his other fossils. I’m so sorry, particularly since you children helped me get the sky shows underway again.”
Dr. Skyler turned to Mr. and Mrs. Diggs. “I’ve already written up a letter of resignation, Emma. Or you can fire me.”
Dr. Pettibone looked up at Mr. and Mrs. Diggs. “Don’t fire Eve, fire me. Or I’ll make it easy for you and resign right now. I don’t know what I was thinking. My plan didn’t work in any case. Now one of the key bones I removed is actually missing.”
The room was quiet. No one knew what to say. Then everyone heard some clinking. They turned to see Violet chiseling a plaster-covered chunk. Several large pieces fell cleanly away from a knobby-looking bone.
“Could this be the last missing piece, Dr. Pettibone?” Violet asked, pointing to the fossil.
Dr. Pettibone stood up. “Oh, my dear girl! You found the right bone. I got so confused last night, I couldn’t remember which block of plaster I’d hidden it in.”
For the first time, Dr. Pettibone looked directly at Benny and Soo Lee. “These little detectives spotted me trying to get back into the museum through the manhole that connects underground. That’s why I didn’t want them near me. And then Henry and Jessie and Violet saw those receipts from my stay here in town when I was supposed to be in Montana. I kept those out of habit.” He shook his head.
“Were you the shadow man the first night we came?” Jessie asked.
Now Dr. Pettibone looked confused.
“I was the shadow man,” Pete confessed. “I guess I should quit the museum, too. I figured out how to fix the lock in the dinosaur hall so I could visit T. rex anytime I wanted at night. I just like being around something like that.”
Mr. Diggs looked at his watch. “Whew! What a time to discover all this! We’ve only got about fifteen minutes before we let in everyone. Pete, you seem to know plenty about the fossils. You go help Dr. Pettibone wire those last bones to the skeleton.”
“We’ll have to see about getting you a job as one of our guides — that is, when you’re not helping Titus and Eve,” Mrs. Diggs said to Pete. “You may not be cut out to be a night watchman, but you certainly know your way around stars and fossils.”
Dr. Pettibone looked relieved, “Does that mean I can stay on, Emma?”
Mrs. Diggs nodded. “Of course. And Eve, too. We’ve all been overworked lately and not ourselves. Now that Pete will be around to give you both a hand, maybe the Pickering Museum can get back to normal.”
Mr. Alden laughed. “When things get normal, that means it’s time for the Aldens to go home!”
Dr. Pettibone bent down to show Violet, Benny, and Soo Lee the missing hinge bone. “And thank you for helping me so much. I couldn’t live without my bones.”
“Neither could anybody!” Benny said.
Nosey barked, as if he understood what Benny had said.
“See?” said Benny.
Everyone laughed.
Then Dr. Pettibone cleared his throat. “Time to open the exhibit and introduce T. rex’s bones to everyone — thanks to you Aldens!” |