He led the way back to the bridge where they found Alvar Laine, Olli Makkonen, and Carly waiting for them. Carly held the camera trained on the large table that was now covered in printed images. She looked at Slater with one eyebrow raised and Slater shook her head. Carly frowned and a look passed between them that Aston interpreted as, ’we’ll talk later’.
“Look at what we’ve got here,” Holloway said. “Two of our underwater cameras were working overtime last night.”
Carly slowly circled, capturing the moment on film.
“Which ones?” Aston asked.
Holloway pulled the lake map over and indicated two spots near the lake shore where a pair of cameras were positioned less than half a mile from where he and Slater had just been — a stone’s throw from Old Mo’s shack. “Here and here,” he said. He shoved the map aside and pulled two grainy black and white images to the fore. “What do you make of these?”
All the images showed the same thing: a grayish, diamond shape in the murky water. Aston leaned in for a closer look. “They look like flippers,” he said cautiously. “Based on the shape, it could be a seal, though with no reference to size…” His words sounded doubtful to his own ears and the others obviously shared that assessment.
Slater gave him a look, part amused, part chiding. “Is there any way we can get a scale?” she asked, turning her attention back to the photos.
“Not really,” Holloway admitted.
Aston had to agree. “If there were an object of known size in the image, or if we knew the flipper’s precise distance from the camera, we could make a reasonable calculation, but with no frame of reference, we’re stuck.”
“So, either it’s a small object that’s very close to the camera or it’s a huge object that’s far away.”
Aston nodded. He assumed Slater’s statement of the obvious was for the benefit of the slower-witted of her television audience.
“It’s definitely way bigger than a seal,” Laine said disdainfully. “At bare minimum it’s about ten feet from the camera, else it wouldn’t be in focus at all. And the shape really isn’t seal-like.”
Aston nodded, chastised. “You’re right. It’s too long, too pointed.”
“Look at the ends of the flippers,” Slater said. “It looks like there are little nubs on them, like digits.”
“Maybe,” Aston said, “but it’s difficult to tell. It could just be a trick of the camera, what with the murky water.”
“And how about this?” Holloway moved new images into view that showed a curve of dark flank that seemed to be riddled with small studs of bone or scale.
Aston leaned closer still, fascinated. “Maybe a fresh water shark no one has seen before?” he suggested, genuinely racking his brain now for answers.
Holloway pulled another picture to the top. It showed a clearer, larger section of the thing’s body and this time a crest of long bony spines was stark against the murky water.
“Jesus Christ.” Aston stood back in surprise, and then quickly went back in for a second look. “This has the hallmarks of some kind of, I don’t know, basilosaurus maybe. But they weren’t spined. Honestly, anything like this is a bit out of my area of expertise.”
Holloway pounced on the suggestion. “Saurus? You mean a dinosaur?” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation of Aston’s reply.
Aston flapped one hand. “It can’t be a dinosaur! I mean, it could be some creature descended from something like a basilosaurus or similar. I just wish we had a better idea of how big it was.”
“I’ve been doing some calculations,” Laine said. “In one of the photos you can see stones and what looks like an old diesel can. Based on the images and the small amount of visible objects, my guess is that thing, whatever it might be, is over fifty feet long.”
Everyone in the room tuned to stare at the cryptozoologist. Carly made a small noise in her throat then reddened, embarrassed. Holloway’s grin threatened to split his head in two.
“That’s ridiculous,” Aston said. Laine handed him the photograph in question and pointed out the oblong shape lying in the mud beneath the tip of the flipper. But still… “Your calculations must be way off.”
Laine shrugged. “It’s possible. But even a conservative estimate on the information available suggests at least thirty-five feet. And that’s very conservative.”
“But your reference points are not particularly clear or obvious. There’s a lot of guessing, right?” Aston said, trying to nudge the man to admit he was deliberately overstating the issue.
“I’ve lived here my whole life,” Laine replied matter-of-factly. “I know this lake and the sort of detritus that gathers at the bottom.”
There was silence for a few moments. Eventually Aston said, “We have to be careful not to get too carried away. Good science, good research, is about taking your time and double and triple-checking everything. Jumping to conclusions or making uncertain conclusions from limited data is the worst thing we can do now. We don’t even know if this thing is a predator or some kind of giant grass-eating manatee!”
Holloway threw back his head and laughed, a harsh guffaw that sounded to Aston distinctly like Ah-HA! He winced internally. What had the crazy old guy got next?
The billionaire pushed everything else aside to make a clear spot on the table then reverentially laid one more photo on the dark wood. “I would say it was an apex predator, Mister Aston.”
A variety of gasps and groans sounded around the room. The picture showed, in clear close-up, a section of bony jaw. Plainly visible were at least two rows of wickedly pointed, backwards-facing teeth.
“Just think of the money and prestige to be gained from this giant prehistoric beauty!” Holloway said.
Aston kept his silence. If Holloway was correct, and Aston still doubted it, there were plenty of considerations the man hadn’t yet measured.
Chapter 19
After issuing instructions to move the Merenneito back to the area where the cameras had captured the recent images, Holloway had sent for Joaquin and declared the two of them would take the dinghy to town and get “all the fixings” for a celebratory feast. As they motored away, and Laine and Makkonen pored over the maps to decide the best course and search pattern, Aston followed Slater and Carly back out on deck.
While Slater explained all they had learned about Dave, which was depressingly little, Aston stared after the rapidly shrinking dinghy, Joaquin’s bulk obvious even from a distance. Were they getting into something that would prove too much to handle? Just what the hell were those pictures showing? He was finding it increasingly hard to maintain any kind of professional or personal skepticism in the face of the combined evidence and legends. The huge lake suddenly seemed colder than ever. And far, far bigger.
“It’s not okay!” A note of fear hung in Carly’s strident voice.
Aston turned his attention back to them. With Dave gone, they needed Carly to hold it together until they completed the job.
“I know,” Slater said, consoling. “It’s not, but I’m not sure what else we can do.”
Tears streaked Carly’s cheeks. “Dave is a good guy. He wouldn’t just leave.”
“That’s what I told Aston,” Slater said. “And I also told him that if we don’t hear anything from Dave in the next twenty-four hours, we’ll go to the local police and have them begin a search.”
“We should go now!” Carly insisted.
Aston stepped in. “Honestly, Carly, I don’t really trust the local police chief. And he certainly doesn’t trust us.”