To Diane Trap

A special thanks to GBI crime scene specialist Terry Cooper for his help-and sense of humor. And another special thanks to Genny Ostertag for her amazing work on my manuscript.

RiverTrail Museum

Second Floor

Thrid Floor

“His head isn’t on straight.”

“It doesn’t seem to fit. Maybe it’s not his.”

“Dr. Fallon-”

Diane Fallon, director of RiverTrail Museum of Natural History, looked up from the work she was trying to finish to see the spectacle of Gary and Samantha, two university students, balancing between a ladder and a construction platform, holding the skull of a giant sloth tilted at an odd angle atop its fifteen-foot skeleton. She raked her gaze over the offending skull as Gary was trying to wire it in place. “Wait a minute,” she said.

Diane climbed the ladder to the platform to have a look at the problem. She glanced at her watch as she lay down on her stomach on the platform. It was late and she was tired. She inspected the bones and shook her head and pointed to the neck of the giant creature. “You have the atlas on backward.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Gary, I’m sure. Bones are like puzzle pieces. When they’re put together right, they fit together perfectly. How do you think your head would fit if your neck was on backward?” The other students giggled. “Did you follow the diagram I gave you?”