enclosure. She saw a small head peering out of
one of the burrows. As she watched, delighted,
a marmot emerged. Another was close behind.
They were reddish brown with yellow abdo-
mens and black rings near their bushy tails.
“Meet Click and Clack, our most sociable
specimens,” Jennifer said.
“They’re adorable.” Nancy glanced at Jen-
nifer. “You must have been in on this project
from the very beginning.”
Jennifer laughed. “Since before the very
beginning,” she replied.
The two marmots finished eating. One sat
up on its hind legs. The furry creature had a
wide head with short, rounded ears, large eyes,
and a black button nose. It cocked its head
sideways as if to ask Nancy what she was doing
there and then began grooming itself.
“Wait until Bess sees these. She’ll go crazy,”
Nancy said. “It looks like they’d be really fun
to work with.”
“Oh, they are!” Jennifer exclaimed. “Right
now I’m monitoring the day care center.”
“Day care center?” Nancy echoed.
“While the parents are out foraging for food,
the older members of the community stay in
the entrances to the burrows, making sure the
babies are safe,” Jennifer explained. “If they
sense danger, they give a shrill ear-piercing
whistle.”
“Did many marmots disappear from this
feeding station?” Nancy asked.
Jennifer raised her eyebrows.
“It’s okay,” Ned said quickly. “I told Nancy
about what happened. She can be trusted-
she’s my girlfriend.”
“Oh,” Jennifer said smoothly. “How long
are you here for?”
“A few days,” Nancy replied.
“Great,” Jennifer said, though Nancy
doubted her sincerity. “Well, I’d better get
back to work,” she went on without answering
Nancy’s question. “See you later.”
As Jennifer walked away, Nancy turned to
Ned. “She’s incredibly pretty,” she said.
Ned reddened and shrugged, then led Nancy
toward a small hut. As they approached it,
Nancy noticed a metal box on top of a pole.
She saw another one just like it about fifty
yards farther along the fence. “What are those
things?” she asked.
“Time-lapse cameras,” Ned replied.
“They’re set to take exposures every fifteen
minutes. They even record the date and time
at the bottom of each negative.”
“Incredible,” Nancy said, then pointed to
the hut. “Is that where Brad was hurt?”
“Yeah,” Ned replied. “We keep a few snacks
and drinks in there. Apparently, Brad was
heating water for coffee. When boom! I heard
the explosion and ran up the hill. Brad was
lying across the doorstep, unconscious.”
Nancy shook her head sympathetically.
“The force of the explosion must have blown
him out the door. He’s lucky he wasn’t killed.”
Inside the hut were two chairs and a folding
table covered with computer printouts and
camera gear. Several bags of food pellets and a
stack of traps lined the far wall. Above it was a
shelf with a canister of sugar, instant coffee,
and tea bags.
Nancy pointed to a blackened object in the
comer of the room. “Is that the stove that blew
up?”
Ned nodded, and she went over to it. The
stove consisted of one burner attached by a
copper tube to a canister of propane. Nancy
checked the propane tank. The fitting between
it and the tubing was tight, but when she
traced a path up the tubing to the nut that
connected it to the burner, she let out a gasp.
“Find something?” Ned asked.
Nancy held the tubing and the bolt up to the
light. “Look at this,” she said. “See those
scratch marks? Someone’s tampered with the
nut,”
Ned’s eyes narrowed. “That means when
Brad turned on the stove, propane started
escaping.”
“Exactly,” Nancy agreed. “And when he lit
the match, there was an explosion.”
Ned straighted up. “So it wasn’t an accident.
Someone deliberately tried to hurt Brad!”
Chapter Three
Or kill him,” Nancy added as she de-
tached the tube and put it in the pocket of her
jacket. “This is our first piece of evidence.”
From the doorway, someone spoke up.
“What’s going on here?”
Nancy turned and saw a lanky man of about
fifty, whose black hair was sprinkled with gray
at the temples. He had a deeply tanned face
and a wide, unsmiling mouth. A tall, dark,