We decided to get the boat out and try to intercept it. Four of us got in and set off. As we got closer we could see more details. There was a long head and neck coming about two meters out of the water, and the body had humps. Its color was dark and it had to be at least fourteen meters [45.9 feet] long. As we moved closer it rose up a bit, put up a great disturbance so that our boat spun around, then was gone.

The one thing I'll always remember is that eye. It was oval-shaped and jaundice and it looked right at us.

—HUGH AYTON, BALACHLADAICH, AUGUST 1963

Chapter 21

Inverness

I awoke to an incessant pounding on my door. Fearing I had been screaming again in my sleep, I rolled out of bed with a groan, every muscle in my body raw and aching.

"Who the hell is it?"

"Maxie. Open up!"

I unbolted the door and opened it, then staggered to the bathroom sink, and downed several aspirin.

Max followed me in, carrying a rolled-up newspaper. "Still sleeping? It's two-thirty in the affie."

"I was up late, poisoning my body."

"And behaving like our father, yeah?" He held open the newspaper.

The black-and-white photo captured me standing over David, fists balled, face contorted in a wild leer. The caption read: "Wallace Welcomes Colleague to Loch Ness."

"At least they got my good side."

"Caldwell threatened to press charges. Don't worry, he backed off when I threatened a countersuit of slander."

"Let him sue, I've got nothing to lose." I turned over the paper, my eye catching another article.

COUNCIL AMENDS LAWS

In the wake of the gruesome attack on Alaskan resident Justin Wagner and the suspected deaths of at least two other tourists, the Highland Council voted unanimously to amend the "Protection of Animals Act of 1912" and the subsequent "Veterinary Surgeons Act of 1966." The 1912 Law prevented the water creature, known as "Nessie," from being netted by researchers and monster hunters, while the 1966 Act outlawed attempts to take tissue samples from any Loch Ness water beast. Fisheries Protection Board bailiff Theron Turman agreed with the changes, but was quick to point out that the amendments refer only to large water creatures and that it was still illegal to net trout or salmon in Loch Ness.

"Yeah, I read that article, too. What's it all mean?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "It means they want to capture the creature."

Observation Lounge
Clansman Hotel

With an extensive boat dock located directly on Loch Ness, the Clansman Hotel has always been the favorite convening spot for Nessie hunters, and the Highland Council wasted no time in securing it for their own proceedings.

Provost Owen Hollifield checked his watch, then knocked again on David Caldwell's suite. "Afternoon, doctor. Ye ready?"

David opened the door, his eyes red from jet lag. "Born ready. I take it Council did everything they were supposed to?"