A Web of Lies

Chapter 1

It was thirty three minutes after midnight, and Trevor had just read the same sentence for the 12th time in a row. He was starring at the word “It’s” absolutely convinced that he had used it incorrectly, but also entirely certain that changing it would be wrong as well. He wasn’t sure how long he had been fruitlessly attempting to edit the same page, but however long it had been, he was to the point where coffee only caused him to sporadically twitch rather than be productive.

            Though he doubted he would get much further, Trevor decided he would come back to his proof reading after a brief recess. Maybe his mid would work better if his bladder weren’t so full.

            The coffee at the Royal Westingale Museum of Natural History tasted about the same as the fossils Trevor dealt with every day. Being from the states, Trevor had the usual addiction to coffee, but after being in Wales for almost a year now, he was starting to warm up to the idea of tea. He was not to the point where he could drink it without utterly dousing it all in honey or sugar, much to the chagrin of his doctoral professor.

            “For heaven’s sake, Trevor.” Dr. Weston would say. “It’s a cup of tea, not liquid candy.”

            After seeing to his business, Trevor drearily stumbled into the small kitchenette in the staff lounge and grabbed his favorite mug from amongst the cupboards. (It was covered in images of famous remains with bold words saying, “Fossils. They’re all stuck in the past.”)

            Trevor pulled a bag of black tea from the box containing more variety than Joseph's coat of colors. Most of the faculty at the museum were all very particular about their tea, but Trevor always chose his at random. To be perfectly honest, he really couldn’t tell the difference between them, but he would never tell anyone that.

            He filled the cup 3/4ths full and placed it in the microwave. The mug spun cheerfully on the turn table as Trevor gathered his small arsenal of sugar packets. In the thirty seconds the mug had left, the tired grad student nearly fell asleep leaning against the counter. Three repeating beeps brought him back to reality. Trevor blew across the top of the steaming water and placed the mug before him on the counter. He proceeded to dump in his sugar, consuming five packets in the process.

            Trevor carefully filled the rest of the mug with cool water from the sink to equalize the temperature and pulled a small sip. It could probably do with another packet, but Trevor let it slide this time. Though still in a state of mild delirium, he made his way back to the restoration room and heard voices inside.

            Curious. He thought. I was sure everyone had gone home for the evening.           

Trevor thought it might be one of the advertisements from Pandora, but it had asked him, “Are you still listening?” hours ago, and he had neglected to answer. As he got closer, the voices became more intelligible, though Trevor could still not recognize them.

            “No, no, no.” Said the first. “The Tarbosaurus lived in approximately 70 million BC, placing it squarely in the late Cretaceous period.”           

            “Are you certain?” A more feminine voice asked.

            “By my honor, I tell you it is so.” The first said.

            Trevor looked in, but could see no one.           

            “Well look at the name again. Perhaps you’re reading it wrong.” The female voice said.

            “My dear, I have 20/20/20/20/20/20/20/25 vision. My reading of the sentence is not the issue.”           

            “Well be that as it may, he still used the wrong form of ‘Its’, so the sentence still needs revision.”

            “By Jove! What an obscene blunder!” The male voice said.

            Trevor took several careful steps into the room, knowing the voices were coming from near his computer. They could not be coming from the computer itself, for they were unmistakably referring to his dissertation which lay displayed across the screen. He stopped before the table and scanned it carefully.

            Several maps lay rolled at the edge, and fossil fragments cluttered over the rest, laying over reference books and note sheets, as well as a few restoration tools. The only difference between the room now and the room when Trevor had left it were the two common house spiders sitting side by side before the track pad of the laptop. Atop the one to the left lay a very fine and silky top hat, and the one to the right sported a dainty, white bow.

            “Is that a cup of sweet, herbal black?” She said, turning around.

            The moment she caught sight of the dumbfounded, young man behind her, a small “oh” escaped her.

            “Chesterton…..I believe we’ve been discovered.”

            The spider in the top hat spun as well, surprise glinting through his eight monocles.

            “Blast.” He said.