Beverly Connor - Dead Secret

“I’ll help with the search when we get back.”

“All right, but let me check in first.” Diane put the button back in her pack and shifted the pack so that the walkie-talkie clipped to it was near her shoulder. “Neva, how are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” she replied. “I kind of like this cavern. And I have someone here to keep me company. He’s a little old for me, but he’s a great listener, lets me do all the talking.”

“That’s my girl,” Mike said, mostly to himself.

Diane grinned. “Take a break. I’m going to show Mike a couple of things and I’ll be there to help you finish.”

“I don’t need a break. I’m fine.”

“All right but don’t tire yourself out. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“No problem.”

She turned to Mike. “When we finish here, would you go to the entrance to meet Jin? I don’t want him coming into the cave. He’s never done any caving that I’m aware of.”

Mike nodded, and Diane watched the light from his duel headlamps dance up and down on the walls.

She led the way, backtracking to the first offshoot tunnel. They picked their way through the rubble to the opening.

“Here.” She pointed at the mark above the entrance. “There’s no way to know who made it, but it could have been made by our guy to find his way back.”

“You’re thinking there has to be another entry point,” said Mike, leaning forward to get a close look at the faint X over the entrance.

“Maybe. Until we made the new hole in the roof of the cavern this may have been a separate cave with its own entrance, unconnected to the cave we came in-unless, of course, one of the passages connects them up somewhere else.”

Mike squatted and examined the rocks around the mouth of the entrance, moving some of the rock, touching the silt and sand with his fingers. Then he stood and stepped through the opening. Diane followed directly behind him, the passage so narrow that they fit only single file. The tunnel was filled with tight meanders between huge boulders and uneroded protrusions from the wall of the cave. Some of the boulders were caught between other rocks as if they had tumbled down the passage.

“I don’t like this,” said Mike. “I’m thinking they marked the opening to tell them not to go here. It looks too unstable. Some of the rocks at the entrance have been thrown out from a recent rock slide. Be easy to get trapped if one of these big guys shifts-”

His voice was cut off by a grinding rumble above them.

Mike turned and put a hand on Diane’s back just as she sprang toward the tunnel entrance. A cloud of dust and pebbles suddenly surrounded them, blinding them. Diane kept running, hoping her feet would hit solid ground and not the rocks littering the floor. She sensed Mike right behind her. Her next footfall landed on an angular rock and she started falling. She put her arms in front of her to break the impact but was caught by Mike’s arm around her waist. He carried her for one step; then she regained her footing. They ran out of the tunnel entrance veering sharply away from the path of the rocks. The change of direction and uneven rocky floor threw them both off balance, and the momentum sent them sprawling to the cave floor. By good fortune, they landed mainly on silt and missed the sharp, jagged rocks. Dust bellowed from the opening, followed by a small avalanche of rocks. Mike still held her around the waist.

“Glad to see I’ve still got adrenaline left; how about you?” said Mike, sliding his arm away.

“I’m good for another scare or two.” Diane struggled to her hands and knees. Mike rose, pulling her up with him, and they moved away from the dust.

“Okay, so X means keep out,” he said.

“It does now.” Diane bent over, coughing the dust out of her lungs.

“You okay?” Mike choked as he spoke, and he started coughing too.

“A little beat up, but otherwise fine.” Diane examined the fresh scrapes on the heel of her hands and rubbed her shoulder where it hit a rock. “I’ve never had two close calls in one outing. I don’t have one close call very often.”

“Sometimes things happen. That’s why we don’t cave alone.”

“What happened here, do you think?”

Mike shrugged. “One of the boulders lost its foundation for some reason and gravity took over, sending it crashing into another boulder, and suddenly we had an avalanche.” He shrugged again. “Could have been caused by small seismic activity, sonic boom, who knows. . like I said, it looked unstable. Wouldn’t have taken much. Judging by the rocks around the entrance, I’m guessing this has happened before.”

“The entrance looks blocked now,” Diane said, staring at the mouth of the offshoot tunnel still shrouded in a thin fog of dust.

Mike’s light flickered. He tapped it with his finger. “We’d better do a lamp check.”

They checked out each other’s headlamps to make sure nothing was broken or loose. During the check, Diane noticed for the first time with some alarm that there was blood on Mike’s face.

“You’re bleeding,” she said, pointing to the corresponding spot on her own face. “You sure you’re okay?”

Mike pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his chin and looked at the small smear of blood. “This is nothing. I’ve had worse spills. . Hell, I’ve had worse cuts shaving. You said you found some more tunnels at the end of this main one? Why don’t we have a look before we go back?”

Diane hesitated. “Sure, it won’t take long.” She led the way toward the end of the main tunnel.

“It’s not dangerous, is it?” Mike quipped.

Diane’s radio squawked.

“I heard a noise; is everything all right?” It was Neva.

“We’re fine,” said Diane. “Just a little rockfall in one of the offshoot tunnels. No damage done. Is everything okay there?”

“Yup. I’m almost done.”

Diane felt a pang of guilt. She’d left Neva to search the entire chamber by herself.

As if sensing her guilt, Mike laughed and said, “Neva’s really having a good time. Nothing like a nice big cavern to knock around in for a while to get your confidence back. Neva loves caves but is still a little scared of them, with good reason-she had a really close call.”

Diane winced as she thought of how close Neva came to dying in this very cave system.

“I think having something focused to do is helping her get over her fears,” said Mike. “Her eye for detail is amazing. The girl must have been a killer on an Easter-egg hunt. Of course, if you found that tiny button among all these rocks, you weren’t too shabby either. What is it about you crime scene types? Got some kind of locator gene?”

“It’s all in knowing how to look-and also luck.” Diane pointed to the split end of the tunnel. “I’d like to explore those passages the next time we come,” she said. The two openings looked like huge dark eyes staring unblinkingly at them as they approached.

“The high road and the low road,” said Mike as they stood next to the openings.

Diane noticed that, like her, he was drawn to the one that led down. He stepped through the entrance and looked down. Diane stood behind him, very still, listening.

“You hear that?” said Mike.

“I thought I heard something when I was here before. You hear it too?”

“Like flowing water, maybe? It’s hard to say.” He grinned at her. “Interesting.”

“I’d like to investigate, but I don’t want to leave Neva alone any longer.”

“No. But we can come back next weekend,” said Mike. “What do you say?”

“I’m leaving for a two-week vacation in the mountains tomorrow. How about in three weeks? Can you wait that long?”