Beverly Connor - Dead Secret

“Doc, I can wait for you forever.” Mike grinned. “But we’re going to have a little problem with MacGregor. He can’t get though the squeeze, and right now I can’t see an alternate route to the cavern.”

Diane stepped back out into the main passage. “We’ll figure something out. Maybe more members of the caving club can join us and we can split up and look for another entrance to the cave system.”

“Good idea. There must be another way in.”

As they walked back to the cavern, Diane kept an eye out along the way for any clue that might have been left behind by their mummy friend. She saw nothing. But it was only luck that she had found the button. There were thousands of rocks littering the tunnel from one end to the other that could be hiding something.

They rounded the last bend and came in sight of the cavern. Neva’s lights illuminated the cavern, casting the large stalagmites and stalactites in a dim, shadowy golden glow. Diane stopped a moment to look.

“Breathtaking,” said Mike.

“It’s one of the reasons I love caves,” said Diane. “So many gorgeous views.”

They walked to the opening, and Diane climbed down the wall first. It took her several minutes to get back down. Mike, more experienced at rock climbing, made the descent in less than half the time.

“A button,” said Neva, holding the bag and peering at the silver disk. “David will be happy with this. Did you know he’s constructing a button-recognition database?”

Mike raised his eyebrows. The expression on his face was obvious: He was wondering if maybe David had too much time on his hands.

“David lives for databases,” Diane said.

“And recognition algorithms,” added Neva.

“But buttons?” said Mike.

“Well, we have a button that needs recognition,” said Diane.

“I found a rope among the rocks by the wall over there.” Neva pointed to a pile of rubble not far from where Diane and Mike had climbed in and out of the opening. “It’s pretty rotten. Our guy here ate Moon Pies.” She held up two wrappers, then dropped them in an evidence bag.

“Early energy bars, I guess,” said Mike. “Jin ought to be here by now. I’ll go meet him.” Mike made his way across the rubble to the rope hanging from the chamber above, ready to climb up.

“Hi, guys!” The voice came from above them, and they all looked up to see Jin peering down from the hole in the ceiling.

Dammit, Diane thought as the image flashed through her head of him traipsing over rocks and across ledges, oblivious to the dangers. “Jin, you were supposed to stay outside,” she yelled up at him. “How did you get here?”

“Dick MacGregor brought me as far as that really narrow tunnel. You guys do this all the time?”

“You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here? This is not a cave for a novice. You’ve never been in a cave.”

“Come on now, Boss. You don’t expect me to hear a story about you finding mummified remains in a cave and just stay outside the door. I got my hiking backpack, extra flashlights and batteries, a bota bag of water, and a hard hat. I’m good to go.”

Mike looked over at Diane. “I’ll go up and help him down.”

Mike climbed the rope and lowered Jin’s duffel bag, a crime scene kit, and a large backpack on a frame. Diane noticed a spray of dust come down with the equipment. She looked up at the ceiling but didn’t see any loose rocks. Must be dust and rocks left over from her fall, she thought. She heard Mike warn Jin of the instability of the rocks around the hole as Jin climbed down after his equipment.

Close to the bottom, Jin jumped off the rope and dusted off his hands. Diane and Neva gawked at him. He sported a construction hard hat and a shirt and jeans that were several sizes too big for his thin frame.

“What do you have on?” said Neva. Diane tried to suppress laughter.

Jin grinned and looked down at his pants, lifting them up by the pockets and turning them loose, letting the rolled-up cuffs fall around his running shoes.

“Well, see, when I got here, I was wearing shorts and a tee. Your guy Dick told me that I would get cold down here in the cave, and he loaned me some clothes he had in his car.”

“Make sure you don’t trip on the cuffs,” said Neva. “There’s a lot of rocks around here to fall over.”

“Jin,” said Diane. “Since you are here, you are to do everything we tell you. We’ll be carrying a lot of stuff getting out of here, and it won’t be easy.”

“Sure thing, Boss.”

Jin didn’t look the least contrite to Diane. He shined a flashlight around the cavern with a happy-to-be-here look on his face.

Mike climbed down the rope. More dust fell from the hole.

“Jin make it okay?” It was Dick MacGregor calling on the walkie-talkie. “He had a lot of stuff with him.”

“He’s here in fine shape,” Diane replied, using her radio. “The equipment looks pretty good too.”

“I told him I didn’t think he could drag all that stuff through that tunnel.”

“It’s all here,” said Diane. She glanced at the pile of stuff Jin brought with him and was surprised he managed to get it through the narrow tunnel.

“I gotta go wait for the deputy outside the cave,” said Dick. “He’s got some kind of paper for you to sign.”

“Thanks, Dick. I appreciate your help.”

“Sure. Always fun to go caving with you guys. You never know what we’ll run into. Went caving all my life and never had near the adventures I’ve had with you guys.”

“Glad we’ve been able to provide you with new experiences,” said Mike into his walkie-talkie, grinning at Diane. “You think the deputy has had time to get up there yet?”

“Probably waiting for me outside now. I’ll go see.”

Jin’s duffel bag carried several battery-powered lanterns that he had padded with bubble wrap. They positioned them around the chamber. The duffel also contained a body bag. Jin grabbed his crime scene kit and walked with them to the mummified remains.

“I wonder what happened. Fall through that hole, you think?” asked Jin.

“No,” said Mike. “Diane made that hole when she fell through the ceiling.”

Jin looked at the two of them, wide-eyed.

“I managed to hang on to the ledge until Mike rescued me,” said Diane.

“Jeez, Boss, you could have broken something.”

“Fortunately, I didn’t. Our guy may have been trying to descend a rope from that opening over there.” Diane pointed to the high opening in the cavern wall. “And the railroad spike the rope was anchored to came loose and sent him crashing to the cavern floor.”

“Bet he broke something,” said Jin.

“I’m sure he did,” said Diane. “Jin, you and Neva process his body. Neva, pack the evidence and take pictures. I’m going to move some of these rocks that I dislodged from that hole in the ceiling and look at the floor. Work as fast as you comfortably can.”

Jin and Neva busied themselves while Diane surveyed the rock pile. Mike had moved some of them from around the bottom of the rope to give them a place to stand. Diane didn’t know if there might be anything under the fallen rocks, but prudence dictated that she have a look.

“You want some help?” asked Mike.

“I hate to ask you to do this.”

“That’s all right. Helping with a crime scene makes my résumé look more interesting. No one has to know that all I did was move rocks.”

It was a bigger job than Diane had anticipated, but they cleared a good portion of the fallen rocks, stacking them to the side.

Diane stood tall and stretched her muscles, she looked up and scanned the ceiling. “I’m a little concerned about the ceiling,” she said.