Dead Secret, page 3
part #3 of Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation Series
She stopped at the next bend and examined the silt and found no other marks in the dirt.
“Dr. Fallon.” The radio squawked a string of static syllables.
“Neva?”
“Just checking in. I found a railroad spike.” Even with the static, Diane could hear the puzzlement in Neva’s voice.
“That’s great. Mark the place where you found it.”
“Sure thing. Out.”
Diane followed the tunnel, watching the floor, the walls, the ceiling. It was like a gently waving avenue, not too cluttered, big enough to drive a car through with room to spare. The light shining off the uneven, rippling walls, and the distant outline of the oval cross-section, made the passage look like a vortex funneling her to some mysterious destination. It was a close call, but at this moment the mysteries of the cave held more allure to her than the remains back in the chamber. She wished that her caving partners were here so she wouldn’t have to stop when the tunnel ended.
Just ahead a pile of breakdown with rocks the size of boulders littered the way. Beside the pile she found another passage, a side branch. The entrance was small; she would have to duck to get through it. From her vantage she could see that it sloped steeply upward and the passageway was strewn with large boulders—negotiable, but they didn’t look stable. She scanned the walls around the entryway. Above the opening, almost at eye level, she saw a smudge. It was so faint she almost missed it, but it was definitely an X.
Smiling to herself, she grabbed her camera from the pack and snapped a picture. This was confirmation of her expectation that previous explorers, perhaps Caver Doe, had marked their path. In her notepad she made sketches and drew an X to mark the spot. This would definitely go on their caving itinerary. She was willing to bet this new tunnel led to another entrance aboveground. She didn’t remember Mike or any members of her caving club mentioning other caves or entrances in the area. She grinned. New discoveries were what cavers lived for. Returning her notebook and camera to their backpack pockets, she squatted to examine the floor around the opening for artifacts.
Other than the mark on the wall, it looked as if no one had ever been there. She stood up and continued down the main passage. It was an easy traverse, and she wasn’t taking any detours, so she decided to see where the tunnel ended. She picked her way around the jumble of rocks at the side tunnel’s entrance and then walked down the path toward the next bend in this ghost river. She tried to imagine the water flowing through here aeons ago. The image in her mind would make a good visual display for the museum, she thought. She wondered if she could get footage of an underwater river for the video terminals at the museum geology exhibit.
Around the curve the tunnel forked. Diane felt a vague disappointment that her solo exploration was ended, but she’d already decided that she would stop when she got to the end of the main tunnel. She wished that caves weren’t so dangerous, because she loved to explore them alone.
She examined the walls around the irregular entrances of the fork. No marks. Nothing. The larger of the two passages slanted upward. She shined her headlamps just inside. The walls were close together and, like the first offshoot passage, it was littered with large boulders.
The other tunnel was even smaller, almost a squeeze. She would fit, but she would have to go sideways. Diane leaned inside just enough to see around a rock that partially blocked the way. The passage slanted downward at a steep angle. She had the impression it was twisted around like a corkscrew. She stopped for a moment, holding her breath. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard a sound, like white noise or flowing water. The sound was just at the edge of her hearing, like a whisper she wasn’t sure she even heard.
The temptation to follow was almost more than she could resist—just a little way down the tunnel, she could always turn back and still find her way—but Diane ducked out of the entrance before the siren call became too tempting.
She took another look around the two branch tunnels and snapped a picture before she started back toward the chamber.
Returning to the chamber through the tunnel was faster, since she knew the route and the lay of the rocks. As she rounded the last bend back, she saw a light from a helmet. For a moment she thought Neva had climbed up the wall, and Diane was about to chastise her—Neva was new to caving and Diane had warned her never to go it alone. But here Diane herself was—alone. She smiled inwardly.
When the figure grew closer she saw it was Mike. He had a deep crease between his brows, and with the light and shadows on his face, it was hard to read his expression.
“Are you all right?” His words sounded tight. “I was surprised to find you had gone off by yourself.”
Diane was a little startled at his level of concern. “No farther than we’ve strayed many times. I stuck to this main tunnel.”
She started to say something more, but realized that he was worried. It was disturbing to witness an accident, and though her fall had turned out all right, she could have been seriously injured. Mike was as shaken by it as she.
“I’m fine, really.”
His face split into a smile. “Yeah, I would’ve done the same thing.”
“Did you find the coroner?”
He nodded. “The entrance to the cave is in Hall County, but according to the mapping we’ve done so far, it turns out the chamber containing the body is across the county line in Lumpkin County. The Lumpkin County coroner is a man named Brewster Pilgrim. Great name, huh? He said that he ‘would not dream of interfering with a cosmos that allowed a forensic anthropologist caver to discover human bones in a cave’ and that you should ‘have at it.’ Just send him the paperwork.”
Diane laughed and realized just how tense she still was from the mishap. She’d forced it out of her mind, made light of the seriousness of it, but her muscles remembered, and the relief of laughing brought a dull ache to her head. She absently rubbed her temple.
“I’ve got some aspirin,” said Mike.
“I’m fine, really.”
“The coroner’s sending a deputy to make it official. I got hold of Jin,” said Mike. “He’s bringing what you need from the crime lab. MacGregor’s waiting outside the cave for him. I’ll go back up and get your equipment when it arrives.”
“Good job. I’ll have to start paying you out of the crime lab budget before long.” They stood looking at each other, their headlamps making a pool of light surrounding them. “How is Neva doing?” asked Diane after a pause.
“She’s happily searching a grid pattern of the chamber floor. She showed me the railroad spike she found. Said you seemed happy about it, but she wasn’t sure why. When I climbed up I saw the spike in the wall and the place where it looked like one was pulled out. You thinking that’s what caused his fall?”
“It’s likely. At first, however, I thought he might not have been paying attention to the floor and walked out into thin air.”
“There is a drop there that could be a hell of a first step. Find anything else up here?”
Diane fished the bag with the button out of her pack. “I found this wedged between two rocks.”
Mike looked at the button, then down at the rock-strewn floor of the tunnel and back at Diane, his eyes wide. “I thought Neva was a detail freak. There’s thousands of rocks here. How could you possibly find that little thing between two of them?” He took the plastic bag from her and peered at the button. “I think you pulled it off your shirt.” Diane was wearing an open plaid flannel shirt and a white tee underneath. Mike handed her back the plastic bag and tugged the button side of her flannel shirt. “Nope, they’re all here… . Hey, this is a guy’s shirt.”
“You don’t recognize it?”
He looked closer. “Yes, it’s my shirt. The one I gave you last month when you got yours all mucked up. So you’re wearing my clothes. This means I’m making progress.” He grinned broadly.
Diane suddenly felt self-conscious and wished she hadn’t brought the shirt’s history to his attention. “You said it was too small for you and that I could keep it. Besides, I understand you and Neva are dating.”
“You interested in my love life, Doc?”
“Just making conversation.”
“We’ve gone out a few times. We’re good friends and I like that.” He let go of her shirt.
“It’s a good caving shirt. Don’t take it as a proposition—or wishful thinking.”
He put his hand on his chest. “Doc, you’re always cutting out my heart.” He gave her a crooked smile.
“You look all broken up,” she said with her best poker face, cuffing him lightly on his chest and starting back to the cavern.
“Find anything interesting down the tunnel?” asked Mike.
Diane stopped. “Several things.”
“Why don’t you show me while we wait for Jin to get here?”
“I really need to get back and help Neva search the cavern for any dead-caver clues.”
“Will it take long to show me?” Mike nodded his head in the direction Diane had just investigated.
“No, but …”
“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.
Chapter 4
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?”
“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.
