The Cave

by Amanda McKinney

  “Why did you presume the woman was homeless?”

  “She carried one of those stupid hiking backpacks on her all the time. You know, those really long ones that look like you’re carrying a twin-sized bed on your back? Had all sorts of things hanging off the sides. She just seemed dirty, you know?”

  “Can you describe her to me?”

  “Ah hell, that was so long ago. But I remember she had brown, dirty hair,” a flicker of a glance to Sadie’s brown hair. “And was short, I remember that. Real skinny.”

  “Did you ever see her with anyone?”

  “No.”

  “What about your husband?”

  “What about my husband?”

  “Would he have noticed anything that you might have missed?”

  A chuckle laced with disrespect. “No. My husband wouldn’t have noticed anything I missed, Officer.”

  “Why so sure?”

  “Because my husband is never home. He travels eighty-five percent of the time for work. I did the math.” She grinned. “So, no, he wouldn’t be able to help you any more than I can.”

  “Must be lonely,” Sadie said.

  “Not really,” Kat replied.

  “Mrs. Silva, do you have security cameras on the grounds?”

  “Of course,” she said as if it would be crazy not to with a house as magnificent as hers.

  “Were they up and running during the time the woman was on your land?”

  Kat shrugged. “Don’t know why they wouldn’t have been.”

  Sadie flickered a glance at Owen. She didn’t remember reading anything about security camera footage in the case file.

  “Do you know if the tapes have already been reviewed?” Owen asked.

  “Don’t know. Come to think of it… not sure if they even asked about that last time.”

  “Do you remember who spoke with you about the woman?”

  “Yeah, Sheriff Crawly.”

  Sadie’s eyebrows raised as she looked at Owen.

  “I’d love to take a look at those tapes, if you don’t mind.”

  Kat took another drag as if deciding whether to help them or not. She concentrated on Owen while blowing out a string of smoke. “Was sorry to hear about your uncle.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Shouldn’t have gone caving alone, you know. But he always was a careless guy.”

  Owen’s eyes flashed with anger.

  The smile that curved on the woman’s red lips made Sadie want to slap her.

  “Thought that whole mess was behind me, but seems Ray’s just as popular now as he was when he was alive.”

  “What do you mean?” Sadie asked.

  “You’re not the first person to come asking about him.”

  “Who?” Owen’s voice was as cold as ice.

  “That deputy. What’s his name? Deputy Tucker. That’s it. Odd guy if you ask me. Heard he got discharged from the military for getting in a fight with his superior or something.” She snorted, “Real American hero.”

  Sadie’s eyes rounded as the image of Deputy Tucker’s hiking pack flashed through her head—with a patch of a large American Flag sewn onto the front pocket.

  Chapter 18

  “Sit.”

  Kimi shot him a look that would send most men’s balls shriveling to the size of grapes.

  But he didn’t care.

  He wanted answers, and he wanted them now.

  Griffin waited until Kimi sat on the folding chair he’d dragged into the cave, just out of the rain. After a few seconds of staring him down, she conceded.

  “Thank you. Now.” Instead of taking the seat next to her, Griffin opted to stand. He had a feeling he needed to exercise every bit of authority he had in him with this conversation.

  “What were you doing last night?”

  Kimi’s eyes rounded. Bingo.

  “How…”

  “I need you to tell me what’s going on. Right now.”

  She stared at him, scrambling to put together a sentence.

  “I saw, Kimi. I followed you into the cave. What the hell were you doing?”

  Kimi closed her eyes. “Oh, my God.” She pushed out the chair. Well, that didn’t last long.

  He watched her wheels turn. She’d been caught, and she knew it. No way to sweet-talk—or lick for that matter—her way out of this one.

  Kimi heaved out a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest.

  Dammit she was cute when she was pissed.

  “Fine. Yes, I did go into the cave in the middle of the night, alone. But it wasn’t anything to do with the skeleton we’re excavating, or the kid that was shot, or anything like that. I promise.”

  “What, then? What were you looking for?”

  “My God,” she laughed a humorless laugh and scrubbed her hands over her face. “This is so fucking embarrassing.”

  “Hey.” He closed the inches between them. “Listen. I know… what we have isn’t exactly a relationship, but it’s me, Kimi. The dude you’ve seen every inch of. You know me, and I know you. Don’t be embarrassed. Of anything.”

  Kimi blew out an exhale and nodded. It was the first time he’d seen her vulnerable.

  A minute stretched between them with nothing but the buzz of the rain on the rocks outside. He waited patiently for her to open up to him in the only way she hadn’t already.

  “The legend of Atohi…” she said, finally.

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m a many-times removed descendant of him.”

  He blinked, giving the words a moment to process.

  “Yeah. See? You think I’m crazy now. It’s crazy, huh?” Her big eyes looked up at him and he saw something else he’d never seen before—insecurity.

  “No. No, no, no… just… keep going.” He said it calmly, urging her to continue. As he stared back at her now, he saw it. Clear as day. The flawless, naturally tanned skin. Dark eyes punctuated by black hair as soft as silk. He should have seen it. He should have put the pieces of the puzzle together.

  “Okay.” Another deep breath. “So, your story of the legend isn’t exactly accurate.” She shifted her weight. “It’s true that a man butchered his family in here, in Crypts Cavern… but not everyone. His daughter got out. That man was my great-great-grandpa, and the girl who escaped was my great-grandma.” She paused, staring at him, waiting for some sort of reaction. When he didn’t give one, she continued, “So, when I heard you and Sadie were being called to this cave, I had to come. Why? I don’t know, I wanted to see it. I’ve never actually been inside. I wanted to finally face this horrible past that haunts my family… My name, Kimi, means ‘secret’ in Algonquin. That’s the tribe I’m a descendant of. And the curse?” She shook her head. “Evil, horrible things have happened to my bloodline since Atohi killed himself in this damn cave. Do you know both my parents died in a car accident? Two of my cousins—a house fire. The list goes on.” She paused again, mindlessly kicked a rock. “My granny told me she believes that the reason that we’re cursed is that Atohi never received a proper burial. Once he does, the curse will be released. I thought maybe if I came here, maybe if I face it, maybe it would go away or something. Or hell, maybe I’d find his bones and give him the burial he deserves. That’s why I asked you to ask Sadie to let me tag along. This is why I wanted to come so badly.”

  “Kimi,” before he could talk himself out of it, he reached out and grabbed her hands. “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “It’s embarrassing, Griffin. It’s something I’ve removed myself from. Something I didn’t want you, of all people to know.” She looked away, and he swore he saw the glint of a tear in her eye. “I think I’m cursed, Griffin. My life is cursed… and everyone in it.”

  He pulled her in for a hug and kissed her on the forehead. “You’re not cursed, Kimi. We all create our own paths, our own destinies. You’ve got a shitty past. So what? It doesn’t have to define you, or your future.”

  A sniffle confirmed that she was crying. “No, Griffin, you
don’t understand. Tragedy swirls around me like a vicious, unstoppable force of pure evil. Anyone in my life is cursed.”

  Thunder rumbled in the distance as the rain began to pick up.

  “Don’t worry, Kimi.” His gaze shifted to the storm outside the cave. “We’re all going to make it out of here just fine.”

  *

  Owen hit a patch of mud, sliding to a stop inches behind Crawly’s bumper, which was parked next to Kyle’s Subaru. He’d spent the entire drive—until reception dropped—on the phone with Lieutenant Colson, updating him on Dr. Perez’s findings of the extra tooth that connected to her cold case, the visit with Kat, and the desperate screams about a flag. He demanded they put a BOLO out for Tucker and bring him in for questioning, and threaten Kat with a warrant if she didn’t turn over her security tapes immediately. The two hung up agreeing to an immediate meeting with Chief McCord to discuss developments—just as soon as he saw Sadie and her team safely out of the woods.

  “Tucker’s not here. I didn’t see him this morning either.” Sadie squinted to see through the rain as she looked around the small clearing.

  “I want you guys to pack up and hit the road,” Owen said, his tone deep, words clipped as if he was giving orders to one of his men. The man had switched from Mr. Charming to all-cop somewhere over the last twenty minutes.

  She glanced at the puddles forming in the potholes. It wasn’t just the rain, she knew, it was that he didn’t want Sadie anywhere close to the cave, to Deputy Tucker, or to Sheriff Crawly. The longer she and her team stayed near that cave, the longer they were in danger.

  “What are you going to say to Crawly when you see him?”

  “Nothing. And you’re not either. Not until we get more information, or talk to Tucker. And not before I get another look in that cave for whatever the hell Tucker is hiding in there. Brian Russell went back to the cave to look for something. I’m going to find it. For all we know, Crawly’s an accomplice here.”

  Sadie nodded. It made no sense why Crawly didn’t add the confrontation between Kat and Jane Doe in the police report. Jane Doe had been the name assigned to the homeless woman over the course of Owen’s conversation with Lieutenant Colson.

  “What about the Anarchy angle?”

  Owen turned off his headlights and pulled out his keys. Although it was mid-afternoon, the storm that was blowing in cast a deep gray shadow over the woods. “The guy was discharged from the National Guard. That’ll give anyone pent-up anger.” He reached back and pulled out a pack of plastic pullover raincoats. He tossed her one—bright yellow. “Sadie, whoever killed my uncle and Brian Russell also killed our Jane Doe—you said it yourself. Her skull indicated blunt force trauma, and the woman was buried in a shallow grave for Christ’s sake. Why their bodies were separated, I don’t know. But I’m going to find out. In the meantime? You’re getting out of these woods.”

  “Owen, I haven’t even completed my search yet, there could be more—”

  “You’re done, Sadie.”

  She heaved out a breath and slipped on the raincoat.

  After checking the gun he kept in an ankle holster, Owen pushed open the door. Rain pelted the interior of the car. She nodded to the extra raincoat on the console. “Raincoat?”

  “No. Too confining. Let’s go.”

  Sadie pulled up the hood and jumped out, the rain pounding her shoulders despite the thick trees overhead. She grabbed her pack from the camper, and then they stepped into the woods, the rain too heavy, too loud, to allow for any sort of conversation.

  They reached the rope bridge and without a word, he stepped in front, and reached for her hand. Together, they crossed—a comfortable rhythm, a comfortable intimacy. Then, he grabbed her hand and led her through the woods, his steely eyes scanning the surrounding woods every few seconds.

  Sadie frowned as the cave came into view—not a single bag, pack, water bottle, person. Nothing.

  “Where is everyone?” A feeling of dread washed over her as they stepped onto the boulder, the rain splashing off the rocks, soaking the bottom of her pants.

  Owen looked around. “There’s their stuff. At the mouth of the cave.”

  “Let’s go.”

  As they reached the entrance, a light bounced off the dark wall inside.

  “Sadie!” Griffin emerged from the tunnel, his face and body covered in mud and grime. “Boy am I glad to see you.”

  Sadie dipped into the cave, out of the rain. “Geez, you’re covered.”

  “I’ve been exploring deeper into the cave the last hour.” His breath was short, eyes hyper.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “Kimi’s searching the other side of this hill, looking for anything we missed. Aaron and Kyle split off a while ago. Crawly was still here when I went back in the cave. Is he not at the camper?”

  “No.” Frowning, she glanced at Owen, who was scanning the dense forest lining the cave.

  “Sadie, I’ve got to tell you something…” Griffin’s eyes twinkled with excitement.

  She tilted her head, every instinct in her body on high alert now. Why exactly, she wasn’t sure.

  “I think I might’ve found the murder weapon.”

  “What?”

  Griffin nodded feverishly. “Yeah. In the lake, just outside of the Anarchy room. My light sparked off something in the water, on a rock ledge. I got as close as I could and, it’s a knife, Sadie.”

  “What makes you think it’s the murder weapon? It could be anyone’s—”

  “It has an Anarchy symbol etched in the hilt.”

  Owen’s neck snapped toward the back of the cave. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. There’s no way I could reach it though…”

  “Take me.”

  “Okay. Just give me one minute. Let me splash this bat shit out of my eyes real quick. It’s burning like a bitch.”

  As Griffin stepped outside, Sadie turned to Owen.

  “Oh my God, Owen. That’s why whoever shot Brian Russell didn’t want him going back into the cave.”

  He stepped past her. “I’m not waiting. I’ll head back and meet you guys back there.”

  She glanced at Griffin who was squatted by a puddle splashing rainwater on his face, then turned back to Owen. “No. Wait. Griff will be just a sec—”

  Pop! Pop, pop!

  Sadie spun around just as Griffin’s body slumped over and rolled down the rocks.

  Chapter 19

  “Griff!” Sadie lunged forward, but was yanked backed, sending her stumbling onto the rocks.

  “Stop.”

  Her eyes popped to Owen. “What? Griffin’s been shot!” Her voice pitched. “You have to—”

  “You have to stay here.”

  “No!” She struggled against him but was pushed to the ground.

  “Whoever shot him probably wants to pick us off one by one as we come out of the cave, Sadie. You. Stay. Here.”

  He didn’t wait for her to argue, instead he pulled his gun, chambered a bullet and with both hands gripping the hilt, he nimbly bounced from rock to rock, and pressed himself against the side of the cave.

  Sadie shifted to a crouch, her pulse roaring in her ears.

  Griffin had been shot.

  Chest heaving, she focused on Griffin’s limp body barely visible just beyond a boulder, a mixture of ice-cold terror and disbelief clashing together like a stun gun in her head.

  Someone shot Griffin.

  She couldn’t just sit there and wait for Owen to approve her to move. They had to get help. They had to call 911.

  Sadie watched Owen slide behind the shadow of the entrance of the cave, his head tilted toward the trees, scanning the hill above.

  Sadie crept forward, willing her heartbeat to slow so she could hear anything other than the thump, thump, thump of her heartbeat in her ears.

  Just then, Owen darted out of the cave.

  Sadie froze and watched him hurl himself over the boulder.

  She waited, holding her breath. />
  No gunshots.

  “Griffin!”

  The faint scream of Kimi’s voice had Sadie scrambling over the rocks and out the cave.

  “Sadie!”

  Sadie turned to see Kimi practically sliding down the hill in a mad panic.

  “What happened? Oh, my God, what happened?”

  “I don’t know!” Sadie yelled back as she ran to the boulder where Owen was hovered over Griffin, sprawled out on the rocks, his skin waxy-pale against a pool of blood spreading across his T-shirt. Another puddle below his thigh.

  “Owen, is he alive?” She squeaked out.

  “Sadie,” Owen said with a chilling calmness as he ripped open Griffin’s shirt. “I need you to call 911 on your SAT phone immediately. Kimi, the flannel shirt around your waist, I need you to shred it and make a tourniquet for his leg, can you do that?”

  Tears rolled down Kimi’s face as she yanked the shirt from her waist.

  Sadie spun on her heel and sprinted to the pack she’d left in the cave as Crawly jogged out from the tree line, his eyes wide with shock.

  “Hey, whoa, is everyone okay?”

  The next hour was a blur.

  The paramedics made it in record time and rushed Griffin to the hospital, moments before Sadie had heard them say “he’s not breathing.”

  Lieutenant Colson had dragged Sheriff Crawly away—not in cuffs, but not happy.

  It seemed the whole town had shown up. BSPD officers, state police, medics, and a few other people that looked like they’d caught a ride to catch the action. Sadie, Owen, and Kimi had given official statements, then Sadie and Kimi had been asked to step aside as the officers searched for bullet casings and any trace evidence.

  The rain continued, a restless force hellbent on making everyone’s job harder. Deep red blood snaked through the puddles, encircling a blood-stained rock where Griffin’s body had laid.

  It was horrific.

  Owen seamlessly stepped into his role as police officer, but as Sadie watched him from a distance, she realized he was so much more than that. Owen ran the show. There was a calm, authoritative demeanor to him that everyone responded to, even the Lieutenant, and she knew she was seeing shades of his time spent in the military.