I wasn’t going to argue with her, so I took out my notebook and pencil and began asking her questions about the caves and her research. She was eager to talk about every tiny detail regarding collecting and studying samples. Her responses were purely academic. I knew that I would have to toss most of it. Our readers weren’t going to be interested in a short course in geology. They wanted action and adventure. Despite the fact that our interview wasn’t exactly compelling, I took extensive notes and figured I could pull out the most important facts later. Sam had been much better at explaining their project. Professor LeAnna spoke as if she was addressing a lecture hall preparing for a test. When she finally paused I tried to think of a way to bring up the samples I had found in Sam’s coat without throwing him under the bus.
“How do you document what you take from the cave?” I asked. “I was under the impression that it’s against federal law to remove anything from Forest Service land.”
Her face turned blotchy. “We have permission as part of our partnership with the Forest Service to remove anything that’s pertinent to our research.”
“Do you document that somehow?”
She stared at me for a few seconds and then walked over to her desk. Handing me a folder, she explained their checkout system.
“What about samples that aren’t documented?”
The splotches on her face expanded and she swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. That would be illegal.”
I could tell that she was nervous, and I decided to tell a little white lie to see if she would open up. “That’s what I thought.” I bit my bottom lip and pretended to be worried. “See, the thing is that Detective Summer caught me with some rock samples and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“You took samples from the cave?”
I shook my head. “No. Sam did. He gave me his jacket, and I found them in his coat pocket. I wasn’t sure whether I should say anything. I don’t want to get him in trouble.”
Professor LeAnna took the chain off her neck and swung her glasses like a pendulum. “Oh dear. And you told the police?”
“Not exactly. Detective Summer asked if I had seen anything unusual, and I said I found some rocks in Sam’s pocket.”
“Did he take them?” She scanned the room and stared at each workstation.
“Who? Sam?” I looked around the lab. There were six workstations with microscopes, twenty-inch computer monitors, boxes of rock samples, and test tubes and beakers.
“No, the detective.”
“No. Is Sam in some kind of trouble?”
She sighed and placed her glasses on the desk. “If he is, then it’s my fault.”
“I don’t understand.”
She started pacing in front of her desk. “I’ll go straight to Detective Summer and explain.”
“Explain what?”
The blotches on her skin were so pronounced that her face looked like a leopard with red spots. “I never should have put him up to doing that for me. I never thought anyone would find out. Poor Sam. Did Detective Summer say that he was in trouble?”
“Not that I remember.”
She sighed and rubbed her temples. “I knew something like this would happen. I never should have agreed.”
“Agreed to what?”
“You may or may not know that our funding has been tight. I’ve been trying to drum up new partners and investors in hopes of keeping the lab open. Our research isn’t sexy, like some of the other sciences. That is, until recently. This Mars project is great for us. The media loves anything that involves Mars or the potential for life. I’ve been pitching everywhere. If I can just make it for another few months, then our research will go broad and we shouldn’t have any problem finding funding. But in the meantime, I had to do something to get by.”
She stopped and rested her head in her hands. “I can’t believe I did it, but I took Harley’s money.”
“Harley Coltrane?”
“Yeah. He offered me a nice fat check in exchange for taking a few samples.”
“What?” Suddenly it made sense why she hadn’t inserted herself into the debate between Harley and Kira and Dupree.
She nodded. “I know it’s completely unethical. It goes against everything I believe in, but I was out of options. I figured it wasn’t a big deal. What were a few extra rocks?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“So Harley is funding your research?”
“Not funding, but he gave us a nice donation.”
“In exchange for sneaking him samples.”
She looked as if she was about to break down. “It sounds much worse when you say it like that.”
“What did Harley want with rock samples?”
“I have no idea.” She stopped pacing. “I know what you’re thinking. I never should have agreed, but I am so close to publishing my groundbreaking ice microbe research that I didn’t have any other option.”
“Isn’t it weird that a business developer would want rock samples from the lava cave floor?”
She nodded. “To be honest, I didn’t ask because I figured the less I knew about his motives, the better. In fact, I was going to call off our deal, but then Kira was killed and everything has been so up in the air . . .” She trailed off.
“Why were you going to end your deal?”
“Because of this! This conversation we’re having. I’ve been so singularly focused on my research that I was blinded by it. Imagine if word spreads in the scientific community that I made a deal with Harley. Everything that I’ve worked for will be ruined.”
I felt sorry for her, especially because I could relate to being blindly focused. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to call Detective Summer right now and put an end to this.” She looped her glasses around her neck. “Would you excuse me, please?”
“Of course.” I thanked her for her time and left the lab. A new round of questions bombarded my brain. Why would Professor LeAnna have put her research at risk? And even more important, what did Harley want with rock samples?
Chapter 20
Now what? There wasn’t enough time to go back to the hotel and change, but I had an hour to kill (bad choice of words, Meg) before the cave tour. The thought of returning to the deep abyss made my stomach swirl.
I decided to find a quiet space under one of the ancient trees where I could curl up and think about my feature and everything I had learned the past few days. Gam is a big believer in the power of the trees.
“Margaret, the trees are the wisdom keepers of the forest. When you need guidance, ask them for help.”
Mother used to get so frustrated with Gam when we would be out for an afternoon at the park. Gam would often pause in the middle of a conversation or in playing on the swings with me when the trees would “call” her. She acted as if the trees were actually calling her, as her body became sucked into their force field. Without a care about her surroundings or who might be watching, she would lean into the tree and wrap her arms around it. It was beautiful to see her sway in rhythm with the massive sturdy trunk. Mother had other thoughts.
“She’s doing it again. She looks like an absolute lunatic.” Mother would scan the park with wild eyes.
“She’s just hugging a tree.”
“Exactly. She’s a grown woman hugging a tree. Hugging a tree!”
Gam would call me over and place my small hands on the tree. “Close your eyes, Margaret. Ask the tree to show you your heart connection and see what happens.”
I remember feeling slightly torn between wanting to feel the tree’s connection, like Gam, but being acutely aware of Mother’s disapproving glare from afar.
“Do you feel it?” Gam’s eyes were closed and her face was serene. She appeared to be floating above the atmosphere.
“I’m not sure.”
She inhaled deeply and placed her hands over mine. We rocked back and forth together. A sense of profound calm came over my body. I wasn�
�t sure if it was from Gam’s touch or if I was really feeling the tree’s heart connection, but either way the moment was magical. I might have stayed there for the rest of the afternoon, but Mother broke the spell by calling us over.
“Let’s go, girls. We have shopping to do.”
Mother’s idea of finding a moment of Zen was in the racks of high-end clothing at her favorite boutique. She wanted nothing to do with Gam’s new age teachings. Gam never pushed her. I often wondered why but had never asked either of them. Maybe it was time for me to ask some of those questions.
I found a tree near the entrance to the cave, and before breaking out my notebook I took a moment to place my hands on its rough bark and see if I could feel its heart connection. If I was ever in need of the wisdom of the forest it was today.
Almost immediately a pulsing sensation rushed down my spine. I smiled and said a silent prayer of thanks to the tree and the Universe. Slow down and breathe, Maggie. I heard Pops’ voice in my head. It had been a while since I’d heard his voice. I’m not sure if it was my own internal coping mechanism or if there really was something deeper at work in the Universe, but ever since Pops’ death I heard his voice in my head. It usually came at times of stress and worry. When he was alive he was a calming force for me, much like Gam. I figured that my subconscious had probably tapped into those memories, offering the voice I loved the most in my darkest hours.
I couldn’t believe that he’d been gone for more than two years. In some ways it felt like yesterday and in others like a lifetime. Salty tears slid down my cheeks as I let the base of the tree support me and let myself remember a world with Pops. He wasn’t the funniest person on the planet or the most handsome, but he was the smartest, kindest person I’d ever known. I wondered if I would ever come across anyone like him. He was fiercely committed to his work, not because he wanted fame or glory but because he believed in the truth. He believed it was his duty to give voice to those whose voices had been silenced. He wasn’t just my father. He was my hero.
It had been a while since I had cried about him. It felt strangely cathartic to let the tears flow. I remember Gam telling me once that tears have natural healing properties. “Tears are our body’s way of cleansing. Don’t resist them, Margaret, embrace them.”
Embracing my emotions hadn’t come easy to me these past few years, but I was starting to understand what she meant by that. After twenty minutes of guttural sobs and imagining Pops sitting next to me under the fragrant pine tree, I wiped my nose with the back of my sleeve and sat up. My head felt clear, and my breathing had slowed to an even pace. I let out a long exhale and decided I was ready to focus on my work.
Before I knew it, people had begun to gather in front of the lava cave. I closed my notebook and tucked my phone into my pocket. Glancing at my watch, I checked to make sure I had enough time to store my writing gear in the car before summoning my courage to descend into the lava cave again.
I walked past Dupree, who greeted me with a peace sign.
“Be right back,” I said, holding up my bag.
“No rush.”
When I returned, Dupree and Harley were deep in conversation and neither of them looked happy. Harley had his cowboy hat in his hand and was waving it in the air. Dupree took a step backward and held out his hands as if protecting the cave from Harley’s advances. I couldn’t hear what they were arguing about and debated interrupting them versus trying to hang back and eavesdrop.
I decided on the latter. Neither of them had noticed me yet, so I pretended to tie my shoe and crouched on the ground.
“No way, man. It’s not happening,” Dupree said, still barricading the entrance with his twiglike body. It seemed like if Harley wanted to, he could tap Dupree’s shoulder and knock him over.
Harley slammed his hat on his head and stormed away. “This isn’t over,” he shouted as he stomped right toward me. He came within an inch of crushing my foot. I jumped up just as his heavy boot was about to land on me.
“What are you doin’?” His voice was gruff.
“Tying my shoe.”
“You should watch where you’re going, kid.”
I found it ironic that he was telling me to watch where I was going, given that I wasn’t going anywhere. Although in fairness I had been trying to listen in on their argument, but Harley didn’t know that. He continued on and bumped into Professor LeAnna. She reached for his arm and pulled him away. I really wanted to follow them. Was she ending their partnership, or was she simply trying to calm him down?
There wasn’t any way I could follow after them without being completely obvious, so I dusted pine needles from my hand and walked over to Dupree. “What’s up with him?” I pointed in the direction that Harley and Professor LeAnna had gone.
“He’s an angry, old white man,” Dupree said, making a circle in the dirt with his hiking boots.
“What’s he angry about?”
“He’s always angry about something. That’s where he lives—in anger, you know?”
I did know.
Dupree made a peace sign in the middle of the dirt circle. “It’s not my style. None of us who work on this land want Harley anywhere near here.”
“Is there anything you can do to keep him away?”
“I’m trying. Trust me. But Big Brother is always watching, you know?”
This time I didn’t know what he meant by that. When I asked him to clarify he looked at me as if I were speaking a foreign language.
“Big Brother is always watching. Always. That’s why we have to fight to keep them off this land. We have to protect the sacred spaces around us.”
Was he being paranoid, or was he trying to tell me something? Before I could ask him, Sam showed up with Congressman Riley not far behind. Sam looked as if he was as eager to get back to work as Professor LeAnna. He held a lantern in one hand and a trowel in the other. I wondered how he was going to navigate the stairs with something in each hand. The congressman wore a smug expression and pullover jacket with the Oregon state emblem on the breast pocket.
We waited for a few minutes in an awkward silence until Professor LeAnna and Harley returned. Harley’s face wasn’t as red as it had been when he and Dupree were arguing. Professor LeAnna must have found some way to placate him, but there was obviously no lost love between him and Dupree. He scowled and made comments under his breath as soon as Dupree started talking.
Memories of finding Kira’s lifeless body came flooding over me as we started our descent. Darkness closed in with each step that I took. The blackness of the cave matched my mood. Any respite that I had found from the tree disappeared.
Once we made it to the cave floor, Dupree shined his flashlight into the long tunnel. “We’re going to head this way for a while and then I’m going to take you into one of the deeper tunnels. Stay close. Make sure you have your headlamps turned on. Use those and reserve your flashlights for emergencies.”
“What kind of emergency?” I whispered to Sam.
“If you get separated, stay put. I’ll come to you. The farther you go into the cave, the harder it will be to find you. We’re going into off-limits areas. It’s important to stick close.” If it was socially acceptable I would have hopped on Dupree and begged him for a piggyback ride. There was no way I wanted to get lost down in the vast, cold darkness.
The next thing I knew, Dupree took off and we all followed like ants after him. He was moving faster than I expected. We trekked through an area known as the Collapsed Corridor and through a cathedral-like archway into the Echo Chamber. My light reflected off the incredibly smooth cave walls in the huge chamber. The uneven rocks beneath my feet began to shift to sand as we continued through the open section, and then the cave began to narrow.
“If you go straight you end up under Highway 97 up ahead,” Sam said.
“Are we going straight?” I asked.
“No. The cave continues straight ahead for about a mile until it dead-ends. That’s the path that is open to tourists.
We’re going to head through a narrow crevasse up here on the left.”
I didn’t like the sound of a narrow crevasse. “What stops tourists from getting in?”
Sam stopped and held his light up, illuminating the left side of the cave. It took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at. Sam’s light hit an overhang on the molded wall revealing a second smaller tube about ten feet up.
“We’re going up there?” I asked, willing him to answer no.
“Yep.”
To my dismay, Dupree stopped beneath the overhang and climbed up. How was I even going to reach the ledge? Congressman Riley made it look easy as he followed down the chute, as did Harley, and even Professor LeAnna barely struggled to scrambled into the second tunnel.
“Want a boost?” Sam asked, setting his lantern on the sand and looping his hands together for me.
“Is it safe in there? What if it falls?”
“It’s solid. Don’t worry, and it opens up again once you get a ways in.”
I swallowed back the vomit rising in my throat, and then I used Sam’s interlaced hands to boost me up to the ledge. The narrow tunnel was four feet in diameter, which meant that even with my short frame I would have to crawl.
“How are you doing, Meg?” Sam called.
“Fine,” I lied. “Dupree is moving really fast. I can barely see light ahead.”
“I know,” Sam agreed. Then he yelled, “Dupree, slow it down!”
Either Dupree didn’t hear or he didn’t care. I scrambled as fast I could trying to keep up with Harley, who had been a few feet in front of me. Panic started to build as his light flickered and disappeared. Suddenly, Sam and I were at a crossroads. The cave broke into three directions. Straight ahead looked insanely narrow, like as in having to army crawl to squeeze through the tiny opening. The tunnel to the right was more open, but it was impossible to tell how far back it went. To our left the tunnel turned sharply.
“Sam, which way did they go?” I stopped and tried not to go into full blown panic mode.
Sam clicked on his flashlight and illuminated each of the tunnels. “I think to the right, but that’s where we do our research, so maybe to the left.” He didn’t sound confident.
In Cave Danger Page 14