“I know Mr. Sam tried,” Momma Peach assured Sam. “I know Mr. Sam is a very smart man.”
“Not as smart as I thought,” Sam told Momma Peach. He shook his head. “You asked me if there was anywhere a person could hide a body in my town, Momma Peach.”
“Yes, I sure did.”
Momma Peach waited for Sam to tell her what her heart already suspected. Sam glanced at Michelle. Michelle placed her hands on her hips and waited, knowing silence was the best bait. Jack and Melinda walked out from behind the front desk and looked at Sam. “Sam?” Melinda asked, “is there something you're hiding from us?”
“Talk to us, Sam,” Jack said in a stern tone. “I know you're our boss, but if you're hiding something that can help us then you need to start talking.”
Sam removed his hands from his pants pockets and rubbed the back of his neck. “When I bought this land, I only intended to build a little rest stop town where people could stop, buy a souvenir, look around my general store, eat a meal, stay a night or two and rest up, learn a quick history lesson, things along that line of interest. Simple stuff...easy living, no complications. But I am a professional, folks, and I like to know my business. I wanted to know the real history of Gold Dust. I wanted to understand my town.” Sam continued to rub his neck. “I guess if I would have known it wouldn't have mattered one way or another.”
“Known what?” Michelle asked.
Sam lifted his right foot and gently tapped the floor. “Under this town runs a series of caves that stretch northeast toward Utah. The caves aren't known by a lot of people. As a matter of fact,” Sam added, “not even the U.S. government knows about the caves.”
“How can that be?” Melinda asked. “Isn't that creepy Area 51 supposed to be around here?”
Sam shrugged his shoulders. “I don't go for that whole alien nonsense. The Good Lord made the Heavens and the Earth.”
“Amen,” Momma Peach smiled.
“I agree,” Jack said, “but this land has been surveyed. How can the caves beneath our feet remain unknown? America is a civilized place that has been thoroughly surveyed.”
“When people see a map of the United States, they think they see a land that humans have conquered,” Sam explained. “Jack, there are still places in this country that we haven't set foot on. There are unknown caves hidden in the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains. They were caves hidden below lakes that man can't see. The government is nothing more than a series of agencies run by a bunch of dimwitted politicians who hired college students to write their speeches for them. The government doesn't have the manpower to explore every single inch of land in America. So what do they do? They mark certain areas of land as National and State Parks, other pieces of land they mark as protected and restricted, and so on and so on, in order to keep free people at bay.” Sam shook his head. “I've been in Gold Dust for a good many years and I have never seen someone from the government snooping around out here. Once in a blue moon, someone from the State Patrol will drop by for a cup of coffee and that's it.”
Jack considered Sam's response. “Yeah, I guess you have a point. If a man owned twenty acres of land and dug a deep hole in the middle of it and covered the top of a hole with a piece of board, who would know? The government doesn't have as much power as people believe and they can't have eyes everywhere.”
“Especially way out here in the desert,” Sam said. He tapped the floor with his foot again. “The entrance to the cave is under the courthouse.”
“Why didn't you tell us?” Michelle said with a clear lack of patience to Sam. “That's where the killer must have taken Mrs. Milkson's body and hid it...and possibly Ben's body.”
“Detective Chan,” Sam held up his right hand to calm Michelle down, “The courthouse is the only original building left in Gold Dust. Sure, I added a few boards and window panes to the place, but for the most part left it alone. The entrance to the cave is located in the court room right beneath the judge's seat and—”
“Get to the point,” Michelle growled angrily.
Sam nodded his head. “Stephanie and me, we were stupid enough to explore the caves and nearly died doing so. Afterward, when the Good Lord brought us back to the court house and let us see daylight again, I boarded up the entrance and then poured cement on top of it. There is no way anyone can get down into the caves without using a sledgehammer to break up the concrete.”
“Maybe,” Momma Peach said, “but there could also be another entrance down into them caves, Mr. Sam. Maybe we better walk over to the courthouse and check and see if your concrete is still intact?”
Sam gave Michelle a sympathetic look. “I know you're angry, Detective, and I understand.”
“Why did you keep your knowledge about the caves a secret?” Michelle demanded.
“For safety reasons,” Sam explained. “I'm responsible for everyone who drives into my town. If word got around about the caves running beneath my town I would have more trouble than I could deal with as well as taking a chance on losing my land. The state of Nevada is always looking to steal any land that might turn a profit. How many cave divers would rush out here and pollute my town?”
“Mr. Sam has a point,” Momma Peach supported Sam. “A man has to protect what is his.”
“Even if the state didn't take my land, I would still be liable for peoples’ safety... I knew it would be too much trouble,” Sam finished. He looked at Jack and Melinda. “Do you guys understand my position?”
“We do,” Melinda promised, “and your secret is safe with us, right Jack?”
“Absolutely,” Jack confirmed. “Sam, you can trust that Melinda and I will never mention the caves to anyone.”
Relief washed across Sam's face. “Thanks.”
Michelle bit down hard on her lower lip and yanked open the front door. “I'm going to inspect the courthouse,” she announced.
Momma Peach stood up just as thunder erupted outside and shook the hotel. The cold wind of the storm swirled through the door into the lobby like a threat. “I’m coming too, with Mr. Sam. Melinda, you and Jack stay here in the lobby.”
Momma Peach walked to the front door and looked out at the dark, stormy small town. “Eric Milson wanted to kill Sheriff Dunfill because he was digging for gold down there in those caves, wasn’t he,” she said cannily to Sam.
Sam nodded. “Yes, Momma Peach.”
Momma Peach kept her eyes on the dark storm. “I don't like caves,” she whispered and followed Michelle out into the heavy falling rain.
Chapter Five
Momma Peach didn't like walking through a storm. She also didn't like the storm ripping her pretty hat off her head and whisking it away into the wet desert. “Oh, my hat!” Momma Peach yelled in distress, her voice almost lost in the sound and fury of the storm.
Sam tried to catch Momma Peach's hat as it was carried off by the wind, but he failed. “Come on, Momma Peach,” he yelled over the crying winds and put his arm around Momma Peach's shoulder, “it's too dangerous to stand out in this street like this.”
Momma Peach couldn't believe how dark the day had turned. One minute the day was bright enough to blind a dog, and the next it turned dark enough to spook a ghost. And the winds, oh my, how the winds screamed and howled like angry prisoners struggling to escape their prison bars; the winds beat against the wooden buildings with invisible fists that scared Momma Peach. But what scared Momma Peach even more was how the rainwater was beginning to collect into little rivers and flood over the road. Under the storm’s assault, the once dry desert was quickly turning into one giant quicksand box, trapping everyone in town and destroying any hope of escape. “My feet are soaked to the bone,” Momma Peach called out over the wind and pointed down at the street. “Street is starting to flood.”
“Let's hurry,” Sam urged Momma Peach and pointed at Michelle's shadowy figure in the distance. “Detective Chan isn't thinking clearly. She shouldn’t have come out in the storm at all. We have to stay with her.”
<
br /> “Michelle is upset,” Momma Peach said and spit rain water out of her mouth. “Come on before I drown in this rain.”
Sam walked Momma Peach through the rain and winds, shielding her from the storm the best he could. The rain was pouring down so hard he could barely see two feet down the street. Never in his life had he seen the town so dark and dangerous. “Are you okay, Momma Peach?”
“I don’t know how to swim,” Momma Peach yelled over the winds. “This might be a good time for me to learn how to float.”
Sam grinned. He loved Momma Peach's sense of humor. “Maybe we can build a boat?” he joked and hurried Momma Peach past the general store.
Momma Peach searched the dark windows of the general store with her eyes. The general store was really nothing more than a little wooden room with wooden shelves holding sunscreen, candies, a few canned goods, candles, maps, some toys and cassette tapes, a few bags of fools’ gold, some beef jerky, a little chewing tobacco and a freezer holding frozen ice bags. Even though the items were not rare or authentic, the feel of the general store – the old rugged wooden floor and walls, the smell of sawdust and time – made you feel as if you had really traveled back in time for a while. The storm had transformed the cozy general store into something more like a dark, mysterious dungeon, with its darkened windows appearing like cruel black eyes. The sight of the empty store gave Momma Peach the creeps. She imagined skeletons chained to the wooden walls and a long, rusted, spiral staircase winding down into a bottomless dark abyss, guarded by the ghosts of dead outlaws. “Give me strength,” Momma Peach begged, “Oh, give me strength to control my imagination before I scare myself into an early grave.”
“Are you okay?” Sam asked, squinting against the driving wind and rain in his face.
“Oh, I’m letting my imagination be silly again,” Momma Peach answered Sam and spit more rain water out of her mouth. “Uh...you ain't never seen anything...supernatural in this town, have you?” she asked in a worried voice.
Sam looked into Momma Peach's worried face. “No ghosts in this town, Momma Peach,” he promised.
Momma Peach sighed in relief. “Thank you,” she said and focused her eyes on Michelle’s form ahead of them in the thick storm. By the time she reached the old courthouse, Michelle was already trying to pull open the front door.
“Wait a minute,” Sam yelled over another clap of thunder as he ran up to Michelle. He yanked a pair of keys out of his pocket. “I keep the courthouse locked.”
“Then unlock the doors,” Michelle demanded impatiently, her emotions raw. She felt furious, upset and hurt. After the death of her parents, she had closed off her life and heart to the world. Ben had been the first person she opened up to. And even though Ben drifted away on a different current, he had always stood by Michelle when she needed him. Now Ben was probably dead and Michelle was feeling helpless and trapped, waiting to unlock the door of the place that might hold his body.
“Calm down,” Momma Peach pleaded with Michelle over the winds, “Mr. Sam is in this storm with us. He ain't our enemy so don't treat him like he is.”
“I...know,” Michelle admitted in defeat as she pushed her long, rainwater-drenched hair out of her eyes. She looked down and realized her hands were curled up into two tight fists. “I'm sorry, Sam... I know you're not to blame.”
Despite the storm, Sam took a moment to reach out and put a caring hand on Michelle's right shoulder. “Detective Chan, look up at me.” Michelle raised her eyes and looked into Sam's face. “I know you're upset and angry. A good friend of yours is missing and probably dead. I can see the desperation in your eyes. If we work together as a team, I promise we'll find out who is behind this mess.” Sam smiled into Michelle's eyes. “I'm asking you to trust me, okay. I know I'm not a cop, but I'm not some inept moron who just walked in off the street, either.”
Michelle stared into Sam's pleading eyes. She saw the same warmth and truth that she saw in Momma Peach. “Okay,” she said and forced a weak smile to her lips, “we're a team.”
“That's my baby,” Momma Peach beamed. “Now, Mr. Sam, unlock the front door and get us inside before we all drown. Oh, give me the strength to survive this storm!”
Sam quickly unlocked the old wooden front doors of the courthouse and gently pried them open. “I haven't aired out the courthouse in a few years,” he explained and took a careful step into a small front room littered with cobwebs, mounds of dust and a wooden floor with warped boards on the verge of collapse. “Be careful and step where I step,” Sam ordered.
Momma Peach stepped into the front room behind Michelle. The floor under her feet creaked and moaned. The smell of time, justice, fear, and desperation reached into her nostrils. For a mere second, she heard voices that once belonged to the courthouse – men and women and children who were very much alive, their voices all mingled together, battling the voices of deadly outlaws. She heard the sound of a pounding gavel and an old voice proclaim: “You have been found guilty and are hereby condemned to be hanged by the neck until you are dead.” “Momma Peach?” Michelle asked.
Momma Peach continued to look around the small room. She saw a closed door to her right and a closed door to her left. An open door stood in front of her, leading into a narrow hallway that stretched back into the courthouse, leading into the main courtroom. “So strange,” she whispered. “I can feel the old days in my heart. I can feel the untamed dangers that surrounded this town... I can feel deadly men being dragged through this very room... I can hear the voices and noises...”
“Sheriff Dunfill was a serious man. After his family was gunned down, he turned hard and cold,” Sam explained and wiped a cobweb away from his face. “He became known as the 'Hanging Man.' Over twenty men were hanged from the tree outside.” Sam looked around the room. “Sheriff Dunfill was found dead in his courtroom, slumped over in a chair. The cause of death is still unknown. I...think he grieved himself to death...and it all began with Eric Milson and his sons. Shame.”
Momma Peach felt a tear leave her eye and roll down her cheek. “That poor, poor soul. To have his family killed by heartless scoundrels...poor soul. I can't imagine the pain and agony he must have felt.”
Sam stared at Momma Peach. He saw her tear up as she pictured everything from the distant past as if it were happening right in front of her. Michelle reached out with her right hand and wiped Momma Peach's tear away. He saw love and mercy, two things he had never been shown much of, and it made his heart ache for a moment. “Uh...this way, ladies,” he said as he eased across the wooden floor and carefully opened the main door. The door swung open on rusted hinges as if it cried out in anger at being awoken from its dusty sleep. “These boards are very old. I replaced a few, but most of these boards are the real thing from way back when, ladies, so step lightly.”
“We will,” Michelle promised. She took Momma Peach's hand and began walking toward the door when a powerful blast of lightning seemed to strike the courthouse itself, the blinding light flashing outside the left window of the room. The window panes exploded and glass went flying in all directions. Momma Peach grabbed Michelle and yanked her down to the floor and used her body as a shield.
“Stay down,” Momma Peach yelled as shards of glass hailed down onto her back and landed in her hair.
Sam threw his arms in front of his face but as soon as the glass stopped falling, he ran over to Momma Peach and began pulling the broken glass off her back. “Are you okay, Momma Peach?”
Before Momma Peach could answer Sam, thunder erupted and shook the courthouse again with violent hands. Momma Peach felt as if her truth were being shaken out of her head. When the thunder finally tapered off, she raised her head just in time to see what looked like a shadowy figure wearing a black cloak standing in the doorway. The figure stared at Momma Peach and then vanished into the darkness. Sam heard the floorboards creaking and spun around. He saw only the darkness beyond the open door. “Someone is in here,” he said and yanked out his gun. Momma Peach shook
her head in amazement, wondering what she had actually seen.
Michelle got to her feet, pulled out her gun, and charged into the hallway before Sam could stop her. She ran past two closed doors and came to a stop at a heavy, closed wooden door. “Wait for us,” Sam admonished Michelle as he hurried down the hallway holding Momma Peach's hand.
Michelle didn't wait. She executed a front kick and attacked the closed door. The door cracked and gave way, flying off its rusted hinges. “Hurry up then,” she said without irony and stepped into a medium sized room filled with dust, cobwebs, and misery. The room was dark. Shadowy slivers of rain danced on the back wall, across the old chairs in the juror's box, and slithering across two rotted tables standing in front of a wooden desk Sheriff Dunfill had sat behind for many years. The desk was old and decayed. Michelle saw that the right back leg had caved in. What she didn't see was the person wearing the black cloak. “Clear,” she called out aiming her gun around the courtroom.
Sam stepped into the courtroom with Momma Peach. “I saw a spook,” Momma Peach told Michelle in a scared voice, trying to catch her breath.
“A spook?” Michelle asked, confused.
“I thought I saw a shadow,” Momma Peach answered Michelle, still confused herself, “only shadows don't make noises when they run off.”
“Sam, where is the entrance to the caves?” Michelle asked in a quick voice. “Whoever Momma Peach saw has to be close.”
“If that person managed to get down to the caves he...or she...is long gone,” Sam told Michelle with chagrin.
“We have to try,” Michelle insisted.
“Try what?” Sam asked. “Detective Chan, whoever Momma Peach saw might know those caves like the back of their hands. I went down into the caves only once and swore to never go down again.” Sam became frustrated. “Mrs. Milkson's body is missing. My guess is whoever killed her came back and dragged her body down into the caves.”
“I agree,” Momma Peach told Sam.
Michelle began to speak but Sam shook his head at her. “I'm not letting you go down into the caves,” he informed Michelle in a tough, caring voice. “Whoever killed Mrs. Milkson could run us blind down there until we're so lost and turned around that we wouldn't be able to think straight. I know what I'm talking about because Stephanie and I were stupid enough to go down into the caves. Right below us is a cave about half the size of this room. Four tunnels are connected to the cave. Two of the tunnels dead end at separate depths. The third tunnel ends up at an underground river with a very powerful current. The fourth tunnel is endless, connecting to more and more tunnels that keep branching off in every direction. If it wasn't for the safety rope I tied to the front tree outside, Stephanie and I would have never come back up alive.”
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