Too Far Down

by Mary Connealy

  It took thirty minutes of concentrated hacking before a big chunk of rock busted loose and fell inward, away from Cole. He peered straight into pitch-darkness.

  Cole spun around. “Walt, get over here with your head lamp.”

  Walt rushed to Cole’s side and aimed his head lamp into the space. The light revealed another wall several feet back. Moving his head, he lit up the corners. “There’s a room here all right, but I can’t see anything in it.”

  “Move back.” Cole went back to swinging his ax. The stone was battered enough it crumbled away fast, until soon Cole had created an opening about three feet high and a third as wide, nearly big enough to climb through.

  Excitement made him swing even harder. A few minutes later, the whole slab cracked and collapsed into rubble at his feet. Again he was staring into blackness. He glanced at Mel, then Walt. They both looked as eager as he felt.

  “Nothing quite like finding a secret passage,” Walt said. He thrust his lantern at Cole and stepped to the side to aim his head lamp into the space.

  Mel took up a lantern for herself.

  Careful of the rubble, Cole led the way into the heart of the mountain.

  21

  “What’s going on in here?” Cole ventured deeper and deeper into the black cave.

  At first his lantern showed nothing but chiseled-up black walls, clearly a man-made tunnel. He followed it carefully, aware of pits that might drop off suddenly under his feet. But so far the floor of the tunnel felt solid as they headed straight into the mountain.

  “It’s wider here.” Cole stepped forward far enough to let Walt and Mel join him.

  Standing on his right, Mel said, “Another tunnel goes off this way.”

  “One forward, too,” Cole added.

  “And to our left . . . except what’s this?” Walt went to the entrance to the tunnel on his side where he crouched down. He pulled away a black cloth. They all gasped.

  “That’s gold.” Cole dropped to his knees beside a heap of gold that looked to fill a bushel basket. “That’s a fortune in gold.”

  Mel came up beside him. “And a fortune in gold is a big old motive for murder.”

  Cole sat back on his haunches, looking at something plenty of men would kill for. “It’d be mighty interesting to find out if those five men have tunnels that all intersect to this area.”

  Mel nodded. “Maybe those piles of dynamite weren’t set in random cave entrances. Maybe they were carefully chosen, hoping to block off the entrances.”

  Jerking his head up, Cole said, “Yes, carefully chosen by a man who’s in it with them but doesn’t want to share the treasure they built up. Except the loads weren’t all set in front of these five mines.”

  “He might’ve thought that would be too obvious.”

  “Whoever set the explosives might have a tunnel connected to here and might be watching what goes on in these tunnels mighty carefully.”

  Walt rose to his feet with surprising speed for an older man. “I’m going right now to get the rest of the Blake cowpokes who’re here and find Heath. We have to explore these tunnels and post a heavy guard until we get this gold out of here and find out if there’s more, and also find out who has access to the tunnels.”

  Walt was gone the moment he stopped talking.

  “Six of us aren’t enough.” Cole, still crouched by the gold, turned to Mel. “We’ll need men posted here and at the cave entrance in case someone saved back some dynamite. We need men exploring the tunnels and we need it all done right now.”

  “But who among your miners can be trusted with so much gold?” Mel knelt down and picked up one of the gold nuggets and turned it over in her hands.

  Cole thought of a few reliable miners, trustworthy men, especially if he agreed to divide it evenly. And he thought of Justin and Heath. Heath at least was here. John Hightree would come, too—Cole would trust the CR’s longtime foreman with anything. But Cole couldn’t ride off to the CR right now. He didn’t dare leave. And Justin couldn’t stay overnight.

  They both had to be tucked into their little beds at Pa’s home. He noticed he’d made a fist and had his teeth clenched tight together. The rules of Pa’s last will and testament were grinding hard on his temper.

  “Cole, listen to me.” Mel gripped his forearm and drew his attention as she went from kneeling to sitting all the way down on the tunnel floor. “I know you talked about Don Bautista de Val’s wife being behind all the trouble that’s come to the Bodens, and that she hates you for giving shelter to her husband’s illegitimate son and grandson. Or that it pricked her pride that you Bodens got to keep your land while they lost theirs. But maybe it’s a lot simpler than that. Maybe somehow word got to her that there was another big strike in the Boden mines. Maybe she wants the gold. Dantalion was paid to hire help, but maybe getting rid of you isn’t quite so personal as we figured.”

  “Not much more personal than premeditated murder.”

  “It’s personal if she hates you and wants to run you off out of spite. But it’s not so personal if she’s heard tales of gold and wants it for herself. Then it’s just plain old greed. It’s about money, and she wouldn’t care who she had to hurt to get it. The fact that it’s the Bodens and she might have an old grudge against you, might have even hired a man to hurt you long ago, would have been a bonus . . . if she’s even interested in you at all. But first and foremost it might just be a woman who’s got gold fever and is too old to go digging for it herself. Maybe she desperately needs the money.”

  “Ramone made it sound like de Val was a powerful man who lived a rich life. There was no sign he’d been hurting for money.”

  “Ramone wasn’t allowed anywhere near the account books.” Mel shook her head impatiently, straightened and shoved herself to her feet. “We’re making things up. That’s a waste of time. What do we do with this gold?”

  “We can’t just leave it here. I’ve got a sturdy safe in the office, and no one has the combination but me. We can move it all up there tonight.”

  “That’s well and good, but what if there are ten piles like this one and our villain makes off with the rest of it overnight? I’ve got no wish to see a greedy man get away with murder and thousands of dollars’ worth of gold.”

  Pounding footsteps and racket on the ladder—which sounded like someone sliding rather than climbing—captured Cole’s attention. He figured out who it was before his brother-in-law made his entrance. Heath was a man comfortable on a ladder.

  “Gold, hidden tunnels—this is getting interesting.” Heath’s blue eyes flashed wildly, rivaling the nearby lantern with their brightness.

  “This mess is making a madman out of you, Kincaid.”

  Heath raised one shoulder in a shrug and grinned. “What do you need me to do?”

  “If it were anyone else, I might think you’re excited about striking it rich, crazed with gold fever.”

  “Nope. I do like exploring these caves, though.” Heath peered at the tunnels leading off in all directions. “Can I follow one just to see where it ends up?”

  “We thought we oughta do that together,” Cole said.

  “Why?”

  Cole glowered at him. “In case it leads to some murderer who doesn’t want us taking his gold.”

  “That’s a good point.”

  “Now, what I think we ought to do is have the men haul this gold out of here and put it in the safe in my office. That safe could withstand a direct dynamite blast.” Cole turned to Mel. “Since it looks like all the men who died are in on this, plus more, this gold must’ve come from the mines I leased you, Mel, and those from the JB Ranch. So this gold is yours to be divided evenly among your men.”

  “All those cuts,” Mel said quietly, “and still it’ll make us all rich.”

  “Don’t forget, the lease agreement means we Bodens get one of those cuts. And we might find a stack of gold like this behind a wall in every one of the five mines you’re digging in. It’ll be a new meaning for the wor
d rich for all of you.”

  Mel frowned. “I reckon if our cowhands get rich, they’ll all up and quit, and Pa will be hunting new hired men. He’s not gonna be real happy with you, Boden.”

  Cole smiled. “Maybe he can talk you and Walt into staying on. Maybe he can talk you both into chipping in your gold to pay top wages and attract top hands.” Then to Heath, he said, “I’m not sure why, Heath, but until you came I was just lining up nothing but problems, figured we should hunt all these tunnels right now, guard the entrances and post a watch on the mines, besides hauling gold as fast as we can. That’s work for about three times more men than we have. Now I think we should just carry this one stack of gold up to my safe and call it a night.”

  Walt’s voice echoed from above, his boots clattering as he descended the ladder. Cole heard men coming from behind him. When the old man came in, he had a stack of burlap bags under one arm. He went straight for the gold and began packing the bags. The three men from the JB Ranch followed him. Walt filled each bag so it wouldn’t be too heavy to carry up the ladder. Each man grabbed a bag and started the climb back up.

  “I’ve decided to split this gold between all of you.” Cole hoped that would stop any of the men from turning loco and trying to steal it. It did stop them all in their tracks. Even Walt.

  “A strike was found in these mines, and the reason men were killed was so that one of their partners could take it all. That means even though it was stacked here behind Mel’s mine, it almost for sure came from all your mines. So it’s to be divided between you. But because whoever did this might still be around, we’ll put it in my safe for now. You men will need to be on your guard through the night. Whoever hid this gold might find out we’ve got the fortune and attack again.”

  “I’m going down these tunnels,” Heath said. “If there are more stashes like this one, we can get most of them tonight and take a lot of wealth out of a killer’s hands. Which suits me fine. Go on up and lock that gold away, then get back here. We may need to make more trips. I’m thinking greedy men like these folks might keep their own piles. Maybe we’ll find five like this. All to be divided between the Blake hands, with the Bodens getting their ten percent. Move fast, men, and we might not have such a late night.”

  Heath took up a lantern and went hurrying down one of the tunnels. Cole almost grabbed him to keep him from going off alone.

  Walt shoved a bag of gold in Cole’s hands, then another in Mel’s, and cleared up the pile in a bag for himself. “Let’s go. Heath’s a tough man, but he shouldn’t be down here alone a second longer than necessary. Besides, maybe he’ll come upon more gold by the time we get back.”

  The men started up the ladder, Walt behind them, followed by Mel. Despite some powerful instincts to stay to protect Heath, Cole went up, too. They hustled up the slope like their tails were on fire. Cole looked around in the late afternoon shadows, wondering if anyone had noticed them. He didn’t see a single person. It was just before most men quit their day’s work, so they were all digging away. Murray had left a note at his desk that he had to run to town for supplies. Even he didn’t witness them come in with their weighed-down burlap bags. They tossed the bags into the safe, grabbed a new stack of burlap, and headed back.

  They found Heath out front of the mine. Dusk was fading to dark now and wrapping night around the mountains.

  “I didn’t see any more, but I did find that the tunnels don’t go too far. They just connect all the mines, and it looks like at least two more.”

  “We need to find out who those two mines belong to. They might be the ones behind this.”

  “We can’t do any more tonight, Cole. I reckon whoever’s been down there has seen what we’re doing and has hightailed it. We sure can’t track them in the dark.”

  Again Cole felt the pressure of needing to head home every night. It was frustrating enough that he’d’ve liked to hunt Pa up and do some hollering about how much harder he’d made things. But for now, Cole didn’t have much choice. “All you men be on the lookout, maybe sleep in the same cabin. I’ll be here at first light to figure out who’s behind this, but we have to quit for the night.”

  Because Cole had to sleep at home at night to obey his papa.

  The three cowhands headed off.

  Walt waited until they were beyond hearing distance. “Cole, I want you and Heath to take Mel back to your place again.”

  “Uncle Walt, I’m perfectly safe. I don’t—”

  “If anyone involved in this treachery,” Walt said, cutting her off, “goes looking around in those tunnels, they’re gonna find that hidden door busted open, and it leads into your mine, Mel. If someone’s looking for gold, they’ll come to you first. I want you away from here. Because I’m gonna set a trap.” He sounded coldly furious. “I want someone to come a-huntin’ you, but I can’t do that if I don’t know you’re safe. Please go. I hope they come, and by tomorrow morning this’ll all be cleared up and we can go home and back to working above ground.”

  Mel nodded and gave her uncle a hug.

  Heath leaned close to Cole. “I’ll get the horses saddled.” He strode up the hill.

  When Mel was done with her goodbyes, Cole had her go first up the hill.

  She glanced back at him. “I didn’t mean to end up needing extra protection every night.”

  “I feel a lot better with you at the CR rather than here. And if your uncle’s worried, then sure as certain I’m worried, too.” Then he thought of Walt again. “He said he hoped to have this cleared up by morning.” Cole’s shoulders slouched as he walked. “I sure hope he’s right, but I’m afraid it’s not gonna be that easy.”

  Mel slowed until he caught up, and they went up to the stable side by side.

  “The house is prepared, Señora de Val.” Tohu gave her his hand to assist her descent from the carriage.

  Señora de Val. Hattie controlled a snort. Señora Lauressa de Val was a fancy name for a little girl born Hattie June Hoggins from the Tennessee hills. But since childhood she could sing, loved drawing attention to herself, and never missed a chance to act in the town plays her rough little mountain village put on.

  Hattie June ran off with an acting troupe and developed a knack for imitating anyone she met along the way. She and the troupe had made decent money—and not all with their acting. They were known to pick pockets and slip in and out of houses, making away with the silver.

  Then she met a rich old man who never saw her coming.

  She passed herself off as Spanish royalty—the displaced Countess Lauressa brought low and forced to live among commoners. Bautista believed it from her first word.

  Of course, her first words had been delivered with a perfect accent while she wore a revealing dress. He’d wanted to believe.

  She’d played him beautifully and made a brilliant marriage, and her friends from the troupe had come along quietly. She’d funneled money to them for years as they conspired together and lived high off de Val’s wealth.

  But even after years of passing herself as the poor but royal Countess Lauressa, Hattie never forgot her real name and her harsh start in life. Who she had become was much more enjoyable when she remembered where she’d come from.

  Tohu didn’t know, but only a few still living did. Her old friends from the troupe. She couldn’t wait to see them again.

  The carriage had pulled under a covered doorway, and Hattie hurried inside so no one saw her. Once in, she eased back her lace mantilla, leaving Tohu to unload her belongings.

  The house was small, too small. She was used to better. But she couldn’t hope for better until she made her presence known.

  Tohu came in with a cold drink. Not that hard in New Mexico Territory in February.

  “I’m home at last.” Hattie smiled. Though it wasn’t the home she planned to have.

  “I have heard from those you sent for. They will be here soon and our plans will be finalized.”

  Hattie went rigid, as if the chill wind had frozen her in
place. “Our plans?”

  With only the faintest wince as he recognized his mistake, Tohu said, “Your plans, señora. Of course yours.”

  That gave her grim satisfaction. As much as he was her trusted confidant, she didn’t consider him her equal in this. Without Dantalion she had no equal—well, one other. And the Suddlers had been with her from the start and had always been loyal and willing to do anything for gold. It was a kind of loyalty she understood.

  She went to the window and looked out, careful not to reveal herself. While there were few people around, it wouldn’t do for her to be recognized. Not yet.

  The time for that was coming.

  22

  Mel wasn’t surprised when Cole caught up to her the next morning before she’d ridden even a mile.

  Well, riding together was wise. Annoying but wise.

  Wearing a sharp black suit like always, she decided to torment him by making him talk about things she knew he’d rather avoid.

  “Good morning.”

  He narrowed his eyes but didn’t lecture her about trying to ride out to the mines alone. “Good morning.”

  “Tell me more about your grandparents.”

  He groaned so quietly she didn’t think she was meant to hear it.

  “I remember your grandmother visiting.” To goad him more, she added, “I remember she was really awful to your ma . . . and my ma too, now that I think of it.”

  “Ma and I . . .” Cole’s voice faded.

  Mel was suddenly disgusted with herself. Yes, Cole had no business kissing her, but that was no excuse for her to be unkind. “Stop. I shouldn’t have asked. I understand your divided loyalties.” Truthfully she didn’t understand them at all. Still, he had them all the same, even if the befuddled man didn’t know what to do about it.

  Which meant her understanding was based on her thinking him a half-wit.

  “I have loved Veronica from nearly my earliest memory. The few vague memories of my life back east don’t even seem real, like stories I was told more than events I lived through. But I remember how fast I fell in love with her.” Cole looked at her in the first blush of dawn. “Have I ever told you how my grandmother used to dress me up in velvet short pants, and that I had ringlets in my hair?”