If I Should Die

“Yes,” Lucy heard as Sean and the cop disappeared from her view.

Down below, Ken Hammond, the Fire and Rescue supervisor, introduced himself and the deputy coroner, Frank Shaffer, as he unhooked her.

The smell of decomposition Lucy had identified yesterday seemed to have dissipated, but she figured it was because of the severe overnight temperature drop. She made a mental note to check the high and low temps over the last few weeks, though she didn’t know why she’d need to do it-the coroner would handle the death investigation. Shaffer motioned for her to lead the way.

“I marked the walls with a stick,” she said, shining her light on the tunnel walls. Her faint scratches were still there.

Hammond said, “Smart move. These mines have some odd tunnels. I’ve been down here before with the Army Corp of Engineers to assess damages after cave-ins. Even the maps they have aren’t completely accurate. I don’t know if anyone knows these caverns anymore.”

“What was mined?” she asked as she walked carefully down the tunnel to the room.

“Iron primarily, but they found a vein of titanium in the thirties, which helped keep the mine in business during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. It slowed down after the Second World War, but it wasn’t until the midseventies that they completely shut down.

“My dad and granddad worked down here,” Hammond continued. “I think everyone in town is attached to this mine one way or another.”

Lucy stepped out of the tunnel into the larger cavern, bracing herself.

“I’ve never been on this side of the mine,” Hammond said. “This was a secondary vein, built in the midfifties. They needed the ventilation shafts because the air quality-”

“Where’s the girl?” Shaffer interrupted.

“She’s in a large cutout in the wall.” Lucy turned and shined her light. “Right here.”

She stared.

The slab was empty.

Her face froze in a blank expression as she shined her light slowly around the area. The broken chair. The old tools. The two tunnels. This was where she had been yesterday. There was no mistake.

She looked back at where the decaying body should be. It was still missing.

“Maybe you went down one of these other tunnels,” Hammond said.

Lucy shook her head. “She was right here.” Her voice cracked on the last word and she steeled herself. She was a professional; there was an explanation. She just had to figure it out.

She saw Hammond and Shaffer exchange glances they might have thought were discreet, but they believed she was either an idiot or an attention-seeker.

“We’re going to check out the tunnels,” Hammond said. “Wait here.”

Lucy stared at the empty hole.

She hadn’t imagined the dead body. She hadn’t made up the maggots in the woman’s mouth, or how she lay. She didn’t have nightmares last night over a figment of her imagination, dammit!

Less than twenty-four hours ago there was a dead woman right there.

Someone had moved the body.

Who? Why?

She shined her light on the floor. A dead body, even a diminutive woman like the blonde, would be heavy and awkward. One person couldn’t easily carry her, not without disturbing the dirt, unless he had help.

The ground yielded little information, especially with her lone flashlight. She needed an evidence kit and bright lights to make out any faint marks on the hard surface. Did she see footprints? Were they hers? Too large. Shaffer’s or Hammond’s? She couldn’t tell just by looking.

Whoever moved the body had help. Or …

She spun around and turned her flashlight to the tunnel with the tracks. The mining cart that had been there yesterday was gone.

NINE

Hands clasped firmly in her lap, and resisting an overwhelming urge to pace, Lucy sat stiffly on the worn couch in Tim Hendrickson’s living room while Deputy Sheriff Tyler Weddle asked her questions. Sean sat next to her, watchful and protective, but he was keeping his mouth closed-which was rare, but probably a good thing since she was about to throttle the cop.

“Ms. Kincaid,” Weddle said, “I understand you were highly stressed when you were in the mine. Your boyfriend was injured, you were-”

Lucy interrupted. “I know what I saw.”

“There was no body down there.”

“There was no body there today, but it was there yesterday. You need to get a trained crime scene team down there to look for trace evidence.”

“I think you watch too much television.” Weddle exchanged a smug glance with Ken Hammond, who stood next to Tim by the front door.

Lucy bristled. “I have-”

Sean cut her off. “You’re out of line, Deputy.”

Lucy frowned. She didn’t like being talked to as if she were a fool. She had seen a body. She could close her eyes and picture the woman: dark blond hair; extremely pale skin with a blue tinge; white blouse and dark slacks, and something else … something that flitted in and out of her mind as soon as she attempted to focus. But it was the deceased’s arms crossed unnaturally over her chest that had Lucy the most intrigued-and concerned.

The deputy questioned, “And someone went down there and did what? Moved the body? To where? Why would someone do such a thing?”

Sean said, “It’s no secret that I fell down the mine shaft. Word travels fast in a small town. Maybe whoever was hiding the body felt the need to move it.”

“That’s a bit of an assumption,” Weddle said.

“Hardly.” Sean leaned forward. “There was a body exactly where Lucy said it was.”

Lucy knew Sean was irritated that the cops were treating her as if she were crazy, and she wasn’t tickled about it either, but she put aside her frustration and tried to see it from their point of view. She was a stranger, she’d been through a traumatic incident, and she seemed to be seeing things that simply weren’t there.

“I apologize.” Weddle didn’t sound at all sincere. He stood. “I’ll contact the sheriff and give him your statement. He may send a team down there, or maybe not. The mine is extremely dangerous. There are exploration shafts that go down a hundred feet, caved-in ceilings; it hasn’t been maintained in forty years. But he’ll probably want to at least check out where you thought you saw the body.”

“Where I did see a body,” Lucy said.

“That’s what I said.”

“They need to search thoroughly,” Lucy pushed. “They only did a cursory inspection-”

Hammond said, “There were some signs that someone had been down there recently, but nothing significant. I’m not going to put anyone at risk-we need a current map of the mine and additional team members.”

“The lighting was poor, but if you-”

“Ms. Kincaid,” Weddle interrupted. He took a step toward her, intentionally crowding her as a method of intimidation. “We’re going to check out your claim, but we must follow safety protocols.”

“I understand,” she lied. Every muscle itched to defend herself. “I can look at missing persons pictures, see if I recognize her,” she offered.

“I’ll have the station shoot you over what we have. But there’s no one local who’s missing, and no lost tourists. Probably a waste of time.”

“It’s my time to waste,” Lucy snapped. She rose from the couch, and brushed past the cop.

“I’ll let you know if anything turns up,” Weddle said. “About the body or the arsonist.”

Lucy didn’t have any confidence in Weddle’s ability. Surely, the sheriff would show more professionalism when