but she’d already decided that she would stop when she got to the end of the main tunnel. She wished that caves weren’t so dangerous, because she loved to explore them alone.
She examined the walls around the irregular entrances of the fork. No marks. Nothing. The larger of the two passages slanted upward. She shined her headlamps just inside. The walls were close together and, like the first offshoot passage, it was littered with large boulders.
The other tunnel was even smaller, almost a squeeze. She would fit, but she would have to go sideways. Diane leaned inside just enough to see around a rock that partially blocked the way. The passage slanted downward at a steep angle. She had the impression it was twisted around like a corkscrew. She stopped for a moment, holding her breath. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard a sound, like white noise or flowing water. The sound was just at the edge of her hearing, like a whisper she wasn’t sure she even heard.
The temptation to follow was almost more than she could resist-just a little way down the tunnel, she could always turn back and still find her way-but Diane ducked out of the entrance before the siren call became too tempting.
She took another look around the two branch tunnels and snapped a picture before she started back toward the chamber.
Returning to the chamber through the tunnel was faster, since she knew the route and the lay of the rocks. As she rounded the last bend back, she saw a light from a helmet. For a moment she thought Neva had climbed up the wall, and Diane was about to chastise her-Neva was new to caving and Diane had warned her never to go it alone. But here Diane herself was-alone. She smiled inwardly.
When the figure grew closer she saw it was Mike. He had a deep crease between his brows, and with the light and shadows on his face, it was hard to read his expression.
“Are you all right?” His words sounded tight. “I was surprised to find you had gone off by yourself.”
Diane was a little startled at his level of concern. “No farther than we’ve strayed many times. I stuck to this main tunnel.”
She started to say something more, but realized that he was worried. It was disturbing to witness an accident, and though her fall had turned out all right, she could have been seriously injured. Mike was as shaken by it as she.
“I’m fine, really.”
His face split into a smile. “Yeah, I would’ve done the same thing.”
“Did you find the coroner?”
He nodded. “The entrance to the cave is in Hall County, but according to the mapping we’ve done so far, it turns out the chamber containing the body is across the county line in Lumpkin County. The Lumpkin County coroner is a man named Brewster Pilgrim. Great name, huh? He said that he ‘would not dream of interfering with a cosmos that allowed a forensic anthropologist caver to discover human bones in a cave’ and that you should ‘have at it.’ Just send him the paperwork.”
Diane laughed and realized just how tense she still was from the mishap. She’d forced it out of her mind, made light of the seriousness of it, but her muscles remembered, and the relief of laughing brought a dull ache to her head. She absently rubbed her temple.
“I’ve got some aspirin,” said Mike.
“I’m fine, really.”
“The coroner’s sending a deputy to make it official. I got hold of Jin,” said Mike. “He’s bringing what you need from the crime lab. MacGregor’s waiting outside the cave for him. I’ll go back up and get your equipment when it arrives.”
“Good job. I’ll have to start paying you out of the crime lab budget before long.” They stood looking at each other, their headlamps making a pool of light surrounding them. “How is Neva doing?” asked Diane after a pause.
“She’s happily searching a grid pattern of the chamber floor. She showed me the railroad spike she found. Said you seemed happy about it, but she wasn’t sure why. When I climbed up I saw the spike in the wall and the place where it looked like one was pulled out. You thinking that’s what caused his fall?”
“It’s likely. At first, however, I thought he might not have been paying attention to the floor and walked out into thin air.”
“There is a drop there that could be a hell of a first step. Find anything else up here?”
Diane fished the bag with the button out of her pack. “I found this wedged between two rocks.”
Mike looked at the button, then down at the rock-strewn floor of the tunnel and back at Diane, his eyes wide. “I thought Neva was a detail freak. There’s thousands of rocks here. How could you possibly find that little thing between two of them?” He took the plastic bag from her and peered at the button. “I think you pulled it off your shirt.” Diane was wearing an open plaid flannel shirt and a white tee underneath. Mike handed her back the plastic bag and tugged the button side of her flannel shirt. “Nope, they’re all here. . Hey, this is a guy’s shirt.”
“You don’t recognize it?”
He looked closer. “Yes, it’s my shirt. The one I gave you last month when you got yours all mucked up. So you’re wearing my clothes. This means I’m making progress.” He grinned broadly.
Diane suddenly felt self-conscious and wished she hadn’t brought the shirt’s history to his attention. “You said it was too small for you and that I could keep it. Besides, I understand you and Neva are dating.”
“You interested in my love life, Doc?”
“Just making conversation.”
“We’ve gone out a few times. We’re good friends and I like that.” He let go of her shirt.
“It’s a good caving shirt. Don’t take it as a proposition-or wishful thinking.”
He put his hand on his chest. “Doc, you’re always cutting out my heart.” He gave her a crooked smile.
“You look all broken up,” she said with her best poker face, cuffing him lightly on his chest and starting back to the cavern.
“Find anything interesting down the tunnel?” asked Mike.
Diane stopped. “Several things.”
“Why don’t you show me while we wait for Jin to get here?”
“I really need to get back and help Neva search the cavern for any dead-caver clues.”
“Will it take long to show me?” Mike nodded his head in the direction Diane had just investigated.
“No, but. .”
“I’ll help with the search when we get back.”
“All right, but let me check in first.” Diane put the button back in her pack and shifted the pack so that the walkie-talkie clipped to it was near her shoulder. “Neva, how are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” she replied. “I kind of like this cavern. And I have someone here to keep me company. He’s a little old for me, but he’s a great listener, lets me do all the talking.”
“That’s my girl,” Mike said, mostly to himself.
Diane grinned. “Take a break. I’m going to show Mike a couple of things and I’ll be there to help you finish.”
“I don’t need a break. I’m fine.”
“All right but don’t tire yourself out. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“No problem.”
She turned to Mike. “When we finish here, would you go to the entrance to meet Jin? I don’t want him coming into the cave. He’s never done any caving that I’m aware of.”
Mike nodded, and Diane watched the light from his duel headlamps dance up and down on the walls.
She led the way, backtracking to the first offshoot tunnel. They picked their way through the rubble to the opening.
“Here.” She pointed at the mark above the entrance. “There’s no way to know who made it, but it could have been made by our guy to find his way back.”
“You’re thinking there has to be another entry point,” said Mike, leaning forward to get a close look at the faint X over the entrance.
“Maybe. Until we made the new hole in the roof of the cavern this may have been a separate cave with its own entrance, unconnected to the cave we came in-unless, of course, one of the passages connects them up somewhere else.”
