“Let us out.” I knew it was fruitless to ask, but I had to try.
“Let me think. Um, no. I’m not letting you out. In fact, I’m pretty sure no one is looking for you, so I’m just going to leave you here. Lucky for me, Ginny chose an old abandoned mining shaft for her final cache. Don’t bother to look, I’ve already found and removed it.” He leaned closer to the grate. “But since you did such a good job tracking the clues, I’ll give you the answer. I killed Kacey. The witch wouldn’t give up her presidency, and the club needs new blood.”
“You killed her because you couldn’t beat her in an election? For a hobby club?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“Well, that and a few other issues.” He pointed to Sadie. “Like Austin stealing your recipes. That was just cold, man. He bragged about it one night when we all went out for drinks after a club event. Too bad you couldn’t just stay away from this one, although it still does put that doofus in the spotlight for your disappearance, as well.”
“I don’t understand, why kill Kacey then?” Sadie’s entire body shook next to me, and I put my hand on her arm for support.
“You are dense, aren’t you?” Taylor squatted down at the entrance, looking at the edges where the steel screen hit the dirt. “Kacey had to go, and I needed a scapegoat. And since Austin had a history of killing his girlfriends, your death will just go down as another one on his list.”
“You knew about MJ.” The pieces were all coming together now. “You’re the source that called the DA.”
“Getting Austin’s fingerprints attached to a really old disappearance case wasn’t as easy as it makes it seem on television. John just needed a little push in the right direction. So he got a packet in the mail about the bombings.” He grinned. “It’s not like it was a lie. The guy was knee-deep in that bombing, or at least helping the person who did it. You didn’t know I was a CNA, did you?”
“You work at Resting Acres.” The connection was becoming clear.
Sadie whispered to me, “I don’t understand, what’s a CNA?”
“It means,” Taylor responded, proving that he’d heard Sadie’s question, “that I work with old people who only remember the past. MJ was a treasure trove of information as long as I kept her coffee cup full of the real thing. Not that decaf crap they usually give the residents.”
Rain started hitting the trees. Taylor held his hand up and a drop fell on it. “I guess I’d better get down the mountain. These places are known for their flash floods.”
I couldn’t help it, I swung my flashlight app to the back of the cave. Solid rock. If we did get much rain, Sadie and I wouldn’t die of starvation, we’d drown.
“You could let us go. We wouldn’t tell anyone,” Sadie called after the retreating Taylor. We heard his laughter echo through the cave.
I sat on the dirt, all the energy drained out of me. “Toby was right, this was stupid.”
“You told Toby? Doesn’t he report to Greg?” Sadie sat next to me. “If you were trying to keep Greg unaware of your actions, talking to his deputy doesn’t seem like the smartest plan.”
“Toby said Greg wouldn’t let him be part of the investigation due to money issues with the city. I felt bad for him since he broke up with Elisa. He needed something to think about besides her.” Something about what Sadie had said was tinging in the back of my mind, but before I could formalize it, I heard dogs barking in the background.
Sadie and I both stood, making our way carefully to the opening. “Are those search dogs?” She looked at her watch. “We’ve only been gone a total of three hours. No one should be looking for us yet.”
Another bay from a hound sounded closer. “But they are.” I pulled out my cell to try to get a signal, but between the cave and the steel grate, no bars appeared. I returned the cell to my pocket and pushed on the barrier. It didn’t move an inch.
“Help me push.” I motioned Sadie to move up next to me and counted down, “One, two, three.”
The grate moved less than an inch. No way would we be able to get it open enough for us to crawl out. We’d have to take a chance that those really were search dogs—and that it was us they were looking for.
“Help! We’re over here!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. A hound’s bay answered my words. Sadie grinned at me.
“I think the dog heard you.” She stood on tiptoe and called out, too. “Help, we’re in a cave!”
I heard rustling down the path, and then two Bluetick hounds appeared, sniffing at the grate. One sat down and howled, the other came up and licked my hand where it was sticking out of the grate. When he saw the other dog doing his job, he, too, sat and howled.
“I think we’re saved.” Tears filled my eyes as I watched the dogs announce their finding us. Two men burst through the brush and went directly to the dogs, clipping leashes on their collars. One of the guys smiled at us.