The first two evidence technicians on the scene had refused to enter the tunnel. One woman had dissolved in tears after she gave it a halfhearted attempt. Mercy had offered to retrieve the rest of the weapons, but Jeff Garrison had refused. He wanted an experienced team to process the scene and the removal. They’d waited another hour for a tech who claimed he wasn’t claustrophobic. When the tech finally huffed and puffed his way up the path, Mercy had wondered if the large man would fit in the tunnel, but he’d scooted in with ease.
Mercy didn’t know how evidence could be handled correctly in the tunnel. It was full of rock and dust, and even though the weapons were bagged, they were covered with debris. Whoever had chosen this place to hide them wasn’t a weapons lover. The guns would have slowly become useless.
Her father would have been furious at the improper storage.
Even Mercy was annoyed by it.
Truman joined her and Jeff. He’d been talking with Darby and Eddie, and Mercy had overheard Darby recommend hiking trails and a kayaking site. She’d seen Truman make some notes on his phone as Darby talked. Eddie had appeared politely interested, but Mercy didn’t think his interests extended to kayaking. A big yacht on a smooth lake, maybe.
Getting out on the water sounded good to Mercy. She hadn’t kayaked in years. A smooth bit of river. The damp scent of waterlogged moss. Towering pines. The sound of water over the rocks. Nothing between her and nature but a paddle and the kayak.
Yes, I could do that.
Would Truman be interested?
She yanked her meandering thoughts back to the present. Murder. Guns. Focus.
Truman was looking at her with a puzzled gaze. She glanced at Jeff, who was giving her the same look. “What?” she asked.
“Jeff asked you if you’re sure the cave had deepened since you were last here,” Truman said.
“Absolutely. Before, it could barely keep a few people dry from the rain. Now it’s much bigger.”
“Are you sure it’s the same one?” Jeff asked.
“I checked the area,” said Mercy. “I couldn’t find another.”
“She walked right to this one,” added Truman. “I had no doubt she knew where she was going.”
“We need to figure out when it was deepened,” said Jeff. “Was it done deliberately to hide the weapons? Or did someone stumble on it by chance?”
“The tunnel part felt natural to me,” said Mercy. “Someone got lucky finding that as a hidden storage space. Did anyone check with the Forest Service to ask if they were aware of any blasting in the area?” She knew it was a long shot. It could have happened anytime in the last fifteen years.
“I had Darby call. They have no records of anything like that.”
“Could be as simple as a couple of high school kids fooling around with explosives they’d found,” said Truman. “What about reported injuries from explosives?”
“I could ask Levi,” said Mercy. “He would probably remember if something like that had happened. Word travels fast when someone nearly blows their hand off.”
“Ina Smythe too,” Truman said as he pulled out his phone. “I’ll give her a call.” He stepped away and Mercy did the same thing as she dialed Levi.
It felt foreign to call her brother. They’d exchanged numbers yesterday, and at the time she’d wondered if she’d ever use his. She and Levi weren’t at the stage where she could text him a casual “Hey, what’s up?” or a selfie.
How many times over the years have I wished I had his number in my phone?
She’d wanted someone to share her successes with. Her college graduation. Her FBI acceptance. Her posting in Portland. She’d celebrated with friends, but she’d always been painfully aware her family was out of reach. Now her brother was available at the touch of a button. Rose and Pearl too.
Slowly she was making progress.
“Mercy?” her brother answered.
“Yes, it’s me. I have a question for you.” There was no coffee bar noise in the background, and she wondered where he was.
“What’s up?”
“Do you remember the spot up behind Owlie Lake where you guys used to drink and bring girls?”
“The lookout? The one you have to hike up to?”
“Yes. Do you remember the cave that was off the path?”
“Why are you asking?” His voice was cautious.
“Because I’m up here right now and it doesn’t look like I remember. The cave is pretty deep, and there’s a low tunnel that runs even deeper from the back.”
“That’s not right. You must be somewhere else. It wasn’t deep at all.”
“I’m positive I’m in the right spot. I don’t know of any other caves up here, do you?”
“Mercy, what’s going on?” Levi sounded deadly serious.
“I’m trying to figure out when someone made this cave deeper.”
“Why are you poking around up there?”
Frustration rolled over her. Why did her brother care—
She gripped her phone tighter. “What is up here, Levi?”
He was silent.
“Oh God. Are you saying you . . . is this where . . .” She couldn’t breathe. She took several more steps to put more distance between her and the group of investigators.
“Mercy, where exactly are you?”
Her mind spun. Did Levi stash a corpse up here? Is the crime scene team about to find a pile of bones?
“At the lookout. The flat area where you can see forever.”
He exhaled loudly over the phone.
“Levi, we found a bunch of guns stashed in that cave. I know it’s the same cave; someone made it bigger.”
“Are you saying that area is crawling with FBI now?” His voice rose an octave.