Peril by Ponytail (A Bad Hair Day Mystery) (16 page)

Hmm, hadn’t someone else been mentioned as a history buff? The person’s name floated beyond her consciousness, but this might be an important clue if she could remember.

“Gomez wasn’t much help,” she remarked as they trudged up the hill toward the mountain at the far end. She stopped to catch her breath, recalling the altitude. At least she’d worn sturdy boots this time.

“His work is hazardous enough without having to worry about sabotage. I can’t help wondering why someone might want Uncle Ray’s project to fail, if it’s not Hugh Donovan seeking revenge for past wrongs.”

“They could desire the land for other reasons.”

“Like what? If this person doesn’t intend to restore the town, what value does it hold for them?”

“There has to be something more at stake here.”

“That’s what I’ve been saying.” Dalton’s face eased into a teasing grin. “Are we starting to read each other’s minds? I hear that happens to married couples.”

“What a scary idea.” Her smile belied her words.

“Let’s climb onto that ridge again. Maybe we’ll see something we missed last time.” He pointed to the spot overlooking the ghost town.

They moved off road further along. Marla grunted as she hefted herself over a pile of red rocks. This climb hadn’t been easy the first time around, and it had not improved.

The views were worth the effort, though. Once atop the hill, she got a spectacular vista from any direction. It made her feel very small and part of an infinite universe.

“It’s a good thing we ate a big lunch,” she said as they continued on. Dalton seemed to handle the exertion with ease, while she had to pause every few feet.

Her vision wavered. Was she getting dizzy from lack of air, or had she seen something shimmer up ahead?

Dalton stopped to regard her with a frown of concern. “Are you okay?”

She pointed to a spot dense with shrubbery. “I thought I saw a sparkle there. It’s in the vicinity where I felt a chill the first time we passed this way. Let’s go and take a look. Maybe I’m imagining things.”

Skirting boulders and treading cautiously over rocks, she made her way toward a dense tangle of shrubs. Gaining ground, she came to the area and halted abruptly.

“Be careful, there’s a fissure.”

Dalton peered over her shoulder at a wide crack in the earth. “I thought Carol said they don’t have earthquakes in this territory.”

“It could be a cave-in, perhaps from an old mine shaft. Craggy Peak must have miles of tunnels underlying these hills. Did you bring a flashlight?”

He gazed at her in dismay. “It’s in the car. I should go back and get our supplies.”

“I’ll wait here so we don’t lose this spot again. The sunlight must have struck a mineral in the rocks and made them sparkle. I wonder if that missing fellow, Eduardo, noticed the same thing.”

“You’d better back away from there in case the area is unstable.”

“I’ll be fine. Go get our stuff.”

She found a flat-topped boulder and sat while wishing she’d tied her hair back. She had grown it to shoulder length, which Dalton preferred, but it made her neck hot under the sun.

Her thoughts wandered to Annie and how she’d promised to cut the girl’s hair. She should make a date to do the job when Annie had some free time. Her fingers itched to lift a comb and a pair of shears.

She silenced her thoughts to enjoy the peace. Wind whistled in her ears.

Wait a minute. There weren’t any tall trees here with branches to rustle in a breeze. The sound was higher-pitched, like air zinging through a narrowed space.

She stood and edged closer to the gap in the ground. It was a pretty large hole. If you walked past without looking, you might stumble down into who knew where.

Her heart thudded in her chest. Could this be where Eduardo had vanished?

He might have seen something glittery and believed he’d seen an apparition. Gomez had said the workers were a superstitious lot. Or did the foreman suspect more than he let on? Maybe he thought something like this might have happened, but he didn’t make more of an effort to investigate in order to keep his labor force on the job.

Marla wouldn’t know anything definite until they had a better look. She hoped their flashlight would be powerful enough.

“Here’s your sack,” Dalton said upon his return. He tossed her a bulging backpack.

She unzipped her bag and rummaged among the packaged snacks, bottled water, and other supplies. “Where’s the flashlight?”

“Right here.” He lifted it to show her.

“What are you waiting for? Shine the light down there. Be careful not to fall in.”

They touched shoulder-to-shoulder as they lay flat and stretched toward the fissure.

“My guess is this had been a ventilation shaft.” Dalton aimed his beam downward. “It wouldn’t have been the main entrance to the mine.”

“And where is that exactly?”

“Uncle Ray said it’s around the other side of the mountain. We’ll have to research the area’s history to see if any maps exist to the mine system.” A strangled sound came from his throat.

“What is it?” She followed the path of light. Her gaze fell upon a man’s body sprawled below. “Oh, no. Could that be—”

“Yes, I’m afraid so. I’ll notify Luke Beresby.”

“Can you get a cell signal up here?”

“Good question.” He pulled out his phone. “Nope, we’ll have to climb down a bit.”

“Is he, you know, dead?” Her voice rasped in the dry air.

“He’s not moving, and it’s been several days now. You’d think he would have tried to get out, but maybe the fall broke his neck. Looks to be pretty far down there.”

“What should we do?” Marla couldn’t believe they’d found the missing worker.

“Call for help. Even if we had a rope, I wouldn’t go down that hole.”

Marla wouldn’t either, but now she had an insatiable curiosity to learn more about the copper mines underlying the mountain.

That wasn’t a concern for now. They had to summon the authorities and verify this man’s identity. If he truly was the worker who’d gone missing, Raymond would have to be informed. He’d tell Gomez, who would share the news with his workmen. But first things first.

She trailed Dalton down the mountain with a heavy heart. They’d hoped for answers but not this somber ending.

Hold on.
What if Eduardo had been lured there on purpose? Someone might have pushed him to make his demise appear accidental.

Acid burned her gut. They needed details on Garrett Long’s death. Had the man been pushed off a ledge in a similar manner?

Wondering if they had a murderer on the loose gave her the willies. She stumbled in her anxiety and caught herself on a waist-high rock. A creature’s tail slithered out of sight, and she leapt back with a cry. Rocks could hide all sorts of critters. The sooner they reached civilization, the better. These hills were hazardous in more ways than one.

When the sheriff arrived, he brought with him a contingent of emergency personnel. They made quick time of accessing the site that Marla and Dalton had marked off with a trail of white wildflowers she’d picked along the way back.

Luke Beresby stroked his mustache. “I agree this might have been a ventilation shaft that caved in. The mountains in these parts are laced with tunnels. It’s a good thing you weren’t so foolish as to climb down there. What brought you to this specific location?”

Marla waved a hand. “I saw a sparkle. It may have been the sun hitting a mineral on one of those rocks.”

“At least you’re not claiming to have seen a ghost.”

No, but if that guy is dead, there is one more haunting this hill.

It took a team effort along with a helicopter to lift the victim from the crevice. After confirming Eduardo’s identity, Beresby strode over to Marla and Dalton who waited nearby.

“I’ll call Raymond. He’ll have info on the guy’s family.”

“What else did your team find down below?” Marla pointed to the crack in the earth.

“It opens into a mine shaft. We’ll seal this entrance, but be careful if you’re exploring.” His eyes narrowed. “What were you two doing here anyway?”

Marla shifted her feet. “We were attempting to determine what might have happened to the missing worker. Raymond should have filed a missing person’s report. It wasn’t right to assume the guy had deserted his post.”

She glanced at Dalton, who’d gone to examine the broken-off branches of the shrubbery overhanging the pit. Was she correct in thinking this might not have been an accident?

“Anything new on Garrett Long’s death that you can share with us?” Dalton said, returning their way. Sweat glistened on his forehead.

“I’m concerned about this one at the moment,” the sheriff replied.

The sun blazed down upon them in a clear blue sky, making Marla regret leaving her hat in the car. Just because the air was drier here didn’t mean she should neglect the same precautions she took against the strong sun in Florida.

She regarded her husband through her sunglasses, wondering what he’d want to do next. They should probably leave to allow the sheriff to get on with business.

“If you don’t require us for anything else, we’ll move along,” Dalton told Beresby. “I’d like to see if Uncle Ray needs our help. He’ll have to deal with the fallout.”

Raymond had returned to the ghost town by the time they approached. He stood conferring with his foreman, who stepped aside so they could have a private moment with Dalton’s uncle.

“Luke told me the news,” Raymond said without preamble. “The boys took it pretty hard. Alberto gave them the rest of the week off since it’s already Thursday. Hopefully, we can get back to normal after the memorial service.”

“The body might not be released for days,” Dalton warned his uncle.

“I know, but these fellows are going to be high strung for a while. They still believe he saw a ghost that summoned him to his death. Did you two see anything up there that might indicate foul play?”

“Not necessarily. Eduardo might have spotted a glimmer, as did Marla, and gone to investigate. He could have stepped right into that hole without seeing it.”

“Didn’t you say the main entrance to the mine was elsewhere?” Marla asked. “Have you ever looked to see if it’s still sealed?” Had Raymond consulted a survey of the tunnels to see how far they extended? Wouldn’t that have been necessary before he began construction?

Raymond’s hand fluttered in the air. “The main staging area for the mine is on Otto Lovelace’s property now, and no one can get through his perimeter without an invitation.”

“Otto invited me to tour his water bottling plant,” Marla said, propping a hand on her hip. “I should take him up on his offer.”

“You’d be one of the only people to see it, other than that engineer who performs the inspections.” Raymond’s sardonic tone revealed what he thought about Matthew Brigham.

“I met Mr. Brigham at his office in town. He seemed friendly enough.”

Raymond glowered at her. “I don’t care for either one of them. Take my advice, and be wary of Lovelace. That man isn’t all there.” He tapped his temple for emphasis.

“In what way?”

“The guy has an obsession with being on time. He’s constantly looking at his watch, and gossip says he has a clock in every room of his estate.”

“Why, Uncle Ray, I didn’t realize you listened to gossip,” Dalton teased.

The white-haired man harrumphed. “You can be sure there will be plenty of tales going around after this afternoon’s activities.”

“Not to belittle the dead man, but he’s one more ghost to add to your ghost town.”

“Yes, but I don’t want those stories to scare people off.”

“Where can we learn more about copper mining?” Marla said in a breezy tone to change the subject. “Didn’t you say you were planning to open a museum here?”

Raymond lifted his brows. “Have you heard of the library? It may actually prove more useful than the Internet.”

“Who are you planning to hire to run your museum? Do you have some old miner in mind?” She chuckled at her phrasing.

“I’ll deal with that when the time comes.” Raymond’s curt tone was like a splash of water to her face. Had she said something to offend him?

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Dalton indicated the construction crew who lingered. Some stood chatting in clusters while others stayed to secure their equipment.

“No, thanks. I’m used to handling things on my own.”

Maybe that’s your problem. You don’t know how to confide in family or give them your trust. It’s a lonely path to follow.

“Come on, Dalton, we should go back to the ranch and rest.”

It wasn’t until they’d driven down the mountain that Marla recalled the reason why she and Dalton had visited the ghost town in the first place.

“We forgot to ask Raymond about his funding.”

Dalton grimaced, his hands on the steering wheel. “That’s right. I got distracted by our discovery. We should go into Rustler Ridge. I’d like to research town records to trace the ownership of the mine. Maybe I can find some blueprints to the tunnel system.”

“Good idea. Drop me off at the library. I’ll look up the mining industry and see what I can learn.”

They split up after setting a rendezvous. Hours had elapsed since they’d set out to explore the hillside, and it would be dinner time soon.

Inside the library, she found an entire shelf of books on the copper mining industry. Eager to read about the region’s history, she picked an easy text and read the basics about the job. It wasn’t an easy life for the men who chose it. Danger accompanied them deep into the shafts where accidents happened more often than not.

“The men lit their way by candles,” she told Dalton when they met up in front of the post office at their allotted time. “Since they worked twelve-hour shifts, they brought their lunch pails with them and even had toilets in the mines. When mules were brought in later to haul the ore cars, the animals lived down there.”

“That seems cruel.”

“Nonetheless, mining was a prosperous occupation. Boom-towns sprang up around the mines, and support personnel flooded the area. The mines closed when copper prices dropped or the ore supply got depleted.”