Dead Secret

Mike rescued me,” said Diane.
    “Jeez, Boss, you could have broken something.”
    “Fortunately, I didn’t. Our guy may have been trying to descend a rope from that opening over there.” Diane pointed to the high opening in the cavern wall. “And the railroad spike the rope was anchored to came loose and sent him crashing to the cavern floor.”
    “Bet he broke something,” said Jin.
    “I’m sure he did,” said Diane. “Jin, you and Neva process his body. Neva, pack the evidence and take pictures. I’m going to move some of these rocks that I dislodged from that hole in the ceiling and look at the floor. Work as fast as you comfortably can.”
    Jin and Neva busied themselves while Diane surveyed the rock pile. Mike had moved some of them from around the bottom of the rope to give them a place to stand. Diane didn’t know if there might be anything under the fallen rocks, but prudence dictated that she have a look.
    “You want some help?” asked Mike.
    “I hate to ask you to do this.”
    “That’s all right. Helping with a crime scene makes my résumé look more interesting. No one has to know that all I did was move rocks.”
    It was a bigger job than Diane had anticipated, but they cleared a good portion of the fallen rocks, stacking them to the side.
    Diane stood tall and stretched her muscles, she looked up and scanned the ceiling. “I’m a little concerned about the ceiling,” she said.
    “I saw the dust falling,” said Mike. “I believe it’s from the newly opened hole. I haven’t seen any larger rocks breaking away. Before everyone climbs back up, I’ll reposition the rope so that it doesn’t put pressure on the rim of the hole.”
    She took a flashlight and examined the newly revealed floor. She found nothing.
    “That was a lot of work with nothing to show for it,” she said.
    “Maybe this will show something interesting,” said Jin. He stood next to the cave wall beneath the tunnel opening with a squirt bottle in one hand. “I’ll need to turn off all the lights in a minute.”
    “No!” yelled Diane and Mike simultaneously.

Chapter 5
    Neva looked up from the evidence bags and moved to stop Jin.
    “Tell me you didn’t spray anything on the rocks,” said Mike.
    Jin raised his eyebrows and stared at him for a moment, then at Diane. “We almost always check for blood. I didn’t think—”
    “We don’t contaminate caves. The ecosystem here is fragile. I should have told you not to bring any chemicals,” said Diane.
    Jin looked around at the barren landscape of rock and speleotherms. “I didn’t know. Who would have thought?”
    “The fauna can be very small—microscopic,” said Mike.
    “And we can’t leave anything toxic that other cavers might get into,” said Diane.
    Jin wrinkled his face. “Didn’t think of that.” He glanced at Mike, who was staring at him with a disapproving frown. “I haven’t sprayed anything. We’re safe.”
    Mike nodded, then gave him a crooked half smile. “Good. Then I don’t have to dangle you over a bottomless pit.”
    “Well, that’s a relief,” said Jin. “I’m not wearing my Spide-Man underwear.” He grinned at Mike, then looked at Diane. “I saw some suspicious dark stains that might be blood,” said Jin. “I’ll take samples and photographs. We can map any pattern that way.”
    “I have something here.” Neva had donned a pair of latex gloves from the crime kit and was examining what looked like a slip of paper. “I think it might be a photograph, but it’s been soaked through—with blood maybe.”
    “Really?” said Jin. “Let me see.”
    Diane and Jin walked over and peered at what appeared to be a dirty brown square piece of paper in Neva’s hand. Neva shined her flashlight through it.
    “I think I see a shape,” said Neva. “Maybe a person.”
    “Maybe,” agreed Diane. “We’ll clean it up at the lab. If we’re lucky, it will have a name on the back. Good find.”
    Neva dropped the paper fragment into an evidence bag she retrieved from the crime kit and set it in the row of bags containing evidence that had been collected so far—more than Diane expected.
    Jin returned to his soil samples. Diane slipped on a pair of gloves and helped Neva put the mummified remains of Caver Doe into the body bag. With his body fluids gone and only skin and bone remaining, he was light, but he was fixed in a sitting position, so they had to lay him on his side in the bag.
    “Do you know how long he’s