Dust to Dust

shoe.”
    “Where is Neva on her search of the courthouse records?” said Diane.
    “I don’t know. She had to go out on a couple of murders over in Jackson County. She’s working on the courthouse project between jobs,” he said.
    “What do you have here?” Diane gestured toward the map.
    “Aerial maps taken in the area over the years. I’m looking for some common points we can mark with stakes. We’re going to do an overlay when we get the data on the chemical makeup of the soil and see what ground features correlate with what chemical characteristics. Too bad we don’t have any infrared photos.”
    “It looks like you have everything under control,” she said.
    “It’s coming along. Hope we don’t have any more surprise intruders,” he said. “I got backup just in case. A couple of patrolmen wanted to earn overtime for the holidays coming up. It’s all working out for everyone,” David said.
    “I met one of them coming in. They seem to have a plan for securing the property,” said Diane.
    “I walked them over the area when they got here,” David told her.
    It seemed to Diane that everything was going well here. If she hurried, she could make it home before it got too late to call Kingsley to fill him in on the latest about the three women from Gainesville. It would be interesting to see if he was as suspicious as she was about them.
    “I’ll be going,” she said. “Call if you need me for anything.”
    “Will do.” He grinned. “By the way, one of the things Paloma wanted was a copy of our research design for her mother. Seems Marcella is very excited about it. I never knew we had so many people around who are data wonks like I am.”
    “Yes, it’s a scary thought, isn’t it?” she said. “Who would have imagined—”
    Diane was cut short by a loud cry coming out of the darkness.

Chapter 33
    David and Diane jerked around and stared into the dark in the direction the cry came from.
    “David! Help me! It’s Hector, help! Oh jeez, help!”
    Scott was perhaps two hundred feet from them. The lighting hadn’t quite illuminated that far and all that was visible of him was a dim reflection of light from his lab suit and his face. He was kneeling on the ground in heavy undergrowth.
    Diane hadn’t heard a gunshot. That’s what she’d feared. She and David ran toward Scott, jumping and skipping over piles of rocks and broken concrete, trying not to get tangled in the string, or trip over the stakes. Out of the corner of her eye Diane saw the bobbing flashlight of one of the policemen running through the woods in their direction.
    “He’s hurt,” said Scott as they drew near.
    “How?” asked Diane, breathing hard from the obstacle course she had just run.
    “Hector was standing here. There was a noise, and he suddenly threw up his hands and just disappeared,” he said.
    “Scott, what do you mean?” asked David.
    “Hector, can you hear me?” yelled Scott.
    Diane heard a groan. She looked down at her feet and saw that she was standing on the edge of a wide, dark cylindrical hole in the ground, maybe six feet in diameter. Hector was somewhere below in deep shadow.
    She knelt beside Scott, feeling in her pockets for a flashlight.
    “Anyone have a light?” she asked.
    “No,” said David. “Damn. I don’t. One of the policemen is coming. He has one.”
    “Oh jeez, Hector, say something,” said Scott.
    Diane put a hand on Scott’s arm. “Stay calm. We’ll get him out.”
    “What is this? Some kind of animal trap?” said Scott. “Who would do this?”
    “It’s an abandoned well,” said Diane.
    The patrolman had arrived and shined his light down into the opening.
    “Well, hell,” he said.
    The bad news was Hector was lying at the bottom of the well. One leg was bent under him. Rotten boards and dirt half covered him. The good news was he was not far down—about ten, maybe twelve feet. Not far at all. But Diane worried about the walls of the well.
    She took the flashlight from the policeman and handed him her keys.
    “Go to my SUV. In the back is a bag with a rope in it and a backpack. Bring them. Hurry. And call the paramedics.”
    He nodded and headed off immediately through the dark in the direction of the driveway. Diane shined the light down the hole at Hector.
    “Hector, can you hear me?” she said.
    He moved. “Yeah. What the shit is this?” he said. His voice had a pissed-off, whiney tone, but it sounded strong.
    “You fell down an old well,”