The Night Killer

small slit through crumbling rocks.

Chapter 46
    “There it is,” said Slick, pointing to the irregular hole in the side of the hill.
    “That?” said Agent Gil Mathews. “That’s it? I told you, Massey, you screw with me and I’ll bury you.”
    “That’s the cave,” said Slick. “I’m not screwing with you.”
    The entrance to the cave was small, but big enough for even a large man to squeeze through, Diane observed. Perhaps Mathews was expecting walkways and a handrail and that everyone would be able to just stroll in. This entrance was what you might expect for an undeveloped cave in the wild. It occurred to Diane that Mathews would have really been undone by a vertical entrance that dropped straight into the ground.
    “Where are the bodies?” Diane asked Slick.
    “Okay,” said Slick, “once you get in the cave, you’re in this room, see. It’s about as big as a room in a house. It’s kind of nice. I used to play in it when I was a kid. There’s a tunnel on the right that kind of goes down. You got to stoop to walk through it, but it ain’t long, just a few feet. Okay, then to the left you come to another tunnel. You can stand up in it. It goes on about ten feet, then opens to kind of a little room on the left. You got to watch out there, ’cause just a little ways in there’s a drop-off of . . . like, maybe fifteen feet. That’s where the bodies is.”
    “Is he on the level?” asked Mathews.
    “We won’t know until we get there,” said Diane, “but I have no reason to doubt him right now.”
    “This doesn’t look like any kind of cave I’m familiar with,” said Mathews.
    Ah , thought Diane. She was right. “What kind of caves are you familiar with?” she asked.
    “None, really, but I visited Mammoth Cave when I was a kid,” he said.
    “Caves have all kinds of openings,” she said. “This isn’t unusual.”
    Mathews nodded. “Frank says you do this for fun,” he said. “Doesn’t look like much fun to me.”
    “There’s hardly anyplace I’d rather be,” said Diane, smiling.
    Mathews shook his head to indicate his utter lack of understanding of the appeal.
    Diane, Neva, and Mike tested their flashlights and hard-hat lamps. They organized their rope and double-checked their gear. Frank walked over to Diane as she and the others were preparing themselves.
    “You think he’s telling the truth?” He nodded toward Slick, who had found a boulder to sit on and wait.
    “We’ll see,” said Diane. “You sure you don’t want to take up caving with me?”
    “I’m sure,” said Frank. “Somehow, slipping through that little hole has no appeal to me at all.”
    “That’s a fairly large hole,” said Diane. “We’ve been through much smaller entrances than that.” She looked at him for a moment, smiling. “This isn’t a big deal. Were it not for the fact that we’re here to retrieve bodies, I would be having a great time. It sounds like an interesting cave.”
    Frank smiled back. “Have you ever met a cave that you didn’t find interesting?”
    “Some more than others,” she said.
    Liam was speaking with Slick. From what Diane could hear, it was about the bodies. It sounded as if Liam was trying to find some clue as to whether they were the couple he was looking for. She imagined he hated the idea of telling his client his daughter was dead, her body dumped in a cave.
    “How long do you think it’s going to take?” asked Mathews. He was scratching his arms.
    She couldn’t believe that any insects had gotten through the multiple layers of insecticide he had sprayed on himself.
    “Not long to find them. Longer to process the scene and take them up,” she said.
    “Shouldn’t we be using walkie-talkies or something?” said Mathews.
    “They don’t work well in caves,” said Diane. “Cave radio is a science in itself. From what Massey described, the bodies are not that far in. I don’t think it will be a problem. If it looks like we are going to take too long, for any reason, Mike will come out and tell you.”
    Mathews nodded.
    “This is pretty easy caving, from the look of it,” said Diane.
    “You have so much stuff to carry—and all that rope,” said Mathews.
    “We try to be prepared for contingencies,” said Diane. “But this is not a big operation. It’s not like a deep-cave rescue.”
    “Okay,” he said, “let’s get this over with so I can get back to civilization.”
    “We ready?” asked Mike, grinning at Diane.
    Diane