Tall, Dark, and Determined (46 page)

G
o back inside.” Once Chase managed to pull his jaw from the ground, he started issuing orders like a stern papa. “Right now. Before any of the men see you wearing that getup.”
The woman has a bad habit of wearing outrageous, impractical outfits that look far too good on her. She's going to start a riot
.

“I'm not listening to you.” Lacey Lyman stuck her nose in the air and walked on, her hips swaying hypnotically beneath the buff-colored, fitted
pants
she'd donned for the trip ahead. She showed enough sense to reach for her cloak and swing it on, concealing the all-too-revealing clothing. “They won't see a thing, and it's not sensible to try dragging a crinoline and skirts through a half-blocked mine. This is the safe choice.”

“Only if none of the men catch sight of you.” Chase didn't mince words. “If they do, I won't be able to fend them off.”

“Careful, Dunstan.” She pinned the cloak in place and gave him a tight smile. “You wouldn't want to give me a compliment.”

“It wasn't a compliment,” he growled, shouldering his pack and heading out. “It was a warning. With a getup like that, you may well survive the mines only to be attacked here in town.”

“After your baseless accusation, I've already been attacked here in town.” The look she shot him could've frozen stew.

Each carrying a bag supplied with candles, torch material, some food, and a canteen, they cleared town and hit the woods. “I admitted I was wrong,” Chase pointed out. “And I'm letting you come with me to search the mines.”
What more does she want?

“Admitting you're wrong is not the equivalent of apologizing for your spurious accusations,” she sniffed.

“Would an apology take it all away? Make it better?” If she said it would, Chase would apologize here and now.

“No. It would indicate that you regret maligning my character.” She gave a small, sad sigh. “And that you truly know you're wrong and maybe even that you're glad of it.”

“I regret maligning your character,” he offered.
Until I find the evidence and know for sure that you're not insisting on coming along to hide proof of your guilt, I can't say more
.

Lacey didn't accept his apology, maintaining stony silence until they reached the mouth of the mines. There she drew off her cloak and stuffed it into the bag then addressed him.

“Despite what you believe, Mr. Dunstan, I am neither a fool nor a criminal.” Her lips compressed into a thin line, giving something for him to train his eyes on so they didn't wander down to her legs. “It's painfully clear to me, if no one else, your suspicions about Braden hint at much darker assumptions.”

Chase looked at her for a long moment before nodding. “You're the person who stood to gain the most and who's gone to such extremes to ensure the sawmill gets off the ground.” Even as he said it, something inside him withered at the words. All his instincts clamored that he'd gotten it wrong.

Some things cloud a man's instincts
, he reminded himself.
Beautiful women top that list—particularly ones in pants
.

“That's what I thought.” She pulled the strap of her bag tighter and lit her candle. “So here we are to find evidence to exonerate me of your speculation and Braden from his own guilt.”

“I hope so.” Chase lit his own candle. “You have no idea how much I've wanted to be wrong about all of this.”

“Let's go then.” Her expression softened infinitesimally. “I trusted you when you didn't truly deserve it. You don't trust me when I do. It's time for those two wrongs to come right.”

Chase ventured toward the gaping maw in the mountainside first, holding his candle aloft to catch sight of the tunnels within. The left branch lay blocked by boulders, but the straight path had been cleared by the rescue party long ago.

He started in with a heightened awareness of the woman following at his heels. They picked their way over and around various rocks and clumps of earth strewn throughout the path. The farther they went, the darker it became. The air grew damp and heavy, smelling of dust and metal. Various offshoots branched away from the main canal, but Chase ignored them.

Once they'd gone through the mother tunnel, they'd go back and thread guide rope before exploring the rats' maze. Or what was left of it. Entire passageways were obscured by stone, remnants of splintered supports the only evidence that there'd once been paths. The ceiling bowed in places, cracked in others, and the deeper they went, the worse conditions became.

At length they reached a cavernous room—the main worksite of the mine. The hairs on the back of Chase's neck stood on end as they made their way around the perimeter of what space remained. Pockets of the room remained open, but here the destruction was most evident—an entire wall had buckled, making the roof slant down at a sharp angle to meet the ground.

“We can't go any farther, but this was once the hub of operations.” Chase spoke for the first time since they'd left sunlight. “Used to be many more tunnels leading away from here, going deeper into the mountain where the silver ore waits.”

“All gone.” Her voice was somber as she peered into corners and nooks. “The supports I can see make me think the room collapsed in the very middle.” She held her candle high, pointing to the ceiling, where the roof supports of the column-like supports branched toward the middle, making a half circle.

Chase bent down to where the floor met the ceiling, looking for any open spaces or seams to peek through. He came up empty. “Whatever happened in here, it was thorough.”

“Wait!” she called. “Here's another passage. Much smaller.”

At her words, dread pooled in Chase's stomach.
Danger
.

“No, Lacey!” He rolled away from the sloping roof and jumped to his feet, catching her arm before she continued farther. Chills coursed down his arms, a warning that had never been wrong before. “We're leaving.”

He pulled her back the way they'd come, but she fought him. “Look! There! What is that?” She crouched down, poking a thin wire running along the ground. “Why isn't it covered in dirt?”

Fear curdled in Chase's gut as he grabbed her. He didn't bother trying to be gentle as he jerked her to her feet and headed back down the passage. “We have to get out of here.”

“When we found something?” she cried. “What's wrong?”

“It's a fuse line, Lacey!” He broke into a run, half dragging her behind him.
“Run!”
Chase felt the moment she obeyed, her weight no longer pulling him backward. It seemed like years before he saw the faint glow of sunshine at the mouth of the tunnel, and he put on an extra burst of speed.

“Stop.” A figure moved forward, blocking the light as he raised a pistol, grip firm as Chase and Lacey skidded to a halt.

“Mr. Draxley?” Lacey tried to push past Chase, but he held her behind him, out of aim of the gun she hadn't yet seen. “What are you doing? Why are you here?”

“Finishing what I started.” Mustache twitching as much as ever, Draxley gave no other sign of nervousness. “Pity you two didn't wait another day—it would've all been hidden by then. Now you'll be part of the next tragic accident of Hope Falls.”

“Why?” Chase couldn't move for his gun, couldn't launch himself at Draxley and protect Lacey at the same time. All he could do was keep the man talking as long as possible.

“Because you started poking your nose where it didn't belong,” the telegraph operator snapped. “And because you”—he pointed the gun higher to indicate Lacey—”meddled where women don't belong at all. Hope Falls was supposed to be ours, you interfering witch. But you stepped in and ruined everything!”

“The other bid,” Lacey gasped. “You're the buyer who made that abysmal offer for our half of the mine you destroyed?” She sounded both horrified and outraged at Draxley's daring.

“Start walking.” Draxley waggled the gun. “I don't want to have to shoot you and drag your bodies far enough back they won't be found. You'll go there yourselves.” He moved forward, forcing them back. “It would be most fitting to take you to the chamber where your brother was trapped, but I'm afraid that's too easy to get out of. Now drop your candles and go left. I don't want you able to light them later.”

They didn't have a choice. Darkness surrounded them on all sides, save the flame of Draxley's candle and its pinpoint reflection on his glasses. “Now right.” He barked directions until they'd wound themselves deep into the maze.

“Why?” Chase heard the sorrow in Lacey's voice as she asked. “What made you kill all those men? There's silver in other places where you might strike a claim. Why do this?”

“Didn't your brother tell you?” Surprise halted Draxley's progress, and they all came to a standstill. “This mountain, about to be so tragically wasted, holds more than silver.”

“Your friend,” Chase guessed. “The one who brought you here to man the telegraphs—it was Lyman's partner, wasn't it? Owen.”

“A sentimental fool!” Draxley spat on the ground. “He knew the plan, but ran back when he realized Lyman was inside. Had some fool notion he could outrun the fuse and save his friend.”

“But not the others?” Rage laced her words. “Not the men he hired on and brought here, in the bowels of the earth?”

“They might have guessed about the gold—we couldn't have them flapping their gums. I told Owen it'd be the same problem with your brother, but he had the fool idea Lyman would give up mining after the cave-in.” Draxley shook his head. “As though any man would leave gold in the ground he owned. The investor we had lined up didn't want to leave Lyman as a loose end.”

“What investor?” Lacey asked sharply. “If Owen didn't plan it and you were helping Owen, who put you up to this?”

“I'm not going to tell you.” Smugness settled on Draxley's pallid features. “You won't have the mystery neatly solved. You'll go to your deaths with questions—not at peace.”

“The fuse wasn't lit when Owen went in, was it?” Certainty settled over Chase. “You pushed down the detonator after.”

“Doesn't matter,” Draxley sneered. “You know, I could give you quick deaths. But you've cost me the mine and everything I worked so hard for, so I'm going to leave you to its mercy. You don't know the way—but I've haunted this place for weeks trying to find a way back in to the mother lode. Good-bye.”

With that, he pinched the wick of his candle and plunged them into pitch-black darkness, his footsteps sounding the path of his retreat.

Chase wrapped his hand around Lacey's and, for the second time that day, dragged her through the tunnels. All his time as a tracker and hunter rose to the fore in those desperate moments as they fought to find a way out. Listening for footsteps and following his gut, he wound back the way they'd come—the air grew less stale.

“I see it!” Lacey gasped for breath as they caught a glimpse of light once more.

They sped for it, only to be thrown to the ground as the first blast echoed through the tunnels. Chase rolled atop her, sandwiching her between his body and the wall as daylight disappeared.

    THIRTY-NINE    

J
ake felt the mountain lurch moments before the last train of the day pulled into Hope Falls. The car tilted on the tracks, but didn't tip over. His mouth went dry.
Evie!

The moment they pulled to a stop, he vaulted over the edge of the iron guard, over the pull-down steps, and hit the ground running. He didn't stop until he reached the door of the diner. When he saw her, unharmed, Jake could breathe again.

“You're all right?” He wrapped his arms around her before she could even turn around. “No one's hurt?”

“Jake!” She shifted in his arms, gorgeous amber eyes bright with tears. “I'm so glad you're back!”