Читать книгу Submerged - Elizabeth Goddard - Страница 15

FIVE

Cobie wore some old running shoes and layered her clothes under fleece and her rain gear. She put on gloves to protect not only her hands but the cave formations from the oils in her skin that could stop stalagmite growth. She wore a headlamp attached to a helmet and carried an extra flashlight.

They waited at the slim entrance to the cave while Ray and Mel took the lead as a safety measure. After searching the island, they had concluded that her assailant had fled. Ray had taken as evidence the rock she’d used to hit the man. Thankfully, it had fallen in a sheltered spot and the rain hadn’t washed it free of the blood. The slightest chance that the man had hidden in the cave remained, so Ray’s reasons for going along served more than one purpose—keeping him on the job as part of his investigation, protecting them and exploring the cave with his friends the way he’d already wanted to. He hadn’t asked more questions, only assured Cobie they would find her attacker.

Right. The man could have been anyone at all, out for a joy kill instead of a joyride. He could be anywhere by now.

Including right behind her again.

After Ray and Mel, Adam’s friends, Nate, Jared and Gary, went next, readying their tape, ropes, compass, a clinometer to map the cave and a first aid kit, just in case. They seemed genuinely excited to be part of mapping the cave for the Forest Service.

But Adam hung back, studying the place where she’d run from her attacker. Since Ray and Mel had already searched that area, she wasn’t sure what Adam thought he would find there. Still, it warmed her heart that he was searching. He seemed determined to keep her safe and to figure this out.

She leaned against the mossy limestone and thought back to when he and Brad had gone along with a more experienced team as novice surveyors. She hadn’t realized how much donning the gear would affect her. How the memories would rush back just by seeing Adam wearing the headlamp and helmet. Only this time, Brad wasn’t at his side.

The memories hurt and reminded her of the pain and anger she’d felt toward Adam all these years. But Adam—his heroic effort to save her today, his protectiveness afterward, and, yes, maybe even his sturdy form and thick hair framing his rugged, handsome face, made it hard to hold on to her resentment. Being with him seemed to soften all the hardness around her heart, and her grip on her negative attitude was slowly slipping. And with that, part of her wished her friends wouldn’t give him such a hard time.

Just then—as if Adam had heard her thoughts—he turned and glanced at her, then started back to them.

“Back off of Adam, okay?” she whispered to Laura.

Jared called from the cave. “Come on in, guys. Get out of the rain.”

“Go ahead, Cobie,” Laura said. “Jen and I will go next—then Adam can be last.”

Cobie feared what her friends might say to Adam if she left them alone. Maybe she should let them have their say, but Adam had saved her life. That couldn’t make up for the past—no way—but the least she could do in return was save him from her friends.

“No, you go ahead,” she said. “Then Jen.”

“What are you doing?” Laura angled her head, her silent question ringing loudly in Cobie’s ears. Why are you staying behind with Adam?

“I need to talk to him alone, okay?” It was the only answer Laura would accept.

Her friend frowned. Shrugging, she slipped into the cave. Jen followed. Cobie had forgotten how overbearing Laura could be.

When Laura and Jen had disappeared inside, Adam approached. He studied her. What was he thinking? Okay, maybe she made a mistake. Maybe she didn’t exactly want to be left alone with him.

“Is that true?” Adam lifted his hand as though he would reach out to her but then dropped it.

“Is what true?”

“You told Laura you needed to talk to me alone.”

How did she answer that? “Um...honestly, I was protecting you.”

His questioning frown shifted into that knee-weakening grin that had won her heart years ago. A mistake, she’d definitely made a mistake.

“I’m not sure what I need protection from, but I won’t reject your offer.”

“It’s not what—it’s who. I didn’t want my friends to say anything to you.”

His grin dropped. He scraped a hand over his face. “Yeah, they’re pretty brutal. I appreciate your effort, but I can’t blame your friends for their low opinion of me. They’re trying to help you.”

Cobie saw the question in Adam’s shimmering blue eyes. All the lush greenery had turned his eyes more blue today, and they asked Cobie if she had a low opinion of him. She hadn’t yet decided. Regardless, there could be no future for them. That much she knew. Funny how nothing much had changed there. When she was younger and Brad was still alive, she had had such a huge crush on Adam and he never once looked at her. She hadn’t thought there could be a future then, either.

An odd feeling swirled up inside and rolled over the dingy walls of her heart. The way Adam looked at her now, she almost got the sense that he looked at her as more than his best friend’s sister. He looked at her like a woman—a desirable woman. In all her years of dreaming about him, she’d never seen that in his eyes.

She gasped for air. “I’d better go.” She made for the cave.

“Hold on, Cobie.” Adam adjusted her helmet. Squatted enough to be at eye level while he did it. Why did his nearness make her insides shaky like this? She was a traitor to let the man she blamed for her brother’s death affect her this way.

“What are you doing?” She moved to step away.

“Wait.” He messed with the headlamp. Then he flashed her his triple-threat grin. Oh, God, help me. I don’t know if I can do this.

Cobie swallowed. “I can take care of myself.” She stepped back from him, but not nearly far enough.

“Of course you can.” Adam crossed his arms. “Just like I can protect myself from your friends, but I’m not opposed to letting you fight for me.”

Cobie crushed down the fierce need to express her frustration. He turned everything into playful banter, and she didn’t want to play games with him. The events of today were certainly not unfolding the way she’d expected.

Waves crashed against the rocky edges of the island, reminding her that somewhere near was the bluff she’d jumped from. Part of her wanted to back out of exploring the cave.

“Cobie, neither of us planned this today. I know being here with me, going into this cave, brings back a lot of unwanted memories. But maybe there are some good ones, too.” Adam closed the distance she’d just created. “I—”

Laura slid out of the small crack in the limestone.

“You guys coming or what?” Though half her face was covered in mud, Cobie could see that Laura’s eyes held concern. “Cobie? Are you sure you want to do this?”

Laura and Jen had both taken time off from their jobs and families and traveled to meet her. She’d asked a lot of them, especially since she hadn’t had much contact with them since Brad’s death.

“Yes. I’m sure.” Cobie glanced at Adam. “I need to finish this while I’m here. And after it’s over, I need to move on with my life.”

Something flashed in Adam’s eyes. Regret? Hurt? Cobie wasn’t sure. When he didn’t say anything, Cobie followed Laura into the cave—a dark and muddy chute that she slid down until it delivered her into a cavern. When she arrived, she was grateful for the multiple headlamps spread out like streetlights.

Cobie climbed to her feet and carefully stepped out of the slippery stream that continued twisting through the cave. Her headlamp lit up the limestone walls marbled with white and black and gray. She wanted to lay her hand over them but didn’t want to cause any damage. The limestone was fragile enough she could easily chip a small piece off with one touch. Everywhere she looked, beauty and wonder met her gaze. Adam wasn’t kidding about the mixed memories connected to caving, but for this moment, she tried to focus on the good ones. And make new ones.

Adam came down the chute after her and joined his friends in exploring and surveying the cave. They had work to do, after all, and Cobie would leave them to it. Jen and Laura explored the far wall of the ten-foot-tall room, and Cobie hadn’t caught up to them yet.

She tried to picture her father standing here, at this very spot. Had he come to the cave in search of something for his job as a scientist, or for the sheer love of caving? If so, he hadn’t mentioned either reason in his journal. He hadn’t written in the journal religiously, and most of his notes were vague ramblings regarding people he met or a day on his job as an archaeologist. But most of the writing were old, except for a few notes about this cave. Nothing that held her attention or stood out. That’s why Cobie hadn’t paid much attention to the fact that pages had been torn from his journal after the mention of the cave.

Maybe Adam was right to think that her father’s disappearance had something to do with the man who had tried to kill her. The big question was what did this cave have to do with any of it? How long would it take them to map a caving system like this, which could have innumerable passages, loops, crawlways and rooms?

“Hey, guys,” she called to Laura and Jen. “I see a room through this tight spot. Just going to explore. I’ll be back up in a few.” They nodded their acknowledgment.

Cobie squeezed through, her headlamp easily illuminating the next passage. She noticed a small spring emerging and water streaming away beneath the wall where she couldn’t follow. And in the shadows, she saw something else.

Had someone left a pack? Was it her father’s pack? Her heart skipped, and she held her breath. It couldn’t be that easy. This couldn’t belong to her father. She crept closer to what she thought was a pack.

Instead she found a bundle of rags. She shone her flashlight to get a better look and screamed.

The rags were clothes covering human remains.

* * *

The scream echoing through the cave walls pierced Adam’s ears and sent his heart into his throat. “Cobie!”

Where had she gone? They were supposed to stick together. He ran back through the tunnels and rooms of the cave, keeping track of where he’d been, while stuffing the sketch pad into his pack. Then he slid through a tight space. Ray and Mel were close behind. They’d all gotten caught up in exploring the beauty of the unmapped cave.

Had her attacker come back?

“Someone help!” Cobie’s call echoed through the tunnels. Had something happened to one of the others?

“Where are you?” he yelled.

He made the first room near the entrance, the others on his heels. Laura and Jen climbed from a crawlway.

“Here. I’m in here.” Cobie’s voice came from the opposite direction.

Adam followed her voice, barely managing to squeeze through the tight passage and into the room. He found her hunched over a mound, sobbing. Without thinking about his actions, he grabbed her shoulders and gently pulled her to her feet, turned her to him and into his arms.

Then he looked down at the body.

Ray and Mel had followed him in, and they tucked away their weapons as they stood over the remains of a person long dead. Adam barely registered their words. Cobie was in his arms, after all. He needed her there, again, and this time he wanted to protect her from the world. As if Adam could actually do that. She shuddered, and he ran his hand down her back, through her hair, comforting her.

“It’s hard to say how long the body’s been here,” Mel said. “Could have been months.”

Cobie gasped against his shoulder; he thought he could feel her warm breath seeping through his rain jacket and the layers beneath meant to keep him dry.

She swiped at her eyes, shook her head and pressed her hand on his shoulder. “Sorry about that. It’s just... It’s just...” Cobie covered her face.

He suspected she remembered the last time she’d sobbed into his shoulder—when she’d learned that Brad had died. At the time, she hadn’t known Adam’s part in his death. He wanted to say more to her, but they weren’t alone. Now wasn’t the time. Besides, he shouldn’t let his past feeling for her rise up like this. He shoved them down.

“Well, people,” Mel said. “Whoever this was could have drowned. The debris along the wall near the ceiling shows the previous flood line. Or this cave could be a crime scene now.”

“And we’ll treat it as such until we know different,” Ray said.

A thick knot, gnarled with pain and guilt, lodged in Adam’s throat. Adam and Brad had been in a cave when Brad drowned. That had been an accident. A foolish mistake, but an accident. He let his arms drop when Cobie moved away. He glanced up to the gunk left near the ceiling—the signature of a recent waterline—that Mel had pointed out. This cave had flooded at some point. Had the water washed the body here? Nausea roiled at the thought, at the sight of the body.

“Why do you say that?” Adam asked. “Couldn’t it have been an accident?”

“Do you think the same man who attacked Cobie killed this man?” Jen asked.

Ray shook his head, the light from his helmet swathing across the cave with his action. This stunning underground world was destroyed by the sight of death. “No way to know if this is related. But we can be sure this didn’t happen anytime recently.”

“You said this could be a crime scene.” Jared crossed his arms. “What makes you think this man was murdered? Like Adam said, couldn’t it have been an accident?”

“I can’t know for sure how he died. But he’s not wearing the equipment he would need to traverse this cave alone. There’s no flashlight or headlamp. I don’t think he came here alone. Someone came with him or forced him inside. Either way they left him here. Or he was washed up from another room.” Ray scraped a hand over his face. “Investigating this is going to be a mess. From this point on, touch nothing else.”

“Wait, are you saying we can’t map the cave?” Nate had garnered this opportunity from the Forest Service to begin with; he would feel this loss the most.

“That’s what I’m saying. Until we know more.”

To everyone’s surprise, Cobie bent down and lifted something from the body.

“Cobie, what are you doing?” Ray demanded. “Don’t touch anything.”

She held up a ring dangling from a chain, grief evident in her features. Instead of answering Ray, she looked at Adam and held his gaze as though the two of them were the only ones in the cave, in the world.

“These clothes, they’re what my father always wore. And he always wore this ring on a chain around his neck. It was my mother’s.”