Page 132 of The One With the Mountain Man
"Those are some high expectations for a book club."
"Books are powerful, Marley. They make us feel. They give us experiences far outside our own lives. And they can teach you to do things you thought you'd never need."
Like the Sammy books exposed me to this town even though I'd never seen anything like it before, and showed me I could pay homage to my friends by giving them stories that I shared with the world.
"Well isn't that interesting?" Maeve murmured from the murder board.
She promptly had everyone's attention.
"Well," Sharon drawled. "Don't leave us in suspense."
She tapped her finger against the pins Liam had just pushed into the cork board. "The old ruby mine is behind the cabin rental offices."
"So?" Willow asked.
Old ruby mine."Oh!" I shot to my feet. "Oh! Like inSammy and the Forgotten Mine?"
Sharon stood up beside me. "Exactly the one. No one has been down that tunnel in years. It's probably collapsed."
Maeve shook her head. "But if it isn't? Pretty prime spot to hide."
"But why didn't they answer our calls?"
"There's no cell service between those mountains," Willow murmured. "The offices have landlines and satellite, but that wouldn't extend to the mine."
There was a chance, a slim one, but it was there. Sharon relayed the message to Travis, but they were deep in the woods and wouldn't be able to get there any time soon.
"Well then," Sharon said with a shrug, "we'll go get them ourselves." I saw now where Sammy's adventurous streak came from. It was all Sharon.
"No!" Travis yelled through the line. "It's too dangerous."
"Forgive me if I'm wrong," she shot back, "but you're pretty sure you're tailing the problem, right? And that problem is nowhere near the mine?"
"Fuck," he swore. "Colin is holding down the ODX offices. Take him with you."
"We'll let you know when we have eyes on them," she replied and ended the call with a dramatic flourish. "Who's up for an adventure?"
An old abandoned rubymine was basically a pile of wet rocks. I had imagined it very differently when I read the book. Maybe it had been more majestic a couple of decades ago, or maybe Sharon was just really good at making my imagination run wild.
"The entrance was there." She pointed at the pile of rocks. "It collapsed decades ago, but a shaft over here is still intact," Sharon's flashlight worked like a laser pointer, showing us all the way.
Colin took charge as the only one in the group with experience in both climbing and rescue. He tested the structural integrity of the shaft and then set up a rope. He had all kinds of gear and first aid equipment. And since there was no cell service in the area, we had walkie talkies to help with communication.
"If it hasn't collapsed, there are two tunnels. One leads deeper into the mountain, the other runs parallel to the ridge. There's an easier-to-navigate shaft about a quarter mile that way."
It wasn't evening yet, but it was dark and shadowy between the mountains, nonetheless.
Colin switched on his headlamp, preparing to descend. "Fingers crossed."
The wind whipped through and I pulled Jackson's flannel tighter around me as goosebumps pricked my skin. He'd left me his Bigfoot ball cap and it was nice to feel him around me even when he wasn't physically here.
"I've reached the tunnel," Colin reported over the walkie. "And there are fresh footprints."
I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. A minute, maybe two passed, but it felt like an eternity.
I'd been here before. Waiting and hoping and feeling useless. Last time I'd endured it with a sinking certainty that the only possible outcome was negative. This time I was almost terrified of how much hope I held onto.
When the walkie finally crackled again, I sucked in the biggest breath and held it.
