“Whatever my aunt’s reason for turning against Glenda, she must have had other reasons for taking back the greenhouse. Their relationship didn’t sour because Conrad started seeing Glenda. Beatrice broke up with him a long time before he started going out with Glenda. She must have had some other, deeper reason to want the greenhouse back.”
He chopped his hand through the air. “It doesn’t matter now. Beatrice is dead, and now that you’re disappearing, too, no one will ever find out about any of it. Glenda and I will go on doing what we’ve always done. No one else will come snooping around to bother us.”
Disappearing? I didn’t like the sound of that. “What are you going to do?”
He bent over and rifled through some stuff in a big sack. “I’m going to make it look like you left town. You’ll still legally own the inn, but since no one will ever find your body down here, the property won’t pass to any new owner who could cause trouble. Camille will go on running it the way she has for the last six months. Everything will go back to normal as if you were never there.” He bared his snaggle teeth. “Because you won’t be there.”
I shrank down against the wall. “You can’t do this, Nathaniel. You can’t leave me down here to die.”
“Oh, I can, and I will. I already killed one person. Killing another one is no big deal, and this time, I don’t have to rush in and pretend to find your twitching body. I’ll just say, ‘See ya later, alligator,’ and walk away. You’ll take care of the rest by yourself, won’t you, dear? That’s right. Good girl.”
He giggled again. There was something seriously wrong with that guy’s head. He acted like this was a day at the races instead of cold-blooded murder, and I wasn’t even dead yet.
He stuck his arm up to the shoulder in his sack again. “What are you doing?”
He peered into it in the dim light. “I’m trying to find my blasting caps.”
I gasped out loud. “Blasting caps! What for?”
“To blow out the tunnel, of course. Ah, yes, here they are. Now you stay here. You wouldn’t want to get caught in the blast. I’ll just go back up the tunnel and lay my charges. When you hear the blast, you’ll know I’m gone. Okay? Great. Hasta la vista, baby!”
He started for the tunnel when he stopped and came back to me. He patted down my pockets until he took out my phone. “I don’t think you’ll be needing this anymore.”
He slung the sack over his shoulder and trotted off the way he came. He took the lantern with him. My eyes devoured that light until it disappeared down the tunnel. Pitch black enveloped me, and all my bluster from a few minutes before vaporized into nothing. I couldn’t move or speak or think. I huddled in the corner and waited for death.
Nathaniel must have gone a long way back up the tunnels. I strained my ears for any sound, but none came. Maybe I could find a way out of here after all. If he blocked up one tunnel, maybe I could find another one leading out to the surface.
How could I find the opening in the dark, though? I got on my hands and knees and groped around. I found the wall, but my shin struck something hard and I doubled over in pain. A little whimpering cry squeaked out of me, and I collapsed where I was. I couldn’t find the way, not in the dark.
The whole tunnel throbbed with the silence. My eyes hurt from staring at nothing. What was I going to do? I couldn’t let this cretin rob me of my property, let alone my life. I had to get out of here—but how?
At that moment, a deafening concussion exploded down the tunnel. I covered my head with both arms, and a blast of sulphury smoke hit me in the face. It singed my sinuses and burned my eyes. The next minute, it ended. The tunnel fell into black silence once again.
Chapter 16
I curled up against the wall and rested my forehead on my knees. This was really the end. Nathaniel blasted the tunnel shut, and he’d be a million miles away by now. Lord only knows what he was telling the whole town about me. No one would ever know I was gone—all but…
Eliza! I told Eliza to meet me at the diner. What a brainwave that was! When I didn’t show up, she would tell Sheriff Mills. When I thought of Sheriff Mills, my heart sank again. He would probably dismiss Eliza’s warning. He would say I changed my mind without telling her. If things went so bad for me the last few days, I probably skipped town without telling anybody.
I crashed back and forth between wild hope and desperate despair. I would die down here. No one would ever find me. Camille and Levi and everybody would be delighted to go back to the way things were. A few people would be disappointed when they couldn’t attend the Christmas party, but oh, well. Life goes on, and what did I really have in my life, anyway? A failed relationship, an inn that doubled as a looney bin, and not much else.
I heard a snap off to my right. I jumped out of my skin after the heavy silence, but I dismissed it. It could be rats living down here.
All of a sudden, a fiery burst of flame and light hurt my eyes. The skritch of a match on a rough surface, the explosion of sparks against the phosphorous match head, and a quivering bubble of light opened in the darkness. I stared, but I refused to believe the evidence of my own senses.
A chiseled face peered at me in the light. The flame cast the eye sockets in shadow. A hollow-cheeked skeleton whispered to me in the blackness. “Are you okay, Allie?”
I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. The match flame moved sideways, and the light grew bigger when it touched the wick of a different lantern. The light glowed off brown skin and a face full of rugged stubble whiskers. I gasped out loud. “Levi! What are you doing here?”
He held the lantern over his head and frowned at me. “I should be asking you the same question, but unfortunately, I already know what you’re doing here. Eliza told me you were going to investigate Hector and Roger. I had a feeling you would get yourself into trouble. You just don’t listen, do you?”
“What are you talking about?”
He pressed his lips together. “I told you not to get involved in this, but you had to go off and play detective, didn’t you? I shouldn’t be scolding you. You’re as bad as I am.”
I gulped. “I am?”
He sighed and set the lantern down between us so we could see each other’s faces. “I couldn’t help snooping around those two. I found some of Nathaniel’s drugs in Hector’s luggage, so I guessed they were buying from him.”
“Is that why you didn’t want me hunting around?”
He nodded. “These drug dealers and growers get ruthless when it comes to protecting their source of profit. I had a feeling Nathaniel would retaliate if you found his plants, and I was right. I just didn’t get to you in time. I got halfway up the hill when I spotted him coming back down with you over his shoulder. I followed him here.”
I studied him in the golden glow. “Did you hear what he said about Beatrice?”
“I heard every word, but that doesn’t do us any good if we can’t get out of here to tell anybody what we know.”
I let my chin fall on my chest. “I’m sorry about this, Levi. I’m sorry I got you stuck down here along with me.”
“Don’t apologize. There’s nothing we can do about it now except try to find a way out.”
“I was trying, but I couldn’t see anything. Now that you’re here with another lantern, we should be able to find an alternate tunnel. Nathaniel says they run all over town. A hole in the side of the mountain can’t be the only entrance.”
He lifted the lantern to peer around. “Well, at least we know we can’t go that way.”
I followed him the other way down the tunnel, into the Earth. “How do you think Nathaniel found this place?”
“Who knows?” Levi replied. “Maybe he started growing pot here. I don’t know. Who knows why that guy does any of the things he does?”
“Did you know about his growing operation up there?”
“I found it a few months ago, but I never said anything. I never confronted him, and I never let him know I found out.”
I put out a han
d to stop him. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I understand now you were trying to protect me. I should have listened to you.”
He cracked a grin. “You had no reason to listen to me. I see now I went about it the wrong way when you first showed up. All I could think was you coming in here would cause trouble, and I was right. I don’t blame you for thinking of me as an enemy.”
I shifted from one foot to the other. Now that he faced me, I got uncomfortable. “I never thought of you as an enemy—not really—not like Camille. I had her pegged for the murder.”
“Camille’s harmless. You just have to know how to deal with her.”
“I’m starting to understand that.”
“Besides, you made me nervous when you first showed up.”
My head whipped around. “You—nervous? I don’t believe it.”
He blushed and turned away to start walking again. “It’s true.”
“What did you have to be nervous about?”
He cast a sidelong glance in my direction. “Just the way you are. I had a feeling you would cause trouble here, not just for Nathaniel and Glenda, but for me, too.”
“I would never cause trouble for you. I like you.”
The instant the words left my mouth, I slapped my hand over my lips. I didn’t just say that, but I couldn’t stuff the words back down. They got out, and now I couldn’t stop him from hearing them.
He paused again to face me. He let out a shaky breath. “I like you, too, Allie. That’s the problem. I came up here to get away from all that, and then here comes you. I could see myself liking you—I mean, liking you a lot. I could see my safe little world blowing up into a great big noisy mess, all over you.”
Now it was my turn to blush. “You, too, huh?”
He cocked his head. “Me, too, what?”
“You’re not the only one who came up here to get away from all that, and meeting you could turn into a great big noisy mess for me, too. That’s the last thing I wanted. I guess that’s why I held you at a distance.”
He took another deep breath. “Listen, Allie. I like you a lot, and you like me, but we’ve got much bigger problems to deal with right now. Let’s put all that on the back burner and concentrate on getting out of here with our lives. We can deal with all that stuff later.”
I brightened up. “You got it.”
“Right. Back burner it is.” He took my hand and started forward. “Now, where in the world is this hidden exit we’re looking for?”
That hand holding mine infused a wonderful sense of warmth and togetherness into my shattered brain. I wasn’t alone anymore. Levi and I could be friends and allies, no matter what happened. We could work together to get out of here. His solid presence next to me and his powerful hand holding mine gave me a lot more hope than the lantern lighting our way.
We came to a fork in the tunnel. One branch led uphill and the other downhill. Levi extended his arm to light first one, and then the other. “I guess one is as good as another.”
“We might as well go up. At least we’ll be heading toward the surface.”
“Not necessarily,” he countered. “We’re in the mountains, don’t forget. The downhill one could lead toward town. The uphill one could wind through this mountain for ages.”
“Well, what do you want to do?” I asked. “You just said one was as good as another.”
“I was just saying.”
“Well, if you don’t have any ideas, why don’t you go with my suggestion? Aren’t my suggestions any good to you? You want me to hang back so you can do this all by yourself? Is that what you had in mind for us working together?”
His face hardened. “Why do you have to make this all about you? Maybe you’d rather stand here and argue about it. Maybe you don’t want to get out of here at all. Is that it?”
I stiffened for a fight. “I don’t think I have to remind you that you’re still my employee. If you have some suggestion, let’s hear it now. Are you saying you want to go downhill? If that’s the case, then by all means, let me hear your reasons why.”
His shoulders swelled, and his eyes smoldered. He opened his mouth to argue back when a puff of air blew down the uphill tunnel. The lantern flame flickered and almost blew out. Levi stared at it and whispered, “Look!”
I couldn’t speak above a whisper, either. “There must be air coming down from above. This must be the way out.”
He froze in place for a minute. He stared at the lantern, but it gave no further sign of movement. It burned away with a steady and motionless light. His eyes slid to my face. “Sorry about that. We’ve got to stop arguing.”
I squeezed his hand. “It’s all right. We’re both stressed right now. Come on. Let’s get to the surface. Things will look better from up there.”
We strode up the slope. The farther we went, the stronger the gusts of air. They blew the hair off my sweaty forehead. We let go of hands to walk single file, and Levi handed me the lantern to protect the flame from the blasting wind.
We hiked up and up until I started to worry. What if Levi was right? What if this tunnel only burrowed deeper into the mountain? What if it didn’t open onto the surface at all?
That was impossible. If it didn’t open, where did all this air come from? There must be some shaft letting the breeze enter from somewhere.
Levi stopped so suddenly I collided with his muscled back. I almost upset the lantern. “Hey!”
He groped for my hand. “Look! There’s a light around the corner.”
We both rushed forward with a cry. The light got stronger and stronger. It glowed bright white-blue, as bright as daylight. We found it! We found the exit to the surface. I inhaled a deep lungful of fresh air. Ah, that smelled so good!
We raced around the corner—and stopped in our tracks one more time. There in front of us, towering to the ceiling, stood the tallest pot plants I ever saw. They brushed the cavern’s roof where dozens of halogen lamps blasted bright light into the room. A powerful fan circulated the air and sent a breeze blowing down tunnel.
In the middle of the room, bent over one of his growing beds, stood Nathaniel. The instant we rushed into the room, he jerked upright. He rounded on us with a snarl. “You!”
Chapter 17
I looked around the room. “Nathaniel! Are you growing pot here, too?”
He charged across the room. “What are you doing here? Everywhere I go, you follow like a bad smell. Is nothing sacred? Can’t I have one place on the face of the Earth to conduct my business in peace?”
“If the police catch you,” Levi remarked, “you won’t conduct it at all.”
Nathaniel growled out a feral roar. “I’ll kill you both for this! You might have found this room, but you still haven’t found the way out. You’ll be stuck down here forever, and you can’t eat pot.”
He cackled louder than ever and made a dodge to get around us to the entrance. Good thing I still held the lighted lantern, even though I didn’t need it anymore. Levi made a grab for Nathaniel’s arm, and Nathaniel wheeled around to struggle free.
Levi grappled for any hold he could get of Nathaniel’s clothes. He held him back to stop him escaping, but Nathaniel proved his strength again. In spite of Levi’s muscled bulk, Nathaniel held his own.
Levi hauled him into his clutches, but Nathaniel put up a mighty struggle. Levi got hold of his shirt first, but Nathaniel flailed his arms in a circle and tore the fabric from his fingers. He darted for the entrance, but Levi made a dive to catch him again.
This time, Levi took no chances. He paid no attention to Nathaniel’s clothes. He scooped his big hand behind Nathaniel’s neck and pulled him into a bear hug. Nathaniel must have gotten in lots of fights in his day, because he responded without missing a beat. He ducked his head, and Levi lost his grip.
Nathaniel made another dive for freedom. I couldn’t stand there watching anymore. I stuck out my foot to catch his ankle. Nathaniel pitched forward on his face on the ground. That pause gave Levi just enough
time to tackle him from behind.
He pounced on Nathaniel’s back and hooked his elbow around Nathaniel’s neck. He craned Nathaniel’s head back, but Nathaniel only spat and foamed and snarled more fiercely than ever. Faster than the eye could see, he threw his head back and cracked his skull across Levi’s eyebrow.
Levi’s eyes rolled in their sockets, and his grip slackened enough for Nathaniel to slither free. He scrambled for the tunnel. I had to act. I dropped the lantern. It hit the dirt, and the flame went out, but I didn’t notice that. I jumped on Nathaniel to hold him down. As long as I could hold onto him, he couldn’t get away.
I never fought anything more than a parking ticket in my life. Maybe that’s why Nathaniel couldn’t figure out how to counter my pathetic moves. Instead of grabbing him around the neck, I laced both arms around his waist. I took hold of his belt and held on for all I was worth.
When he tried to crawl away this time, I weighed him down. He attacked my arms, but he couldn’t loosen me to leave me behind. When he scuttled forward, my legs dragged on the ground. He wasn’t going anywhere without me.
While he worked to dislodge me, Levi recovered and came to my aid. He knocked Nathaniel to the ground and sat on his back. The thumps of his punches hitting Nathaniel’s head and chest resounded through me, but I didn’t dare let go. I couldn’t run the risk of him getting away.
At last, Nathaniel lay silent and motionless but still I hung on. I didn’t loosen my grip until Levi tapped me on the shoulder. “You can let go now. He’s unconscious.”
I raised my head, but it took a few more long moments before I could unwind my arms from Nathaniel’s body. I stared at his impassive face. I didn’t want to believe he wasn’t coming after us again.
Levi helped me up and dusted me off. “Thanks for the help. You really knocked him dead.”
I made a face. “Don’t joke about that. I did no such thing.”
He chuckled. “You know what I mean.”
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