Moonscape Read online

  “I work for the sheriff now,” Nell said. “I’m his crime photographer. He doesn’t have much of a staff, not even a deputy. The federal marshal asked him to investigate out on the Craters, and a man from Arco is helping out—Mayor Tom. I don’t even know his last name.”

  “Tom Thompson, I bet,” Rosy said. “He’s a good ol’ boy from way back. I used to do some explorin’ out in the lava with him a long time ago. We tried to find gold.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Lost cause, that.”

  Finished with her sandwich, Nellie stood up, too. “Do you want to come help search, Rosy? Charlie said it was all right to ask you. If you know the area, you would be a huge help.”

  “Don’t know it much anymore. What’s Charlie say about—” he said and gestured toward the ceiling.

  “He didn’t even know you and the boys were coming back until I said something yesterday.” She remembered his mumbling about being a sheepherder and his story about leaving town but decided not to say anything.

  “What’s ‘second?’ ” Mrs. Bock asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m too tired to think. Charlie is coming by early, around 7:00. I’m going to bed.” Nell placed her hand on Rosy’s shoulder. “I hope the auto was in good shape, or at least as good shape as you left it. I’m so happy you are home, Rosy. I hate to ask you to go out with us right away.”

  “Weekend tomorrow,” Rosy said. “I can’t do nothin’ about the boys in school until Monday. Esther can take them around. There ain’t much to see anyway. I can take ’em out to the ranch on Sunday, if we’re back.” He hung his head and fingered his hat. “Not sure what I want to do about that anyway. They don’t remember Lily. Don’t know if that’s bad or good.”

  “Matt remembers her.” Mrs. Bock put the lamb away. “I don’t think Campbell does, but then he was pretty young when . . .” She fastened the icebox and rubbed her hands on her apron. “I’m going to bed, too. I’ll get breakfast for all of you.”

  Next morning, Charlie, Nell, Rosy, Mrs. Bock, and the two boys sat around the dining room table. The mine workers had already left. Moonshine sat next to Matt. “Two men are waiting for us in Hailey. Tom lined them up. They will bring a paneled truck to carry the body back to the morgue. Then the three of us and Mayor Tom can go about searching the other caves. They seem the most likely spots.” The sheriff turned to Rosy. “Nell said you spent some time in the lava with Tom. Do you remember much about the area?”

  “Can I come, too?” Matt asked.

  “Me, too!” Campbell said.

  “No, you boys need to stay here. Your Aunt Esther will show you around town.”

  “Does Moonshine get to go?” Matt asked.

  “Esther don’t know anything about town,” Mrs. Bock said. “I’ll show ’em. We can take the train to the hot springs, maybe go for a swim. How’d you like that, boys?” When they jumped up, ready to leave immediately, Mrs. Bock motioned them down again. “Do you have somethin’ to swim in? Go sort out some shorts, if you have ’em, and get dressed in some longer pants and shirts. We can’t go ’til after lunch. In the meantime, go sit on the porch and watch people go by.”

  “Hmph. Not many people in town no more,” Rosy said. “Do what she says.” He turned to Goldie. “Do you have an extra blanket or two?”

  “I do, but I don’t want ’em all muddied and ruined.”

  “No mud out there, unless it’s changed a lot,” Rosy said. “Sounds like we might be out all night, so I need somethin’ to sleep in.”

  “I fixed up some cut lamb and trimmin’s so you can all eat. I don’t know how you’re gonna carry everythin’ though.”

  “Tom has a horse,” Nellie interjected. “Ready to go?” It felt as if she were always spurring them on. She didn’t want to find another dead body. She hoped the last woman was still alive and only in need of food and water. “Do we have enough canteens?”

  “I want to be a sheriff when I grow up,” Campbell interrupted, not quietly. “Can I hold your gun?”

  “Not now. Maybe when you are a little older, I will teach you and Matt how to shoot and handle a rifle. Then you and your dad can go hunting.” The sheriff tousled the hair of each boy. “Let us go.”

  Nell climbed in back of the sheriff’s automobile. Moonie jumped in with her, his leather footpads back in place. Neither the sheriff nor Rosy objected. “You two might want to talk. I want to rest my eyes.”

  Her gesture was wasted. They didn’t say anything to each other all the way to the lava fields. Mayor Tom waited for them. The horse grazed on grass next to him.

  “Say, I asked around to see if anyone knew anything more than I did about those three people. The minister said they said they were doing God’s work.”

  “Some God’s work,” Nellie mumbled.

  Rosy lifted a pack out of the boot and slung it around his shoulders. “Here’s your camera, Nellie. Want me to carry it?”

  “Do you think she would let that go?” the sheriff said.

  “Thanks, but I’ll carry it,” Nell said.

  The paneled truck pulled up and parked behind the sheriff’s auto. “Okay, we are all here. We can talk about the search after we get the first job done.”

  “I almost forgot,” Tom said. “I looked in that automobile, and there were three packages in the boot. I took and put ’em in my station and locked the door, like I always do.”

  “I will pick them up after we finish our search today, or tomorrow, depending on what we find.” The sheriff loaded his pack and gestured for Mayor Tom to lead the way.

  As they walked, Nellie kept her eye out for photographs. She fell farther and farther back until she realized she couldn’t see anyone, not even the horse. Moonshine stayed with her, so she didn’t feel lost. But then, nothing seemed familiar from her treks into and out of the lava fields from their first camp. Or maybe it was that everything seemed familiar, the dark ropy swells and curves with some of the broken pieces looking like brown, broken wood, the cinder stacks, the spatter cones. This time, she saw the blue lava, a deep cobalt blue in some areas and brighter, almost teal blue in others. What turned it blue? It shone like glass along some facets. She liked the cones best, and each one carried a different shape, probably depending on how much lava had bubbled forth. What a strange place this was. She wondered what it would have been like when everything was red hot. The ice cave had felt like a tomb. And it was a tomb for that poor woman. Had the ice spear killed her, or did someone spear her after she was dead? It resembled a religious tableau in some ways, although what religion, she couldn’t guess. Maybe the Aztecs in Mexico.

  “Nell!” The sheriff appeared on the horizon. “Miss Burns,” he corrected himself. “Come along, please. You are holding us up.”

  Relieved that someone had realized she lagged behind, she hurried to catch up. “I was just thinking about what we found yesterday. Do you suppose that poor woman was already dead and then someone speared her with the ice?”

  “I thought about that possibility as well. Until I can look closer in the area and at the woman, I cannot know. We now have a lantern, so that with the flashlights and the lantern, I can inspect the whole scene. Maybe then I will know more.” He stopped. “I do need more photos, if you can get them, preferably inside.”

  “I brought more flash powder. Rosy helped me with powder in the past, so he will know what to do.” Nell dreaded going back into that cave, but, this time at least, she would know what to expect and steel herself ahead of time.

  The sheriff gave her a questioning look.

  “In the Triumph mine. Do you remember that photograph? It was accepted by the gallery in San Francisco.” She found it difficult to keep the pride out of her voice. Her photograph would be in a gallery! “I heard from them when I returned from the Stanley Basin.”

  “Have you sent any of your Stanley photographs to the gallery?” They clambered along again.

  “No, those were mostly for the railroad brochures. They were picture postcard images. I would like to get
something while we are out here, but everything is the same color from the camera’s viewpoint. In a photo, it will all look black or gray with very little white as a contrast, unless we get a cloudy day. Then, I might be able to take an unusual photo with clouds that I could send with some confidence.”

  They passed the area where the sheriff and Nell had camped and continued on to the cave where they would do their work. After close to another hour of hiking, and of Mayor Tom leading the horse afield to avoid the worst a’a lava, they arrived at the cave site.

  “Oh, oh.” Sheriff Azgo stumbled down the rocky stairway and almost fell in his haste. “Someone or something has been in the cave.” The rocks they had piled around the entrance were scattered, and the small, dark entrance revealed itself. He removed another layer of stone, asked for a flashlight, and called for one of the men to bring a lantern as well. Nell hadn’t noticed anyone with a lantern, but one appeared as if by magic. Rosy took it in hand.

  Moonshine had followed at the sheriff’s heels and climbed down and in before Nell could stop him. She wasn’t going to be left behind, so she, too, stepped down the rocks but carefully enough so she didn’t stumble. She carried her camera pack and tripod and held them close as she half slid through the entrance. “Wait for me! Rosy, I need you to help me take a photograph with the flash powder.”

  Nell followed the light from the sheriff’s flashlight. Rosy held the lantern behind them both. When she rounded the bend into the deep dark, she stopped. There were stalactites and a few stalagmites as well as rock stalactites. Ice glittered in the light. The body was gone.

  “Did we imagine it?” If they couldn’t move the body yesterday, how could someone else, and when?

  “No, we did not imagine it. We have three witnesses.” The sheriff sounded as surprised as Nell felt, although she suspected he didn’t feel relieved, as she did.

  Moonshine sniffed his way around and stopped right where the body had been. He barked.

  The sheriff knelt down next to him. He inspected the ground using the flashlight, and he felt the area with his hand. He took out a pocketknife and scraped up some of the icy ground. He had placed the lantern close to where the body’s head had been and moved it closer to where he was scraping. “Blood.”

  Nell knew what that could mean: the body was not dead when the ice spire had been pushed through it. Dead bodies don’t bleed. And the blood could have frozen the clothes to the ground, holding the woman like a trap.

  “Call in the others with their flashlights so I can get as close a look as possible.”

  Rosy stumbled backwards and around the bend and gave out a yell. “Come on in here. We need more flashlights!”

  Soon, everyone crowded around. Mayor Tom held his flashlight as close as possible to where the sheriff continued to scrape the ice and rocky surface. He said little, and, when the sheriff rose again and flashed his light around the cave, he did the same. “The cave goes back a ways. Maybe we should look that way.”

  “You and I and Rosy will go. Nell, you wait here and hold Moonshine. You others—Max and Trapper—you wait here, too. No sense in all of us tramping the ground and other tracks.”

  This was the first Nell had heard the other men’s names. They seemed happy to wait, but she wanted to explore with the sheriff and Rosy. “Stay, Moonshine.” He sat next to her, but she began to follow the explorers. The ground was slippery in places, and the noise they made covered hers. She did not have a flashlight but could see well enough from the light of the others, until they seemed to disappear completely. Another bend? A hole? Now what? This time, she couldn’t even see. Again, she felt as if covered in a shroud herself. The deeper she went, the more slippery the floor grew—more ice. She waved her hand, hoping to find the wall to steady herself, but there seemed no wall at all. She stepped carefully to her left side and swept her arm up and down. “Ow.” The wall found her. At the same time, a very faint light appeared in front of her. They were returning. She turned herself around and tried to hurry back out, willing herself not to slip.

  “Do you ever follow instructions?” the sheriff asked as he neared.

  “Only when I agree with them.”

  Rosy snorted. “The cave ended back there. Nothin’ more to see. I’m thirsty!” Rosy caught up with Nell. “I didn’t take this body.” He laughed fit to kill.

  CHAPTER 9

  Outside, the group sat in a rough circle, eating the lunch Mrs. Bock had packed and sent with them. Mayor Tom ate the fastest. “The other entrance here is plugged.” He gestured vaguely to the side opposite the entrance they had quitted. “But there’s more caves. One ain’t too far, but the rest are half a day’s walk from here.”

  Rosy patted Moonshine, who seemed to enjoy the attention. The dog sat between him and Nell. “How about the tree mold area? Didn’t you say they wanted to see the ‘petrified wood’? Maybe someone is still there.”

  “That’s even farther away,” Tom said. “We could get there, but by then it would probably be dark. Do you remember how to find ’em?”

  “We could explore the rest of the caves and then decide about the tree molds,” Nell said. “I’d like to see them. Could we do that in the morning?”

  Max and Trapper looked at each other and seemed to come to the same conclusion. “We’ll head back to Hailey from here,” one of them said. Nell wasn’t sure which was which.

  “Yeah. We came to carry out a body, not explore more caves. How much are ye payin’ us, Sheriff?”

  “Depends on how long you stay with us. I doubt you can find your own way back, and I cannot spare the others.” The sheriff continued to munch on a sandwich. When he finished, he folded up the wrapping and stuck it in his pack. He took a long pull from a canteen. “All right. We will explore the other side of this cave and then look for the others. Rosy, Nell, Moonshine, and I will camp the night and aim for the tree molds in the morning. Mayor Tom can take you two back when we finish with the caves.”

  With that pronouncement, the sheriff climbed back to the second entrance, barely large enough for him to squeeze through. He disappeared but reappeared within a few minutes. “This one is blocked, as Tom said.” As he climbed back up, there was a little moaning and grumbling, but the two helpers gathered themselves up and joined the rest as they moved off once again over the tortured lava fields. Nell noticed a small dark cloud in the west. She glanced at Mayor Tom, but, if he had seen it, he said nothing. Onward, she thought.

  Mayor Tom set the pace, a much faster one than the day before. They had reached an area where much of the ground was dirt or sheeted lava and not the irregular lava, so they made better progress. Before long, he called a halt. “This here area has several caves—lava tubes. I’m not sure how far in they go, but we could try them out. There’s more ice in some of ’em.”

  “Tom, will you lead?” the sheriff asked. “Rosy and Nell can follow me. I think we leave Moonshine behind. Rosy, bring the lantern. Nell, bring your camera and flash equipment. Max and Trapper, wait for us, if you want to get paid.”

  Mayor Tom led the way down what looked like just another black hole, but, at the bottom, there was a fork, with one branch going west and the other northwest, according to him. Again, there was ice dripping down and growing up toward the ceiling. Rosy pointed out bear tracks. Nell hurried her own pace so she wouldn’t be left behind. The floor was relatively flat, but still there were rocks and piles of stones to hike over. Two flashlights and a lantern created light that shone and reflected on the colors on the walls: green, yellow, brown, red. On closer inspection, the green was algae or lichen growing.

  Except for their own murmuring and the sounds of their feet as they trudged forward, there was only silence. The depth of the silence seemed to discourage talking. Rocks sometimes rolled as one or the other person stumbled, and the sound echoed, making it seem like a landslide, and then all quieted again. No bodies lay under the stalactites in this cave. After one hundred yards or so, the cave or tunnel narrowed so much, they would ha
ve had to crawl to go any farther. Tom and the sheriff consulted and then turned around. They would leave, much to Nell’s relief. Between a possible bear attack and the possibility of another dead body, her senses were so heightened, she wondered if her head would split.

  Outside, the two men from Hailey had found shade in which to rest. They appeared to be playing a game of cards. They looked up when the cave party arrived. “You done?”

  “Nope. There’s one more cave, a big one just east of here. You might like to see it. Nothin’ else like it in the world, I’d bet.”

  “Is there bears there?”

  “Maybe.” Tom turned and again led the expedition. This time, Moonshine was allowed to come. The two men went back to their game of cards.

  As the group of four walked, they came upon a natural bridge of rock that arched between two cliffs of lava. The natural formation impressed Nell. She wondered if wind or weather might eventually knock it down. A twisted pine tree grew at one end. It was probably hundreds of years old already, she thought. She wanted a photograph, but no one would stop. “On the way back, Nell.” Sheriff Azgo knew her penchant for photographing as much as possible.

  The next cave was one where a portion of the roof had caved, but it was immense. Part of a domed ceiling remained, and, at one end, there was what looked like a stage. “We could present a play here,” Nell said. “Look at that big rock. It’s a wing.” Her voice echoed and seemed to carry, just as an actor’s would in a dramatic piece. “Rosy, you could be Hamlet, and I, Ophelia.” She pretended to be throwing flowers around herself.

  Even the sheriff smiled as Rosy climbed onto the stage and threw his arms out. He dropped them. “What did Hamlet do?”

  “He talked a lot,” the sheriff said. He continued to explore the length of the cave under the domed roof that still stood. The others quieted and followed down a tunnel that led away from the back of the stage. They walked and sometimes crawled. The space was lit at first by the hole in the dome where sunlight flowed down. Farther along, the darkness again surrounded them. No one pointed out bear tracks, and, although Moonie sniffed here and there, he didn’t raise any alarms. When they reached a point where the roof had caved in, they could go no further. There was ice in the nether reaches, again, making their exploration difficult and sometimes even painful. Another tunnel slanted off to one side. The floor was slick with ice. Between the lantern and the flashlights, Nell thought she might be able to take a photograph of the scene. She asked the sheriff to stop while she set up her tripod and camera. He didn’t object this time.