Puck was across from them, startled at the sight. Jack sat up as Kate and Sara stood over him as though in protection.
“I’m okay,” he said. “That’s one serious hole. How deep is it?”
Sara got her camera, attached a flash, then stretched out on the ground on her stomach and took some shots. When she got up, they gathered around to look at the screen. They saw the hole, wide and deep, stone on one side, dirt on the other.
“It’s medieval, for sure,” Sara said. “Storage for something. My guess is it was for kegs of happy juice. Nothing like cold beer on a hot day.” She looked at Puck. “So where is he?”
Puck nodded, liking the term “he” and not “it.” She pointed on the screen to where the shelf she’d found could barely be seen. It appeared to be a pile of rocks.
Jack picked up the ladder and the rope. “I’m going down.”
“Me too,” Kate said.
“Like hell you are,” Jack snapped.
“I’m the cameraperson,” Sara said, “and I’m the lightest. I’ll go.”
No one dared say that she was also the oldest. Pointing out that Sara was a grandmother’s age would earn them her razor-sharp tongue.
Kate spoke. “Jack can use a camera, and he knows all about the apps.”
“Aperture,” he corrected, frowning. Kate was revealing something he’d confided in her.
“I’ve always known.” Sara looked at Jack. “We’re wasting time. Tie that ladder to a tree, then go down there and shoot what you see.”
As he made the knots, Sara instructed him about photography. “You can probably do point and shoot, but check the screen. If the photo is dark, you’re going to need to open it up as wide as it’ll go. That’s a one point eight lens so use it. And turn the ex comp. I’ll adjust the ISO. Try the flash but it may wash the photo out. If it does—”
“Bounce the light off the wall,” Jack said. “I got it.” He was pulling on the rope to check its security.
“And do a few slow shutters so you get all the details,” she said. “Damn! I wish I had my mini tripod. Set the camera on the ground and—”
Jack kissed her forehead. “I’ll be fine. Stop worrying.” She handed him the tiny flashlight she always carried in her case.
When the ladder was in place, Jack put the camera around his neck, then started down. With just his head showing, he looked at the three women. “Edmund Hillary didn’t have such a good send-off.”
The women didn’t smile as he disappeared below the ground level.
There was enough light from the top to see where he was. It was like an underground tower with a missing roof. He went down a few feet and there was the ledge that Puck had pointed out.
His builder’s eye saw that the cutout wasn’t natural. It hadn’t been caused by fallen dirt but had purposefully been dug out. For what? If the place had been used to hold kegs of beer maybe workmen hid there while they drank. Whatever its original purpose, if someone looked down from the top, they’d see nothing, not even if people were there.
As Jack swung his leg over, he hung on to the ladder until he got his balance. He glanced up to see three worried faces staring down at him. From their position, they had to be stretched out on their stomachs.
When he was on the ledge, he didn’t look to the back into the deep darkness, but kept his eyes on the front. The rocks looked to have been piled up recently. At least long after the place was built. Did someone try to hide what had been put on the shelf?
He took his
time as he removed the camera from around his neck and set it down—but he didn’t look back. He had an idea what he was going to see, and he wanted to be ready for it. No matter that he’d bragged that he’d seen it “all,” bodies upset him. No, he thought, murder infuriates me.
To his left, he saw a pair of small shoes and guessed they were Puck’s. He thought of how they got there. She hadn’t said, but it was his guess that she’d fallen into the place, then thrown her shoes toward the top.
He turned on Sara’s flashlight and looked at the bottom of the pit. Ferns, moss, rotten vines. Puck was light but if she had fallen, it was a wonder she didn’t break her bones.
One by one, he picked up her shoes and tossed them up to the top.
“Thank you,” she said down to him.
There was so much relief in her voice that he realized how afraid she must have been. And rightfully so. If someone had come to check on the body, they’d know Puck had been there.