“What?”
“C’mere and check it out.”
The priest reluctantly entered the building while Goldie produced a flashlight from her pocket, clicked it on, then walked over to the tarp.
“Where’d you get the flashlight?” he asked.
“I borrowed it from the front desk at the hotel. They’ve let me borrow it before.”
The priest nodded as Goldie lifted the tarp, stiffened by the cold, looked under it with the light, then pulled it aside. Underneath was a gasoline-powered Kohler 4-cylinder portable generator that was clearly a new piece of equipment. Next to it was a five-gallon gas can.
“It’s a gas generator,” Father said, surprised. “My brother is in the signal corps, and I’ve seen demonstrations where they were used to fill up hot air balloons.”
Goldie examined the machine for a moment, then saw a rubber-coated electrical cord plugged into the generator. The cord ran across the dirt floor, then disappeared through a crack in the wooden wall and went outside.
“Now why would an abandoned mine need a generator?” she asked.
“I’ve no idea,” Father Fitz said. “I’ve never heard of any activity up here since I’ve been in town, but that’s only been a couple of months.”
Goldie looked at the cord again, then turned and clicked off her flashlight. She walked out of the building and moved around to its side.
“What’re you doing?” Father asked, going after her.
“Followin’ the line,” she replied, slipping the flashlight back into her jacket pocket.
“Goldie, this isn’t our property. This isn’t our business.”
“No? Then whose business is it? The sheriff’s? He told me the mine was played out. You just said the mayor told you the mine dried up in the 1880s. So, whose generator is it and what’s goin’ on up here?”
“I don’t know. Probably some renegade prospector hoping to find one more vein of silver. We got the picture we came for, you were in the middle of a confession, and I think we should continue with that while heading back to town.”
“Look,” she said, pointing. “The line goes through a little openin’ in between those railroad ties and straight into the mine. That means…”
Her voice trailed off as she walked over to the wall of wooden boards and railroad ties sealing off the entrance and started to feel around.
“That means what?” he asked.
She pulled on a particular board, but it didn’t budge. Then, she tugged on another. Nothing happened. “That means somebody’s gotten into the mine,” she said, pulling on a railroad tie. “There must be an arrangement of boards or ties thatlooklike they’re solidly sealed, but are actually loose.”
The railroad tie didn’t give way, so she tugged on another, shorter tie that was once used for the push carts. It moved slightly and squeaked. Pulling again with all her might, four stacked shorter ties suddenly fell away, revealing a small square opening about three feet off the ground. Goldie jumped back quickly to avoid the tumbling ties and fell on her butt.
Father ran over to her. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” she answered.
He helped her to her feet, and she brushed off her backside, taking the flashlight out of her back pocket and peering into the opening.
“Hey, Father, you think you can figure out how to fire up that generator?”
“No. This is a verybadidea,” her companion said.
“C’mon,” she urged. “I can see the wire connects to lights that have been strung up inside. Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“There’s a difference between a sense of adventure and common sense,”he advised.
“Okay, then…” she said, raising a leg slightly, bending down, and going through the square opening, “if you won’t help me, I’ll go it alone with my little flashlight. ‘Course, I don’t know how far I have to go, or how long the batteries will last. Without proper lightin’, I might lose my way and fall down a shaft to a horrible death in the middle of a confession without gettin’ absolution. But that’s okay. You just stay outside where it’s safe and don’t help me. I’ll let you know what I find, Father. If, y’know, I ever get back.”
She started walking into the darkness.
