“This geologist’s report, have you seen it? Studied it?”
“No. It’s in a glass case under lock and key at the historical society. Harriette Noise told me about the contents.”
“But this tunnel, number 22, that you have seen?”
“Yeah. There’s a chain that locks the two gates going up the hillside to the Maynard site that I could slip through. But I think it’s recently been tightened up by the sheriff.”
“He knows about this?”
“No. He doesn’t know I went into the mine. He just mentioned the gate to me one day and said he was going to tighten the chain. I asked him if I could go to the Maynard site, but he said no.”
“I want to see this tunnel 22 for myself,” Peter decided.
“We can’t,” she reiterated. “I think the chain’s been fixed.”
“Let’s go talk to Eli and tell him the whole story. Then we can all go up there and investigate together.”
She grit her teeth with hesitation. “That might not be the best idea.”
“Why?”
“Because he was hired by your father. I’ve seen him with Tully and Crosby. He might also be one of your dad’s minions.”
Peter looked at her disbelievingly. But then, started to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“Okay… I know a place on the other side of the river, past a house owned by a family named Nelson, where we can cut the wire fencing and slip through. It’s pretty wooded. Nobody will notice if we go early tomorrow morning.”
“That’s breakin’ and enterin’.”
“My father’s reputation is at stake. Not to mention the biggest scandal in the history of the town. Besides, you’ve already broken the law by going up there.”
“I don’t like this, Peter.”
“I’ve got to see it for myself, Goldie. If you don’t want to involve the sheriff, you’re not giving me a hell of a lot of choices.”
“Why not just wait and see what the autopsy on Jason Shirk reveals?”
“Because thisismy fatherwe’re talking about, and I want to see for myself!”
She paused, then nodded slightly.
“Yeah, I get it… I’m sorry to ask, but do you think your mom knows anything about this?”
He shook his head. “No. Whether your suspicions about him are true or not, she’s the home maker and social director of their lives. She doesn’t get involved in his business. I doubt she’s even aware he owns all those houses on Falcon Drive.”
“Good. ‘Cause, I like her.”
“I do, too,” Peter understated, struggling with his emotions. “A-and I don’t hate my dad. I-I just can’t believe he’d do something like this. Yet, I-I sort ofcan.”
“I know,” she interrupted, empathetically. “I know. Okay… how do you want to work this for tomorrow?”
“Well, can wepleasekeep this under wraps? Don’t tell Father Fitz, or Maddie, or Clara, or anyone until there’s absolutely no doubt whatsoever?—”
“Of course,” she assured. “Peter, of course! I took a leap of faith here. It’sbecauseI slept with you that we’re having this discussion now.Of courseI realize we’re holding people’s lives and reputations in our hands. Not to mention our own.Of courseI’ll be discreet.”
Two minutes later, Peter and Goldie came out of the church. He mentioned that he had to interview someone near Denver for a story, but offered to buy her a quick cup of coffee. She declined, saying she was actually going to wander around and look at the stores with the intention of doing some Christmas shopping. So, Peter gave her a quick kiss goodbye, drove off, and she started walking toward River Street.
As Peter and Goldie came out of the church, Eli Johnson spotted them from a distance in his cruiser. Like Peter, he had gone to the hotel looking for Goldie, and Maddie had told him that she was at St. Mark’s. He watched them with a wrinkled brow, disturbed by the kiss, and wondered why she and Peter would be in the church since he knew Peter wasn’t a parishioner. Something Goldie had said to him on Monday festered in his head, and he wanted to ask her about it. But now he thought maybe he should shadow her to see if it revealed anything. He watched her for a couple of hours, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. She briefly returned to her hotel, then came back out with a folder and went to Clara’s Gifts, where she returned the notebook of gingerbread patterns. After that, she went to Miller’s General Store and spent nearly an hour browsing and visiting with Zeke and Chad in front of the potbelly stove. Next, she stopped at a bookstore for nearly thirty minutes, and after that, she went to the post office and sat on a bench where she was admiring the community Christmas tree. Although she wasn’t doing anything unusual, Eli found it hard to take his eyes off her. As he sat in his cruiser, a local woman approached him, asking for his help to locate a family dog that had escaped from her backyard. So that took him away for over half an hour. After that, a load of hay bales fell off a truck near the Sparkledove Arms, and that required his attention for over two hours. By the time the hay bales had been restacked and the snowy street filled with pieces of wet straw had been cleaned up, his sister, Dinah, showed up for a dinner date they had planned the previous Friday at the community dance. After a nice dinner and long talk, Dinah hopped in her car to return to nearby Brownsville. Once she was gone, Eli took a slow evening cruise down Falcon Drive to look at the houses with the red Sparkledove Realty signs.
