As he reached the bottom of the ladder he breathed a sigh of relief, he was much slower than he used to be because of the prosthetic leg which made normal tasks quite a challenge, the cold air made him shudder. He didn’t know what was wrong with the dog, but he was letting him know something was wrong down here and it was his duty to check it out, wasn’t it? It occurred to him that if those missing women were down here, they had somehow found another entrance and got stuck. That thought made his stomach churn. He didn’t know what he was going to find, but he knew he had to keep going because one way or the other Shep was never going to let him settle unless he’d checked it out.
The tunnel was narrow and Amos’s shoulder scraped against the wall as he dragged himself onwards. It was hard work as it ran downhill. He was beginning to get out of breath, and he had to swipe a hand across his brow to wipe away the cold perspiration that was forming on his forehead. Eventually the narrow tunnel began to widen as he reached the room that was smack bang in the middle of it. Another tunnel ran from the other side even further down the side of the fell. He’d never explored it as a kid, he hated dark, confined spaces and had been too scared, so he wasn’t sure where it finished, but whoever had built it must have had some purpose in mind. Stepping into the room he shone his torch around and saw two cages had been built against one of the walls. Puzzled, he stepped further in to take a look, when he heard a woman screaming in his direction. He turned to see a figure running straight at him.
Shocked, he held up his hands, but she had her head down and ran straight at him, punching him in the gut with something so sharp he sucked in his breath and dropped the torch, looking down to see a large piece of wood sticking out of his stomach.
He put his hands around it, they were slick with blood, and then the pain took him from his feet and he slid to the floor. The woman was still screaming at him, but the room was starting to spin. He felt lightheaded and knew he was going to pass out.
No idea what she was shouting at him, he tried to say, ‘I came to help.’ But the words came out as a hoarse whisper and then his vision blurred and everything went black.
FORTY-NINE
Morgan got to the station and was kind of relieved to see it so empty. She took the stairs two at a time to get to the office. She needed to check if either missing woman had been wearing a silver charm bracelet at the time of their disappearance. She ran straight into Ben who was on his way out of the door.
‘Hey, where have you been? Cain’s been on the phone. He was asking how come you got out of the house to house?’
‘He has? The grasser.’
‘No, Morgan, he was worried and I was worried too when he said you hadn’t gone to Buttermere with the rest of the crew. Where have you been?’
She pulled the glove with the bracelet out of her pocket and thrust it towards him.
‘What is that?’
‘I found it in the caves, just lying there discarded.’
Ben arched an eyebrow, two tiny circles of red appeared on his cheeks, and she knew he was getting angry.
‘Do you want to explain to me why you have been in a cave and who with when I specifically asked you to do the house to house?’
‘I spoke to Ettie and she mentioned the abandoned caves. When I did some research into the old camp, the very first death was at those caves, a guest got crushed to death.’
‘Oh, right and you thought it was totally acceptable to go visit these caves on your own without telling anyone where you were. Morgan, that is so stupid, you could have injured yourself. What if you got crushed to death? We’d have never found you when we didn’t know where the hell you were.’
‘Well, I didn’t and I wasn’t on my own. I went with Ernie.’
‘Who the fuck is Ernie?’ Ben’s voice was incredulous at this.
‘Ettie’s new guy. He used to be a Mountain Rescue volunteer, but he hurt his back. I just want to check him out because I’m not sure if he was lying to me about the bad back.’
Ben ran a hand across his forehead, rubbing it slowly. ‘Get in the office now.’ He gently dragged her inside, waiting for the door to close. ‘You can’t just go looking up Ettie’s new boyfriend.’
Morgan was clutching her open laptop. ‘I can if I have a reason to. He’s very nice, seems legit but he lied to me about having a bad back and it set my alarm bells ringing. He knows the area like the back of his hand, he told me about the caves and led me straight to them, then he lied and said he couldn’t get inside the narrow opening, but minutes later was inside shouting me. Then he managed to get back up the steep, rocky side of the fell without stopping or complaining. It’s worth checking him out, Ben. We need to see where he lives and if he has previous.’
‘Go on then, but, Morgan, I am furious that you put yourself in that situation, again I might add.’
‘For God’s sake, Ben, would you say this to Cain or Marc? I bet you wouldn’t say it to Amy or Amber either. You have to stop babysitting me twenty-four seven. I am a grown woman, doing my best to solve this case. Sometimes using your gut instinct leads you to places you weren’t expecting, and while we’re atthis, what is wrong with you? You have been in a funny mood with me since I went into the lake. Is it because of that or are you regretting being with me?’
‘What, are you for real? I do not and never will regret being with you. Yes, I was annoyed with you about the lake incident and now I’m even more angry because you’ve been caving with a complete stranger and didn’t think to tell me, but it’s not that.’ He paused and a look of sadness filled his eyes.
‘Then what is it?’
‘I don’t want you to make a big thing out of it because it means nothing to me whatsoever. Don’t go running off and starting a fight, promise me.’
Morgan narrowed her eyes but nodded. ‘I won’t, what are you hiding from me?’
‘Yesterday, outside the mortuary, I think Amber tried to come on to me and I panicked.’
She arched an eyebrow at him. ‘Amber did what exactly?’
