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The four explored Lower Falls and then made their way down the trail and stairs to Broken Rock Falls. The falls were small and not very wide or torrential, despite the added flow from the day’s rain. Beyond that, nothing in the surrounding area suggested a potential grave.
Admiring the scenery and thinking about what tomorrow might bring, Maddock’s eyes moved one more time to the waterfall. “I have an idea.” He paused, assessing the rocks along the waterfall again. “It’s a cliché but wouldn’t be the first time.”
Bones, one boot resting on a log twenty feet to Maddock’s left, looked puzzled. Then understanding dawned in his eyes.
Once again they looked for a place that wouldn’t be too difficult to carry a body to, and focused on places that weren’t too high. They climbed Broken Rock Falls’ stone steps. Connie and Nelli watched with interest and began to follow the two determined men.
Neither Maddock nor Bones saw anything. Broken Rock Falls and Lower Falls were smaller than Upper Falls, and all three were just too small to really conceal what they were looking for. But Maddock, in the lead, climbed off to the left, not ready to give up.
The crevices, ledges and overhangs, and the porous sandstone walls offered little challenge, despite their dampness.
Then Maddock observed the base of a small shrub emerging from the cliff face. It was perched between the regular sandstone and another rock, one just a shade darker. Along its right side was a finger-width gap, hidden by the foliage, and possibly formed when the stem of the stout shrub thickened over the past couple of years.
“Check this out, Bones,” he said and climbed in front of the discolored rock. He ran his fingers inside and along the gap.
“You got that intense look going on, Maddock,” Bone said, climbing over next to his friend. “Like when you’re massaging a plumber’s crack.”
Nearby, on the steps, Nelli giggled while Connie groaned at the comment.
“The rock is over four inches thick.” Maddock repositioned himself to get better leverage. He pushed, then pulled, trying to dislodge the stone. Then he tried tugging to the right. It budged a quarter of an inch, and stopped.
“Whoa,” Bones said, placing a hand in the widened gap. “You’re going to need some real man strength if you want to get that opened.”
“Okay,” Maddock said. “You’d better climb down and find someone who can help me, then.”
That time Connie laughed and Nelli groaned.
Both men gave it all they had. Muscles bulged and sinews strained until the rock shifted back an inch. A moment later their efforts managed to shove it aside, revealing a cave just big enough to crawl into.
Maddock shined his Maglite inside. It looked deep, curving left and sloping upward. “Bingo.”
“Did someone bring their grandma?” Bones asked.
Maddock crawled in first, Maglite clenched between his teeth. Bones followed.
Initially it was a little tight for the oversized Cherokee’s shoulders, but the tunnel widened as it sloped upward. Nelli and Connie followed on his heels.
“No one’s been in here in a long time,” he said. “Usually caves, unless they’re regularly maintained, are filled with debris—beer bottles, cigarette butts.”
The tunnel leveled out and straightened before narrowing. Maddock’s flashlight fell upon a blank wall ahead. He was about to declare a dead end when he realized the cave took a sharp left. Making the turn he discovered a small chamber.
Panning his flashlight around before crawling in, he determined it was roughly ten feet across, nearly as wide, and tall enough to sit in. Well, maybe Bones would have to hunch over a little.
The chamber was featureless, no shelves or anything carved into the walls, ceiling or floor, and showed no residual evidence of soot from fires. As with the tunnel leading in, the air was stuffy and stale, but not damp as Maddock expected it would be. Beyond that, the space was dry, which seemed unusual for a large cavity surrounded by such porous rock. That wasn’t the only thing unusual. Maddock made way for Bones, keeping his Maglite focused on a skeleton tucked against the far wall, one wrapped in tattered blankets.
Both Maddock and Bones crawled closer to the human remains.
Maddock took the flashlight from his mouth. “No other exit.”
Bones quickly flashed his light about, confirming his partner’s assertion.
Mummified skin lay stretched across the skeleton, but with wide gaps. Scattered tufts of hair indicated that, in life, the man sported both long hair and a lengthy beard.
Bones kept the two ladies back while Maddock took several photos with his cell phone.
The moldering bits of clothing were even less intact than the blankets.
“This looks more like a tomb than a burial chamber,” Connie said, trying to come to terms with what they’d discovered.
Panning along the walls with her keychain flashlight, Nelli added, “Maybe this is where he came to die. What do you think, Bones?”
Maddock moved closer for a better look. “No, he was murdered.” He pointed to a deep compression in the skull. “Someone brought him here and killed him...maybe not in that order.”
“Think he died to protect the secret of the arrowheads?” Bones asked, sounding doubtful. He crawled up next to Maddock and pulled back the blankets.
Both girls shied away, Connie gasping, while Nelli whispered, “Gross.”
“Holy crap!” Bones said. “Look at this.”
Most of the man’s flesh had long ago rotted away, and lying on the spinal column was the oddest looking ring Maddock had ever seen. It appeared to be an oversized, flat disk made of lead with a raised image on its surface.
Bones leaned closer, adding his light to his friend’s. “Maddock, that’s identical to the petroglyph I spotted below Rock House.”
“That guy must’ve had big fingers,” Nelli said. “Bones, that’d fall off your thumb.”
Maddock thought a moment. “It’s not a ring. It’s a key.”
Bones grinned. “The old hermit dude must’ve swallowed it to keep it from his killers.”
“What’s it a key to?” Connie whispered.
They all exchanged glances before Nelli asked Maddock and Bones, “Do you guys know?”
“Seems like another mystery,” Maddock replied. “Hopefully some archaeologist will be able to figure it out.” He took a quick picture with his cell phone. “Bones and I will hang around while you ladies go and report the find. Now that it’s open, can’t risk someone else coming upon it.”
Connie asked, “What should we say?”
“Just keep it simple,” Maddock explained. “Found an opening in the rock. Climbed in and found the skeletal remains. Thought it should be reported.”
After both ladies nodded understanding, it was time to crawl back out.
Maddock emerged first, Connie trailing behind. Immediately he sensed something was wrong. His gut was right. Three armed men, Native Americans, stood below, looking up at him. All three wore brown leather duster jackets, the kind associated with the Old West. The oldest of the three, standing in the middle, held a revolver casually pointed up at Maddock. Probably a .45 caliber, and single-action, as he had the hammer cocked.
Prominent crow’s feet and deep frown lines framed the no nonsense man’s weathered face.
The other two men, possibly the old man’s sons by their looks and similar long hair, probably in their forties, each held a semi-automatic pistol. Theirs were casually pointed at the ground. A quick glance suggested they were Colt 1911 ACPs. Old school, just not as old school as their father’s.
The old man spoke. “I want the four of you to come on out of there, slowly, and join us down here.” His voice, filled with calm confidence, carried over the noise of the nearby falls crashing down on the rocks.
Maddock made a quick assessment of the situation. Because of their propensity for run-ins with groups like the Dominion and the Trident, he had his Walther and knew Bones was carrying his Glock. But they were at a severe disadvantage, and they had two inexperienced ladies to consider. These guys didn’t fit the Dominion profile, nor the Trident one. Besides, there was nothing in the cave behind him worth getting into a gunfight over. He spoke back over his shoulder. “Come out slowly. We have at least three armed men interested in talking to us.” At least, he hoped talking was all the old man and his sons intended.
While Maddock and Connie began their descent, Bones emerged and eyed the three men before moving out onto the ledge with the skill of a mountain goat. He waited fifteen seconds before shooting the old Native American an apologetic glance. He then stuck his head back into the cave’s mouth and signaled Nelli to come out. He said to the old man, “Some people get shy when guns might be pointed their direction.”
The old Native American nodded but didn’t lower his revolver.
A few seconds later Nelli emerged, breathing hard, with a look of concern on her face. After she and Bones descended without incident, the old man signaled them with the barrel of his revolver to stand next to Maddock and Connie. The four stood with their backs to the shallow, fast-moving stream. One of the brothers stood off to their right, keeping an eye on them.
Maddock took the time to look around. It was only these three, and it didn’t appear any visitors to the park were nearby. The old man looked serious, but he didn’t have the eyes of a cold-blooded killer. If he and Bones went along, nobody would get hurt, including the three Native Americans.
The brother standing off to the side half shouted, “Did you find the hermit in there?”
With an uncaring voice, Bones asked, “Why don’t you see for yourself?”
The old man gazed at Bones. “You are one of us, but have no respect for our history and culture.”
“No natives in the cave,” Bone said, tilting his head toward the opening. “Only what’s left of some old white dude.”
The other brother standing next to the old man smirked. “Give us the treasure.”
“Yeah,” said the other brother, the one standing off to their right,
“Does it look like we’re carrying treasure?” Bones asked.
Maddock spread his arms to emphasize the point.
“Relax,” the old man told his son. Then he said to the four, mainly focusing on Maddock and Bones, “The hermit stole a Native American treasure—nothing large, but it’s important.”
Bones glared at the excited son. “What’s so important about it?”
The son glared back.
Maddock and Bones looked at one another and nodded. Maddock said to Connie, “Give them the pouch.”
Obeying without hesitation, she started to unsling her string bag, and Maddock warned her, watching the excited son. “Slowly.”
Connie’s eyes widened, realizing her mistake, and cautiously knelt, resting her string bag on the muddy ground. Slowly she opened it and withdrew the plastic bag holding the pouch and arrowheads. She handed it up to Maddock, who stepped forward to hand it to the old man.
The old Native American signaled with his gun’s barrel for Maddock to give the bag to his son standing on his left.
“That’s a nice six-shooter,” Bones said to the old man. He’d had a gun pointed at him more times than he cared to count. Being himself would help the girls realize the situation isn’t as deadly as it might appear to them. Sure, things could go sour on a dime, but he trusted Maddock to keep that from happening.
The son holstered his pistol and examined the plastic bag’s contents. After doing so, he said with a pleased smile, “Turquoise arrowheads. Eleven of them.” No one corrected him.
The old man frowned. “Are you sure that’s all?”
Bones said, “Of course it is.”
The old man’s left eye squinted as he appraised each of them in turn. He took the arrowheads from his son and slipped them into his dust jacket’s pocket. “Check them.”
Maddock figured if they checked his phone for pictures, they wouldn’t find anything out of line. The last picture he took was of the key. That artifact was still in the cave, theirs to find.
The son from their right frisked each of them. He pulled Maddock’s Walther, and Bones’ Glock and knife, but found nothing else of interest.
“Remove the bullets from their magazines and give the guns back,” the old man said.
With assured familiarity, the son did as directed. “The knife?”
“Give it back to him,” the old man replied. When the weapons had been returned, the old man scowled at them. “Go, and leave the park.”
The four backtracked, making their way to Nelli’s Jeep Wrangler. “Guess that answers who was following us,” Maddock said, once they were out in the open, crossing the road leading to the parking lot. He considered making a call from the Visitor Center. They had to have a land line. But contacting the park rangers wouldn’t make any difference. There’d be too many questions to answer, and anything of value was already long gone.
“Give me the keys,” Maddock said. “I’ll drive.”
Once they’d pulled onto State Route 664, heading back toward Conkle’s Hollow where the rental car was parked, Nelli let out a huge sigh. Maddock saw her eyes sparkle as she smiled.
Sitting next to Maddock, Bones grinned even wider, like the Cheshire Cat. Connie looked puzzled, but Maddock was beginning to suspect. When Nelli unbuttoned her shirt, he was sure. Within seconds she plucked the lead key from her ample cleavage and handed it up to Bones.
The only words her little sister could manage were filled with admiration. “No way.”
Bones asked Nelli, “Girl, what made you think to go back and get the key?”
“Maddock’s voice,” she said, with a sheepish grin. “Whoever was out there, I knew it wasn’t park rangers. Whoever it was would steal it. Better that we take it before they got the chance. Right?”
“Nice job,” Bones said. “You only made one mistake.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“You should have let me pluck it out for you.”