Page 59 of Grimm

Dezi scooped it up and handed it to Grimm. “Now, we have to find the door it unlocks.”

“If it is the key he alludes to.” Grimm passed through the door into the secret passage in the wall of the boarding house and descended to the lower level with the two doors. He fit the key into the door on the right. It wouldn’t turn. Moving to the next door, he held his breath as he slipped the key into the keyhole and turned it.

The locking mechanism clicked, releasing the lock.

He let go of the breath he’d been holding and pushed the door open into a dark, underground chamber. “We’re in a mine.”

Dezi stepped up beside him. “He really didn’t give us a direction from here, if I recall.”

Grimm nodded. “No, he didn’t.”

“Right now, there’s only one way this tunnel goes. I guess we follow it.” She started forward.

Grimm gripped her arm. “These old mines could have vertical tunnels that drop hundreds of feet. Know what you’re stepping into with each foot going forward.”

She nodded and reached for his hand. “At least it’s not as narrow as the first tunnel.”

He squeezed her hand, shined his headlamp on the floor and moved forward. “This has to lead to a working exit. They wouldn’t have taken ore out through the narrow staircases.”

“The men who worked the mine might have used the entrance beneath the boarding house to go to work each day.”

“That makes sense.” Grimm kept moving, studying everything they passed from the heavy brace beams to the iron rails used to transport heavy ore from deep inside the mountain to where the shaft opened to the outside.

“This can’t be too far from the building where they processed the ore,” Grimm said.

“Which made it convenient to place the ore processing facility close to the source.”

The light from their headlamps barely dispelled the darkness until it bounced off something shiny directly in front of them.

“What is that?” Dezi picked up the pace, moving a little faster over the rail ties holding the iron rails in place.

Grimm hurried to catch up to her. He grabbed her arm. “Slow down. Nothing in this tunnel is worth getting hurt for.”

“You’re right. You’re right. I’m just so ready to be done with this hunt.” She nodded toward the shiny wall in front of them. “Is that what I think it is?”

“What do you think it is?” Grimm had his own ideas about the shiny substance in the solid wall in front of them.

“Looks like a vein of gold.” She took another step toward the bright substance. “Wow. That vein is huge.”

While Dezi’s light bounced off the wall, Grimm shined his toward the floor where they stood.

Dezi took another step, reaching out to touch the vein.

Grimm’s hand snaked out to grab her arm again. “Wait.”

She stepped back, her brow furrowing. “What’s wrong?”

“Look at the ground in front of that vein.”

She tilted her head downward, aiming her lamp at the ground. “It’s black,” she said.

Grimm shook his head. “The ground isn’t black.”

She stared at the space in front of the vein of shiny ore. “What do you mean?”

Grimm stooped, picked up a rock and tossed it at the black floor. The rock disappeared into the darkness.

Dezi gasped. “It’s a vertical shaft. Holy shit. I almost stepped into it.”

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