Page 43 of So Insane

The original collapse of the Granger mine occurred just over twenty-two years ago when the south tunnel collapsed, trapping twelve miners inside. Ten other miners were spared the collapse. They were the ones who alerted the authorities. The stories detailed the gory events described by Martle, including the bloodcurdling sounds of the miners suffocating to death under the collapsed tunnel.

Faith consulted the maps Martle gave them and found that the south tunnel was surrounded on one side by a half-dozen tunnels that Martle labeled UNSTABLE: UNSAFE. The other side was blank, indicating that he hadn't explored it. The nearest they could get, according to Martle, was a small cavern a quarter mile before the south tunnel that he had marked as MISC. STORAGE.

Well, a start was a start. They would have to wait for the backup from Aspen before they could start, however.

While Micheal napped, Faith looked into the names of the surviving miners. Not surprisingly, they had all quit the mine and moved far away, some immediately, the rest trickling away over the next several years. None of them lived within a thousand miles of Granger.

She moved on to the families of the deceased and found that they, like the survivors, had eventually moved away from the memory of their lost loved ones.

Except for one man. Linus Diller’s brother and sister-in-law had died in the collapse. Linus Diller still lived in Granger.

Faith called Jones, and the detective answered groggily. “What is it?”

“Linus Diller,” she said, “what can you tell me about him?”

Jones made a noise halfway between a sigh and a groan and said, “Linus is the town drunk. Lovely to have to admit that we have one, but we’re already coming across pretty shitty, so I guess it’s not the end of the world. He has a bit of a record—mostly barfights, nothing too serious.”

“Did you know that his brother and sister-in-law died in the mine collapse?”

“George and Carol? Yeah, I knew.”

Faith was past the point where any level of incompetence from Jones could surprise her. She didn’t even bother to ask if he had questioned Linus. “Do you have an address for him?”

“Um, yeah, hold on. Do you need the exact street address, or can I just tell you where to go?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Well, he lives in an old cabin on Breaker Ridge Road, just past where it turns from pavement to dirt. But at this hour, you’ll probably find him packing in as much booze as he can before Jonah Faulkner kicks him out of the Tin Can. That’s the local bar. Nice place, incidentally, if you two felt like a celebratory beer once this is all over.”

“I’ll get back to you on that,” Faith said. “What time does the bar close?”

“Two o’clock.”

That left them a little over an hour. “All right,” Faith said, “thank you.”

“Yep,” Jones said before unceremoniously hanging up.

Faith looked at Michael sleeping on the bed and debated going herself to allow him a chance to rest. If she did that, though, she’d never hear the end of it.

She woke Turk first, hoping that the noise of the big dog springing to alertness would also wake Michael. It didn’t, and Turk didn’t seem inclined to wake Michael up himself, so Faith had to do the job.

She shook him softly, and he rolled over and smiled softly. "Love you, Faith," he murmured.

A memory flashed across Faith's mind then, of waking Michael the morning after he first spent the night. They had spent the rest of that day in each other's arms, and Faith thought at the time that she could get used to waking up like that.

Apparently, Michael had once felt the same.

She shook him again, a little harder, and this time he woke fully. “What is it?” he asked.

“I found a lead,” she said, “Linus Diller. Town drunk. His brother and sister-in-law died in the original mine collapse.”

He sat up, alert now. “Where is he?”

“Jones says he’s probably at the local bar.”

“Wonderful,” Michael said, standing. “Do we like him for this?”

“He’s the only person connected to the collapse still in town,” Faith said as Michael quickly dressed. “I don’t know if he’s a suspect yet, but he’s definitely a lead. He does have a history of violence.” She filled him in on the information Jones had given her.

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