Page 13 of Dead Mountain

“It resumed in early May 2009. It had been a harsh winter, and there was still a lot of snow in the mountains.

“Then, in a ravine covered with snow about two miles beyond the campsite, another discovery was made: two more bodies, slightly better dressed than the others, but still lacking boots. The eyes of both victims and the tongue of one were missing. An autopsy indicated both bodies had been crushed so badly that, in one case, bone fragments from the chest cavity had pierced the heart. Despite the terrible trauma the bodies had suffered, there were—oddly enough—no external wounds.”

Sharp finished his coffee, placed the cup back in its saucer.

“My God,” Corrie breathed. “That sounds almost unbelievable.”

“It gets better. Someone, somewhere, requested that the clothing of the victims be tested for radiation. The tests showed low levels of contamination from plutonium, uranium, and tritium, among other radioactive isotopes. None of these isotopes are natural—in other words, they must have come from a man-made source such as a reactor or nuclear weapon.”

“Could that account for the burn marks on the bodies?”

“No. As I’m sure you know, radiation burns present very differently from normal burns. The burns on these bodies were caused by normal heat and included charring.”

Corrie nodded as she digested this. “So the State Police conducted the initial search and rescue operations?”

“Yes—until it seemed obvious they were dealing with a criminal case. Then the FBI got involved.”

“Who was the agent in charge?”

“Robertson Gold.”

“What did he say about ordering those radiation tests? That’s way outside the normal evidence protocols.”

Sharp looked at her from beneath hooded eyes. “Another excellent question, Agent Swanson. Gold claimed he hadn’t asked for the tests to be done, and he had no idea who sent the samples off for testing. After the results came back, they were promptly classified—removed from the case files—so nobody was able to review them further.”

Corrie shook her head. “No idea what government agency requested the tests?”

“If an agency made such a request, it was redacted from the files even before they were classified.”

“Is Gold still alive?” she asked.

“Yes. Long retired. Lives in Silver City.”

Corrie thought a moment. “What about the other three victims?”

“The other three victims were never found.”

“And you thought the remains in the cave might have been one of them?”

“Under the circumstances—had you known your local history—wouldn’t you?”

“I think so.” She remembered the short exchange between Garcia and Sharp during their preliminary briefing—and Sharp’s expression of disappointment when she’d come down from the cave.

“In any case, the evidence of blunt force trauma was enough to open a homicide investigation on federal land, which is why it became an FBI case, taking over from the State Police and forming a task force with the local sheriff’s department—but neither suspect nor motive could ever be established. It was assumed one of the three missing victims had been carrying the camera and journal, which if found might go a long way toward solving the mystery. But diligent searching never turned up camera, journal, or bodies.”

“Is the cave we visited near where the tent was found?” Corrie asked.

Sharp plucked a napkin from the holder, took out a pen, and began to draw. He took his time, and when he reversed the napkin to show it to Corrie, she saw a remarkably professional-looking sketch of a line of mountain peaks, complete with crosshatching and stippling for added clarity.

“This is a north-south representation of the Manzano mountain range,” he said. “Here is the approximate location of the tent. There’s a memorial marker there now, just below Shaggy Peak. And here—” he made a mark to the north— “is where the first three bodies were found. The fourth body was here, the fifth and sixth here. The distance from the tent to the ravine where the last two bodies were found is roughly two miles.”

Corrie watched the point of the pen move over the sketch. “A straight line, going north.”

“Exactly. And the cave is here, also more or less in that same line: another mile north of the ravine.” They both stared at the sketch a moment longer. Then Sharp crumpled the napkin and placed it in his empty cup. “So I was hoping that maybe—just maybe—those bodies in the cave would be two of the missing victims.”

Corrie pondered this. It was indeed a crazy story—so unusual she was surprised she hadn’t heard it before. “Based on the evidence you’ve described, I would guess something appeared that so terrified the hikers they slashed their way out the side of the tent and fled to certain death in the storm rather than confront it.”

“That’s what almost everyone assumed. Some argued it might have been a very large bear. Others, of course, claimed a Yeti, or aliens. The photos and scientific reports are in the file, if you’re interested.”

---