Page 2 of Silent Past

“Healthy respect, huh?” He elbowed her lightly. “Don’t worry, Bishop. If we get lost, I’ll eat the protein bars first.”

Kelly rolled her eyes but didn’t reply. They continued in silence, the tunnel winding downward. Her unease deepened with each step, though she couldn’t pinpoint why. Maybe it was the cold or the lack of sound beyond their movements. Or maybe it was the feeling that they weren’t alone.

Her mind flicked back to her childhood, to the time she’d gotten lost in a maze of narrow canyons while hiking with her parents. She’d been just eight years old, separated from the group after lagging behind to pick up a shiny rock. The memory of those endless red walls, their towering, featureless faces blotting out the sky, still haunted her. She’d screamed herself hoarse that day, the sound swallowed by the oppressive silence, and it had been hours before searchers finally found her curled into a trembling ball under a ledge.

Even now, the thought of being trapped or lost tightened her chest, making it hard to breathe.

She shook off the thought. Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself. It’s just your imagination.

But when her headlamp illuminated the next chamber, her breath caught in her throat. She spotted something that, at first blush, looked like another rock formation. But something about it seemed… wrong somehow. She stepped closer, her heart rate elevating.

And then, all at once, her eyes made sense of what she was seeing. Every muscle in her body seemed to tense at once.

The shape before her was not rock at all but flesh, a human dressed in what appeared to be traditional indigenous clothing. Layers of richly woven fabric, adorned with intricate beadwork and patterns of deep reds, blues, and earthy browns, clung to the body. A feathered headdress rested on its head, the vibrant plumage still vivid despite the passage of time. Bracelets of carved bone and stone adorned its wrists, and an ornate necklace with a pendant shaped like a sun dangled from its neck. The body was perfectly preserved, the skin pale and waxy, the eyes closed as though in sleep.

Mike stepped up beside her, his voice low and incredulous. “What the hell…?”

Kelly’s pulse thundered in her ears as she fumbled for her camera, her hands shaking. She snapped a photo, the flash momentarily brightening the chamber. She half-expected the figure to lurch forward, but it remained still, a macabre statue in the icy air.

Mike knelt beside the body, his face pale. “This is…I don’t even know what this is. Some kind of ritual?”

Kelly’s voice was barely a whisper. “We need to leave. Now.”

Mike looked up at her, his expression conflicted. “Shouldn’t we report this? I mean, someone needs to know about it.”

“We will,” Kelly said. “But not while we’re still in here.”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.”

They turned and began retracing their steps, their movements hurried and clumsy. Kelly's heart raced as she glanced over her shoulder, half-expecting to see the figure following them. The oppressive silence seemed heavier now, as though the cave were trying to keep them inside.

As they approached the section where they’d rappelled down earlier, Kelly froze. “Mike,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “The rope…it’s gone.”

Mike stepped past her, shining his headlamp toward the ledge. “No way,” he muttered, but his light confirmed what she’d seen. The anchor they’d left was still there, but the rope hung limply, its end frayed as if sliced through.

“Someone cut it,” Kelly said, her voice hollow. “Why would anyone…?”

Mike’s jaw tightened, his usual easy demeanor replaced by tension. “I don’t know, but it means we’re not alone down here.”

CHAPTER ONE

Sheila Stone stood by her father’s side at the edge of the empty gravel lot, her breath forming faint clouds in the crisp October air. The cold crept through her jacket, but she barely noticed it. Her eyes scanned the shadows around them, darting between the skeletal outlines of leafless trees and the occasional glint of moonlight on the windshield of a parked car.

“Where is he?” Sheila muttered, her voice low.

Gabriel Stone didn’t look at her. His gray eyes were fixed on the distant tree line, his posture relaxed but alert. “He’ll show,” he said, the gruffness in his voice doing little to hide the edge of tension beneath. “He always does.”

Sheila tightened her grip on the flashlight in her hand, the metal cool against her skin. She wasn’t so sure. The man they were waiting for—Gabriel’s old informant from his law enforcement days—was an enigma wrapped in an erratic streak. And he was late.

This meeting was far more important to Sheila than she cared to admit. It wasn't just about any investigation—it was about her mother’s unsolved murder ten years ago. Henrietta Stone had stumbled across evidence of corruption in the Coldwater County Sheriff’s Department, and someone powerful had silenced her for it.

Gabriel had spent years burying his own guilt, knowing he’d chosen to keep quiet back then to protect their family. But now, with the recent attempt on Sheila’s life by a department plant named Tommy, the stakes were higher than ever. Tommy was in a coma—the result of an attempt on his life, presumably by the very people who had sent him to kill Sheila in the first place—but his actions had confirmed one thing: The corruption that killed Henrietta hadn’t gone away. It had only grown stronger.

Even Finn, Sheila's partner and boyfriend, and Star, her fourteen-year-old charge, weren’t safe. Just yesterday, Sheila had climbed into her truck to discover an armed stranger was in the seat behind her. He'd warned her to give up the investigation, implying both Star and Gabriel would be at risk if she didn't. Though he hadn't mentioned Finn, Sheila assumed he was in danger as well.

Star and Finn were currently together. The plan was that later, when Finn came into work, he'd first drop Star off at the gym where Bo Pratz, Sheila's former sparring partner and one of the best kickboxers she'd ever fought, would keep an eye on her. He was always more than happy to do the Stones a favor, and since he was divorced and only saw his kids on the weekends, he had plenty of free time on his hands.

Sheila took a deep breath as she and her father waited in the cold for a contact who might hold the next piece of the puzzle that would help her understand why her mother had been killed. But with every second that passed with no sign of her father's contact, her unease deepened.

---