Page 83 of A Forgotten Mistake

“They can’t do their job if they don’t have space to work. Can you call the dog over here?”

“Puppins, come,” she calls, but the dog is too busy trying to help us slide open the door. The dirt that’s lying over it did a splendid job of hiding it, telling me that he clearly knew just how to keep a scene flawless. The search and rescue team had to have traveled over this area multiple times, yet it took Gabriel practically tripping over it to find it.

The door with the dirt on top of it is heavy, heavy enough that I’m not sure Cameron opened this on his own every time, or maybe he hooked it to something that would lift it. It’s dark down in the hole as Matthew flashes his light into it, revealing a body lying at the bottom. I honestly can’t tell whether she’s alive or not until Matthew calls out and she jerks back, making me think she was lying still out of fear that it was Cameron. Shelooks frantic before relief rushes across her face, but it doesn’t appear like she can move with her hands and legs tied and her mouth covered.

“She’s alright,” Matthew says to Rachel. “But let’s stay back for right now so we can get her out.”

Matthew calls for support while Michaels starts down the old wooden ladder leading down into it.

“If I slid it shut right now, I could become sergeant,” I tell Matthew.

“I would throw my body in front of the door to keep it from closing to make sure that wouldneverhappen. Dear god, imagine if you were in a position of power,” he whispers. It’s like the thought of it is too much for him to even speak it out loud.

“If I pushed you in as well…”

Matthew turns to look at me. “You would literally lose your only friend.”

“I never wanted to become friends with you. Becoming friends should be a two-way street, but my side of the street has a fucking sinkhole in it that you aren’t crossing.”

“I’ll repair it. I’m already halfway across,” he says as he creepily strokes my arm. I have to assume he’s trying to get me to lower my defenses to toss me in, but with Gabriel here, I have faith he won’t get away with it.

“Please, let me out, please, let me out,” Liz begs as soon as Michaels pulls the tape from her mouth.

“We’re going to get you out. The ladder is unsteady and you have a head wound, so we’re going to wait until the medical team is here,” Michaels says soothingly as he frees her. “We want no accidents.”

She’s not having it. She’s going to climb out of this pit even if it requires her brawling Michaels, which I kind of hope she does.

Liz smacks him off her and starts rushing up the ladder as Michaels does his best to keep her from falling and Matthewreaches down to help her out. I grab her other arm—feeling like Gabriel would approve of my heroic deed—and we haul her out. She falls to her knees with a gasp and Rachel comes hurrying over as Puppins decides to forgive his family for his awful name by licking her in the face.

“Good job,” Gabriel says as he gives me a smile.

“Wasn’t all me. You’re the one who narrowed down the area and found the door,” I say. “Matthew’s the only one who didn’t do anything.”

“Christ!” Matthew hisses as he looks over at me.

“And Donna and Chris? We might as well fire them.”

“This isn’t even their case, so of course they didn’t do anything,” Gabriel says with a grin.

Once the medical team is here, I slip down into the hole to look around with Gabriel. Matthew ends up down here as well, which means he’s uncomfortably close to me.

“Obviously, this isn’t the first person he kept down here,” Matthew says as he motions to what looks like a fake fingernail stuck in the wall near the top. Someone must have climbed up but couldn’t get the door open.

“Yeah,” I agree. “But why? If he was going to kill them, why did he toss Jane Doe off the bridge?”

“She wasn’t dirty and didn’t have any marks on her wrists, so I doubt she ever even saw this hole. So what was different about her?” Gabriel asks.

“Right… what if the women weren’t intended for Cameron? I mean… if they were, he’d know which ones he wanted. But maybe he’s finding them for someone else… and Jane Doe didn’t make the cut, so he had to dispose of her, and that’s when he saw Liz. So maybe the ones who fit, he holds here?”

“That’s a rather fucked-up idea,” Matthew says. “But… it would make sense.”

“I want to see Abby’s iPad.”

“Abby?” Matthew asks in surprise. “Why Abby? You think the two are connected? The motives are different. The types of people are different. The way Steven and Mitch were killed is different than the way Jane Doe was killed… but I guess you could be right.”

“Of course I’m right. I really feel like they’re connected and I’m going to prove it to you. I think the person who killed Steven and Mitch was also the one who killed Cameron and Jessica. Do I need to wear my ‘I told you so’ shirt again?”

Matthew rudely ignores that question. “The tech team got nothing off her iPad.”

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