فصل 07 - بخش 11

7

They came to the billboard showing the awestruck family holding up their gas lanterns. Howie drove slowly up the cracked asphalt entry road, avoiding the potholes as best he could. The temperature, which had been in the mid-fifties when they set out, was now edging into the seventies. It would go higher.

‘See that knoll up there?’ Holly pointed. ‘The main cave entrance is in the base of it. Or was, until they plugged it. We should check there first. If he tried to get in that way, there might be some sign.’

‘Fine with me,’ Yune said, looking around. ‘Jesus, this is desolate country.’

‘The loss of those boys and the rescue party that went after them was terrible for their families,’ Holly said, ‘but it was also a disaster for Marysville. The Hole was the town’s only job provider. A lot of locals left after it closed down.’

Howie braked. ‘That must have been the ticket booth, and I spy a chain across the road.’

‘Go around it,’ Yune said. ‘Give this baby’s suspension a workout.’

Howie drove around the chain, his seatbelted passengers bouncing up and down. ‘Okay, folks, we are now officially trespassing on private property.’

A coyote broke from cover at their approach and sprinted away, his lean shadow racing beside him. Ralph spotted the remains of wind-eroded tire tracks and assumed that local kids – there had to be at least a few of them left in Marysville – brought their ATVs out here. He was mostly focused on the rocky bluff ahead, site of what had been Marysville’s one and only tourist attraction. Its raison d’etre, if you wanted to be fancy about it.

‘We’re all carrying,’ Yune said. He was sitting upright in his seat, eyes fixed straight ahead, on alert. ‘Is that correct?’

The men answered in the affirmative. Holly Gibney said nothing.