I looked at my watch. It was five. Where could Dee Dee be? Shortly, I heard laughter floating up the staircase. Rebecca and Dee Dee entered the room.

“Trixie, you won’t believe the deals out there!” Dee Dee held up both hands festooned with shopping bags.

“You feel like watching a mining movie?”

“Of course. Let’s go!” Dee Dee said as if she’d been waiting for me instead of the other way around.

Rebecca directed us into a small auditorium behind a curtain on the other side of the display case. “I’ll let Tony know you’re ready for him to start the film.” She gave us a brief salute and left the room.

Dee Dee stashed her bags on the empty seats beside her, and then we sat and waited quietly. A blast of music, accompanied by images of bedraggled, work-worn men and women, appeared on the screen.

The appearance of poverty-stricken workers dispelled the myth that all gold miners struck it rich. Large companies made most of the money. Backed by investors, these companies could provide the heavy equipment needed to find buried gold in the mountainous terrain. Many of the mountain people worked for these gold companies and never hit pay dirt themselves.

I was typing on my laptop when Dee Dee leaned over. “I’ve got to go tinkle. Where’s the bathroom?”

“I saw one downstairs.”

“OK, save my place.” She nudged me with her elbow. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I watched her scoot down the aisle past empty chairs. I had no doubt her place would be safe.

The majority of the movie passed with no sign of Dee Dee. Just as I was deciding to go see if she had fallen in, a blood-curdling scream jarred me from my thoughts, and triggered a thousand volts of electricity though my body.

I knew that scream! I maneuvered through the darkness, graceful as an elephant in a ballet, and hurried downstairs. Teresa, Rebecca, and Tony stood side-by-side blocking my line of sight. All three were on their cell phones. I squeezed in between them.

Dee Dee, pale as a ghost, gaped at me, eyes wide, squealing in horror. John Tatum, the man we’d literally run into in the Inn earlier, lay prostrate on the floor in a lake of coppery blood and scattered bills. And Dee Dee held a dripping pickaxe.

Chapter Two

Dee Dee, what happened? Are you all right?” I looked inside the mining room I had been in earlier.

I stepped forward and felt a tug. I turned around.

Teresa shook her head no. When she spoke, her voice sounded far away. “Ma’am you can’t go in there.”

“She needs me!” I said. Teresa didn’t budge her hand from my elbow. A short time earlier, her authoritative character seemed like such an asset. Now it was just a pain in the asset.

“I’ve called 911. They’re sending a deputy and an ambulance. They should arrive any minute. Why don’t you go sit down? There are some chairs in the front area.”

“I can’t leave Dee Dee. But, I don’t think I can stand up much longer.” My lungs felt as heavy as that old safe in the lobby, and my legs wobbled like Jell-O.

Tony brought two chairs. I assumed one was for me and the other for Dee Dee. She wasn’t going to need it. Dee Dee slid to the floor in a dead faint, dropping the axe.

As she hit the floor, two paramedics, dressed in blue uniforms and hauling red tackle boxes, rushed in.

One yelled, “I’ll get the pass-out.”

The other one replied, “I’ve got the trauma.”

The minutes ticked by slower than the last drop of ketchup escaping from a bottle before Dee Dee opened her eyes and tried to sit up. The most inappropriate thought popped into my mind—That’s the quietest I’ve ever seen her.

“Whoa there, take it easy.” The young, blond paramedic gently steadied Dee Dee. Once she regained consciousness, he hurried over to where his partner worked on the lifeless body of John Tatum.

“Where is he?” barked a voice from behind. Two uniformed deputies barreled down the hallway.

“Jack, what’ve we got here?” The older of the two deputies addressed the paramedic.

“Well, sir, I suggest you call in the coroner. There are no vital signs.”

The deputy walked over to where the paramedics attended the body and turned to his partner. “Secure the area, Ray, and don’t let anyone in without my permission.” He knelt down, and glanced at the lead ranger. “Teresa, don’t leave them alone. I’ll be there shortly to get everyone’s statements.”

I looked around to see who “everyone” was, and the only people I saw without the benefit of a uniform were me and Dee Dee.

Teresa helped Dee Dee up, and I took her other arm. “We’ll go into my office. She can rest there until the sheriff gets through.” She led us down the hall and into a sparsely furnished, wood paneled workspace. “Are you ladies okay?”

“Uh, yeah, we’ll be fine.” I didn’t feel fine. And Dee Dee sure didn’t look fine.

“Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no!” Dee Dee rocked back and forth in her chair as her vacant eyes stared straight ahead.

“Dee Dee, look at me! What’s going on?” I placed my hands on her shoulders and leaned in towards her face. “What happened?”

A faint light of recognition appeared in her eyes. “Oh, Trixie, what are we going to do?” The rocking motion started again, and the light in her eyes dimmed.

“Dee Dee! Focus! And tell me what happened.” My firm voice reverberated off the office walls. Her eyes filled with tears and spilled down her cheeks. I felt like a heel, and tried again. “It’s all right. I’ll stick by you no matter what happens.” I reached over, grabbed a wad of Kleenex and handed them to her. I took deep breaths as I desperately tried to remain calm. My insides churned, and bile rose in my throat.

I was acutely aware that Teresa was in the room and could hear everything we said. I didn’t care. Dee Dee might have been angry with him, and had called him a lummox and a brute, but murder him? Absolutely not.

“After I went to the bathroom I decided to check out the different rooms.” Dee Dee’s voice quavered. “I was going from room to room looking inside.” Her chin quivered. “When I came to the mining room, I entered to get a closer look at the assortment of strange tools on the wall. I was half-way in the room when I saw that atrocious man lying in the corner with the pickaxe in his chest.” She wiped a fresh stream of tears, then blew her drippy nose. “Oh, Trixie, it was horrible. What was I supposed to do? Let him lay there with an axe sticking out of him?”

I wanted to say, Maybe call 911 and let them take it out? But I bit my tongue instead, and shrugged.

“How did I know he was dead? I thought I was helping.” She looked so sad. Her brown eyes under hooded eyelids reminded me of a Basset Hound. “Out of all the people who could have found that horrible man dead, why did I find him?” She foghorned into her tissue. “This doesn’t look good does it, Trix?” Dee Dee voiced my thoughts.

“No, I’m afraid it doesn’t.”

The door squeaked, and our heads turned in unison as it opened, revealing the larger of the two deputies. His broad shoulders filled the doorway, and that dusting of gray hair gave him a distinguished look. I exhaled, long and slow, and for a moment forgot why we waited to speak with him.

“Ladies,” he addressed us in a deep voice, rich with authority. “I’m Sheriff Jake Wheeler, and we have a murder on our hands.”

Chapter Three

Dee Dee and I looked at each other. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it in a death-grip. I managed a little squeeze in return.

“This is Deputy Sonny Ray.” The sheriff gestured toward a man so skinny that, if he turned sideways, he’d be hard to find; that joke about Frank Sinatra disappearing behind his microphone flashed into my mind. But, this wasn’t the time to think about jokes.