Chapter 8
Maya was absent the following morning.
Angelo noticed immediately.
He told himself it didn't matter.
It was none of his business.
Yet when Sis Dolly arrived with his breakfast and bath water, the first question that came to his mind was about Maya.
"Is Maya working today?"
Sis Dolly looked at him with a knowing smile.
"She has other things to attend to."
Angelo nodded casually.
"Oh. I was only asking."
"Of course you were."
The old woman left before he could respond.
Angelo shook his head and concentrated on his breakfast.
By seven o'clock, he was at the mine.
He spent the entire morning in his office going through the documents Doctor Durmont had left behind. The more he read, the more questions he had.
There were inconsistencies in the reports.
Deaths had been recorded differently in different documents. Some cases had simply disappeared from the records altogether. Several pages were missing, and some reports appeared to have been written months after the events they supposedly described.
Someone had either been extremely careless or was hiding something.
By noon, Angelo could no longer sit behind his desk.
He stepped outside and started toward the boarding house.
The sun was merciless.
Halfway there, he noticed a crowd gathered outside the Suds and Grill.
He slowed down.
Something about the crowd felt wrong.
He changed direction and walked toward them.
As he approached, he saw several people standing around something lying on the ground.
A body.
Angelo's heart immediately jumped.
"Maya."
The name escaped his lips before he could stop himself.
He pushed through the crowd.
For one terrible moment, he couldn't see the person's face because the body was covered with a blanket.
Then he noticed the boots.
They weren't Maya's.
He released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered directly.
People were whispering among themselves.
Angelo looked around and spotted Russell standing a short distance away.
Their eyes met.
Russell's expression changed immediately.
He looked away and disappeared into the crowd.
Angelo frowned.
Something was definitely wrong.
The owners of the Suds and Grill eventually came outside and began pushing people away from the entrance.
They wanted the body removed before it ruined their business.
Angelo stayed long enough to hear what had happened.
The dead man was a stranger.
He had been seen around the Eagle's Beak the previous night and had been told to leave town.
Nobody knew where he had gone afterward.
Then, sometime during the night, he had returned.
He had been badly injured.
There were wounds all over his body.
He had somehow managed to reach the Suds and Grill before collapsing and dying.
Angelo watched as the body was eventually loaded onto a truck and taken to the neighboring town.
He couldn't explain why, but something about the incident bothered him.
He returned to the boarding house and ate lunch.
When he was preparing to leave for the mine, Russell was waiting for him.
"Can I have a quick word with you, boss?"
Angelo followed him into the office.
Russell closed the door.
"I am concerned about your safety."
Angelo frowned.
"Why?"
"This incident wasn't random."
"What makes you say that?"
Russell reached into his briefcase.
"The dead man was carrying binoculars, a high-resolution camera, special lenses and a sniper rifle."
Angelo's expression changed.
"A sniper rifle?"
"There were also tools among his belongings that suggest he was conducting surveillance."
"Surveillance of whom?"
Russell looked directly at him.
"You."
The room suddenly seemed much quieter.
"Me?"
"He had been following you."
Russell placed a file on the desk.
Angelo opened it.
Photographs.
Dozens of them.
The first showed him walking through town.
Another showed him leaving the mine.
Another showed him entering the Eagle's Beak.
Then he saw one that made him stop.
It showed Maya holding him up after he had drunk himself senseless.
He turned another page.
More photographs.
He and Maya walking back from the hills.
Angelo stared at the picture.
"How long?"
"We don't know."
He continued turning the pages.
Whoever had taken these photographs had followed him carefully.
Too carefully.
Angelo closed the file.
"Why would anyone be following me?"
"That is what we are trying to find out."
For the first time, Angelo felt a genuine sense of danger.
He had never considered himself a target.
He was the son of a wealthy woman, yes, but he had no personal wealth of his own and had never involved himself in his mother's business affairs.
At least, not until now.
He looked at Russell.
"I need more information about the sickness."
Russell nodded.
"I'll have someone from the sickbay come to you."
A few minutes later, there was a knock.
A short, skinny man entered carrying a thick stack of documents.
"Doctor Mark Durmont."
Angelo gestured toward the chair.
"Sit down."
The doctor placed the documents on the desk.
"Tell me everything you know."
Durmont took a deep breath.
"The truth is, most of what we know is based on observation."
"Meaning?"
"We still haven't established the source of the illness."
"How does it spread?"
"We don't know."
Angelo frowned.
"Water?"
"Possibly."
"Food?"
"Possibly."
"Air?"
"Possibly."
Angelo leaned back.
"So you don't know."
Durmont lowered his eyes.
"No, sir."
"What about treatment?"
"We can only treat the symptoms."
"And the mortality rate?"
The doctor hesitated.
"Extremely high."
Angelo looked at the documents.
"How long before the entire town is affected?"
"If the current rate continues, we could be looking at weeks."
Angelo felt a knot form in his stomach.
"Leave the documents with me."
Durmont stood.
"There is something else."
Angelo looked up.
"What?"
The doctor hesitated.
"We've noticed that many of the worst cases have some connection to the mine."
Angelo's eyes narrowed.
"What kind of connection?"
"We haven't established that yet."
"Then find out."
Durmont nodded and left.
Angelo remained alone in the office.
He looked at the medical reports.
Then at the surveillance photographs.
Then toward the mine outside his window.
Something was happening in South River.
The sickness was spreading.
Someone had been watching him.
And somewhere beneath all of it was the mine.
Angelo picked up the first medical report again.
This time, he wasn't reading it as the inexperienced heir who had been sent to run a mine.
He was reading it as someone who had finally realized that his life might be in danger.
And he intended to find out why.