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"I will. Now go rest. Doctor's orders."
After hanging up, she joined her father outside the car. He didn't ask about the call, but his expression was knowing.
"He's worried about you," Gabriel said.
"He's worried about you," she corrected. "About whether I can trust you."
Her father nodded slowly. "Smart man. I would be, too."
She studied him, waiting for him to explain why she didn't have to worry. He remained silent. Perhaps that was best, though. If he'd been quick to dismiss her doubts, she would have been even more suspicious.
Or was that the very reason why he wasn't defending himself?
Tired of these thoughts, she checked her watch. "We should head to the mine. Get a proper search organized."
"Sheila." Her father's voice stopped her. "Finn's right to be concerned. But I meant what I said in New Mexico—no more secrets. No more lies."
She studied his face again, looking for any trace of deception. She found only determination and regret.
"I believe you," she said. "But I need you to know that this doesn't make everything right between us, okay? Just because I don't think you have reason to keep lying to me, that doesn't mean you've earned my trust back. It doesn't mean we're close again." It pained her to say the words, but she had to let them out. She needed her father to know where things stood.
He winced. "I get it. Truly, I do. All I ask is that you give me the opportunity to win back your trust."
Sheila nodded slowly. "What do you think I'm doing right now?"
***
The mouth of the Copper Queen Mine gaped like an open wound in the mountainside. Yellow crime scene tape fluttered in the cold wind, and the gravel parking area was crowded with vehicles: police cruisers, search and rescue trucks, even a few civilian four-wheelers belonging to volunteers.
"Doc Sullivan's here," Sheila said, spotting the mining historian's battered Jeep. "Good. We'll need his expertise."
Her father nodded. "Smart call getting him involved."
She'd made the calls an hour ago—to Search and Rescue, to Doc Sullivan, to the caving club that sometimes assisted with mine operations. If Tyler was down there, they'd need everyone's help finding him.
Doc Sullivan was already organizing equipment, his weathered face serious as he spoke with the Search and Rescue team leader. He looked up as Sheila approached.
"Sheriff," he said, "I've got preliminary maps here, but I should warn you—they're incomplete. The Copper Queen was abandoned before proper surveys were finished."
He spread the maps across the hood of his Jeep. The tunnel system looked like veins branching through the mountain's heart.
"The main shaft extends about half a mile," he explained, tracing the route with a calloused finger. "But there are dozens of secondary tunnels, some of them partially collapsed. The miners were following copper veins, you see. Anywhere they found ore, they'd dig."
"How deep?" Gabriel asked.
"The main shaft stays relatively level, but some of the secondary tunnels drop several hundred feet." Sullivan's expression was grim. "There are vertical shafts too—ventilation holes, mostly. Easy to miss in the dark."
Sheila studied the gathered volunteers. The Search and Rescue team was professional, well-equipped. The cavers knew their business. But the abandoned mine presented unique challenges even for experts.
"What's the stability like?" she asked.
Sullivan shook his head. "That's the problem. These supports are over sixty years old. The mine closed in 1961 after a partial collapse killed three men. The company claimed the copper had played out, but rumor was they just didn't want to pay for proper safety measures."
The wind gusted stronger, carrying the smell of old timber and stale earth from the mine's entrance. Sheila watched the search teams checking their equipment—helmets with mounted lights, rope, first aid kits, air quality monitors.
"They worked this mine for almost forty years," Sullivan continued. "Started in the twenties, when copper prices were high. The town practically grew up around it. Half the old-timers here had fathers or grandfathers who worked these tunnels."
He pointed to various notations on the map. "There were three main copper veins they followed. The richest one led them deep into the mountain, but that's where they had the most stability problems. The geology out here... well, let's just say Mother Nature doesn't like having holes poked in her."