Page 63 of Obscurity (Pros and Cons Mysteries #5)

“ W e need to check the rest of the building,” Olive murmured.

“I agree,” Jason said. “And we don’t know how long we have before anyone comes back here.”

“Then let’s move fast.”

They opened an interior door and scanned the hallway.

Again, it was empty. Everyone must be in the mines right now.

But they didn’t know how much longer that would be the case.

As Olive hurried down the hall, she peered through a window in another door.

Her breath caught.

It was Chloe Kingston.

She sat on a narrow cot with her back against the wall in what appeared to be an old executive office.

She was alive!

Relief swept through Olive.

The young woman looked nothing like the vibrant person from the promotional videos. Her designer clothes were torn and stained, her blonde hair hung limp and unwashed, and dark circles under her eyes suggested days without proper sleep.

“Chloe,” Olive called softly through the door.

The young woman’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with a mixture of hope and disbelief. She struggled to her feet, moving carefully as if every motion caused pain.

“Who’s there?” Chloe rushed toward the door, her voice hoarse.

Jason examined the door’s lock. “We’re here to get you out. Your father hired us to find you.”

“My father?” Tears began streaming down Chloe’s face. “They told me he didn’t know I was missing. They said nobody was looking for me.”

“It was another lie,” Olive told her.

The lock was a simple deadbolt rather than electronic. Jason had it open in five seconds flat.

As soon as the door opened, Chloe practically collapsed into Olive’s arms.

“I thought I was going to die in there.” She let out a sob. “They kept asking me what I’d told people, what evidence I’d gathered, who else knew about . . . about what I found.”

“What did you find?” Olive supported Chloe’s weight as they moved toward the next room.

“The mining operation. During the promotional shoot, I was supposed to film ‘behind the scenes’ content around the mine entrance for authenticity. But then I found this site and realized what was happening.” Chloe’s voice strengthened as she talked.

“I confronted Brad about it, and that’s when everything changed. ”

That was when Chloe had become a threat, Olive realized. And she had to be dealt with.

The good news was that she was still alive.

The bad news was they still had to get out of here.

Quickly, she texted Tevin. She hoped the message went through in time.

Two rooms down, they found Becca Morrison. The journalism student was in worse condition than Chloe, slumped against the far wall with a grotesquely swollen ankle.

“Becca.” Olive threw open the door. “We’re getting you out of here.”

Becca looked up, squinting as if she was having trouble focusing. “Olivia?”

“It’s me. We’re here to help.”

“I’m so glad to see you. My friend Jessica overheard what they were planning, and they killed her for it.” Tears slid from Becca’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Olive told her.

Jason helped Becca to her feet, but her injured ankle couldn’t support any weight.

“There are others,” Chloe rushed as she stood at the doorway, clearly anxious to get out of here.

“An older couple in the room at the end. Local residents who got too close to the truth. And there was a mountain man—the one who was always trying to warn people. They brought him down here yesterday, but I haven’t seen him since. ”

Olive’s heart clenched, knowing they’d already found the Guardian’s body in the tunnel entrance. But she didn’t want to further devastate these women with more bad news.

“We’ll check,” she said instead, moving toward the remaining rooms with Jason.

The older couple Chloe had mentioned were in the last room—a man and woman in their sixties.

“They own property adjacent to the mountain,” Chloe explained as Jason worked on their lock. “They started asking questions when they noticed their well water was contaminated with mining chemicals.”

“That’s terrible,” Olive murmured.

The implications of this were far greater than she’d imagined.

The woman in the room was conscious but seemed to be in shock. Her husband was barely responsive—whether from injury or simple exhaustion, Olive couldn’t tell.

“What’s your name?” Jason asked as he knelt in front of them.

The woman clutched the man’s arm, her face pale. “I’m Margaret, and Carl is my husband.”

“How long have you been here?” Olive helped the woman to her feet.

“Three days, maybe four. Hard to tell without sunlight.” Margaret’s voice grew stronger as she talked. “I thought we were going to die in here! You’ve got to get us out of here. Please!”