Through Dark Spaces (A Hannah Morrison Mystery) by Karen E. Hall

Author:Karen E. Hall [Hall, Karen E.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Karen Hall Books
Published: 2012-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Wednesday, May 19

Hannah slammed Maddie’s bedroom door the next morning. No Maddie, no Matt.

Probably just as well she’s not here, Hannah reasoned. We’d only fight. And I don’t need the distraction, not with so much to do.

Hannah wanted to get to the Manuels as soon as she could to check out the new slide, but knew that didn’t make sense. Better to get the sampling data first, then head up the hill. Worthington would be there, she guessed, hung over, but there. So after she had crunched through a piece of toast and slugged down a cup of coffee, she tossed her daypack into the Honda and headed downhill to the Aureus Lab.

As the pine forest flashed past, she thought about the data, hoped it held some clues. But if it did, she’d have to confront Worthington. Not a pleasant prospect, especially with the new rockslide making life even more difficult. From the way Matt had described it, it was now impossible to get to the mine sites themselves. A big mess, and another significant cost added to the price of remediation. Not that it made a difference, she thought, if the Manuels really had been taken off the market—Aureus wouldn’t be footing that bill.

She turned into the lab parking lot. Chico Barrows was standing outside, smoking a filterless cigarette—just like the one she’d left with the sheriff.

“Hey, Chico.” Hannah climbed out and clucked her tongue at him. “Don’t you know those things’ll kill you?”

He grinned. “You got the tone of an ex-smoker.”

“Yessir, but my lungs are now clean. Can’t say the same for yours.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll quit. Someday.” He ground out the butt on the concrete step. “Hey, I’m sorry about what happened to you and Dooley. Heard he’s barely hanging in. You know anything more?”

“Matt was down there last night to see him, said he was the same. They’re keeping him in a coma so the swelling in his brain can go down.” She scuffed a toe in the gravel and stared at the small valley she’d made in the stones. “Nobody’s saying much about his prognosis.”

“Yeah? Well he’s a fighter. If anybody can heal up, it’ll be him.”

The words sounded weak to Hannah, but she nodded.

“So what do you need?”

“Have you run the samples I brought in Sunday night?”

“The ones from the Manuels? Yes, ma’am.” He held the door for her. “I’ll get the printouts.”

She stood at a cluttered lab bench and checked the printed analyses. Her eyebrows shot up.

“Wow! What’s this doing in there?” She pointed. “A fungus inhibitor? Thiabendazole? Tiny amounts, but where in mining would they use that? Isn’t that what they spray on fruit?”

“Got me. I wondered, too.” Chico pointed at another line. “And how about these chlorinated things? I got no idea where they’d come from neither. And this, which I can’t even say.”

“Jesus. Piperonyl butoxide. That’s a pesticide. Why would that be here?”

Chico shook his head. “This crap’s not in all the wells, but—”

“—it shouldn’t be in any of them.” Hannah tapped her pencil on the bench.

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