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obviously was onboard with the multiple-killers-theory. “They could’ve kicked sand over the blood, brushed branches over any drag marks in the sand to cover their tracks.”
    Palmer nodded like that could be a possibility. “Why would they go to all of that trouble to clean up the evidence out here but leave blood all over the place inside the trailer?”
    Klein didn’t have an answer for him.
    “And why would they be so meticulous about the drag marks but overlook this large pile of blood right here?”
    Klein just shrugged.
    Things were beginning to get strange.
    Begay watched Palmer carefully like this was previously covered ground in his mind—but he was no closer to answers than Palmer was.
    “Alright,” Palmer told Begay. “Let’s go into the cave and see the bodies.”
    Palmer had a feeling that things were about to get much worse.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    The cave
    B egay instructed the police officer with the ponytail to grab the large battery-powered searchlight with the pistol grip handle and hand it to Klein. The officer looked relieved that he wouldn’t have to go back into the cave.
    Palmer, Begay, and Klein walked towards the mouth of the cave. They stopped at the generator underneath the small tent near the entrance, the whole area shielded by a scrub of junipers.
    “It doesn’t work,” Begay said.
    “Does it have gas in it?” Klein asked him.
    “Full tank.” Begay looked right at Palmer. “It just won’t start.”
    Palmer thought about the batteries in the vehicles, the laptop inside the trailer, and now the generator. It was like nothing electrical was working around here. He made a mental note to call the Albuquerque office and let them know that the forensics team would need to bring a generator and some gas with them.
    As they stepped inside the crack in the canyon wall that was the mouth of the cave, Palmer felt a little nervous. His breakfast sandwich and the coffee from earlier (along with the few sips of vodka) had settled like a small stone inside his stomach. He didn’t have too many phobias—you couldn’t really have a lot of them in his line of work—but he’d never been fond of enclosed spaces. Basements he could handle, man-made structures he trusted … there was always a way out. But nature didn’t always work like that, nature was random and sometimes you could just walk and walk and you couldn’t find a way back out.
    A flash of last night’s dream ran through his mind … the rooms in the building that seemed to go on forever, the maze of appliances and furniture in the impossibly large room where he’d been standing in front of the metal sink and washing a piece of flesh off in the water …
    He pushed the memory of the dream away and pulled his phone out, taking some photos of the generator and the junipers near it. Taking the photos helped him feel detached from the situation a little, like he was more in control of it somehow.
    As soon as they stepped inside the cave, Agent Klein turned on the spotlight. He took the lead with the light and seemed to revel in the importance of his job although his hand trembled slightly which caused the light guiding their way to waver a little. But at least the light was strong and bright.
    The three men followed the electrical cords laid out end-to-end along the dirt floor of the cave that led deeper and deeper into the darkness. The mouth of the cave closed in quickly to a narrow passageway after the first fifty feet. Walls of sheer, smooth rock closed in suddenly as they walked single-file into the deeper darkness, Klein in front, shining their way with the spotlight. Palmer was right behind Klein and Begay was a few steps behind him.
    No one spoke as they made their way slowly through the crevice of rock. The walls seemed to be closing in and Palmer felt like something heavy was pushing on his chest, making it difficult for him to inhale enough air. He felt a wave of panic wanting to take over.
    Fight it, he told himself.
    The