The Mystery of the Death Trap Mine - M. V. Carey [13]
“Well?” said Allie. “Did they arrest Thurgood?”
“Certainly not,” said Uncle Harry. “Why should they arrest him? Whoever that was in the mine, he’s been dead for a long, long time. The coroner’s going to do an autopsy, but it looks as if the dead man got in there years ago, fell down that shaft, and broke his neck. It’s got nothing to do with Thurgood. It must have happened before the mine entrance was sealed.”
“Five years ago,” said Magdalena, who had come in from the kitchen. “The poor soul.
For five years he has been there, and no one to know it!”
“Is that when the mine was sealed?” asked Pete. “I thought it closed down forty years ago.”
“You are right, Pete,” said Magdalena. “The mine closed down long ago, but people could still get inside. Si. It was five years ago — in the springtime — they shut it with an iron grill. I remember it.”
Jupe sat on the floor, absent-mindedly tossing a pebble into the air.
“What is that?” Allie asked him.
Jupe caught the pebble. “I picked it up in the mine this morning, before you went off with the flashlight.” He wet one finger on his tongue and rubbed the pebble. “You told me Death Trap is a played-out silver mine,” he said. “Was there gold in it, too?”
“Not that I ever heard of,” said Uncle Harry.
Jupe held the pebble toward the light. “It has a small bright streak,” he said. “Probably just iron pyrite. They call it fool’s gold.”
“I don’t care about iron pyrite,” said Allie. “What I want to know is why Wesley Thurgood didn’t report that body in the mine. We had to go in and find it before he was forced to call the sheriff. I mean, once we’d seen the corpse, what else could he do?”
Uncle Harry was losing his patience. “Wesley Thurgood did not know the body was in the mine,” he said. “He removed the iron grill from the entrance only last week, and he hasn’t had time to explore the mine thoroughly. Allie, he had no reason to conceal that body. If you don’t stop making wild accusations you’ll force me to lock you in the cellar and tie a sack over your head!”
A car pulled up in the drive outside and the sheriff came across the porch. Magdalena had the door open for him before he could knock. Uncle Harry stood up, but the sheriff looked at Allie. His gaze was stern. “Allie, you know why they call that mine a death trap?”
Allie nodded.
“People can get killed there, can’t they?”
Again Allie nodded. “I know, Sheriff Tait.”
“If you ever go in there again, I’ll arrest you and take you down to the courthouse and your uncle will have to come and get you. That goes for you, too, boys.”
Sheriff Tait took a chair across from Uncle Harry.
“Did you find out who that man was?” Harrison Osborne asked.
Tait nodded. “I think so. There was a wallet in the hip pocket with an identification card that had a San Francisco address. We telephoned San Francisco to see if the police there had a missing-persons report on a Gilbert Morgan who might have disappeared five years ago, or perhaps even longer ago than that. They sure did. In January, more than five years ago, Gilbert Morgan, who has also used the names George Milling, Glenn Mercer, and George Martins, was released from San Quentin after serving six years of a fifteen-year sentence for armed robbery. He reported twice to his parole officer in San Francisco, and then he disappeared. He’s been on the wanted list ever since. We’re going to have to verify his identity by checking dental charts, but the general description matches. The body isn’t too badly decomposed. The climate here’s so dry, it just kind of mummified.”
“Poor Mr. Thurgood,” said Allie, in a nasty-nice voice. “I don’t suppose he even knew the body was there.”
“Of course he didn’t know. He’d have called me right away if he’d known.” The sheriff stood up to go. “Remember what I told you about that mine, young lady.”
He and Uncle Harry went out and stood in the drive, talking quietly together.
“It is odd that Thurgood didn’t explore his mine the moment he removed the grill from the entrance,” said Jupe. “I certainly would if I purchased a mine.”
“I told