Fifteen years and nearly a thousand dives later, arriving at the Sistema Huautla cave system in Mexico with Ron, rappelling down canyon walls through crashing waterfalls, sleeping underground for days on end, mapping some of the most remote tunnels on earth…Ron getting tangled in the guideline in a narrow horizontal traverse. Working to free him. Ron panicking, his eyes widening behind his mask. Opening his mouth in a silent scream. Swallowing water. Dying in front of her.

Elsa had never felt as lost and lonely as she had during the days after her husband’s death. Not only was Ron stolen from her and gone forever, but she didn’t even have the small comfort of putting his body to rest. After diving to the site of the accident, the Mexican police had decided Ron’s corpse could not be freed without risk to the rescue divers and called off the recovery efforts.