Death and the Gorgon
Novella 17,867 words Recommended by 3 award/anthology sources
"When the vault in the abandoned coal mine collapsed, it took four days for the engineers to complete their inspection and certify that it was safe for law enforcement personnel to enter the site. Beth drove out from town with her deputy, Ken Osgood, and the county medical examiner, Helen Myers."
Quasar links out; the story lives on Asimov's, where the author gets the click.