Echoes of the Past (20 page)

“Just over a year.
I love
it. It handles really well too.”

“Stick or automatic?”

She laughed. “Has to be four on the floor, right?
Anything else would just be wrong. Is that Aaron’s car?” The vehicle reminded
her of the one she’d seen in Aaron’s memory.

“It is. I don’t know what to do with it.”

“Why haven’t the authorities impounded it?”

“That’s a good question. I don’t know. Maybe they
don’t think it’s relevant to the case.”

“I do.” Her voice was abrupt, but whenever
evidence was ignored, it always angered her. Of course she’d be the only one to
know Aaron hadn’t driven his car back to the resort. She had to remember to
keep what she knew close to her chest, but that might be difficult if there
were a lot of blatant errors made like this one. “I’ll call and have it taken
to the station in the morning. The techs should go over it. There might be
evidence of where they’d been.”
Damn. I
need to keep my mouth shut.

“Well, they didn’t go into
Picton
like they were supposed to. Pop the trunk and I’ll help you with your gear.”

She pressed a button on the keypad in her hand,
and the trunk opened. She reached in to pull out her computer, and her cosmetic
bag. She’d left her autopsy bag at the hospital, but carried a standard M.D.
emergency bag in her car, minus any opiates.

Tony reached for the midsized suitcase and the
medical bag. “Is this it?”

“Yeah.
I travel light. Let
me get my briefcase from the back seat. I have a bag of shoes and my rubber
boots, and some computer parts, but I’ll get those in the morning. This is good
for now.”

Tony reached for the briefcase.
“This
way then.”
She followed him toward the cottage and around to the front to
the door. Michelle saw two wooden Adirondack chairs on the grass in front of
the house, a small picnic table, and a full sized gas barbecue. She doubted
she’d use it in this weather.

“Key?”
Tony held out his
hand, and Michelle handed him the large brass key Kara had given her.

“The outside lights are photoelectric and come on
and go off with the sun, so you won’t have to worry about forgetting to leave
it on when you go out.”

He slipped the key into the lock and opened the
door. He pressed the switch flooding the room with light. Light pine wood
paneling added to the room’s warmth and charm. The furniture consisted of a
large sofa, two rocker recliners, a coffee table, and a couple of end tables on
which stood the lamps activated by the wall switch. A Franklin-style electric
fireplace in one corner and electric baseboards in the other half of the room
housing the kitchen/dining area provided the heat necessary at this time of
year.

Two doors opened off the main room. The first one was
a small bathroom without a soaking tub. Michelle stared at it in horror until
she realized the shower was a hand-held one. The last thing she wanted to do
was repeat last night’s argument with the shower curtain. She lifted her hand
and rubbed her temple. Farther along the hall, the second room held a
queen-sized bed, a desk, and a dresser. It would do nicely. She appreciated the
option of having a separate room in which to meet and interview people. While
she could do it in the restaurant, this would be far more private, and she
preferred that. She remembered Jamie’s comments about Ron and the number of
people he’d spoken to in the restaurant today. She didn’t want anyone reporting
her investigation to Ron. She’d keep him in the loop as necessary. It would
help not to have to invite him into her bedroom in the morning when he came for
her.

Although
there’s nothing wrong with being in a bedroom with Tony.
She felt her
cheeks redden at the thought. Where had that idea come from? Michelle placed
the computer on the dining table and carried her cosmetic bag into the
bathroom. She tried not to look at the shower. She came out into the main room
at the same time Tony came out of the bedroom.

“I turned up the heat in the room and put the bag
on the luggage bench. You have a baseboard electric heater in there, so it
shouldn’t take long to warm up. If you want to come over to my place, I’ll get
you something to eat.”

On cue, her stomach grumbled again.

“Just a sandwich will be fine. I don’t want you to
go to any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble, honest. After the way I made a
fool of myself, I didn’t have much of an appetite at supper either. Tomato soup
will hit the spot—you like tomato soup?”

Michelle laughed, and felt the tension drain away.
“I love tomato soup. It’s my favorite.”

“Wait until you taste mine.”

“What can you possibly do to canned tomato soup to
make it different?”

“I heat it up with love.” His voice was husky, and
he looked away as if his words had caught him off-guard too.

She looked at him, but she couldn’t think of
anything to say.
Drowning in those
gorgeous eyes would be a pleasure.

Without another word, he led the way back outside,
locked the cottage door, and handed her the key.

“I’m over here in the tree house.” His words were
hurried. “They call it that because the tree is practically part of the
structure. Since we needed a common work area, it seemed to be the best
solution. Aaron and
Lissa
were in the log cabin over
there. Lindsay and Jackson had the two-bedroom cottage next to yours.
Lissa’s
moved in the suite with Aaron’s parents. She’s
sleeping on the couch. She needs to be there. She and Aaron were going to be
married in the spring. His parents have taken over Lindsay’s room. The staff
cleaned it out for them. The police went through her stuff, but there wasn’t
anything to explain how she got in that lake. I understand everything has been
taken to the police lab.”

Well, at
least they’ve done one thing right.

Michelle heard the sadness in his voice. This
tragedy had devastated him. Her gut told her he couldn’t possibly have been
involved in the deaths. Her gut was close to her heart, right? Aaron didn’t
believe he was involved either, but Ron was sure of it. She remembered his
confidence earlier. What did he know that she didn’t?

The quaint two-story house was painted white. The
door opened into a screened-in porch with an excellent view of the lake.
Michelle stopped as the moon came out from behind a cloud and revealed the
water before her. Tony was speaking, but other than the sound of his voice, her
mind registered nothing. She stood there transfixed by the lake she’d seen
countless times before. The Lake of the Mountain was the lake in her
nightmares.

This was where she’d lived. They’d made love in
the trees up there on the right—in their secret bower. She’d come out of the
marsh over there near where the village was the night she’d gone to meet him. She
looked at the center of the lake and knew she’d entered the water there.
That’s where I plunged over the cliff.
She
saw the lake as it had been, before the signs of modern man had obliterated some
of its natural beauty. Her world tilted on its axis and then straightened
itself once more.

Audra was right. She’d said Michelle would know what
the sisters wanted when the time was right. That time was now. Aaron had
remembered deadly toxins. Someone was killing not only people, but the lake
itself, and it was her job—no their job, her and her mate, whichever man that
was—to stop them.

“Michelle? Are you okay? You seemed light years
away.”

Michelle chuckled at his accuracy. “I was. It’s an
incredible view. The lake looks alive, shimmering and rolling like that. It
almost makes you want to believe the legends, doesn’t it?”

He didn’t answer her question. He stared at the
lake, blinked, and then turned away.

“Come inside, and I’ll get us some food. We can
talk while we eat.”

“This is where you were when you saw her, the
woman you thought was me, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

He looked back at her and the lake beyond her, and
the yearning on his face made her heart ache. He turned away once more and
opened the inner door to the house.

“I’m sorry about attacking you like that this
afternoon. I hope I didn’t spoil the rest of your day. I think I wanted you to
be the woman. I needed her to be real.”

“I don’t understand.” Her voice was barely a
whisper. His agony seared her soul.

“The woman I’ve been seeing isn’t real. Joseph
tells me she’s a ghost, the one in the legend I mentioned earlier. Never mind. Mayor
Ron is right. I’m losing my mind. I’m a scientist. I deal in facts, data,
things I can prove. Ghosts don’t exist in my reality. It’s hard for me to admit
I may have seen one on more than one occasion.”

The forlorn quality in his voice touched her, and
she had to force herself not to reach out to him. The truth struck her, and she
muffled her gasp. She knew who the woman was he’d seen. He’d been right. It had
been her, and yet not her, at least not the flesh and blood woman she was now.
How was she ever going to explain this to him? If he saw her spirit, was he her
phantom lover? She wished she knew the answer to that. She swallowed the lump
of sadness in her throat and followed Tony inside.

The interior of the house was open-concept similar
to hers. The white walls were decorated with seasonal photographs of the county.
Tony flipped the switch on the corner gas fireplace and turned up the
temperature. The dining area had been converted into a lab work station, and
Michelle recognized expensive equipment including a GC-MS analyzer.
Chromatography–mass spectrometry
 was
used by most modern forensic labs to identify different substances found within
a test sample. Among its many uses were its ability to detect drugs and
environmental pollutants. A new one like this would detect traces previously
thought too compromised to be identified. There were also microscopes, a laptop
computer, and printer. A couple of folding card tables had been set up to
provide more space for the equipment. There were boxes of sample jars piled
under the tables and a couple of field kits.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to eat from TV trays. There
isn’t much room over there with the equipment. Can I get you a drink? I have
water, milk, orange juice, and beer.”

“I’d love a light beer if you have it.”

“Glass or bottle?”

“Bottle’s fine.”

Tony handed her a bottle of her favorite brand and
opened a darker beer for himself. He moved to the kitchen area and took out a
pot and a couple of cans of soup.

“Tell me about your research project, Doctor
Steele. You’ve got some sophisticated equipment in this room, not what I’d
expect at a field site. I know you’re a hydrologist, but what are you actually
doing here?”

“Call me Tony. Our project is aimed at finding the
source of the lake’s water.”

While he prepared the meal, Tony explained what
they were doing and how finding the source of the water had always been a
fascination of his. He served the bowls and finished his explanation.

“It sounds intriguing.” She took a spoonful of her
soup. “This is fantastic. You weren’t kidding when you said your tomato soup
was the best. What did you put in here?”

He smiled, pleased by her comment. “I used milk
and added a little parmesan, a dash of oregano, croutons, and some feta. I’m
glad you like it.”

“I love it, but you’ve spoiled me. I’ll never be
able to eat plain old tomato soup again.”

They made small talk and finished their impromptu
supper with single serve containers of chocolate pudding. They were cleaning up
when he brought the conversation back to the afternoon’s scene at the
restaurant.

“What I said and did this afternoon was
unforgiveable. I shouldn’t have interrupted you—that was my first faux pas.
Accusing you of being a fraud out to get me—well, that goes without saying.
There isn’t enough tomato soup in the world to fix that mistake. Unfortunately,
we’ve been caught up in politics even I can’t begin to understand.”

He ran his hand through his hair, and Michelle’s
fingers itched to do the same.

“I gather you and Ron don’t get along.”

A look of distaste and another emotion she
couldn’t identify crossed Tony’s face.

“That’s an understatement. The mayor and I have
been at loggerheads ever since my team and I got here. He’s new to the island,
did you know that? Opened the winery about three years ago, and the place was an
instant success. He impressed a lot of people—especially the struggling
businessmen. What’s good for one rubs off on the other, I guess. He ran on a
platform promising economic growth, and from talking to Kara, he seems to be
delivering. He was elected after my research permits were obtained, and I get
the impression he’d have tried to block them if he could.”

He chuckled and shook his head.

“He might be good at bringing the almighty dollar here, but Ron
can’t see the forest for the trees. Researchers have money to spend too—not
just tourists. He’s not a fan of scientists and our insatiable curiosity to
explain things. He’s part Mohawk, not from the local reserve, but he’s done
well luring people to the island with the legends. He wants to leave what he sees
as mysteries just as they are, and I guess he sees me as a threat. I can
understand that to a certain extent. I’m not trying to deny the existence of
ancient gods here—if I prove the water comes from Lake Superior, it won’t
change the sacredness of the waters or the mythos about its creation. I’m a
scientist, but there are a lot of things I’ll never be able to explain, and God
is one of them.”

He smiled and reached for her hand. Sparks ran
through her body, filling her with desire and need, and she gulped. Tony must
have felt something too because a strange look crossed his face, but he didn’t
let go. If anything, his hold tightened slightly.