Echoes of the Past (31 page)

“Yes, Colin,
that’s right.” Her voice was low. “The results from Kingston confirm what I
assumed, and contradicted all the lab results from here. George, he’s the
coroner, was furious when he realized I hadn’t sent Aaron’s clothing and the
rest of the forensic evidence to the local lab. He didn’t get back until today.
I don’t know where he’s been, but as my best friend would say, ‘he looks like
he’s been rode hard and put away wet.’ I’m convinced he and one of my techs may
be involved in the cover-up, as well as someone at the police station. It takes
someone with intimate knowledge of the hospital to falsify all my tests like
that. The person who doctored that photo would have to have good computer
skills too. I’m afraid this goes way up the line—I just don’t know how far up
yet.”

Aaron had
shocked her this morning by identifying the coroner as the man who’d planted
the evidence on him. It had been hard not to react to that news. Since she
wasn’t supposed to know there had been false evidence in the first place, it
was hard to stay quiet and not let something slip. George had almost passed out
when she’d mentioned sending the forensic evidence to the lab in Kingston
instead of here or in
Picton
. When she told him
Lindsay hadn’t drowned, he’d had a fit trying to convince her otherwise. False
evidence showing water in Lindsay’s lungs when she knew there was none had
convinced her she had to move fast before her corpses became as compromised as
her crime scene had been. She continued her conversation.

“There’s no
doubt Lindsay died of hypothermia well before she entered the lake. The water
supposedly from her lungs is a false sample. Kingston verified it didn’t come
from her body. I’m sure of it. Aaron drowned—contributing cause of death, a
massive cerebral hemorrhage. He was hit on the head with something heavy—maybe
an anchor. I’ve taken red paint flakes and other particulates out of the head
wound. I’ve released the bodies to the man Rick sent.
Signed
them out myself.
People think they’ve gone to the families. You should
have them by mid-afternoon. It’s Thursday. I have a few things to wrap up here,
but I should be in Toronto late tomorrow. Keep my bodies on ice for me. They
still have a lot to tell me.”

“You’ve got it.
Are you sure you’re safe?”

“I’m fine.
Don’t worry. I’m scheduling the inquest for January—blaming my schedule.
Everyone thinks I’m satisfied with the reports they’ve given me. Whatever’s
going down here, there are an awful lot of people, and most likely a lot of
money involved.”

“Be careful.”

She closed the
phone, finished emptying her locker, and went into the break room. No one was
there.

She headed out
of the hospital and back to the island. She called Ron from the car. The
secretary put her through right away.

“Good
afternoon, Michelle. To what do I owe the honor?”

“I wanted you
to know I’ve released the bodies and concluded the deaths were accidental,
causes unknown. I hate it when that happens, but sometimes an accident is just
that.”

“Let me take
you out for supper to celebrate. I told you it was probably that from the
beginning.”

She swallowed
the bile in her throat. She disliked lying. She knew Ron was involved somehow,
but it still bothered her to prevaricate like this.

“I can’t. I
have to pack it all up tonight and leave for Toronto first thing in the
morning.”

“Why the hurry?”

“My boss has
another case for me down near Windsor. I’m still somewhat frustrated I was so
wrong this time, but he wants me there ASAP. No rest for the wicked, I guess.”

“You should
have listened to me. Will the professor be going as well?”

There was an
edge to Ron’s voice warning her to be careful. “I don’t think so. He has to get
his research wrapped up.”

“Has he heard
your findings?”

She walked on
eggshells here. “He has, and he isn’t happy about it. I’ve scheduled the
inquest for January. With my schedule, it’s the best I can do.” She was a
dismal liar and hoped he couldn’t hear the nervousness in her voice.

“I told you
everything would work out, and my lake’s as nice and clean as it should be.
Right?”
The smugness in his voice made her sick.

She swallowed
her disgust.
“Right.”

“Well, don’t
beat yourself up about it. You’re human. You’re entitled to make a mistake now
and then. We’ll get together when you come back in January.”

His gloating
made her want to vomit. “I look forward to it.”
And putting your rotten ass in jail.

She ended the
call and continued driving back to the resort. The day was clear and the ride
uneventful. Today was Halloween, the day when the spirit world was said to be
closest to this realm. With what she and Tony had planned tonight, she truly
hoped The Three Sisters were on their side. She pulled in the parking lot of
the inn and headed to her cabin. She hadn’t been there five minutes, when a key
slipped into the lock.

“Hey, gorgeous.”
Tony closed and locked the door behind him.
He pulled her into his arms.

“Don’t! I smell
of death.”

He laughed. “Where
did you ever get that idea? You smell of the woman I love.” He bent his head
and kissed her senseless. When they came up for air, she smiled.

“You always
know just what to say. Are you packed?”

“Everything is
ready to go. I’ll send someone to pick up the rest. Who knows, we may come back
and get it ourselves once the coast is clear.”

“I have to
pack, especially if you want to leave first thing in the morning. Are you sure
you want to do this? It could be dangerous. We don’t know who’s involved, and there
are three people dead already. Chad offered to help.”

“For the
record, pretty lady, I’m not letting you out of my sight, especially not with
The Rock, as I prefer to think of Chad. That man has muscles on muscles. I
don’t want you getting any ideas.”

She ruffled his
hair. “Chad’s a great guy, but he isn’t my type. I have a thing for Native
American men with blue-green eyes.” She kissed him. “Seriously, neither one of
us has to go. We can turn it all over to the task force and let them take it
from here. We aren’t investigators.”

Tony shook his
head.
“My students, my responsibility.
We aren’t going
to move in on them or do anything like that. I’d never put you in danger, but I
have to finish this. I have to know what happened to them for
myself
. You’ve convinced me this was how Lindsay died, so
let’s see if it’s possible. Besides, a little B & E sounds exciting. We’re
just going to go where Aaron and Lindsay went. We’ll find what we need and turn
it over to Chad and his team, and then get the hell out of Dodge. Now, since we
have a few hours to kill, Doctor Thomas, here’s what I thought we’d do.” He
scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

Chapter Sixteen

The night was eerily quiet and cold. Michelle followed
close behind Tony. Her heart pounded with excitement and fear. What they were
doing was incredibly dangerous—foolhardy even. Thank God the moon was full
providing some light. She held his hand in hers.

“You know, I’ve come through these woods on a
moonlit night before,” she whispered. “I just hope things don’t work out the
same way this time.”

Tony squeezed her fingers. “They won’t. We’re
together, and I’m not going to let anything separate us. You’re stuck with me.”

Michelle smiled. “And you’re stuck with me.”

The trees were getting sparser as they moved out
of the forest to the swampy marshland. The odor of dead fish, faint in the
cold, rose to their nostrils. Mud on Aaron’s tires indicated he’d been in the
marshland on the far side of the slaughterhouse, the side opposite the winery.
A slaughterhouse would make an excellent location for a meth lab. No one would
question the amount of power the facility used.

“I asked around about this place.” Tony kept his
voice low. “The slaughterhouse does a steady business in custom butchering for
the farmers and hunters in the area. The waste management truck carts away
biological waste for incineration on a regular basis. It’s the only place I
could find along the lake with a freezer like the one you think Lindsay died
in. Wineries have cold rooms, but not cold enough to do the damage you found. I
don’t know if this is the right place, but between the mud and the cold storage
facility, it fits the bill.”

“I’ll know the minute I see it. Maybe we’ll be
lucky enough to find the missing shoe.” She tripped on the uneven ground and
almost fell. She aimed her flashlight at the ground.

“Be careful. That may be how Lindsay injured her
ankle. They must have come this way to get their samples.”

“Look!” Michelle shone her light on an object
caught in a hole near the root. “The shoe must have been wrenched off when she
tripped. The ground is spongy here. At least we know we’re in the right place.”
She reached for the shoe, but Tony grabbed her hand and shoved her flashlight
into the dirt.

“Get down.”

Too Late.
Michelle squeezed
her eyes partially closed as a large spotlight, blinding in its intensity,
shone in their direction. Three men materialized out of the light. One grabbed
her while the other two fought with Tony. They were bigger men, the kind who
could easily have overpowered and subdued Aaron.

“The boss was right. We did have nosy neighbors
coming to visit tonight.”

The man had a heavy Spanish accent. He ran his
hands roughly down Michelle’s body in a painful, invasive exploration. His
breath stank, and she felt violated.

“The
chica
is clean.”

“
So’s
this one.”

Michelle recognized the voice. Milo! She was
tempted to call out to him but thought better of it. They were in trouble. No
sense making it worse.

The men dragged them roughly along a lumpy path
made by a tractor working the field. When they reached the edge of the lake,
they stopped. Michelle’s heart pounded and perspiration ran down her back
despite the cold. The men seemed to be waiting for someone. She tried to turn
to look at Tony, but her captor forced her head around.

“Michelle, Michelle, Michelle. What am I going to
do with you?”

Ron emerged from the trees. Her breath caught in
her throat. Gone was the dapper man she remembered. This man could have
auditioned for a role in
Duck Dynasty
—all
he’d need was a false beard.

“It’s nothing personal, darling. I knew you were
holding something back. I suspected you were in bed with the professor,
obviously in more ways than one. You should have left well enough alone. Now,
I’m afraid it’s out of my hands. Bring them along.” He turned to Milo. “Finish
loading the barrels and take them out to the center. Come back for the second
load. It’s going to be a long night.”

Michelle saw a pontoon boat pulled in close to
shore. Several heavy-duty plastic waste disposal barrels were loaded onto it. A
few more waited in the back of the gator, the all-terrain vehicle with trailers
attached. There were two men unloading the sealed containers.

The man holding her propelled her forward. The
other two dragged Tony along behind her. How badly had he been injured? The
terrain was rough and uneven—the field had been plowed recently.
Why?

As if he’d guess what she’d been thinking, Ron spoke
to the man dragging her along.

“Mendez, we’ll have to re-plow this section tomorrow.
I’m pretty sure I’ve taken care of everything, but you never know. Bodies have
a bad habit of turning up when you least expect them too, but you’d know all
about that, wouldn’t you doctor? Death is your specialty.”

He grabbed her other arm, his grip punishing in
its intensity.

“You know, I’m disappointed in you, Michelle. Preferring
him to me? I could have given you the world.” There was anger in his words, and
she shivered. Suddenly, her memory cleared. Just as she was
Tayouroughay
,
Ron was
Annosothka
, the man her father and uncle had
chosen for her, a cruel man who hid his true nature behind a false face.
History had repeated itself. She’d chosen Gowanda once more.

They reached the slaughterhouse, and Ron unlocked a
side door. Her captor shoved her roughly inside. The building smelled of
carrion and death, a scent familiar to her, but somehow distasteful here.

“You won’t get away with this. My office knows I’m
here. They’ll come looking for me.”

Ron laughed. “No they won’t. I’m sorry, Michelle,
but while they may go looking for you in time, it won’t be here. Did I forget
to mention you sent a message to Colin Sanders a few minutes ago explaining
that you and the professor were eloping? You told him you’d be in touch.”

“Colin won’t believe it.”

“It won’t matter. There won’t be a trace of you
left by morning. Someone is packing up your personal effects as we speak.
She’ll load them into that nice little sports car of yours and head to the
coast. There’s a ship bound for Columbia out of Halifax. They’ll take care of
it there.
Such a shame.
The vehicle handled so well.
You should have left my island alone.”

Michelle stared at the psychopath in front of her.
The man was insane. Why hadn’t she seen it? He showed all the classic symptoms
of
megalomania
—the delusional fantasies
of power, importance, authority, inflated ego and of course, self-esteem. She’d
recognized signs of it in his assertions, and the way he’d spoken of the area,
but she hadn’t put it together.

“You’re crazy, Ron. You won’t get away with this. Why
are you doing it? Don’t you realize how dangerous this is?”