Echoes of the Past (24 page)

Eventually, they found a well-worn ATV trail, and he
followed it down as far as he could. They were at the western-most section of
the lake. He parked the SUV, and they got out of the vehicle. Together, they hiked
down to the water’s edge. Tony held up his binoculars. From here, he had a
clear view of the beach at the resort. The lights he’d seen the night after the
storm might have belonged to teenagers out joyriding in ATVs. He was
disappointed. He’d hoped to find something else. When he thought about it, he
didn’t know what he’d hoped to find, but he was certain this wasn’t it. He’d
been positive the lights had been higher, farther apart than an ATV’s.

He was pleased to see Jackson had gotten some
rest. With the resiliency of youth once he’d handed off his misplaced guilt,
he’d been able to sleep with a clear conscience. Tony thought of Michelle. He’d
really put his foot in it last night. He wasn’t sure a couple of eggs would
make up for any of it.

He looked down and noticed a few dead fish at the
edge of the marsh. If there were toxins in the water in a high enough
concentration, they would kill the fish. One or two dead fish like this was
normal, but he’d take them back anyway. He turned to Jackson.

“Let’s start over there, and then walk along the
edge of the lake and take readings every thirty feet or so. We’re on park land
here, so we should be okay. If we see a drainage pipe, we’ll take samples there
too. We’ll collect any dead fish we see along the way as well. Stay close to
me, and if anyone approaches us, let me do the talking. We want at least four
samples from each place. Number them accordingly. Record keeping has never been
more important.”

“Right you are, Professor.
Why
so many samples?”

Jackson had finished filling four test tubes with
water and inserting rubber stoppers in them. He was pasting labels with
identification on the tubes.

“Half of them will be tested by another lab. We
need corroboration of our findings. I spoke with the coroner from Toronto last
night, and she’s willing to take some of them to be tested in Belleville. When
those results confirm ours, there’s no way the mayor can deny toxins in the
lake. He’ll have to call in the police.”

They continued as far as they could along the
lake, but soon, firm land vanished as they reached the edge of the marsh on the
southwest shore.

“Let’s go back and see how close we can come to
the source of the stream. I think we’ll have a tough time doing it. I’m pretty
sure it’s private land, but we can always ask.” They retraced their steps to
the SUV. “After we finish on the south side, let’s see what kind of results we
get on the north.”

“Whatever you say, Professor.”

Tony started the SUV and drove back to the main
road. He travelled an extra ten minutes before coming to a bridge over a swift
moving stream considered
to be
one of the Lake of the
Mountain’s sources of water. He pulled over, stopped the vehicle, got out, looked
around, and frowned.

A large dairy farm with corn fields recently
plowed occupied the south side of the road along with the Happy Valley Winery.
The stream separated the two properties. While the farm looked prosperous, the winery
didn’t. A heavy lock secured a gate with a “Keep Out” sign on it to a steel
post. Whoever owned Happy Valley didn’t want visitors. He hadn’t heard of any
winery going belly-up, so maybe it simply wasn’t open to the public at this
time of year.

Across the road, the Whippoorwill Winery shared
the lakeside with Henderson’s Slaughterhouse
.
The unplowed cornfield Tony had noticed the previous day separated the two
properties. He wouldn’t be granted access there. Maybe the mayor would let
Michelle take samples. He hated the thought of using her that way, actually
encouraging her to get close to Ron, but how else could he test the water?

He turned to Jackson who’d joined him. “Get
samples from the creek as close to the road as you can on the south side, and
do the same on the north side in case someone stopped along the road and dumped
the sludge here. We can eliminate the farm and that winery as sources, and
maybe a roadside dump too. We’ll keep driving and see if there is any place
where we can get closer to the lake on this side. If we can’t, we can always go
back and get waders to check out the marsh. Otherwise, we can see how close we
can get to the east side and get samples from the waterfall into the bay. If
worse comes to worse, we’ll have to take a canoe and get samples from the lake
itself as close to the shoreline as we can get. At least we’ll have readings
from all around the lake and finding the greatest concentration will pinpoint
the likely location of where the chemicals are being dumped.”

Getting in a canoe was the last thing Tony wanted
to do, and judging by the look on Jackson’s face, it wouldn’t be the boy’s place
of choice either.

“That may not tell us where the lab is.” Jackson
began to take his samples. “We can assume they won’t want to carry that poison
very far though.”

“All we have to do is find its likely location.
The authorities can take it from there. I’m not getting anyone else injured or
killed.” Tony sincerely hoped he could include himself in that statement.

* * * *

Michelle looked at her watch. It was almost ten.
Ron should be here soon. The police and the paramedics had collected the body. She’d
insisted they take it to the hospital in Belleville. Since she was with the
Provincial Coroner’s Office, and an accident like this one would have to be
investigated anyway, no one had argued with her. It was as if everyone,
including the police and paramedics were in shock. Nothing ever happened on
their little island, but suddenly they had three unexplained deaths on their
hands, and all in the same place.
Coincidence?
Coincidence my ass!

She finished photographing the scene. No matter
how she looked at it, it was hard to imagine a man like Isaac not doing
anything to try and break his fall. From what she could see, it looked as if
he’d been gassing the mower. How the hell did a man do that standing up? Because
of what she knew, it was far more likely someone had snuck up on him, picked up
the rock, struck him with it, and then placed it back on the ground. She’d sent
the rock to the hospital with the body, and hoped it would get there intact. At
the moment, she didn’t have much faith in the locals.

She hadn’t noticed anyone else around when Chad
had been there to pick up the car and canoe, but they’d been down by the lake
for a while, and then she’d been in her cottage half-an-hour.
Plenty of time for someone to sneak up on the unsuspecting old man.

Michelle walked back to her cottage, removed the
moccasins, and put on her running shoes. She set the moccasins near the heater
to dry. She hoped the wet grass hadn’t ruined them.

It was critical no one suspect she thought Isaac’s
death anything but an accident. She hoped Tony had a good alibi. His note had
said he and Jackson had gone for samples, and she prayed he’d have independent
corroboration of that. After what he’d told her last night, he could easily be
a prime suspect.
Finding that missing wine bottle could be
the key.
She needed to look for a sand-coated wine bottle in the
inn’s
recycling. She’d also look for signs of trauma on
Aaron’s head. Being knocked out and tossed into the water could account for the
lack of memory just as easily as being drugged could. The evidence, not her
emotions, was the key factor here.

She went into the bathroom, touched up her hair
and face and went out into the main room to wait for Ron. She didn’t wait long.
She opened the door, a warm smile on her face. Ron was as handsome and
appealing as he’d been yesterday, and her libido responded to his presence.

“Good morning.” Ron smiled and held out a couple
of bottles of spring water. He eyed her appreciatively. “Nice outfit. I’d have
brought coffee or juice, but I wasn’t sure what you’d prefer. I thought we’d
start with the waterfront trail in Bloomfield. We’ll do some road running along
the Loyalist Parkway. It has wide shoulders, so we’ll be safe enough. There are
some excellent views. It’s moderately hilly, but should be great for our first
time out. We can run toward the Sandbank Provincial Park and do some sand
running if you’re up to the challenge.”

“Sounds great.
I usually
do ten miles, so whatever comes close to that will be fine.”

“Okay. Are you ready?”

“Yes. Just let me check the thermostats, and I’m
good to go.”

Michelle entered the bedroom and moved over to the
bed. She took the two USB drives out of her pocket and slipped them between the
mattress and the box spring on the bed, making sure it was as close to the
center of the bed as possible. She straightened the sheets and blankets. She
couldn’t explain the need for the unusual furtive behavior, but the urge to do
it was powerful. She left her room after grabbing an extra sweater, went into
the bathroom, flushed the toilet, washed her hands, and went back into the
living area. Ron was standing beside her computer.

Does he look
guilty? I’m being paranoid.
Enough of this.
I’m going
to enjoy my run and my lunch date. There isn’t anything I can do about Isaac
until I have a look at the body.

Ron pointed to the sweater. “It isn’t that cold
out.”

He walked back to the door, opened it, and
Michelle followed him out. She locked the door and zipped the key into her
jacket pocket.

“I know, it’s for after.
Sometimes, when I’m all sweaty, I get chilled.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s likely. It’s a beautiful
day for a run. Have you been up long?”

“Yes, I got up around seven and had a look at the
crime scene.”

“Did you find anything interesting?”

“No, the scene’s been compromised.
Too many people milling around.
The canoe was damaged,
probably hit a rock or something when the current carried it to shore. I had it
and Aaron’s car taken to the crime lab.”

She noted the way his head jerked up, and his eyes
narrowed briefly at her words, but he said nothing, so she continued.

“Oh. There was some excitement though. The
handyman, Isaac Newcomb, slipped and cracked his head on a rock. The poor man
hit so hard, he was killed. I had the body taken to the hospital in Belleville.
Since all accidents have to be investigated, I might as well do it while I wait
for the results on my autopsies.”

Ron shook his head. “Believe it or not, this is
usually a quiet place. I’m sorry to hear about the old man. Well, hopefully all
that won’t keep you too busy. I’d love to get to know you better.”

“I’d like that, but my main purpose here is
finding the cause of death for those two kids. I’m sure we’ll have lots of
opportunities to run together again.”

Michelle settled back to enjoy the ride to the
running area and hoped he wouldn’t ask any more questions. She didn’t want to
slip and let him know she’d been to see the bodies.

“I understand you went to the hospital morgue
yesterday. Did you learn anything useful?”

There was something in his voice warning
her this
wasn’t an idle question, and it set her teeth on
edge. What was going on here? Had he had her followed? Why?

“Yes, I went to the morgue. I’m supposed to be
working here, remember? That long leisurely lunch we took made me feel guilty.
I did a cursory examination, ordered some lab tests, and separated the bodies.
Nothing too serious, really.
How did you know?”

“Like I said, news travels fast. I suppose it
would be out of line to ask you to keep me in the loop on what you find? I know
those deaths were accidents, but the press is always lying in wait to hijack
me. I like to stay on top of things. How soon before you can release the
bodies?”

Michelle frowned. The self-assuredness he’d shown
yesterday was back, and it bothered her. How could he be so sure it was an
accident when she was convinced it was exactly the opposite?

“That’ll depend on my findings. Until the inquest,
I’m afraid all my discoveries are confidential.”

She saw anger flash across his face, but it was
gone almost as quickly as it had appeared. The only sign of his annoyance was
the tense muscle in his jaw. Stevens’ words came back to her. He didn’t trust
Ron. Her senses attracted her to Ron and Tony, and she wasn’t supposed to trust
her senses. Doubt and confusion ate at her.

The truck pulled into a parking lot.

“Here we are. Stretch first, and then you follow
me. If I follow you, I’m libel to trip on something watching that sweet body of
yours. Yell if you need a rest.”

It wasn’t what he said, but how he said it. His
comment left a sour taste in her mouth, reminding her of the lies he’d told
yesterday. Ron didn’t seem quite so attractive now.

* * * *

Tony leaned against the oak bar, his beer
untouched on the counter beside him. News of the latest death seemed to be the
only topic of discussion. People stood shoulder to shoulder in the crowded
room. Many of the locals had dropped by, and this had the makings of an Irish
wake, sans corpse. Steve walked back down to the end of the bar and picked up
what he’d been saying as if they’d never been interrupted.

“Kara’s a basket case. Seeing her uncle lying
there must have been brutal and only a day after the others. Maybe the Mohawks
are right. Maybe this damn lake is haunted, and their spirits aren’t happy
about something—maybe they don’t like you poking around in the water.
Thursday’s Halloween.
Witching time,
right?
I’d be careful if I were you. If you keep seeing the ghost, she
must want something.” He shook his head and moved down the bar to serve Aaron’s
father.