Echoes of the Past (28 page)

“Thank you for coming. Please accept my deepest
sympathies for your losses. I know this hasn’t been easy. Tragedies, like this
one, never are. Mr. Moorcroft set this investigation in motion, and while some
of you might be unhappy about it, I think it’s necessary.”

“If you think Aaron’s mom and I are upset about
this, don’t be, doctor. We want the truth.”

“You’ll get it. What I’m going to ask you now may
be difficult, but it’s necessary. I need you all to leave the resort and go
home tomorrow.”

“The investigation is over?” Lindsay’s father jumped
up, his voice angry.

“No, far from it.
I’ve
officially ruled the deaths suspicious. I filed the notice with the Provincial
Coroner’s Office this afternoon. I’m sure it’ll be in the paper by morning. I
don’t want anyone talking to the media—that includes you, Professor. It will
take weeks for all of the test results to come back, but I’ll release the
remains as soon as I can. There isn’t anything you can do here. The sooner you
all leave, the better.”

“Can
Lissa
come with
us?” Aaron’s mother spoke, her voice clogged with tears. Tony wished he could
say something to comfort her.

“Yes, she can.” The sympathy in Michelle’s voice
was unmistakable. “I’ll be sending Jackson home as well, but I need him to do
something for me first. I’ll see he gets on the train in the morning. I’m sure
you noticed the beach has been cleaned as well as the shed where the handyman
was working. According to the boys, the police called and released the area. My
colleagues in Toronto have spoken to the police chief. Neither he nor any of
his men can confirm it.”

Lindsay’s mother gasped. “Someone’s trying to
cover this up?”

Michelle nodded. “It’s a possibility and until I
know who, anyone of you could be in danger.”

Tony frowned. If the police hadn’t made the call,
who had? No wonder she was being secretive. Something was definitely wrong.

“I’ll have the bodies shipped to you as soon as I
can. Leave the information with Rick at this number. It’s the Provincial
Coroner’s Office.” She handed a slip of paper with a phone number on it to each
of them. “Do not speak about this to anyone else, not even amongst yourselves
in the restaurant. Leave as soon as you can in the morning. I know this sounds
rather cloak and
daggerish
, but I promise whoever is
responsible for this will pay.”

After the parents left, Tony walked over to
Michelle. He sensed her discomfort and ached to take her into his arms, but
didn’t dare.

“I’ll talk to Jackson now, but you should know I’m
not going anywhere.”

“Glad to hear it since I need you here. I’ll
explain as much as I can later, but go speak to Jackson now. It’s important.
Here.” She handed him the key. “Let yourself in when you come back. It’s going
to be a long evening.”

Tony grabbed his jacket and left, more confused
than ever. He heard her lock the door behind him. Something had her spooked. He
walked over to the house where he knew Jackson and
Lissa
were cataloging the samples they’d collected and packing up the equipment
they’d brought with them.

Lissa
looked up when he
came in, but Jackson continued his work.

“Okay, you guys. Leave the equipment and stuff.
I’ll have someone from the university come and collect it. You’re leaving.
Lissa
, you’ll be going to Calgary with the Harts. I’ll work
something out with the university out there so you can finish your research. We
can Skype if we need to talk, and you can get whatever information you need
from the university servers. I’ll see you have access. Everyone’s being sent
home.”

Lissa
nodded.

“Jackson, Dr. Thomas has arranged for you to get
samples from the Whippoorwill Winery section of the lake. I’ll take you there
around nine tomorrow morning,
then
I’m putting you on
a train for Toronto. I want you back in the lab correlating the mineral
information we collected. Compare it with the other samples. I’ll be sending
you more info as I get it.” He thought giving the boy something to do would
help him work through his grief.

“What about the meth lab?” There was a belligerent
tone to his voice.

“Don’t worry. I’m not letting that go. Dr. Thomas
is on our side, and she can bring a lot of expertise to the table. She can
force the mayor to take the matter seriously—hell, she can go over his head in
the blink of an eye. She wants everyone safely away from here, and I agree. Be
careful what you discuss at dinner. The walls have ears.”

After he let
Lissa
and
Jackson go, he gathered all the samples they’d taken and put them in a lab kit,
which he carried upstairs with him. He wasn’t letting anything out of his
sight. He took a shower and changed into clean clothes, grabbed a bottle of
white wine out of the fridge—she’d mentioned she preferred white last night, the
samples, and locked up. He crossed the grass and let himself in. As she’d done,
he locked the door behind him.

“Honey, I’m home.
Just kidding.”
He expected her to say something snarky. Instead, he heard her voice coming
from the bedroom. She sounded uneasy.

“I’ll be right out.”

He looked at the door and frowned. Had there
always been two night chains on it? He looked closely. No, the second one had
just been added, and judging from the marks on it, it hadn’t been done by a
professional carpenter. Why had she put a second chain on her door? Did she
think she was in danger?
From whom?
The old night
chain was like the one on his house. It could be locked and unlocked with a key
from the outside. What the hell had happened since he’d seen her before lunch?

He put the bottle of wine in the fridge and
slipped the sample kit under a side table next to the couch. Michelle had moved
her laptop to the coffee table. The appetizers had been cleaned up, a tossed salad
sat on the counter next to some bread rolls and a couple of baking potatoes.
The table had been set. There were a couple of T-bones on the counter.

He heard the bedroom door open and turned. His
heart stopped.
In the doorway stood his mystery woman, his
Mohawk princess.
She wore the beaded moccasins he recognized, and around
her shoulders she carried a woven blanket. Her hair was braided into two
braids, one on each side of her face as it had been Friday morning in his
kitchen. The only thing missing was the buckskin dress. Anger flooded him. Had
it all been some elaborate joke?

“What the hell are you playing at?”

“I’m not playing at anything.” Her voice was
quiet, defeated. “I’d hoped you’d remember. Joseph said you would.”

“Remember? How the hell can I forget? How did you
do it? How did you pull it off? You and Ron must have had a hell of a laugh at
my expense.”

“This doesn’t really have anything to do with Ron,
at least not the way you think it does.” There was hurt and frustration in her
voice. “It’s between Gowanda and
Tayouroughay
,
between you and I. Joseph said you’d recognize these things. He said you’re the
one just as I’m the other.”

Tony collapsed into the chair as if someone had
smacked him in the back of the knees.

“What the hell is going on here, Michelle? I want
the truth. I deserve it.”

“You do, and until you understand what’s going on,
you won’t be able to help me, and I need your help.”

He heard the resignation and sadness in her words.
Could she really believe they were some kind of reincarnated lovers? The
thought of her naked in his arms pleased him, and he closed his eyes to hide
the longing he didn’t want her to see.

“A lot of lives depend on us.” She reached out and
touched his arm.

Electricity coursed through him, and his body
quickened.

“We have to save the lake, and to do that, we have
to accept who and what we are.”

He stood, shook off her arm, and moved away from
her. “You’re talking in riddles. Let’s start with some straight answers. Where
did you get those moccasins and that blanket?”

“The slippers and blanket were given to me by my
aunt. I didn’t know I was Mohawk until five years ago. These are supposed to
have been made specifically for me. The woman you’ve seen walking on the beach
wasn’t me. I didn’t lie about that. The woman you saw is a ghost. Her name was
Tayouroughay
. She was me or rather I was her two hundred
years ago, just as you were Gowanda.”

“I know the names. Joseph told me all about the
legend, remember? I’m the one who told you.”

“Not exactly.
I went to
see Joseph after I left the morgue this afternoon. I had to know the truth.”

“The truth about what?”

“About us—you, me, and Ron.”

“What the hell does he have to do with this? I
thought you said he wasn’t part of it.”

“He’s involved somehow—I’m not sure exactly how,
but he is. Let me explain and then we’ll see if we can figure where he fits in.
You know about Gowanda, and how
Tayouroughay
betrayed
her people and the man she was supposed to marry. You know what happened to
her—you told me so last night when we met at the lookout. She was swept over
the waterfall to her death, separated for all time from the man she loved.”

“And he drowned in the lake trying to save her,
and his spirit’s been imprisoned here ever since. I know the story, but how can
you believe that? You’re a scientist, just as I am.”

“I know a lot more about the spirit realm than you
can imagine. The Three Sisters punished
Tayouroughay
and Gowanda for their sins. Now, those spirits need our help, and are willing
to rescind their curse and punishment in exchange for it. They want us to save
the lake—it’s got to be from the meth lab poison—and I know you want that too.
Joseph says time isn’t linear in the spirit realm. I’m
Tayouroughay
reincarnated. I have her memories, and I know you’re Gowanda’s reincarnation.”

“You’re crazy and so is Joseph. My memories are my
own.” But even as he whispered the words, he knew she was telling the truth.
All of this sounded right somehow.
The dreams, the resemblance.
It had all started here. He’d always felt connected to this place, and if part
of him was imprisoned here, it all made sense. Why shouldn’t the spirits be
involved? Defeated and confused, he turned to her. “What happened to you this
afternoon? What caused you to trust me like this?”

“Let me start at the beginning. Nothing will make
sense unless you understand this part. I’ve never told another soul this, and
believe it or not, I’m not crazy. I see ghosts, specifically those of people
who’ve drowned.”

He stared at her, his mouth gaping open. Was she
kidding? She certainly looked serious.

“Why are you telling me this?” He wished he’d
brought the scotch over too.

“You need to know it all. It’s the only way to
make you understand. Tony, I know about your dreams. I’ve had the same ones.”

His head snapped up, and his face heated.

She smiled shyly.
“Yeah, those
ones too.”

“Go on.” What else could he say?

“When I went to the morgue yesterday, I realized
Lindsay hadn’t died in the water because her ghost wasn’t there. Aaron told me
everything he remembered, but it wasn’t a lot. I knew about the pregnancy, the
toxins, and the meth lab before you told me. I know those specimens existed. I
also know someone took them, the same someone who searched my room while I was
out running, the person who probably killed Isaac looking for this.” She held
up the USB drive.

“What’s on that?”

“The pictures Isaac took of the crime scene
Thursday morning.”

Michelle sat on the sofa, put the USB drive in the
computer, pushed various keys, and opened her email program. She turned to him.

“Here are the pictures the police sent me.” She
opened each in turn. “Here are the ones Isaac gave me early this morning, a
couple of hours before he was killed.”

“You think he was murdered?”

“I do. I think he was killed because of these.”

Tony looked carefully at the photographs. The
first two were identical, but the third one…

“The wine bottle.
It
isn’t here.” He pointed to the third picture.

“Someone altered the picture, but that’s not all.
They went through my things—my computer. I’m very good at hiding things when I
have to, so I don’t think they know I have these.” She motioned for him to sit
on the couch beside her.

Knowing she believed herself to be the woman in
his dreams made it hard for him to stay focused on what she was saying. He
wanted to take her in his arms, run his hands along her body, and do the things
he’d done to her in his fantasies. His lips ached to feel hers against them. He
hardened and reached for a throw pillow to hide the evidence of his desire. She
might talk to ghosts, but he hoped she didn’t read minds.

“I was furious when someone disturbed my crime
scenes. As you heard me tell the parents, the local police claim to have no
knowledge of it, but the owner assured my boss it was the police number on the
phone’s call display. He gave it to him and when my boss called the number, it
was indeed the police station.” She pushed her bangs to the side. He got the
impression she wasn’t quite used to them. “I found a cork in Lindsay’s pocket.
Did she drink wine?”

Tony laughed, surprised by the change in topic.
“No, she hated the stuff, but she liked free swag. She went on a wine tour just
to get a sweater. She must have gotten the cork then.”

“That’s what I figured. I got one too.” She handed
him the two corks.

“They’re identical, except for the red “x” on this
one.”

“That’s mine—the one I got today from the
Whippoorwill Winery. I didn’t want to believe it. I actually liked the guy.”