Echoes of the Past (27 page)

“Thanks for the information. That’s good to know,
and I’ll keep it in mind when I interview them. By the way, someone will be
coming along the lake to collect water samples.”

“Why?” His tone was abrupt.

“I need to check diatom levels with the water in
the lungs. I’ll need samples from everywhere. Sometimes chemicals from the
surrounding land leech into the water. It’ll help me pinpoint where they went
into the lake.” The lie slipped off her tongue.

“I see. I can have those samples collected for
you.”

She laughed. “That would be great, but it doesn’t
work that way—it’s the whole chain of evidence thing. Since the professor’s
students are adept at sample collection, I’ll use the boy.”

“Do what you must. When will he be coming?”

“Tomorrow probably.
The
sooner I get the samples, the sooner I can rule on cause of death.”

He frowned as if the short time frame didn’t suit
him. She finished her coffee.

“Now, I really have to get back. Can I drive you
to your car?”

“No. I have to talk to Jim. I’ll get him to drop
me at the inn later. You’re sure I can’t tempt you with that champagne?”

Michelle shook her head.

“All right.
Maybe we can
do this again?” Ron reached for her hand and brought it to his lips.

“I’d like that.” She swallowed a twinge of
discomfort.
“How about next Sunday.
I’ll be quite busy
this week.” She’d hoped she’d resolve all her uncertainties by then.

“It’s a date.”

Ron helped her into her coat and walked her to the
Camaro. He put his arms around her and bent to kiss her. Her reaction to his
lips on hers was disappointing. It was a pleasant sensation, but not the
bone-melting feelings she got when she kissed her dream lover. When his tongue
delved into her mouth, her reaction intensified, and she felt desire, but it
only added to her confusion. She had a sudden urge to push him away, fight him
off—why? The underlying feeling made it hard to respond to Ron’s advance. While
her senses were engaged, her heart wasn’t in it, and she was immensely grateful
the invasion was soon over. How could Ron be her dream lover if she felt
conflicted this way? Why was her body giving her these mixed messages? Trust
her senses? Hell, she couldn’t even figure out what they were telling her.

“Don’t get yourself into any trouble, Doctor.” He
smiled arrogantly and dropped a light kiss on her nose. “I’ll see you next
Sunday, if not before.”

Michelle smiled, got in the car, and started the
engine. She waved and reversed out of the parking lot. She drove about a
hundred feet from the entrance and pulled into a driveway. Her hands were shaking,
and her stomach felt ready to give back her lunch. The two bottles of wine he’d
given her were on the back seat. She looked over her shoulder and stared at
them. From this angle, they resembled the bottle in the photograph, but all
wine bottles were similar, weren’t they? She thought of the barrel of broken
glass. Was her evidence buried in there? The corks, the broken glass, the
labels—it was all circumstantial and yet, she sensed there was something going
on here. Ron was deliberately trying to mislead her.
Lissa
kill them? My God, the girl was a wee thing. There’s no way she could have
overpowered Aaron.
And the professor behaving immorally with
Lindsay?
She didn’t buy it, not for a second. She leaned against the
steering wheel to compose herself. Ron was trying too hard to implicate the
professor and his students, and it didn’t wash.

Five minutes later, she was about to pull out of
the driveway and head to the morgue when a truck coming out of the winery
entrance caught her attention. Instead of turning right or left, the loaded
vehicle crossed the road into the driveway of the Happy Valley Winery. She’d
asked Ron about that place. He said it had been abandoned when the owner had
died last year.

She watched a man get out, unlock the chain on the
gate, and then open it. The truck went through the opening, and the man
relocked the gate behind it. Why would Ron’s employees be delivering anything over
there? Why wouldn’t he have told her if they used the place for storage? Lies
of omission were just as serious as any other kind. Too much wasn’t adding it.
She needed answers and she needed them now before any more of her evidence
disappeared. She needed her mate, and since she couldn’t trust her senses, she
realized there was one man who might be able to help her with that.

She waited until they’d driven around back of the
facility and reversed. She headed away from the resort and the winery. She
pressed the on-star button on her car and asked to be connected to Joseph Smoke.
When the man came on the line, she arranged to see him later in the afternoon
after she finished at the hospital. Next, she called the PCO and asked Rick to
find out who’d released her crime scene. She also asked to have Stevens meet
her at the morgue around four.

* * * *

Michelle used the doorknocker and waited
impatiently for someone to answer. She was angry, upset, and frightened. There
wasn’t any more time to waste. She needed answers now. If The Three Sisters had
put all this in motion, then they were moving at Warp Speed.

The old man answered the door himself. “I’m Joseph
Smoke. Come in, princess. I’ve waited a lifetime for this day.”

Just as they’d been with Audra, the spirits were
strong in this man, far stronger than they were in her.

“You know who I am? Why I’m here?”

The old man’s leathery face crinkled into a smile.
“I do. Follow me. We’ll go someplace where we can talk.”

He led her to a small room decorated in Mohawk
symbols and motifs. He indicated a recliner next to the one in which he sat.

“My legs aren’t what they used to be. These old
bones ache in the dampness. Do I know who you are? Yes. Part of you is the
provincial coroner. I assume you’re here to tell me I can have my ceremony?”

Michelle nodded.

“Good. I’ll arrange it for Saturday. Another part
of you is someone who lived here long ago, someone whose spirit has walked the
shores of the lake for over two hundred years searching for the one you loved.
You’ve come to do The Three Sisters’ bidding.”

There was no point is arguing with him. What she’d
learned at the hospital had distressed her. She needed his help—their help.

“Joseph, someone is poisoning the lake. I know
what the problem is, but a spirit guide in another place told me I’d need my
mate to help me fix it. I realize you walk with the spirits too. I don’t know what
to do. What my senses and the evidence
tells
me is
contradictory. I don’t know what’s real. People have interfered with my crime
scene and my corpses. I was told not to trust my senses, but to trust my heart,
and right now, I’m not sure I can trust it either. Do you know who my mate is?”

“Tell me what confuses you, daughter.”

“There are two men in my life. I’m physically
attracted to both, and yet, I’m not sure I can trust either. Both have secrets.
The evidence is stacking up against one, but it’s being manipulated, and if I
were anyone else, it would damn him. Like you, I speak to the spirits. Someone
was at the morgue. The person planted evidence on one of my corpses, evidence
that incriminates one man, but also condemns the other. I’ve always believed
the evidence. It doesn’t lie, but if the evidence is falsified, how do I know
what to trust?”

“Trust your heart.”

“I want to, but I don’t know how. Who is my mate?”

“Your mate is the man the sprits chose for you.”

She shook her head. “Did they choose Gowanda or
Annosothka
, or was there someone else I never lived to
meet? My spirit’s been punished for making the wrong choice, but I don’t know
what that was.
How do I know which one is the right one this
time?”

“You must listen to your heart. Many things happen
in life we don’t understand. Choosing Gowanda and punishment may have been
necessary.”

“I know the spirits can be fickle, and having me
make the right choice and punishing me for it seems like something they might
do. How do I know who to choose this time? Did I make the right or the wrong
choice before? Which of the two men is my mate? One man is being framed. The
other lies to
me,
or at the very least omits things.
My senses are playing tricks on me. I was told not to trust them, but it’s what
I’ve always done. It’s how the spirits have led me to the truth. Another man, a
good man, has died.
Three innocent deaths.
I can’t
have any more on my conscience.”

The old man stared into space, and she thought for
a moment he’d fallen asleep with his eyes open. His hand moved and reached for
hers.

“Close your eyes. It’s time. The Sisters understand
your confusion and have agreed to help you.”

She did as she was told. Suddenly, she felt
light-headed. She wasn’t asleep. It was more like a trance. She knew where she
was, felt Joseph’s rough hand holding hers, and then it wasn’t, and she was
alone.

Three men stood in the shadows. One separated
himself from the others and approached her, but unlike seconds earlier, the
room was now in darkness. She stood. He moved closer to her, his body darker
against the deep gray of the gloom. Her heart pounded. Her eyes slowly adjusted
to the darkness. She wanted to talk, ask him who he was. She raised her hand to
touch his hair and found it was long and silky, the way it had always been in
the dreams.

His lips claimed hers with a hunger beyond
anything she’d ever experienced. She sensed anger and frustration fueled by
desperation. He plundered her mouth, mindlessly, passionately, and she knew she
was his, only his, then, now, and forever. He pulled his mouth from hers, and
moved away slightly. She looked up into his face. Familiar aquamarine eyes
filled with love stared back at her. Mist filled the room, and he vanished.

“Princess, you have your answer.” Joseph sat in
the recliner as he had before and held her hand.

“I do, but how will I explain it to him?” Part of
her was elated, another part as confused as it had been earlier.

“You brought something with you that
is
the key to the past and the future. Use it. He will
recognize the truth. It won’t be as difficult as you think. Love is a powerful
force.”

Michelle let go of his hand and stood.

“Thank you, Joseph. I have to get back and meet
with the parents and students. I have a feeling everyone who stays here any
longer may be in danger and not from the spirits either. I’ll see you on
Saturday for the ceremony.”

Joseph escorted her to the door. The sun had
disappeared behind the clouds, and she hoped she’d make it back to the resort
before it rained. She’d done groceries and picked up an extra night chain for
her door. After she finished with the parents she’d speak to Tony alone. She
hoped Joseph was right. Why Tony would remember the moccasins and blanket were
a mystery to her, but she was glad she’d listened and brought them with her.
She had a feeling she’d need all the help she could get. “By the way, I’m the
woman whose ghost has been having sex with you,” didn’t seem like the right
thing to say.

Chapter Fourteen

Tony knocked on the door of Michelle’s cottage. Ron
had collected his truck around four, but she’d just returned, an hour later
than she’d expected. She’d called and explained she’d been delayed. Ron hadn’t
looked happy when he’d claimed his vehicle. Something hadn’t turned out the way
he’d hoped, and it pleased Tony immensely.

Michelle answered the door. Dressed in navy slacks
and a white sweater, her hair pulled into a long ponytail, she looked relaxed
yet professional.
Her light floral perfume, pleasant but not
overwhelming, added to the friendly atmosphere of the cottage.

“Come in. I was just putting away the groceries I
bought. Ron will let Jackson collect water samples on his property in the
morning. Ron wasn’t pleased with the idea, but he agreed.”

She opened the door wider to let him in, and Tony
saw she’d made the place homier than it had been. The gas fireplace was on and
a tray of veggies and dip and other cold hors d’oeuvres sat on the table.

“I hope you won’t mind, but I thought we could eat
supper here instead of in the restaurant. I picked up a couple of steaks, salad,
and baking potatoes for dinner. I’d rather eat here where we won’t be
overheard.”

Tony wrinkled his brow. She seemed secretive, nervous
even, and if she wanted to talk to him alone, the news couldn’t be good. What
the hell had happened to her?

A knock at the door announced
Lissa
and Jackson. Tony watched Michelle introduce herself and make his students
comfortable. The disquiet he’d sensed in her moments earlier had vanished, and
he thought he might have imagined it.

He liked the way she probed for answers without
seeming too. He’d never heard Jackson opened up about himself so much, and by
the time
Lissa
had finished talking, he was convinced
Michelle was a miracle worker. She knew exactly what to say to ease the girl’s
pain and heartache. He noted she hadn’t reacted one way or another to
Lissa’s
pregnancy or Jackson’s comment he’d seen him
outside in the storm that night. The kids had just left when the families
arrived. Tony had planned to leave, but Michelle asked him to stay. He was amazed
by her professionalism. How could he have doubted her ethics? Her attitude made
him feel even worse.

Tony watched as Michelle put the parents at ease
as she’d done with his students. She smiled at them, invited them to sit, and
took a chair across from them. He was too agitated to sit. Instead, he leaned
on the back of her chair. It didn’t seem to bother her.