“They just happened upon this little ring in all the square miles of the reservoir.”
“No. They happened upon this little ring in a cinderblock building that was owned by Alan McGooby.” She opened the file and handed him a copy of an old deed. It was an order of eminent domain, the U.S. government acquiring all the land the reservoir flooded. “Exhibit B.”
Mudge read it over. “That’s fairly compelling, Harvest, but still circumstantial. My grandfather could’ve left the ring there. We are talking about his laboratory, right? His private, possibly illegal laboratory.”
“Leave it behind instead of pawning it somewhere? If he did run out on your family, he might have needed the cash. But trust me. We might never know exactly what happened to Alan McGooby, but I do know he didn’t run off.” Harvest closed the file folder again, putting her hand atop it.
Mudge smiled. “You’d be a pain in the defense lawyer, Miss Hutchinson. But I’ll play along. What are you suggesting? That my grandfather committed suicide in his lab? It would follow. He’d lost his job, just when his child was born. His marriage was not a happy one. That lab was the reason for all of it.”
Harvest shook her head. “Nothing I found pointed that way. What things did point to was McGooby’s obsession with his work. I mean, dedicated people do take work home with them.” She wondered if it sounded like she was tooting her own horn. “But who builds themselves a secret backyard office? I think even after McGooby was let go from the state hospital, he carried on with his therapy.”
“Right up until the time the valley flooded?”
That wouldn’t surprise Harvest at all. “We’ll never know for sure.”
“The Army Corps of Engineers went through Fishburn with flamethrowers before the floodgates were closed. Nothing was left standing.”
“Ah, but if you look at that deed, you’ll see that the building in question was not in Fishburn, but South Fishburn, technically. In reality, it was hidden in the woods. It could easily have been missed,” Harvest said.
“Okay, even if I agree with you that the lab could’ve been left standing, that still doesn’t prove that McGooby didn’t take off on my gramma and mother.” His elbows were on his desk now. He leaned toward her. She had him hooked.
Really, the last part of her argument went back to the shack that Leshy hung around so frequently. A little research showed it to be much larger than a shack. It had stood nearly two stories high at one time. The upper half-story had been a loft. The eminent domain order didn’t include it, even though it also belonged to Alan McGooby. It wasn’t in the designated flood plain. But because the structure sat on the road, and the lab was hidden in the woods, she followed a hunch. It took most of the morning to hear back from Sgt. Jeff Shafer.
“While this doesn’t completely dismiss the idea that your grandpa ran away, it sure puts a damper on it. You have to remember that at that time, South Fishburn was just a few farms. It isn’t much more than that now. But as my little sister will tell you, if you don’t have a car, you’re pretty much stuck.” She opened the folder and passed him two photographs.
“What am I looking at?”
“Perhaps the ugliest car ever made. A Studebaker Avanti. If the body wasn’t made of fiberglass, it wouldn’t be there anymore. Your grandfather not only had a lab built in the woods, he also bought a place to park his car. That second photo is the vehicle ID number.” It had been a bitch to remove enough rotting wood to get at the engine block. She’d looked up where to find the VIN. “The car probably belongs to you, although you’ll need to hire an excavator to get it out.”
“My grandmother always complained about that ugly car,” he mused, looking from one photo to the other. “I’m sure you’ve already verified that it belonged to Alan?”
“I ran the plates through a friend on the state police, but he said it would be better to have the VIN. That’s his car. Whatever happened to your grandfather, it happened to him here.”
Mudge’s eyes roved from the ring to the document to the photos and back. After a while, he finally spoke. “I’ll be damned. Why wasn’t the car found by now?”
“Probably because it was buried under a collapsed hay loft, and hay, and a lot of wood. The eminent domain record was in the police files, but the original deed was at the county assessor’s office. Nobody knew McGooby actually owned the garage, I guess.” That was all she had, although it was a lot more than the other investigators had come up with. “Do you think it would hold up in court?”
It took a few more moments for Mudge to stop staring at the evidence. “Can you start Monday, Miss Hutchinson?”
Chapter 20
THE AFTERNOON SUN PUMMELED Echo and the Grams as they installed new supers in the north field hives. Bees buzzed around, stirred up by the activity, but not too agitated. Echo smiled as the Grams sang the Buzzy, Fuzzy song.
Aunt Mary closed the top of a hive box. “Hotter’n blazes.” She removed her floppy hat and swiped her brow with her forearm. “Next week, we can harvest the south field.”
They moved uphill toward the greenhouse and stood in the shade of the pear tree. Echo poured them all lemonade from a plastic pitcher. All the ice had melted, but the wet felt good. The breeze picked up, carrying the exotic smells of the greenhouse flowers and herbs. Fragrances from the plants were used in their scented candles, but their pollen also added a touch of interesting flavors to their honey as well.
Gramma and Aunt Mary plopped down in lounge chairs. “Feeling better, Squirt?” Aunt Mary sized her up.
“Yeah, thanks. Just tired.”
“Well, rest up, Echo. You and your sisters went through a lot,” Gramma said. Her cellphone rang. “Hiya, Cora, is there an issue at the shop?”
Gramma listened for a moment and handed the phone to Echo. “Cora wants to talk to you. Did you lose your cellphone in the reservoir, too?”
Echo couldn’t remember. Any excuse to get rid of the ancient (though still perfectly functioning) flip phone was good enough for her. “S’up, Cora?”
“There are two young men here to see you. I told them it was okay to go up to the house, but they’re a little intimidated by all the bees.”
Not everyone liked an apiary, Echo understood. “I’ll be right there.”
Gramma took her phone back. “What’s up?”
“Visitors. I’ll be back in a flash.” Echo took off around the side of the house, down the driveway, and down the road. She was pleased to see a few cars in the parking lot of the Chandlery. Campers in the national forest sometimes stopped to buy honey. Candles wouldn’t be big sellers until the fall.
She walked into the family business, struck by the aromas of the candles in the sun-warmed retail space. Cora stood behind the counter, waiting on customers. She nodded toward the corner. Echo saw two men standing there, facing a rack of candles. At first she thought they were father and son. As she neared, she heard a familiar voice.
“Yeah, we should get Dad a Steelers candle for his birthday. Good idea, Bobby.”
“Ryker?”
Both turned. They wore identical Pittsburgh Steelers ball caps and sunglasses. Ryker peered at her over the top of his shades. “Shh. A lot of reporters are trying to talk to Bobby. We’re gonna skedaddle to Hart’s Content for a week until it dies down. You know the story, right?”
Echo knew the real story. The one on the news described the miraculous discovery of a boy who managed to survive a winter lost in the woods, even though it was believed he had drowned. “Everybody knows the story.” She smiled. “Hi, Bobby.”
Bobby studied her. For a flash, Echo feared that he recognized her. Worse, that he’d seen her naked. He leaned closer to his brother. “You’re right. She is kind of a hottie.”
Ryker bumped his brother with his hip. “Anyway,” he said loudly, as if Bobby might say more, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I’m really embarrassed about the way I acted in the dive shop. At the hospital, they said I was suffering from nitrogen narcosis and oxygen
toxicity. I’ve been diving nonstop since the ice melted in April, so, I guess that was it. But I still feel like a total dick.”
“You were sick, Ryker. No need to apologize.”
“Well, thanks, but I’m sorry, anyway. Tell your sisters for me, okay? But mostly, I want you to know how sorry I am.”
“It’s fine. Really.”
“Okay, great. The doctors said I couldn’t dive for at least two weeks. But that doesn’t mean we can’t dive on that wreck in Lake Erie. Once the water warms up, anyway.”
“That’ll be totally lit,” Echo said.
“Yeah, you can wear that swimsuit he can’t stop talking about,” Bobby said, receiving another hip bump from Ryker.
Echo’s eyes strayed to Cora, who was serving yet another honey-buyer. Quinn said Cora knew about them now, and how happy it made her. She wondered: would Ryker be happier knowing he and his brother had been transported to another dimension, or continuing to think he had a diver’s ailments?
“Alright, we’ll get out of your hair. But don’t forget about the wreck dive.”
“No way. I’m totally looking forward to it.”
“Sweet. Maybe we can get some dinner after.”
The breath caught in Echo’s chest. It took her a moment to answer. “Yeah! That would be great. We’ll be hungry. Perfect. Definitely” Shut up, Echo. “But—camping? After you spent all that time in the woods, Bobby?”
Bobby shrugged. “I don’t remember being in the woods. I remember purple bees, and some naked mermaids.”
“The doctors said he checked out just fine,” Ryker interrupted. “My parents are coming down tomorrow. They just can’t believe it. They're so happy.”
Ryker swiped at his eyes, perhaps unaware he was crying. It made Echo’s heart ache a little. Outside, clouds swiftly gathered. She tried to pull it together.
“Okay, open water dive on a wreck,” she said. “I’m so there. But, I mean, if you want, you can stop by the shop. I’m here a lot. Or Cora can find me. If you want. I mean. Y’know.”
“Definitely. Absolutely.” He took off his shades and swiped at his eyes. “Once it all blows over. Yeah. Yes.”
“You two are so weird,” Bobby said, sidling away.
Truthfully, Echo had lost interest in scuba since learning she could become a were-seal, selkie, whatever, and do it without all the gear. Ryker made her suddenly enthusiastic for the sport again.
“You know what I’m really sorry about?”
Echo studied the floor. “You really have nothing to be sorry about, Ryker.”
“But I do. I’m sorry I was so preoccupied with my brother that I couldn’t see you before. I mean, I was all savage and salty in front of you, but you don’t throw shade. Not every girl is like you, Echo. So I’m just sorry it took me so long to get woke to you.”
She was fairly certain she was going to melt and disappear between the cracks in the floorboards. “I think you’re totes awesome possum, Ryker, like hundo p.”
“Hey!” Cora said, startling both of them. “Why don’t you knock off the teenage slang and kiss, already?”
“Gucci idea, Miss Anderson,” Ryker said. He took off his hat and leaned in. The first brush of his lips felt like an electric shock. Echo moved closer to him. Better angle for kissing. The issue of whether to tell Ryker and Bobby the truth about their ordeals still weighed in her mind. But Echo decided to let it go. For right now, she couldn’t be happier.
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Triple Toil and Trouble Page 10