Michelle realized Ron wasn’t aware of the independent lab tests done in Kingston, the ones now in the hands of the RCMP task force. No matter what happened to them, he wouldn’t get away with this, and she gleaned some satisfaction from that, but her heart ached for Tony. How much more could he take?
“Not talking? Fine. Mendez, if you please? This might hurt a bit. Mendez isn’t a trained nurse.”
The man grabbed Tony’s arm, and raised the sleeves on his jacket and sweater. He jabbed the needle into Tony’s arm and depressed the plunger. He tossed Tony back on the floor. Michelle winced.
“What did you give him, you bastard?”
Ron backhanded her across the mouth. The copper taste of blood filled her.
“Don’t make me angry, Doctor. You wouldn’t like me angry. As to your question, just a little scopolamine. I need answers, and I don’t think the professor will be forthcoming on his own.”
“Aren’t you afraid I told someone?”
“No, because you were too wrapped up in your theory about Lindsay not drowning. Don’t looked surprised. Both George and Milo kept me apprised of what was going on. You kept going on and on about a freezer. How many times did you send those cross sections to the lab? Milo made sure they never made it.”
“Why? What hold do you have over them?”
“Money. The good doctor likes to gamble. He’s had a very large streak of bad luck lately. Desperate men will do anything. Did you know he’s not going to show up for work tomorrow? He had an accident just outside of Gananoque. I gave him one job to do, and he blew it. No one crosses me and survives. It’s a bad strip of highway. Now, where was I?”
Horror filled Michelle. Was she responsible for the coroner’s death? She’d removed the planted evidence. Before she could dwell on the matter, she gasped as the men dragged Tony into a sitting position. Ron approached him, the rifle held loosely in his hand.
“Okay, Professor Steele, with whom did you share your findings?”
“I told you—my students, and Michelle.” She could hear his raspy breathing.
“Why were you here tonight?”
“Michelle said Lindsay had died in hypothermic coma. She had to have been in a cold place. I thought of a meat locker.”
“Thank you.” He hit Tony on the side of the head with the rifle butt, and Michelle screamed. Tony collapsed wordlessly to the floor.
“What are you going to do with us?” Michelle whispered trembling. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
She saw Ron standing beside a meat-cutting table. He followed her eyes and laughed.
“Don’t worry. Cutting you up isn’t on the docket. We have meat inspectors in here on a regular basis. George needed to be put out of his misery, and his failure to obey my orders this time simply made it sooner rather than later. You can’t trust a gambler, especially one who’s as fond of booze as he was. There was always a chance he’d grow a conscience and talk. I’d have taken him out of the equation sooner or later. The man was a liability. Unfortunately, two car accidents on such a clear night might be suspicious. You know, you shouldn’t gamble, Michelle. You don’t have the voice for it. That’s how I knew you were lying to me today. I’m actually doing you a favor. You and the professor are going to meet the spirits—what does Smoke call them? Ah yes. The Three Sisters.” He turned to the man who’d just entered the room.
“Meet my partner Jim Henderson, Milo’s step-father. Jim, the good doctor and the professor need some cooling off. Hose them down and toss them in the cooler. When you’re ready for the last load, take them with you. Don’t screw it up this time.”
Ron laughed, and Michelle wondered why she’d ever considered the man attractive. He moved over to her and lifted her chin.
“I almost regret this. We could have been good together, but I don’t do sloppy seconds for anyone.” He captured her lips in a cruel, punishing kiss, made more painful by the split lip he’d given her.
Michelle wrenched her mouth away from his.
“You won’t get away with this. The bodies are still there. My boss won’t let this go.”
Ron laughed, and the sound chilled her.
“Did you forget you released the bodies and signed the death certificates? Milo caught the guy who collected the body and handed him a request from you. It was a note saying the bodies had decayed and posed a health hazard. They were to be cremated immediately, and only the ashes forwarded to the families. Constable Singer, my eyes and ears on the force, followed them to the crematorium, saw them unload the bodies, and drive off again. Those parents are going to be very angry with you, but look at the bright side, they’ll never find either of you.”
Hope filled her. Ron didn’t know who’d collected the bodies. No doubt they’d realized they’d been followed and had left a false trail. When she didn’t show up tomorrow as planned, regardless of what the false note said, Colin would know the truth, and so would Stevens. They’d pull out all the stops and get this bastard. The thought comforted her.
“My lake will remain as mysterious as ever, and I’ll make sure each drum is sealed properly. Goodbye, my sweet.” He gave her another punishing kiss before walking away, his laughter echoing throughout the slaughterhouse.
Jim and Jerome manhandled Tony to his feet. Mendez gripped Michelle by the arm and dragged her across the room. The men dumped Tony unceremoniously on the floor near a large drain and Mendez tossed her down beside him. Jim pulled down a hose suspended from the ceiling, and a jet of icy water blasted at them, soaking her hair and lower body in seconds.
Michelle’s teeth chattered, and she shivered uncontrollably. Jim opened the heavy, wooden, meat locker door and Jerome and Mendez manhandled them into the chamber. A number of animal carcasses were strung up inside. The cooler had to be at least fifty years old, its metal walls and wooden floors testifying to years of use. She could see her breath in every shivering gasp she exhaled. The temperature was well below thirty degrees.
Mendez tossed her in the far corner beside a stack of crates. Her head hit the metal wall, and she saw stars. Through blurry eyes, she watched Jerome drag Tony in, lift his still body up, and hang him by his bound hands from a meat hook.
“Enjoy your last few hours, doctor. It’s nothing personal, but no one crosses Rodriguez. If we were forced to shut down the lab, we’d be the ones sleeping with the fish and The Three Sisters. With you and the professor out of the picture, we’ll be able to continue business as usual. Adios.”
He walked away, and Michelle heard him close and slam the door. The light went out.
“Tony?” Her voice echoed in the blackness of the small room, but there was no response.
The locker was cold, not as cold as a regular freezer would be, but wet as they were, it was certainly cold enough to cause hypothermia. She stood, grateful she hadn’t been strung up like a side of beef.
“Tony,” she called softly. “Talk to me so I can find you.” Her body slapped against the animal carcasses blocking her route.
If we get out of this alive, I may never eat meat again.
“I’m over here.” His voice was weak, but she focused on it. “This wasn’t the way I’d planned for this night to end.”
She could hear his chattering teeth as he spoke. Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and she moved gingerly through the dangling obstacles to get to his side.
“I think we found the right cooler.” She attempted to inject a note of humor into her voice, but failed.
Tony groaned. “Never let it be said I don’t know how to show a lady a good time. Did he hurt you?”
Michelle heard the concern in his voice. “I’m fine. You’re the one they used as a punching bag.”
“I’m a little sore. Hurts like hell to breathe, and my arms are killing me.”
“I need to get you down from there.” Michelle knelt on the floor. “You’re only about six inches off the ground. If I can find something for you to stand on, you’ll be able to unhook yourself. There are crates in the corner. Let me undo my hands,
and I’ll get one.”
She lifted her hands to her mouth, well aware of the pain in her wet digits. Extremities felt the cold first. She began to gnaw on the plastic ties, the kind used to attach the vines to the strings and poles in the vineyard. The process seemed endless. She lowered her hands and tried to pull them apart. The plastic dug into her wrist and then snapped. Her hands were free.
“I’ll be right back.” She raised her hand to touch his cheek. It was warmer than her stiff fingers. “Don’t go anywhere.”
He chuckled and took a sharp breath. “I’ll just hang around here.”
She worked her way back across the room. Her fingers and toes were almost numb. I will not die in here. She repeated the litany as she made her way back to the corner.
She stubbed her toe on a crate. Pain flashed up her foot to her leg. The wooden case contained eleven wine bottles. The bottle on the beach must have come from here. No wonder it had been collected. Lindsay must have had it inside the jacket, and it had become dislodged when the bodies had washed ashore. Now that she knew Aaron had been drugged with scopolamine, she understood what had happened and why he had no memory of his death.
She removed the bottles from the case and lifted the case in her arms. The bottom was solid, and the case was deeper than she’d expected. She put it down again and held one bottle against the side. There was almost two inches of space between the top and the bottle. She put the bottle in the case. It reached the top. False bottoms? Even allowing for the thickness of the wood, it was too large a discrepancy. She carried her prize back across the room, the distance seeming farther than it had been on her earlier trips. She noticed she’d stopped quaking. Not a good sign.
“I’m on my way back.” No comment. “Tony?” She heard the panic in her voice.
“Just taking a break, pretty lady.”
Michelle followed his voice to his side. She removed the bottle from the case and turned it upside down.
“Bend your knees,” she ordered as she slipped the case under him. “Now put your feet down and stand. Be careful.”
Tony followed her orders to the letter, the drug in his system making him vulnerable to suggestion. The box provided the leverage he needed to unhook his hands, and she reached out to him before he could fall. She helped him off the box and laid him on the floor.
“Let me have a look at you. I may be a pathologist, but I’ve patched up a few live ones over the years.”
Cracked and broken ribs ranked among the most painful of injuries. If the rib was cracked, it wasn’t as bad as if it were broken. A broken rib had sharp jagged edges, which could easily puncture nearby organs including the lungs. Michelle undid the wet jacket and ran her hands along the cold, dry flannel shirt beneath it. His waterproof jacket, like hers, had kept his torso dry. Given the way he’d been hit, she focused on the middle ribs on his left side. The seventh and eighth ribs were tender.
“The good news is nothing’s broken, but it’ll hurt like the dickens. There isn’t anything I can do to help you though. You need painkillers, and I’m fresh out. You have to try to breathe deeply; otherwise, you’ll catch pneumonia.”
“Assuming I survive whatever else our friends have in store for us.”
She clenched her teeth and spoke fiercely. “I love you, Tony Steele. Don’t you dare die on me.”
“Ditto, Michelle Thomas.”
She moved her hands along his face and found his swollen mouth. She placed a gentle kiss on it, erasing the memory of Ron’s lips on hers.
“Lift your hands, and I’ll chew through the bindings. We can snuggle. You’ll be more comfortable in a different position, and we may be warmer.”
He chuckled and gasped at the pain it must have caused. “You can gnaw through plastic? Remind me not to let those teeth of yours near anything vital.”
She tried to laugh at his attempted humor, but she was too scared. She’d noticed, like her, he’d stopped shivering. She frowned. How much longer before their systems would start to shut down?
Chapter Seventeen
Michelle was tired. Staying awake was a chore. She was comfortable, much warmer now, tucked up against Tony’s back listening to his labored breathing. It’s almost over. She blinked her sleepy eyes. Here they come now. An unearthly white light appeared in the cooler and moved toward them. The light hovered above them.
I wanted to live. I wanted to save the lake. I didn’t want to die like this. She yawned.
We’re here to help you.
Michelle giggled. Auditory hallucinations, that’s different.
The light dropped down and seared her. Heat filled her, replacing the bone-chilling cold. She was suddenly alert. The light rose above her and moved closer to Tony.
Roll away from him. Unable to disobey, she moved immediately.
The light covered Tony, and she heard him gasp.
“Stop, you’re hurting him.”
The light filled him a few moments longer, and he glowed. The brightness rose above them. Michelle realized her thoughts were clearer. The last thing she’d expected was lucidity at the moment of death.
He sleeps now. Rest.
Sleep pulled at her. She cuddled closer to Tony whose breathing seemed easier. They were dying. She felt a tear trickle down her cheek. She forced her eyes open, but their death chamber was as dark as it had always been.
* * * *
The sound of the door opening roused her from the deep sleep, but as if in a dream, Michelle seemed powerless to fully awaken. It was as if her spirit were watching the events unfold. I’m dead.
Three men entered the locker. Mendez pick her up off the floor, and slung her over his shoulder like a rag doll. She felt nothing. Jerome carried Tony the same way. They left the meat locker, crossed the slaughterhouse floor, and entered a small office. Jim walked over to the phone on the wall, lifted the receiver and dialed three-six-nine-one-one. The wall slid open revealing a staircase.
The staircase led to a storage facility converted into a lab every bit as professional as any you’d find at a major pharmaceutical company. Two technicians, dressed in hazmat gear attended to the various beakers, flasks, tubing, and the rest. This was a large scale operation, far more involved than anything she’d imagined. It was well established and must produce several ounces of the illegal drug every day. Large yellow drums marked biohazard sat near the far wall.
“Let’s get those drums loaded and get out of here.” Jim spoke to the technicians before pressing a red button on the wall revealing a pocket door.
Mendez followed Jim out onto the lakeshore and carried her over to the gator, its four trailers empty. He threw her unceremoniously into the first one. Jerome dropped Tony in beside her.
The men lifted the barrels of bio waste into the other three trailers. Jim slipped back inside the building, but returned moments later carrying a boat anchor attached to a chain. He placed it beside Tony. One of the techs dropped a similar anchor at her feet.
“They’re not going to wash up on the beach this time.”
The gator’s engine started, and Michelle was surprised to feel the floor of the trailer vibrate as the vehicle slowly made its way along the shore.
“Are you okay?”
The sound of Tony’s clear, strong voice startled her. We’re both dead.
She turned to face him, but before she could say anything, he moved his head and captured her lips in a hungry, desperate kiss. The fear and longing she’d felt poured from her, and she responded with everything in her. His tongue teased its way into her mouth, and she welcomed the invasion. If they could kiss like this, feel like this, in the spirit realm, being dead might not be so bad. They’d have eternity together.
He slowly pulled away.
“I don’t know what you did, but I feel fine. My ribs don’t even hurt. We’re going to get out of this. Those bastards will pay for what they’ve done, and what they’re doing to this lake.”
“Your ribs don’t hurt because we’re dead.”
&nbs
p; He chuckled. “I don’t think so.”
“It’s true. I saw a bright light, felt warm, and heard someone say they were there to help. A spirit helping me cross, perhaps. The light filled you, and then I died.”
“I don’t think you did. When we get out of here, I’ll prove to you just how alive we are.”
“I saw the meth lab.
“I know. I saw it too, and we’ll get them. Don’t ask me how I know, I just do.”
The gator slowed. Tony kissed her quickly and then pulled away. The vehicle stopped. Michelle heard the men grunt and groan as they loaded the barrels aboard the pontoon boat.
We must be back where they found us.
Jim came over and picked her up out of the trailer. He carried her to the pontoon boat, and she felt a steel manacle fastened around her ankle. Pain seared her head. She wanted to kick and fight, but her legs wouldn’t obey.
Tony’s wrong. We’re dead. They’re going to anchor our bodies to the bottom of the lake.
She looked into his beautiful face, still swollen from the beating he’d received, and he smiled and winked. Definitely dead. She thought she heard giggling.
The small engine started. Anyone hearing it would assume it was a four-wheeler. The boat moved out to the center of the lake. She watched as Jim and Mendez pushed barrel after barrel of the poisonous waste into the water. She looked at Tony and mouthed the words, I love you. Jim picked her up.
“Damn.” He laughed softly. “You’ve gained weight, Doctor.” He tossed her into the water, but instead of cold, she felt as if a bubble of warmth enfolded her. The anchor pulled her down. Of course. Since we’re already dead, we can’t die again. The sensation was rather pleasant. She heard the giggling again.
We told you no harm would come to you. The voice was the same as the one she’d heard earlier. You know who is to blame for the sacrilege, and you must punish them. We will bear you safely to the beach. We could not save the other two. Sadly, it was their time, but your souls belong to us, and we release you.
Michelle felt the anchor slip off her ankle. She turned and Tony was in the bubble with her, but his eyes were closed. No. Don’t leave me!
Echoes of the Past Page 24