Sky’s face tensed. “Sorry about the kiss. I don’t know why I— ”
My husband brushed his concern away with a silent gesture.
I stood close to Quinn, my arm hooked into his. “We didn’t know if you were dead or alive, Sky. Not ‘til Dr. Trebangle told us.”
Sky sighed so deep and long I wondered if it would ever end. But eventually, he shuddered and looked up. “I’m sorry I never called. At first it was because of the emeralds. They killed my friend, Jorge, over in Iran. He’d gotten in deep and gave me the emeralds to hold just before they found him. I knew they’d kill again, and that they’d torture anyone to find out more. I needed to protect my family. So I had to stay away.” His voice weakened. “Then I was caught by a rogue faction in Iraq. I hid the gems when I saw them coming. There was no way to avoid them, and they held me for three years.” He rubbed his hand over his eyes. “But there’s so much more than emeralds at stake right now. I—” He wobbled and reached for the chair arm to stop his fall. The plastic seat began to topple sideways.
Quinn’s expression changed from controlled civility to panicked concern. He lunged forward and caught Sky before he fell. “C’mon. Let’s get you inside.”
I looked at my husband with deep pride. If I’d been a cartoon character, all of my buttons would have burst and exploded in the air. His resilience was one thing; but his empathy knocked me for a loop. Damn. Here this blond Adonis had just been kissing me, and Quinn not only forgave him on the spot, but offered to help him indoors. Overwhelmed with love for him, I ducked under Sky’s other shoulder and helped Quinn maneuver him into the cabin.
Quinn assumed a brisk attitude. “Listen. I know you guys have a lot to catch up on. But here’s the deal. We can’t help Callie until Sky helps us with the maps. And he can’t help us if he’s falling down or gets an infection. First things first. Sky, you’re safe here. Nobody knows where we are. It’s a good place for you.” He rummaged through our bureau and pulled out a pair of boxers, some khakis, and a dark green tee shirt. “I’m taking you into the bathroom. You’re going to get cleaned up, and you can wear these. Then we’re going to feed you.” He nodded toward me. “Marcella will make you some eggs. And her aunt is coming to help with your wounds.”
Sky’s head jerked up. His eyes burned. “No, we can’t tell anyone I’m here. I can’t stay. They’ll find me. And if they find me, they’ll find you. I can’t risk it.”
I put my hand on his arm to calm him. “It’s okay. Roberta’s one of the good guys. I promise. Our goal is to find Callie. Without you, we’re lost.”
A flicker of doubt lingered in his expression. “Okay.” He swayed a little. “I just need my oils,” he said. He sat on the side of his bed, but his voice started to slur, and I was afraid he’d pass out.
“Quinn’s got your oils,” I said, “and how about a nice, strong cup of coffee? Quinn, I think you’d better stay with him while he washes up. Maybe a bath would be safest, huh?”
Without blinking an eye, Quinn nodded and shifted Sky’s arm over his shoulder, shuffling slowly toward the bathroom. “You read my mind, honey. Long as he’s okay with it, I’m sticking by his side.”
Sky noticed the oils on the dining room table and brightened momentarily. “Thank God. You do have them. Bring the lavender and helichrysum to the bathroom. Please.” After they scooped up the oils, Sky stiffened, stopping in the hall by the kitchen. “Wait a minute. Where’s the memory stick? Does Callie still have it? And where’s the vial? The hemp necklace?”
Quinn smiled. “Don’t worry. They’re duplicated and hidden where no one could ever find them. Now come on, let’s get this over with.”
I watched the only two men who’d shared my bed amble toward the bathroom. Sky stumbled just before they made it, and Quinn gently picked him up and helped him inside. The door closed, and I started cooking.
By the time the scrambled eggs were ready, I heard the water shut off in the bath, and Roberta’s truck rolled into the yard. I set a plate over the fry pan to keep them warm, and ran outside to greet her.
Chapter 31
Quinn, Sky, Roberta, and I ate our eggs and toast on the screened-in porch overlooking the river. Quinn had gone silent again, pushing the eggs around on his plate. Sky wolfed down the first helping and nodded enthusiastically when I offered seconds. Roberta kept the conversation going—mostly with me—while Sky made love to his plate and Quinn fumed.
I dragged my husband to the kitchen to help me make Sky a third helping of toast and eggs. Wooden-legged and strained, he slogged after me.
I pushed him into the corner and poked his chest with my finger. “What’s wrong with you?”
He compressed his lips and shot a glance toward Sky. “Him.”
I looked at Sky, then back to Quinn. “What?”
“I hate him.”
“But you were so nice to him outside when he got all woozy and everything.”
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before I saw him in the tub.”
I averted my eyes and tried not to smile. “Oh.”
“And before he started raving about how much he loved you and how lucky I am and how gorgeous you are—”
I stopped him with two fingers laid across his lips. “Baby. Shh.” I put my arms around his waist and looked up at him. “He’s just jealous of us.”
He puffed air out of the side of his mouth, blowing up a tuft of his hair. “Yeah. I guess.”
“He doesn’t have anyone, like we do. Come on, honey. Maybe you should feel sorry for him.”
Quinn opened the fridge and took out the eggs. He whispered when he turned to me. “I can’t. He’s gonna lust after you the whole time he’s here.”
“Stop it. And get me the butter.”
Grumbling, Quinn threw the butter on the counter and ripped open the bag of bread. “How many pieces?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know. Put in four to be safe.”
“He’s a freak of nature.”
“Because he eats so much?”
“No, because of what I saw in the bathtub. Geez.”
A half smile crept over my lips, but I brushed it away and reached for the spatula. “Oh. That.”
He rolled his eyes. “No normal man should have to see that.”
I cracked the eggs into the sizzling butter. “Like you said, freak of nature. Probably gives him back problems.”
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah. Maybe he’ll have to use a cane next year.”
I scrambled the eggs and glanced sideways at him. “And you and I will still be climbing mountains. Right?”
“Do you mean that figuratively or literarily?” His brow lowered.
I tried to make my voice husky and sexy, covering up the ridiculous symbolism I’d used about the mountain. “Both.”
It cracked him up. I guess I can’t pull off husky and sexy without sounding hoarse and stupid. But at least he laughed, and we brought Sky’s third breakfast to the table with a smile.
***
When Sky finally sat back in his chair with both hands on his belly and a satisfied sleepy smile on his face, Roberta leaned forward and tapped the table. “I know you.”
Sky stiffened. “You do?”
“You bought an amber crystal from me last year.”
His eyes lit up. “Right! The shop in Wells?”
“Yes.”
His face fell. “I wish I had my crystal now.”
Roberta fished in her pocket. “I brought this with me. I knew you were hurt, and figured we could use its healing properties.”
Sky’s eyes lit up. “Oh my God. This is just like the one I sent Callie.”
I figured it was a good time to tell him about the crystal, how Callie had split it, and that a piece remained in Beau’s collar. I told him about my visions, and he listened intently with a permanent crease in his brow.
“My God. You actually saw her in a vision?”
“Twice. And
each time, there was the sound of a waterfall nearby. I could hear it and see it rushing past the window through the slats.”
He leaned forward. “The windows were boarded over?”
I nodded, glad he believed me. “Right. It was a rustic cabin with knotty pine walls. Rough-hewn furniture. Sound of a waterfall near the window.”
Quinn grabbed the maps we’d printed out at Roberta’s and pushed them across the table to Sky. “Think any of these would have a cabin near a waterfall?”
Sky stared at them. “These are the lakes involved in our studies.”
Quinn nodded. “Right.”
Sky looked up with horror in his eyes. “You cracked the code?”
My husband nodded, veiled anger in his eyes. He hadn’t been too happy with the Marcella password. “We did.”
“You’ve seen the contents of the files?”
I stood and picked up the dishes. “Most of them. We saw your letter to Callie, the medical files of the leukemia patients, and the data from whatever you collected in the lakes. Stuff like that.”
He looked from Quinn, to Roberta, to me. “God Almighty. Do you realize how many people have died trying to protect that information? The bulk of it went up in that fire.”
After a moment of stunned silence, Roberta grabbed the empty coffee cups and wiped down the table with a handful of clean napkins. With a grave expression, she turned to Sky. “Why don’t you tell us about it? And maybe we can figure out how to get the information to the public, so this massive effort to squash the truth will stop.”
He pushed back from the table. “We’ve been trying to do that for weeks. But everywhere we go, every person we contact, is somehow, some way, connected with MedicuRX. And if not, they’re silenced so they can’t go public.”
I plopped in a chair beside him. “It’s that bad?”
He nodded, and for the first time I really saw him. He was so much older and had such pain etched in his eyes, skin, and lips. The man had been through hell and back, probably hundreds of times.
The tense lines around my husband’s mouth softened and he leaned forward. “You have to tell us everything. We’ve got people we can call from the outside. They’ll know what to do.”
Sky’s face drained white. “I don’t know.” He caught his shaggy hair in his hands. “This whole thing is so big, there’s so many billions of dollars at stake. They’ll stop at nothing.”
Roberta’s no-nonsense expression returned. “Spit it out, young man. We’re here to help.”
Sky’s eyes flitted to each of us in turn. He sighed, splayed both big hands on the table face down, and nodded somberly. “I work for Young Living. It’s a brilliant group of people who’ve discovered the benefits of essential oils—stuff that comes from trees, bushes, and plants all over the world. Our leader, Dr. Gary Young, is a pioneer among men. He’s discovered substances from remote regions with incredible properties. These plants have been used for centuries in little known capacities and the western world has either rejected or never heard about them.
“He’s always on the leading edge of discovery, travels all over the world to exotic places. Grows massive organic farms of herbs in the U.S., France, and Ecuador to distill and offer to his customers.” He took another deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I could go on for hours just about this guy. He basically saved my life when I ran into him in the Amazon.”
I leaned forward, realizing I’d been holding my breath. “Go on.”
Sky flashed me a half smile. “Anyway, I got involved in the research end with Dr. Young. Followed him on a lot of his exploration trips around the world. But it was when we returned to the U.S. and started tests on a very common plant that we hit pay dirt. Dr. Young discovered the link ten years ago. He’s off somewhere in the jungles of Brazil now. But he got us started up here.”
Excitement lit up Roberta’s eyes. “Is it something in our lakes?”
Sky leaned back and closed his eyes. “Right. Potamogeton crispus.”
Quinn’s brow furrowed. “Potato what?”
“Potamogeton crispus, or curly-leaf pondweed. It’s usually considered a nuisance. Tangles up fishermens’ lines and motors, invades the shoreline, messes up beaches. Most people hate it, and it’s everywhere.”
Roberta sat up with a start. “I know that awful stuff. They cut it down with the weed cutters and some people try to use nasty chemicals to kill it. Right?”
“Exactly. It’s all through New York lakes, and probably North America. We focused on it here because it was such a remote region we thought we could do our research without getting too much attention.”
I whispered. “And your research was…”
His eyes locked on mine. “A possible cure for leukemia.”
I flopped back in my seat. “But why would MedicuRX try to stop you? Couldn’t they join forces with you to prepare a cure? They could make money that way, right?”
Sky rubbed his eyes with one hand. “Nobody who sells cancer drugs wants a cure for cancer, Marcella. And we’re finding out that MedicuRX is tangled up with more than just greedy investors. There’s a mob contingent. And it’s all somehow linked into the government.” He shook his head. “I’m saying too much. You don’t need to know this stuff.”
Quinn tapped the table. “No. We do. And so does the public. Why haven’t you called the papers? Gone national with the news?”
“We’ve tried. Every time we make a call, someone gets killed. Remember that lady from “Good Morning, New York” who was found stabbed last week?”
I sucked in a shocked breath. “Nancy Stowman?”
Sky nodded. “Dr. Trebangle called her. The next day, she was found dead in her driveway. And according to the Doc, some of the doctors who worked up on Black Snake Hill have had fatal accidents in the last week.”
Quinn shook his head. “The Doc’s house was bugged. That’s how they knew about Nancy Stowman and the other doctors. I found wires all over the trailer.”
Sky looked impressed. “Whoa.”
Quinn persisted. “There has to be a way. I could call New York right now from this landline that nobody knows about, and tell a dozen reporters. They’d flock to the area.”
Sky frowned. “I’d like to believe that. But to tell the truth, we really weren’t ready to go public. We wanted to finish our studies. Be extra careful. Refine our distillation processes. We weren’t about to tell the world and get all their hopes up. It takes years, decades, sometimes. And we needed a quiet, safe environment to pursue our studies before we published in the journals.”
Roberta scooted her chair sideways and touched Sky’s arm. “But if what you say is true, young man, you owe it to all those sick people out there to protect the possibility of a cure. This research could be the single biggest discovery of our lifetimes.”
Sky’s haunted face slowly bloomed to a small smile. His lips faltered, as if he’d almost forgotten how to stretch them in a happy arc. “I know. You’re right. It’s huge.” He got up and paced from one end of the porch to the other, limping as he walked and grimacing each time he made a turn. “What we need is firepower. Manpower. Authority. Newspaper people. Lots of ‘em.” His face fell again. “But if we blow the whistle too early, they might kill Callie. They’ll scramble out of here. Try to erase all evidence.” He turned to Quinn. “Won’t they?”
Quinn stood and put both hands on Sky’s shoulders. “Let me call Detective McCann. He’ll know what to do, who to call.”
Sky nodded reluctantly. “Okay, but meanwhile, let’s look at those maps again. We’ve gotta find that waterfall.”
Chapter 32
Sky hobbled to the table where I spread out the printouts of the maps. He sank into a chair with a groan, squinted at the tiny print, and patted an imaginary pocket on his tee shirt. “Damn.”
“Hold on a sec.” I ran to grab my purse from the living room, rummaged for my drugstore glasses, and returned, offering them to Sky. “Here you go. Try my cheaters.”
&nb
sp; He slid them on and nodded. “Much better.”
On Sky’s rugged face, the glasses transformed him from the man with a vague resemblance to the teenager I’d loved to a middle-aged veteran of tough times. It was then I noticed the flecks of silver hidden in the gold hair around his temples.
Sky—my tender, gorgeous, sexy, and talented ex-lover—had aged more than I realized. With a start, I wondered if he thought the same of me. Of course I dyed away the bits of silver that tried to erupt from my scalp. And I knew I didn’t have the smooth, perfect face of my teenage years, either. A soft sigh escaped my lips. I didn’t want to get old.
Roberta disappeared, returning with a sparkling amber crystal dangling from her fingers. She perched on the wicker loveseat while Sky frowned at the maps, mumbling about rivers and falls. Through the window into the living room, I saw Quinn sitting still in the maple rocker, his face a study in frustration, the landline receiver pressed tight against his ear with clenched fingers.
Sky studied the maps, his eyes raking over them methodically. “How do we even know she’s in the area?” he muttered. His voice shook with emotion, and in a flash I wondered if this rugged outdoorsman was close to a breakdown. He’d held it together for so long, been hunted in the wild for over a week, discovered his older sister was killed, and now worried about the same fate for Callie.
“We don’t.” I stood and put a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t look up, but the tension in his muscles relaxed. “But we can start here, right?”
He pushed aside the maps and leaned back. “I don’t see anything. The only marked waterfall I know in the area is Austin Falls. There’s no house right beside it. We’re going to have to expand our search. Maybe head over to Austin Falls and try following the river in either direction from there. Maybe there’s an unmarked area where the falls are just a few feet high, but made the sound you heard in the visions.”
Roberta cleared her throat and stood. “I’d like to try a little healing before you go running off into the woods, Sky.”
He pushed the maps aside. “Okay. But let’s go for the gold. Let me get my oils out, slather myself with everything I know will help, and let’s join your crystal with the one in Beau’s collar.”
Tall Pines Mysteries: A Mystery/Suspense Boxed Set Page 39