“I just want to go home.” I wasn’t sure how many times I’d said it, but I figured it was at least fifty.
Callie gently slid my hair back and dabbed at the blood on my face with a wet paper towel. “I know, honey.”
She’d changed me out of my gory apparel, and I shivered in the clean tee shirt and shorts. I pulled the blanket tighter around me. “I can’t believe this happened. I want Quinn. I just want to go home.”
Sky came back from his dirty deed after what felt like hours. “Don’t think anyone will ever find them. I dropped them into the underground lake about a half-mile from here. Nobody ever goes there.”
I looked up and realized with a start that I’d been sobbing. My cheeks were wet and he looked blurry through my muddled vision. “You mean I won’t go to jail?”
He crouched beside me. “Of course not. Besides, you were defending us. But this way, no fuss, no muss. You won’t have to answer a thousand questions. No inquest. Nothing. It’s cleaner this way.” Without even asking, he put a few drops of valor and frankincense in his hands and rubbed them over my arms and bare feet. “Don’t worry, Marcella.”
Callie jumped up. “I’ll go wash out her clothes in the lake. That way there’s no evidence. Right?”
Sky frowned. “Why not do it in the morning? It’s after midnight.”
Her mild expression shattered. “Okay. But I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again.” She hiccupped a sob and buried her face in her hands. “Those men. They were so horrible. And how do we know there won’t be more?”
Her shoulders shook for a good ten minutes. I pulled myself out of my own catatonic state and consoled her. “Shh. It’ll be over soon.”
I almost believed it.
We stayed up and talked until two in the morning. It was in those quiet dark hours that Callie finally told us about the night of repeated rape she’d endured when she was eighteen. The two bastards had brutalized her, over and over again, and had left her for dead in the woods behind campus. She told us how awful she felt about the little child she might have had, and although it would have been born from violence, she deeply regretted allowing her mother to force her to end its innocent life. I wasn’t sure why Callie’s mother had made her have an abortion, when eighteen years earlier she had forbidden Willow the same thing. Maybe she was tired of taking care of kids her own kids bore. Or maybe she thought the rape justified it. Either way, we’d never know. My heart ached for her, because although Quinn and I had tried for years, I was undeniably barren.
Finally, with wide yawns and zombie eyes, we succumbed to sleep.
***
I woke to the sound of mourning doves cooing in the soft light of day. Callie and Beau still slept to my right. Sky lay curled in a ball near the cave entrance, his weapon enclosed in one hand.
I got up—stiff and sore—and was surprised to find that the air had warmed considerably overnight. With an affectionate glance at my friends, I avoided looking at the spot where I’d murdered two men, and stepped outside. I let the blanket slide off my shoulders when the sun’s rays hit me and checked my phone for the time. Only eight in the morning, yet the heat was already scorching the damp ground.
I folded the blanket over my arm and walked down to the lakeshore. Slowly, carefully, I crept toward the water.
No sounds of helicopters. No flashes of light glinting off someone’s spy glasses. No unusual colors in the woods. It seemed safe enough.
I looked down at my arms and legs, horrified that I still wore streaks of blood, dried to a crusty black. I thought we’d washed it away last night, but that had been in the pale flickering light of the fire. Totally freaked out now, I stripped off my clothes and tossed them onto a rock near the shore. When I walked into the water, natural sand cushioned my feet. The water chilled my skin, but I gradually went deeper, cleansing myself of the blood and memories. When I reached my collarbone, I dunked under, scrubbing my hair and face. I opened my eyes to an amber-colored world. The sun flashed through the surface in prisms of refracted light that went deep to the bottom, spattering dappled patterns on the swirls of sand below.
With a powerful lunge, I broke up through the surface and expelled a breath full of no more regrets. I’d saved my friends from certain death. And if I’d had to kill a few scumbags to save them, then so be it.
Proud of myself, I let the new thoughts settle while I stroked into deeper water. Maybe I was a hero or something. I lay on my back, with the amber water swirling around me. Birds twittered in the nearby trees. A bullfrog erupted in a throaty harrumph. The sun warmed my face, and I let it help me heal. Deep inside, I knew I’d never forget the feeling of those grimy bastards being so close to me. But I’d always been pretty good at pushing away uncomfortable thoughts. Focus on the positive. And right now, the fact that we were still alive was enough positive for me.
Energized, I swam back and got changed before the others woke. After the dream I had about cheating on Quinn, I felt even guiltier for thinking about Sky in that intimate way. I wanted to get home to my husband. But first, I needed to make some more calls. And tapped phone lines, be damned.
I dried off with the blanket, then spread it over a few low lying branches near the shore. Dark greenish-brown, it shouldn’t show from the air. After dressing, I grabbed my phone and dialed McCann’s number. I needed to get help for Roberta, and wished I’d done it sooner.
“McCann here.”
“Detective McCann, it’s Marcella.”
I didn’t bother to say my last name. If he didn’t know who I was by this time, I was sunk.
“Damn.” I heard him yell for Quinn, then he came back to the phone. “Where are you?”
“On a mountain, near a lake. I think Sky called it White Dove Lake. It’s behind Charlie Johns Store, farther up the hill from where they bombed the distillery. You follow the trail sort of northeast.” I waited for him to ask a few questions and filled him in on my phone conversation with Roberta.
Instead of a sense of urgency in his voice, I sensed a smile. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about your aunt. She’s one tough old bird.”
“What?” I clenched the phone harder. “Damn it, McCann! I’m pretty sure she’s in danger.”
He spoke with an apology in his voice. “Er, sorry. She’s already handled the situation. She’s here with us in the police station waiting for news about you. Keeps talking about some batty crystal, but we haven’t had time to hear her out.”
“She’s okay? What the hell happened?”
“Guess the goons who broke into her house didn’t expect a tough, old mountain lady like her to have a shotgun hidden beneath the couch. She blew a hole in her wall to convince them how serious she was, then held them at bay ‘til we picked them up.”
“Whoa.” It was all I could manage.
“Listen. Quinn’s been going nuts here. I’m gonna put him on.”
My throat clenched when I heard his familiar voice.
“Marcella?”
I almost cried. “Quinn. Oh, baby. Come get me. I just wanna go home.”
“McCann says he knows where you are, and we’ll be there in ten minutes. Can you hold on, honey?”
It sounded like he was running; he puffed and panted. Then the sound of a helicopter starting up almost drowned him out.
I strained to hear him and spoke louder into the phone. “Uh huh. But be careful. There are so many bastards hunting for us, I’m not sure who’s out in the woods now.” I looked around nervously for the first time that morning. “There’s a huge price tag on Sky’s head.”
“I know, babe. You wouldn’t believe what’s been going down. People are getting arrested all over the place. The bastards came back and blew up the rest of the distillery. Nothing left of it, not even a test tube.”
“They blew up the lab? And all those samples?”
“Gone. Yeah.” He paused, speaking louder now. “They had to bring in armored trucks to haul the insiders away. There were a few bad seeds in the FBI, even the guys t
hey thought were clean who came up here to help. It’s incredible. The FBI’s arrested a good chunk of their own force downstate, too. But they’re making progress.” He lowered his voice, and I barely heard his words. “Now it’s going all the way up to the White House. Someone on the staff has been protecting MedicuRX, funding them. It’s bad, Marcella, really bad. It’s gonna break on the news any minute. The Governor’s here. News reporters flocking to Speculator like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Oh my God. The White House?”
“We tried to find you yesterday. We flew over that whole mountain, but didn’t get any thermal signals.”
When I realized we’d been afraid of our own rescue party, I cringed. “Uh. We were in a cave.” I could barely hear him as the copter whirred louder.
He shouted into the phone. “That explains it. Are you there with Sky and Callie now?”
“Yeah. And Beau.”
“All right. Hold tight. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
I didn’t want to hang up, to lose the connection with him. I looked at the blank screen for a few minutes, until Sky’s hand touched my shoulder.
Chapter 45
“Marcella?” Sky’s expression screamed devastation. “Did you say they bombed my lab?”
I looked at my feet. “I’m so sorry, Sky.”
He turned and gazed over the lake. “Damn. Not one sample left.”
I perked up. “Wait! We still have the vial you sent to Callie. Was that one of your samples?”
His eyes widened. “Yes. Honest? Where?”
“At the cabin. Quinn hid it really well. And we still have all your data.”
“Thank God. That vial holds our most promising blend. The weed was harvested at just the right time for peak performance of the sesquiterpines, and we added a good amount of frankincense, blue tansy, lemon, and Idaho spruce.”
“Sounds powerful.”
“Damn right. The group we used this blend on recovered for seven years. And I don’t mean they had a remission, Marcella.” His eyes bore into mine, fired with passion for his work. “I mean they literally kicked the damned cancer. We’d been tweaking the formula for the past few years, but that vial represents our best shot at a cure.”
My eyes searched his. “I’m so proud of you. I knew you were going to do good things one day.”
He reached down to hug me. This time, I didn’t let my imagination run wild. I hugged him back like the friends we were, and stared into his intense green eyes. “You can regenerate the samples and data, can’t you? Now that you’ll have MedicuRX off your back?”
His expression clouded. “I don’t know. Their roots run deep. I’m telling you, they’re everywhere.”
I told him what Quinn said about the White House, how the staff member was about to get exposed, and how many folks had been arrested.
He whistled. “Man. I didn’t think we’d ever be rid of those bastards.”
“I know. But now…”
He looked across the lake. “We’ll start over. We’ll rebuild, and now it won’t have to be so hush-hush. We’ll probably get more grants, too, after all the exposure on the news.”
“Dr. Young would be proud of you, Sky. Everyone in the Young Living community will know you’re a true hero. You stuck through it all. You saved the data. And there’s still hope for those poor leukemia patients.”
“It’ll take time to rebuild, and to get certified by the FDA, but we’ll get there. I swear, we’ll get there.”
Callie stumbled out of the cave into the light, shading her eyes from the bright sun. “What’s going on, guys?”
I looked at her with affection. She didn’t seem to notice she was outside. Maybe now that she’d been attacked in a dark cave, indoors, the fears she’d harbored about outdoors would evaporate completely. I thanked God she hadn’t been raped by Rat Man or Bruno. She’d told me before we went to sleep that she’d managed to escape their assaults in the cabin, especially since she used the threat of her angels coming back to knock them on their asses.
I held my arms out to her and hugged her tight, then smoothed back her hair. “We’re talking about the future, hon.”
For the first time in years, I saw hope in her eyes. I think they actually sparkled.
Beau bounded around the corner, having sneaked out of the cavern without notice. He streaked past us, his nose to the ground. Callie whistled, and he stopped and turned, as if to say, “What? I’m chasing a rabbit here.”
She laughed and flipped a hand in the air. “Oh, go ahead. But don’t go far.”
Deliriously happy, the dog continued his circular hunt in the nearby pines.
We stood side by side when the helicopter approached, no longer afraid of the whirring blades overhead. Holding hands, we watched it settle on the clearing several hundred feet away.
When it landed, I ran faster than I’d ever done toward my man, who jumped first from the chopper and headed toward me. Although I was still barefoot, I leapt over twigs and rocks and roots, ignoring the brambles that occasionally scratched my arms and legs. In seconds, I’d met him halfway and was in his arms with my legs wrapped tight around his waist. I squeezed him and kissed his soft lips; I cried against his strong neck, and looked into his long-lashed, beautiful eyes.
After my embarrassing display, which I really didn’t care about, I waved to McCann, who almost grinned. And in seconds, when the rest of the men swarmed from the helicopter and headed our way, I almost cried fresh tears when I spotted Agent Green and the pilot.
The Gere-lookalike walked past me with blankets, and I called to him. “Excuse me, sir.”
He stopped and turned. “Miss?”
My heart leapt. Miss again! “What happened down there?”
He looked toward Green as if asking for approval. Green nodded assent and went on his way. “Shortly after you headed up the mountain, we were attacked by over a dozen men. We held our ground as long as possible, then had to fall back, got separated, and a couple of us got lost. No cell signals, you know. This morning, we worked our way back to civilization.”
I touched his sleeve. “I’m glad you did. We were worried about you.”
“Likewise.” He started to leave.
“Wait! I never got your name.”
“Agent McKenzie, miss.”
I smiled. “McKenzie. Right. Well, thank you for your service, Agent McKenzie. And better luck next time in the woods.”
He touched a finger to his forehead in a mini-salute and went on his way.
To my surprise, Quinn lifted me off the ground and scooped his arms beneath my knees. “Baby. You have no shoes on.”
“I know.” I grinned like an idiot. “I don’t care.”
“Well, I do. I’m carrying you to the helicopter.”
I kissed his neck and nuzzled my head against him. “Okay, honey. You’re the boss.”
Chapter 46
It was on Thursday, four days after the madness settled in the Adirondacks, that Sky, Callie, Quinn, and I were finally allowed a few days of peace and quiet at Tall Pines. I sprawled beside Callie on the green Adirondack chairs overlooking the Sacandaga River, watching the birds fly low over the rippling shallows.
Callie sat with her slim legs stretched toward the river. She wore my shorts and tee shirt, and a contented expression. The purple marks on her neck had almost healed, with Sky’s insistent application of the oils. Her limp was barely noticeable now. Even the scar on her temple where the robbers hit her with the pink flamingo last year had started to fade with the consistent application of lavender and vitamin E capsules that he broke open and gently rubbed across the angry reminder of her pain.
Her bare feet rested on the soft pine needles and dirt, and she stretched like a cat, reaching her arms high above her head. With a satisfied sigh, she closed her eyes and wiggled into a more comfortable position. “I’ve missed the sun, Marcie.”
I patted her hand and smiled. “Doesn’t it feel good?” My heart ached to think of the years of s
elf-imposed solitude she’d endured. Never mind the lack of vitamin D. I watched as her lower lip grew slack and she slipped into yet another catnap.
Although she’d slept a lot—we all had—there was something much more alive now in her step, in the way her shiny hair bounced, in her vibrant violet eyes. She held herself erect; she walked with purpose. She was alive. I hadn’t seen this Callie since we were teens.
I heard the sound of male voices downstream. It was Quinn and Sky, kidding around near the Jacuzzi, our river whirlpool. They’d become closer over the past few days, especially when I’d reassured my husband that I adored him and would never have eyes for another. The first night we’d been reunited had been strange and wonderful. I’d needed his comforting touch desperately, and we’d made love for hours. I had to scourge the memories of the filthy bastards who’d tried to rape me once and for all, and in my mind, the only way I could wash away that dirt would be to have Quinn reclaim me in every way possible, over and over again.
It had worked. I was going to be just fine.
The hordes of news reporters finally left the area, the FBI and Detective McCann returned to their offices, and the traffic went back to normal levels. Like a malevolent tsunami, the MedicuRX scandal had swept the country, destroying hundreds and leaving the survivors wondering how in hell such a thing could have happened in the first place.
The town of Speculator and the adjacent villages showed amazing resiliency. The brave men in the sheriff’s department regrouped, smarting from the humiliation of having a mole within their ranks, but determined to never allow it again. They pledged their allegiance to the new Young Living and Outsourcers combined project that would be rebuilt in the months to come. Doctors had already returned to the area to meet with Sky and building officials. This time, they’d build a new research facility on the burned foundation of the original buildings on Black Snake Run.
Much to my relief, Sky hadn’t named the new mission Project Marcella. Instead, the buzz around town was for Project Hope. The manager at Charlie Johns was given a medal for his strong support and assistance in the years prior to the assault—he’d been a rock. I wasn’t surprised to find that Sky had lived in the attic of this brave man’s house and that they were fast friends.
Tall Pines Mysteries: A Mystery/Suspense Boxed Set Page 47