Killer Romances

by Dana Delamar, Talullah Grace, Sandy Loyd, Kristine Mason, Dale Mayer, Nina Pierce Chantel Rhondeau, K. T. Roberts, H. D. Thomson, Susan Vaughan

  Glancing around, she saw Chad paying for the lunch. She watched while he finished, picked up their bags and joined her at the door. "Ready?"

  She laughed as she pushed the door open to step outside. "Seems like you've been asking me that a lot lately."

  He grinned. "And I'll continue to ask."

  At the truck, she took the bags from him and waited while he unlocked the doors. She thought she heard something. Turning around, she gave the parking lot a wide sweeping glance. The place appeared empty. Shrugging, she placed the bags on the seat and went to climb in, when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She turned and looked at the big window in the front.

  A pale face stood watching her.

  Shit.

  Pete.

  ***

  "Meg? Is there a problem?"

  Meg, startled, turned back to Chad. "No. No, there isn't."

  He studied her. She made no move to get into the truck. In fact, she turned to stare back at the restaurant. Chad leaned over so he could see what she was looking at. There were a few people seated at the front tables but they appeared to be in conversation among themselves and not concerned with Meg.

  "Meg?"

  "Oh, sorry." She gave a sheepish smile and clambered in. Slamming the door closed, she took one last look at the window and sighed.

  "Did you see someone?"

  "I thought so," she admitted, "But he wasn't there when I went and looked the second time."

  "He?"

  Her breath gusted free in a heavy whoosh. "I thought I saw Pete."

  "Your boyfriend?"

  "Ex-boyfriend," she corrected. "I have moved out."

  "Does he know that?"

  "I don't know," she admitted. "He hadn't returned home by the time I left and I have yet to hear from him."

  "Would he have come out here?"

  "Definitely. He loves his cabin; comes every opportunity he can."

  "Then it could be him." Chad thought about that as he drove the truck back onto the highway. "Is that going to be a problem?"

  She glanced his way, her face troubled. "I hope not."

  He raised his eyebrows at that. "Good thing you didn't come alone then."

  "I don't think he'd be a problem. Pete has never been violent."

  "Good." He picked up speed so they were going at just over the limit and thought about what she'd said.

  And what she hadn't said.

  ***

  With any luck Stephanie would take a bad trip into hell and stay there. It might take a while. He should have stayed and finished the job.

  But this way, it was all on Stephanie's head. She'd be yet another overdose and yet another dead junkie – no big deal.

  Stephanie's friends would sigh and whisper about how hard it had been to kick the habit and after a respectful few moments they'd take a trip themselves.

  After all, it was hard to go straight in life.

  And he'd needed to move on. Get more loose threads tied up.

  Getting caught after all these years was so not on the agenda.

  CHAPTER 15

  Meg took a large bite of the half sandwich in her hand. She'd avoided talking about Pete, but that didn't in any way stop her mind from twisting about him. Would he understand she'd come here for work? Even if she wasn't getting paid, she was helping to solve Cia's case. But then he didn't know about Cia, because she hadn't told him about her.

  He did know about the grave, though.

  She stared down at the sandwich. Ham and cheese heaped with vegetables. And it tasted like cardboard. She dropped her hands and leaned her head back, wishing she hadn't seen him. Now she couldn't stop thinking about him and what had been and all that it could have been.

  The warmth oozing from Chad made her feel bad, yet good. In fact, right now her emotions were all over the place.

  "How's the sandwich?"

  "It's good. I'm just tired."

  "Eat up. It will ease back the fatigue." Chad drove with one hand. The other held the sandwich he had partly scarfed in a few bites. He'd already eaten a full sandwich. Meg looked down at her half uneaten one and realized he was right.

  She took another bite and chewed slowly.

  "Are you scared of him?"

  She shook her head, swallowed and answered, "No. I just haven't cleared things up with him. It feels awkward. We're not together and we're not apart. It's over, but I haven't told him."

  "You haven't spoken to him at all." The disapproval in his voice made her realize the situation from a man's perspective. "No. I left before he returned. I really felt it was over when he walked out; that he knew it and I knew it and that he was giving me time to get out."

  "But…?"

  "But, because we haven't actually had that final conversation, it feels incomplete."

  "Do you know when he's due home?"

  "No. Normally, he'd text me, call me…something, but this time there's been nothing. Which I guess is reasonable if we have just broken up." She stared moodily out the window as she finished her sandwich. "But then I never contacted him either."

  "Maybe you should."

  "I was just thinking that. But I doubt he'll answer." She brushed her hands off, scrunched up the wrapper and stuffed it back into the bag. She grabbed her phone and texted Pete. Where are you?

  She waited. Nothing.

  "No answer. He comes out here to get away. Hates his cell phone at the best of times." She couldn't believe the relief she felt. It had been a shock to think she'd spied Pete at the restaurant. And the fear of a confrontation had kept her on edge, worrying.

  She was back at Pete's favorite place with Chad, but without Pete. How would he react? It was not like she'd planned this, but Pete wouldn't know that. She didn't want him thinking she'd broken off with him to start up with a new guy – or worse, having been engaged in an affair while still with him.

  She was still mulling things over when the truck slowed. She sat up and surveyed her surroundings. "This isn't the same place."

  "No. I wanted to go into the park from the side of the lake and take a look around first."

  She barely remembered where they'd first camped, except it had been pretty. There was another ten minutes of driving through the trees and then the tree line opened up to show the lake sparkling in front of them. In spite of her worries, a happy sigh escaped.

  "Regardless of the circumstances, it's a pretty spot for Cia to have lain in these many years."

  He glanced over at her in surprise. "That's a nice way to look at it."

  Chad parked the truck and they both hopped out. The campground road went further around the lake. From where she stood, Meg could see dozens of camping spots had already been taken. There was a large grassy area up ahead with picnic tables and the occasional barbeque stand.

  She shook her head and laughed. "I barely recognize the campground. It looks so different."

  "They've done a lot of work over the years. The trees have grown; another dozen or two cabins have been built over there." He pointed to the left. "Most of those cabins weren't there back then." He turned around and nudged her to turn around. "Most of the ones behind us are new too."

  "Wow. This place sure is popular. I was afraid the store couldn't make a living all the way out here, but there are loads of people living here."

  Rows upon rows of summer homes and houses stood tall in front of her.

  "Let's go to the water's edge." He took her arm. "I want to show you something."

  They walked down the path side by side; Meg couldn't believe how developed the area had become on this side. She'd never have recognized it. And from Pete's side of the lake, this couldn't be seen from either the deck or the cabin. She had no idea any of this existed. Janelle would love it here.

  "I also brought maps of the area – from seventeen years ago and now."

  "That's smart." She walked to where the water lapped the rocks. "What did you want to show me?"

  He pointed to the left. "The road
continues on around that end of the lake and goes up the hill on the far side. If you follow the line all the way over there..." he moved his arm in the direction they were talking about. Now, she was looking straight across the lake.

  "There's the campsite we stayed at last time. And you found the remains over to the right... by that darker clump of trees."

  She shook her head at the short distance. "It was so close to the camping spot?" It had seemed much farther at the crime scene.

  "Close enough for it to have been one of us, but if you see the cabins along the road there," he pointed, "it's also well within the distance of anyone who'd been at the cabins at the time."

  "But how many of those cabins were there back then?"

  "About three quarters of them and the ones that were there were empty that weekend…supposedly." He stared at her. "As far as we could tell at the time, we were alone over there."

  "But that spot is within easy reach by anyone on this side too. In fact, we were clearly visible to anyone on this side of the lake."

  "Correct."

  "It's not even, what...a quarter of a mile across? A good swimmer could swim it, but a power boat could cross in no time at all."

  "We'd have heard power boats. And we did, we heard several of them; remember, some people were out water skiing that day? Besides, anyone could have driven around the lake, parked and travelled the last bit on foot."

  "True. And...we saw canoes and kayaks, as well. There were a lot of people at the lake then. It was the end of summer."

  "Exactly, so what is the chance that all those cabins on the far side and at the end were not occupied?"

  "If many on this side were, then odds are that many over there should have been too."

  "Well, at least some of them. Instead, according to the police report, all of the cabins were unoccupied."

  She stared at him, back at the long stretch of cabins and then said slowly, "But that doesn't seem right."

  "It doesn't, does it? Only, I haven't been able to find anyone who'd seen residents at the cabins."

  She tried to think back. "I can't remember myself. Were there lights on?"

  "I have pictures from back then. I should dig them back out and see what shots we took at the time. Maybe there were night shots."

  "There were!" She turned to him. "Remember, we were taking pictures of the campfire and our tents?"

  He nodded. "I'll have a look when I get home." He glanced sideways at her. "What about you? Do you have pictures?"

  "Maybe – I gave the film to the detectives at the time." She stared at him. "But I have no idea what happened to it."

  He narrowed his eyes. "They developed mine to get a look at the pictures."

  "And did you get all of the pictures back?" She studied the cabins now brimming with life on the left. "Too bad it was before the digital age. We'd have so much more information available to us today."

  Hearing the sounds of trucks pulling into the lot, she glanced back, and asked, "What now?"

  "I have some help. We're going to measure everything we can and time it. Then map things, and compare them to the statements we have from everyone who was there as well as from those at the cabins."

  "That's what we came for, but I'm grateful to see a crew to help."

  "There's no way we'd get it all done in time." He started back up the path. "Let's get started."

  With one last glance toward the sunny, cheerful shores, she followed behind him to find the crew who were unloading the equipment. Some people she recognized and some she didn't.

  As the teams were setting up, she stared out across the water wondering how Cia's remains could have stayed undetected for so long. The site was steep and rough, dark and thickly populated with trees. The cabins weren't close but they were accessible.

  Just not easily accessible; but someone had known about the remains. And she was determined to find out who it had been.

  ***

  Chad split the techs into teams. He left one group at the campsite to start surveying and took the other over toward the old campsite with Meg.

  He parked roughly in the same spot as he had years ago. Then he explained the plan to the team.

  He handed the maps and pins over to Meg. He followed behind her with the laptop, and the rest of the supplies. Meg already had the map spread out and pinned in place and was leaning over it, studying it carefully. He gingerly unloaded his armful and leaned over beside her.

  "Find anything interesting?

  She murmured, without raising her head, "The whole thing is interesting, considering we have inside knowledge. How long does it take the killer to meet Cia, kill her and stash her so she'd never be found?"

  "Or perhaps stash her temporarily, then come back and move her."

  She screwed up her face at the thought. "Kill her, hide her body, then come back later and move it? That wouldn't be fun."

  She stabbed a finger on the map at the point where the closest cabins were located. "Unless desperate to hide the body, he may have taken a chance on an empty cabin."

  He took a deep breath. "That's all too possible."

  ***

  Meg studied the closest cabins. "Weren't they all checked out thoroughly back then?"

  "They checked out what they could. According to the records, a thorough search of all the premises was made."

  "And they didn't find her. Either because she wasn't there, or she was so well hidden, or someone was protecting our killer or the cabin owner was the killer." She straightened up to walk around the picnic table. "So we have to go back to the owners."

  Chad murmured, "I wasn't sure if you remembered or not."

  "Remembered what?" She continued to study the map.

  "That Mack is Bruce's, Pero's and Anto's uncle. And he owns a cabin here."

  Shock hit her first, then disbelief, then a slow burning anger. She raised her head slowly to study his closed face. "Really? Now I know why he was such a hard ass to us back then. He was trying to prove his family innocent by making us guilty." She stared out at the water, hating the bitter memories and the fear that his name could still bring up in her. "That bastard."

  She shook her head. "And although he seemed nicer this time, I can't say I trust him." She frowned. "I don't know that I trust many people anymore."

  "Except for me, you mean." He grinned as she gave him her narrow-eyed look. "Just keeping it out there…"

  "Are you ready to go back to the site?" Needing to get away from the subject of Mack, she raised her eyebrows, looked at her boots, and added, "If so, let's go."

  With that, he left one of the crew at the campground and led the way to the crime scene. It took them a good twenty minutes to reach it. Meg noticed Chad seemed to be timing their walk and making notes as they went along. It made sense.

  She just couldn't imagine any of the kids they'd camped with having the brains to make and carry out an elaborate plan. More likely Cia's death had been an accident. And it was just dumb luck that it had stayed hidden for so long.

  They continued to walk on in silence. Then Chad stopped abruptly. She stepped up beside him. "What do you see?"

  "Nothing. There are no signs left that we were here at all."

  She studied the layout and frowned. "Any of the locals could have ripped the tape down and tourists could have taken it as a souvenir. You know it happens all the time."

  "Hmm."

  She approached the area surrounded by fallen trees and stopped to take a close look. She knew the techs had searched for hours and she trusted that they'd done their jobs, but that didn't make it easier to believe there was nothing more to find. They needed evidence that would point them in the right direction.

  "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, I just wished we had found more."

  "Always. But we could tear up this whole side of the lake and find nothing." With a grim look he pointed up. "I want to go up there. I want to see for myself."

  ***

  Chad studied the hillside as he
climbed up the steep bank. There was a huge fallen tree hanging on a small ledge almost at the top of the steep hill. It would have been a challenge to have carried a body up here. But if Cia had planned to meet him here, that would have been very easy. He didn't remember the ridge from before. It would have been difficult to image anyone carrying her up here. And Cia hated hiking. There'd have to have been a hell of a reason for her to come up here. With a final scramble, he reached the crest and climbed to the solid top. He reached down a hand to help Meg up the last bit. She'd barely broken a sweat. He loved that she had stayed fit all these years.

  "There's the campsite." She crouched to peer through the branches of the surrounding trees. "Years ago it would have been much easier to see it."

  "Yet we wouldn't have been able to see anyone from down there." He pulled out his phone and texted John, the tech who was working the campsite. From where they stood he could see John read the text then study the hillside where they stood. His phone buzzed. "John wants us to move around to see if he can see us."

  They shifted around and watched. John's features weren't clear but they could identify him. But he couldn't see them.

  "That answers that question. We're completely hidden."

  "And we would likely to have been hidden back then as well." Meg stepped to the other side and pointed to the cabins below and to something else as well. "Look – is that a pathway?"

  "Shit." He moved behind her and searched for where it started. "It also connects to a well-worn path down below. Come on." He led the way to where two paths joined up.

  "How come we didn't see it before?" she asked from behind him.

  "It's the angle; it's completely covered with leaves and branches. If you didn't know it was there, there's no way you'd accidentally stumble across it. Plus we were looking up. It's hard to see unless someone is walking on it."

  They slid down the last bit and landed on the path they'd seen. They stopped to look back the way they'd come. Just with them scrambling down the hillside, there was a dark gouge in the earth, but leaves were already drifting down to hide their tracks.