Secrets of the Highlander

by Janet Chapman

  Camry plucked Joel off Grace’s lap. “Come on, Meg, let’s go see your new place. Beth and Chelsea and the owner are waiting for us.” She shot Meg a grin as she carried Joel out the front door. “Maybe we’ll even catch a glimpse of your sexy neighbor.”

  “Did it ever occur to any of you that I might want to pick out my own place?” Meg asked as they crossed the bridge out front.

  Cam led the way to Megan’s SUV. “Of course not. We know your tastes. Besides, we figured Dad couldn’t argue it’s not safe for you to live on a half-deserted camp road when you’re only three houses down from the police chief.”

  Meg snorted. “Great. You’ve just moved me out of one macho-man environment into another.”

  Megan gazed at the house her sisters had decided she should rent. “Okay,” she conceded to Camry, “you guys do know my tastes. It’s totally adorable.”

  A couple of porch lights lit up what certainly appeared to be a perfect house on the outside. The shingles were stained gray, the shutters painted a dark green, and the front door—set inside a porch that ran the width of the house—was a deep, rich red. It stood nestled in a stand of old maple, birch, and hemlock on a spacious lot, its cottage-style architecture giving it a cozy, welcoming feel.

  “I’ll have to buy a snowblower to keep the driveway neat, like it is now,” she said. “Plows make such a mess of everything.”

  Cam arched an eyebrow. “Moved in already, have we?”

  Elizabeth came out of the house, and Megan opened the back door of her truck to release Joel from his car seat. “Will someone please explain why they make these buckles so hard to open?” she grumbled, fighting the buckles.

  Elizabeth pulled Megan out of the way and reached inside. “So the kids can’t unfasten them. Hey, big boy,” she said with a laugh, straightening with her son in her arms. “Has Auntie Cam been feeding you crayons again?”

  “Go potty,” Joel said, wiggling to get down.

  “Inside, not in the snowbank!” Beth said, rushing to catch him, then steering him toward the house.

  “What is it with little boys and yellow snow?” Megan called after her.

  “That’s his father’s doing!” Beth called back, scooping up her son to carry him up the steps. “Walter’s been teaching Joel to write his name in the snow.”

  “You’re having a girl,” Camry declared as they walked up the path to the house. “You can teach her all about your plants and animals, and I’ll teach her to drive a spaceship.”

  “Before or after she’s potty trained?” Megan asked—only to go utterly still the moment she stepped into the home of her dreams. “Oh my God,” she whispered, trying to take it all in. “It’s perfect.”

  The interior had an open floor plan, the kitchen and living area combined into one large room divided by a counter peninsula. The walls were time-mellowed knotty pine, the hearth supporting the red enamel woodstove was made of river stone, and the floor, except for a small slate area at the entrance, was rock maple.

  There wasn’t any furniture and no curtains covered the expansive windows facing the lake, which made the place feel amazingly large—despite the fact that the entire house would probably fit in Gù Brath’s living room.

  “I guess you like it,” a woman said. “I’m Joan Quimby. I taught class across the hall from Beth,” she explained, holding out her hand.

  “Why are you leaving this beautiful place?” Megan asked, returning the handshake.

  “Bob and I are moving to Germany. I’m going to teach English to third graders and Bob will teach high school math. Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the house.” She headed toward a door on the left side of the living room. “There are two bedrooms down here with a shared bath, and two more upstairs with another full bath.” Joan stopped inside the lakeside bedroom and smiled apologetically. “The ones downstairs are a bit small, but I like having the larger living area.”

  “Is there a deck facing the lake?” Megan asked, walking to the French doors on the back wall of the bedroom.

  Joan flicked a switch and light flooded a snow-covered deck running the width of the house, as well as a large yard studded with old-growth trees.

  “I see a dock pulled up on shore,” Megan said. “Do you have a boat?”

  “Yes, a pontoon boat. It’s parked on the other side of the house, covered in snow.”

  “Are you planning to sell it?”

  “In the spring. Paul Dempsey over at PowerSports is going to come get it once the snow melts, and put it on his lot on consignment.”

  “Tell him not to bother,” Megan said, walking back into the living room to find Chelsea and Camry, at the counter, reading what must be the lease.

  Meg walked up and took the paper from them. “I’m not renting this house,” she said, smiling at their startled expressions. “I’m buying it.” She looked at Joan. “When are you and Bob leaving?”

  Joan seemed even more shocked. “Um, we’re driving to Boston tomorrow and flying out the day after that.” She waved at the empty house. “You want to buy it? But you haven’t even seen the upstairs.”

  “I’ve seen enough. Anything more is just a bonus. I’ll write you a check right now for your asking price, if you throw in the boat.”

  “Meg,” Camry said, “what are you doing? Your job is going to last less than a year.”

  “It doesn’t matter where my work might eventually take me; I still need a home base. I’ll sell my condo in Boston and move up here permanently.”

  “Meg, you need to think about this,” Chelsea interjected. “You can’t just walk into a house and buy it in five minutes.”

  “Why not?”

  Nobody had a good answer to that.

  “Then it’s settled,” Meg said, holding out her hand to Joan.

  Joan pumped Megan’s arm excitedly. “Bob will be thrilled! We never thought we’d sell this place in the middle of the winter.” She took the lease and tore it up with a laugh. “You’re going to love it here, Megan. The sunrises are beautiful.”

  The muted whine of a high-performance engine echoed off the bare walls, and the four women followed Joel over to the lakeside windows. A snowmobile shot out from the end of the point, and went zooming past the front of the house in a cloud of snow colored white and red from the head- and taillights.

  “That must be our new police chief,” Joan said. “He moved into the Watson place about a week ago. I saw him driving what looked like a fancy new snowmobile when he came home just before dark.”

  “Snow-bile!” Joel shouted, jumping up and down.

  Chelsea nudged Megan with her elbow. “Maybe he’ll give you a ride if you ask him real nice.”

  Megan walked back to the counter to dig through her purse for her checkbook. “You can deposit this tomorrow,” she said to Joan as she started to fill out the check. “It’s from my money market account. Um…how much?”

  Her face turning a bit pink, Joan named a figure that made Megan suck in her breath. “I guess I haven’t been paying much attention to the real estate market lately. Ah, how about I make this out, but you give me three or four days to transfer some funds?”

  “Good grief, Meg, this isn’t like buying a toaster,” Chelsea said, walking up to the counter. “Make the check out to my law firm in Bangor, and we’ll hold the money in escrow while the paperwork is being done. A deed has to be drawn up, and clear title to the property needs to be researched.” She looked at Joan. “Do you and Bob have a lawyer?”

  “No. We were going to hire a real estate broker and let them take care of that stuff.”

  “Then if you don’t mind, my law firm can act on both Megan’s and your behalf.”

  “Is that legal?” Beth asked, bending down to pick up Joel.

  “It’s sort of a gray area,” Chelsea said. “But this is a simple transaction, since Meg won’t have to obtain financing. Why don’t you and Bob stop in my office on your way through Bangor tomorrow, Joan? I’ll call them in the morning and have someone sta
rt the paperwork for you.” Chelsea took the check from Megan and handed it to Joan. “Give them this, and you may consider your house sold.”

  “When can I move in?” Megan asked.

  “You should probably wait until the deed is signed,” Chelsea said. “But it’s up to Joan and Bob.”

  Joan picked up the keys on the counter and handed them to Megan. “After twenty-eight years of marriage, I know what Bob’s going to say. Welcome home, Megan and baby,” she said, lightly patting Megan’s belly. “This is a wonderful place to raise children.”

  Chapter Five

  Even though there were disadvantages to having a large, overprotective family, there were also some very nice perks when one was five months’ pregnant and moving into a new house. While everyone had an opinion on what she needed to do and how she should do it, no one would let her lift anything heavier than her laptop. The only responsibility she’d had was to direct traffic when she and four large MacBain and MacKeage cousins went down to Boston and emptied her condo, and then stand back and watch them unload the truck in Maine.

  Camry had decided that what was happening in Frog Cove was much more interesting than her work in Florida right now, considering that her latest attempt to harness ion propulsion had failed. Her job was somewhat an independent position; NASA supplied the lab and Camry contributed the brainpower. So Cam had called whomever she answered to and told them she was extending her vacation another week.

  Great. It had been only three days since Megan had purchased her cozy little cottage, and she was ready to strangle her sister. Camry kept insisting she climb right back on the horse she’d fallen off when Wayne Ferris had broken her heart.

  “I am not going over there with a pie you baked, to ask for a date,” Megan told her for the fourth time in as many minutes. Camry had actually baked an apple pie for Meg to present to her neighbor! Megan plopped into a chair in front of her still curtainless window facing the lake and glared at her sister. “And besides, what do you suppose his reaction will be when he sees my belly? He’s going to wonder what sort of woman gets knocked up by one man, then starts looking for a replacement before the kid’s even born.”

  “I’m not asking you to propose to the guy,” Cam countered. “I’m only following up on Chelsea’s suggestion to use him for practice.”

  “She made that suggestion to you.”

  “Camry, leave your sister alone,” Grace said, walking out of the bedroom, her arms full of packing material. “Meg doesn’t want to date anyone. She wants Wayne.”

  “Good God,” Cam said in a strangled voice, jumping to her feet. “You’re hoping Ferris will come after her. You think he’s going to show up here any day now, hat in hand, and beg her to take him back.”

  Megan also jumped up, horrified. “Mom! Is that true?”

  “It’s been four months,” Camry said. “He’s not coming.”

  “Is it true?” Megan repeated. “All this time, you’ve been thinking Wayne’s going to suddenly show up here?”

  “Would you take him back if he did?” Grace asked softly.

  “No!” Cam said before Megan could. “The bastard broke her heart!”

  Grace continued looking at Megan.

  Megan shook her head.

  “But what if Wayne realizes he made a mistake?” Grace asked. “You two had only known each other a little over a month, camping in tents out on the tundra in an isolated corner of the world.” She set the packing material down and walked up to Megan. “What if once Wayne got back to his empty home, he realized he needs you in his life? What if he’s been as miserable as you’ve been?”

  “You have no idea of the things he said to me that day.” Megan took a shuddering breath. “Wayne made it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with me or our child. I begged him, Mama, to give us a chance, but it was like he suddenly turned into a completely different person. I—I actually became afraid of him,” she whispered. “I couldn’t pack my bags and get out of there fast enough.”

  “What do ye mean, you were afraid of him?” Her father came out of the bedroom carrying several collapsed boxes. He dropped them by the door and walked up to Megan, taking hold of her shoulders. “Did he hurt you, daughter?”

  “No, Daddy. He just…” She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned against his chest with a sigh. “He just turned into somebody I didn’t like anymore.”

  Jack sat on his snowmobile and sipped hot cocoa from his Thermos. He was parked on the lake about a hundred yards from shore, the moonless night making him nearly invisible while offering him a perfect view of what was going on inside his neighbor’s living room.

  He’d finally figured out how to approach her, but he was no closer to catching Megan alone than he was to catching whoever had broken into the bakery. He could accept not making any headway on the vandals, considering that every doughnut addict within fifty miles of Pine Creek had left their fingerprints in that bakery, and forensics still hadn’t identified that foul-smelling slime.

  As for Megan, Jack couldn’t believe his luck when Bob and Joan Quimby had come over to say good-bye and told him that a lovely woman named Megan MacKeage had purchased their house. And by the way, she was five months’ pregnant and single, so could he maybe keep an eye on her?

  But she was always surrounded by people. Megan had enough aunts and uncles and cousins and in-laws to populate a small city; he’d been tripping over MacBains and MacKeages in town for the last two weeks. And her only unmarried sister, Camry, was staying at her house at night.

  Jack figured his legendary patience would survive only two or three more days before he got desperate enough to kidnap the woman. He really hated it when a hunt ended that way; things had a tendency to get messy, and he always felt he’d somehow failed. He snorted. Catching their new police chief with a local lady bound and gagged in his cruiser would certainly go over well with the fine folks who’d hired him.

  Assuming Greylen MacKeage didn’t kill him on sight.

  “What year was Wayne born, and where?” Cam asked.

  Megan added a handful of marshmallows to her cocoa, then turned to look at her sister sitting on the couch. Their parents had left twenty minutes ago, and Megan and Camry had declared a truce—for now. “Why?”

  “I’m Googling him, but apparently Wayne Ferris is a popular name.” Cam continued typing on the laptop sitting on the coffee table. “It would help if I knew when and where he was born.”

  Megan walked over and sat down to look at the screen, intrigued despite herself. “Why are you searching Wayne?”

  Cam shrugged. “Just curious. Where’s he from?”

  “Alberta, Canada. He lives a couple hundred miles northeast of Edmonton…in Medicine Lake, I think he said.”

  “Oohhh, he likes it cold and remote, does he? Maybe that’s where he buries the bodies,” Cam said, making a frightened face as she hit a few more buttons.

  “When did Wayne graduate to being a serial killer? I told you, he isn’t violent.”

  “Most serial killers aren’t, outwardly. Haven’t you seen those interviews with neighbors saying how they can’t believe it, that ‘he was such a nice, quiet man’?” Cam turned to Megan. “I understand why you wouldn’t have said anything to Mom and Dad, but it’s just you and me now. So when Wayne suddenly changed into a different person, did he get rough with you?”

  “He got…At first he just stared in disbelief when I told him I was pregnant, then he hugged me, and then he turned around and walked out without saying a word. I have no idea where he slept that night. The next morning he showed up at the kitchen, led me by the hand to his tent, and told me to pack up my stuff and get the hell out of there before sunset.”

  “With no explanation?”

  “None.” Megan blew on her cocoa, staring off into space. “He refused to even talk about the baby that morning. He was so frighteningly soft-spoken. You know, like how Dad gets when he’s really mad at one of us and is trying not to explode?”

&n
bsp; “He only gets like that when we do something dumb that he thinks is dangerous. He’s reacting out of fear.”

  “Exactly. I think Wayne was scared to death, once he realized what having a baby meant. Mom was right; we were in an isolated little world of our own for those six weeks. And when he thought about us returning to civilization, he panicked.”

  “So the weasel showed his true colors.” Camry started typing again. “I know it doesn’t feel like it right now, Meg, but you’re better off without the jerk. You still didn’t say if he hit you or not.”

  “He didn’t hit me.” Megan stood and walked to the window. “But he sure as hell scared me.” She turned back to Cam. “And you know I don’t scare easy. But there had been an accident two days before I discovered I was pregnant, and the tension in camp was high for everyone. One of the Canadian government workers who was monitoring our study died.”

  “How? You were counting geese and caribou, for Pete’s sake. What could possibly happen in the middle of the tundra?”

  “We don’t know how it happened. Somebody found the guy lying facedown in a small pond. He had apparently drowned during the night.”

  “And you’re thinking that’s why Wayne reacted the way he did?”

  Megan shrugged. “If so, it doesn’t explain why I haven’t heard from him since.”

  “Exactly,” Cam said, looking back at the screen.

  “Hey, how are you getting on the Internet, anyway? I haven’t had a phone installed yet.”

  “The whole house is wi-fi. Joan and Bob had a high-speed cable connection, and they must have forgotten to shut it off. So you’ve got cable TV, too.” Camry made a sound of disgust. “I’ve found your Wayne Ferris, but the info on him only goes back five years.”

  Megan returned to the couch, studying what Cam had found. “That’s him. He went to undergraduate school in British Columbia and got his master’s degree in Toronto.” She reached over and scrolled down the page, reading what little was there. “I wonder why there’s nothing else?”