Death Angel (39 page)

“About twenty minutes more and we’ll be
there,” Mike said as she groggily stared out the window at the passing scenery.
“I leave my car at the marina where I keep my boat.”

Kate had been amazed to discover that
Mike’s place was located in the middle of a marsh. The only way to get to his
cabin was by boat. For a man who treasured the amenities of life, she couldn’t
wait to see how he handled a more rudimentary existence.

“There’s the lake,” Mike said, pointing
to a break in the trees.

Kate sighed with pleasure at the huge
expanse of water. In the July sunshine the foliage on the shoreline picked up a
golden tone, accented by the shimmering blue-green of the water.
 

She noticed that as they traveled
farther north, the number of boats and water skiers lessened. Through the trees
she could see houses along the shore, but these too thinned out as the ground
got lower. The undergrowth thickened, cutting off her view of the lake. A few
minutes later they turned into a road marked by a painted sign announcing Rice
Resort and Marina.

A sprawling log building perched on the
edge of a small bay with the lake beyond. A wooden deck, facing the water, ran
the length of the building. Planked walkways led down to the marina. Mike
pulled the car up beside a metal shed.

Kate got out, sniffing the lake air.
After the air-conditioned drive, it was like stepping into a sauna. The weather
bureau had predicted the mid-nineties and she thought it was close to that.
Despite her white shorts and yellow cotton shirt, she was hot. She was grateful
for the steady breeze off the lake.
 

The marina was a busy place. Boats were
being gassed up at an ancient pump, while cars with trailers were lined up at
the ramp ready to put in or haul out boats. At a touch on her arm, she turned
and followed Mike into the tavern.

“Must be a hellava wind, Doctor Mike, to
blow you all the way up here.”

The words accompanied by a cackle of
laughter boomed across the room. Coming in from the bright sunlight, Kate
blinked several times before she was able to locate the speaker.
 

A tall, weather-beaten woman came around
the end of the bar. She had a loose-jointed, shambling walk. Apparently years
in the outdoors had taught her there was no need to hurry. Somewhere in her
early seventies, her hair was white.
 

Kate hung back as the woman shook hands
with Mike, pounding his shoulder in greeting. She was wearing a man’s
button-down oxford cloth shirt tucked into oversized jeans. Old white sneakers
completed the picture.

When Mike drew Kate forward, she found
herself staring into the steadiest, clearest blue eyes she’d ever seen. She
held out her hand, unsurprised by the strong grip of the older woman. Kate
guessed she’d probably never been beautiful but her face had character, the
seamed and creased skin resembling tanned leather.

“I’m Daisy Rice. Just plain Daisy to
most folks.” She herded them toward the bar, setting out ice-cold bottles of
beer. “About time you got here, Doc. Your boat’s all gassed and ready to go.
We’ll fix you up with ice and some beer before you leave.” She turned her
attention to Kate. “Did he tell you how godforsaken his place is, honey?”

Kate laughed. “Mike says it’s just like
camping.”

“Except there are more mosquitoes,”
Daisy added.

Since it was lunchtime, they ordered
hamburgers and fries. Kate hadn’t had much breakfast, so she was starving. She
didn’t say much during lunch, listening contentedly to the banter between Daisy
and Mike. Lake conditions and a hot spot for bluegills were noted, but much of
the discussion centered on the location of a new marina across the lake, and
whether it would bring more people to the north end.
 

After lunch, Mike got the cooler to ice
down the beer. Outside, a fourteen-foot aluminum boat was tied in the slip
closest to the shore. Trying to stay out of the way while Mike loaded the boat,
Kate walked to the end of the pier and looked out over the water.
 

“It’s a beautiful sight,” Daisy said at
her elbow. “I never tire of looking at the water.”

Kate hadn’t heard the woman’s approach,
but nodded in agreement. “How long have you been here?” she asked, without
taking her eyes off the water.

“Thirty-three years. This end of the
lake hasn’t changed that much since my husband and I bought the place. The
south end’s another matter all together. Regular honky-tonk. Water slides, sleazy
bars, and noise.”

“From the sound of it, I’ll take this
end. I like peace and quiet.”

“Mike’s place is closer to comatose. Who
knows? If you can stand it, you’ll get a good rest. It looks like the ends of
the earth and it’s a pain to get to but funnily enough it’s not that far away.
Couple years back ’round Fourth of July some kids found the place and decided
to have a party. Got a little noisy, drinkin’ and shootin’ off firecrackers.
Woke me up. My nephew’s a cop, so I called him. About two in the morning, I led
him and a batch of his buddies right to the door of the cabin.”

“Must have been quite a surprise for the
boys.”

“Right you are, honey. They’d been
skinny-dipping and were sound asleep. You shoulda seen them staggering around
bare-ass naked, looking for their clothes. Haven’t seen that many dimpled
cheeks since.”

Kate’s chuckle echoed Daisy’s amusement.
“It was lucky for Mike you heard them.”
 

“Believe me. Nothin’ goes on around this
lake I don’t know about. Night or day.” Her words sounded like a pledge. She
paused, then continued in a softer tone. “I met your husband a couple times.
Liked him. So did my husband, Ham.”

“Thanks,” Kate said, surprised that
Daisy knew who she was. Mike must have filled her in.

“Death’s never easy. Fast or slow, it
don’t seem to make much difference. My husband passed three years ago. Heart.
Still miss the old bastard. Everyone around here knew Hamilton Rice. World was
empty when he died. Seemed like nothing would ever fill the void.”

Kate turned to face the older woman,
grinning when she saw the red and black plaid wool hunting cap.

“It was Ham’s,” Daisy said, noticing the
direction of Kate’s glance. “I wear it winter or summer. Started wearing his
clothes, too. Everything ’cept the shoes are his. The shirts fit okay but the
pants and belts run big. Wearing his stuff makes me think he’s somewhere
close.”

“Does it get better?”
 

Daisy tilted her head, staring at Kate
beneath the peak of her cap. “Usually I say yes to that question, but I think
you’re smart enough to have figured out that it never does. A little more
endurable, maybe. At my age, it’s just a matter of killing time until I join
him.”
 

Instinctively Kate put her hand on the
woman’s arm. It was a gesture of understanding. Daisy smiled and pressed her
fingers in acknowledgment.

“I know what it’s like to grieve for a
child. Buried two of my kids, so at times I get a bit impatient at how long
I’ve been hanging around. A month ago I got word I’ve got cancer. Honest to
God, Kate, all I could feel was relief.”

Kate knew better than to offer sympathy.
She stood beside her, mutely honoring Daisy’s disclosure. Mike’s call brought
them back to the present, and they walked back to the boat in companionable
silence.

“The car’s locked,” Mike said, handing
Daisy the keys. “We’ll be back either Sunday or Monday.”

“I’ll be here,” Daisy said. “And if the
fishing’s no good, come on back for dinner. Tonight’s fish fry.”

Mike snorted. “The local Icelandic
cod?”
 

“You wish.”

By the time Mike and Kate were seated and
added the cooler full of beer and pop, the boat was riding perilously close to
the waterline.

“You’d think a rich doctor could afford
a bigger boat,” Daisy commented, blue eyes alight with amusement. “Better keep
that bailing can close to hand, Kate. One wrong move and you’ll go down like a
rock.”

“We’ll see you in a couple days,” Mike
shouted above the roar of the engine.

Daisy touched the peak of the plaid cap
in a salute. Kate waved, her hair whipping wildly around her face. Mike eased
the boat between the buoys marking the channel into the main part of the lake
and then opened the throttle. Kate watched Daisy and the marina grow smaller
then turned to face forward, squinting her eyes against the wind-tossed spray.

To Kate, the marshy area appeared to
have few landmarks. Tree stumps, cattails, and marsh grass grew up through the
water and in some places it was so shallow she could see the mud bottom. She
turned to Mike in apprehension. In his shorts and open-neck shirt, he looked
younger and more carefree than he had in a long time.
 

He seemed to know exactly where to go
although she couldn’t detect a channel. As they moved deeper into the marsh,
she felt far removed from the resort atmosphere of the lake. The quiet was
oppressive. Even the motor sound was muted.

“There it is,” Mike said.

They had been traveling through an alley
of tall grass when suddenly the channel opened up onto an enclosed lagoon
dotted with weed beds. Off to the right, a muddy beach slipped backward in a
gentle incline toward a flat, open portion of dry land. At the back, the
undergrowth was thick, interspersed with tall jack pines and shorter, fuller
evergreens. Tucked in under the trees, Kate could see a small log cabin. With
its center door and a screened window on either side, it looked like a house
drawn by a child.
 

Mike increased the speed, pointing the
boat toward the bank. He cut the motor so that as the stern lifted, the
momentum carried the boat to the shore, grounding it against the mud bank.

“It’s not exactly the Ritz Carlton,” he
said, voice loud in the surrounding silence.
 

“I feel as if we’re entirely cut off
from civilization,” Kate whispered, eyes darting around the area. “How on earth
did you find this place?”

He leaned over to take off his sneakers.
“My first year in Chicago, one of the other interns, Ben Kendall, invited me up
for a weekend. I couldn’t believe that anything this private could exist twenty
minutes away from a busy resort area.”

“I suppose it’s good fishing back here,”
Kate ventured.

“Surprisingly not. Otherwise it would be
crawling with fishermen. Ben told me something about a chemical leaking into
the water in the area, but I don’t know if that’s true. All I know is fishing’s
lousy back here. When he moved out east, he sold me the place.”

Barefoot, he stepped over the side of
the boat. Although he sank into the mud, the water only came up to his knees.
He walked to the bow, grabbed the metal frame and heaved the boat up onto the
land until three quarters of it was out of the water. Without ceremony, he
picked up Kate, deposited her on the shore, then headed for the cabin.

The ground was hard packed. She walked
up the rise, following Mike to the front door. He unlocked the padlock, pulled
the door open, and cautiously peeked inside.

“The first time I came up here, a family
of raccoons had taken possession. The mother was plenty pissed at our
intrusion. We had a hellava time getting her and the babies out.”

Kate stood in the doorway while he did
his inspection and opened the windows. The interior was roughly twelve by
fifteen feet, divided into two rooms. The furniture in the main room consisted
of a rectangular wooden table, four chairs, and a long wooden shelf along the
wall. The back room was smaller. All she could see were two metal cots.

“I’ve tried to keep it simple. The only
improvements I’ve made were the windows and screens. The mosquitoes around here
are the size of tanks.” He looked at her standing in the doorway and for the
first time seemed to sense her uneasiness. His brow furrowed. “You look
worried. I hope this isn’t too rustic.”

She shook her head. “No. I remember
Richard telling me about the place, but I thought he was exaggerating. I didn’t
imagine it being so, uh secluded,” she said, although she thought isolated was
a better description.

“That’s the beauty of it,” he said. Then
realizing that her comment might not be a compliment, he grinned. “It’s
deceptive. This marsh winds around behind Daisy’s place. We’re really not that
far from civilization. Once you’re used to the place, I think you’ll like it.”

“Don’t count on it.” She smiled to take
the sting out of her words. She couldn’t understand why he found the place
appealing.

“Well, let’s get unpacked,” Mike said.
“Then I’ll take you for a tour of the lake before dinner.”

In the back room Kate found a broom, and
once she’d brushed away cobwebs and opened windows, the musty smell dissipated.
She spread the bedrolls on the cots and the two duffle bags on the shelf along
the wall.

“You’d better wear long pants tonight.
The mosquitoes are vicious after dark,” Mike shouted from the main room.