Trove (The Katie Walsh Mysteries) (35 page)

She raked her fingers through her hair, tugging at the roots trying to concentrate on the pain instead of what this bizarre tale was leading to. “Why should I believe you? That you didn’t sign off on the inspection? Give me one good reason.”

“There was a phone log that proves I was in Honduras when I called Peru to let your parents know I’d be delayed. The call went through a satellite link and landed in their voicemail. I was able to pull in a few favors and extract your father’s cell phone. The voicemail was still there and I have independent verification that I was in Honduras when the call was made.” He eyed her warily. “The time was twenty minutes before the accident.”

Katie’s voice shook as she said, “I put their belongings in storage years ago. Are you telling me you broke into my storage unit and took the phone?”

He dropped his gaze. “Yes, I’m sorry, but I paid someone to retrieve it. It proves I wasn’t in Peru when the inspection was signed. I wasn’t responsible, Katie.
I swear to God I wasn’t responsible
. It was two years ago when I finally had the proof, only the damage was done to my career. For my own sanity at least, I finally have proof that I was set up.”

Katie didn’t acknowledge what he’d said. She couldn’t process the information. She didn’t know what to believe anymore. It was too much to suddenly acknowledge the possibility that the villain she loathed, hated for the last ten years, the man seated across the table from her might conceivably be a victim just like her. She tucked it away to deal with it later. There were still answers she needed. “Why did you fake your death and send Alec on this hollow quest for justice? The fact that he hasn’t uncovered your murderer is eating him up, not that I think you give a damn.”

He leaned back in the chair, balancing himself on the two back chair legs and stared at her. She had a sudden urge to raise her foot and push the chair back, crashing him to the floor, make him feel some pain in retribution for all the misery he’d brought into her life. Instead, she sat in the chair opposite him and stared right back at him. She wasn’t going to back down this time. She was done with him haunting her. It was time to face her demons and cast them aside.

“Do you believe in fate, Katie?”

“Not sure what you mean.”

“Do you believe things happen for a reason, that there’s no such thing as a coincidence?”

“I don’t believe in coincidences, so yeah, I guess I do believe in fate.” She scowled. “A sick joke on a cosmic scale where evil seems to beat the odds most days.”

“That’s rather cynical.”

Katie raised an eyebrow. “After what’s happened in my life and the fact that
you
seem to be involved yet again, it has to be a sick joke. Now tell me why you faked your death.”

He exhaled loudly. “It happened rather quickly. I didn’t have much time to prepare.” He rubbed his hand over his eyes. “After my last meeting with my partner, I knew my time was running out. He was going to cut off my funding. I had little to show for all the treasures I’d successfully tracked down over the years.”

“How sad for you,” she replied snidely.

“He is a man who detests lose ends. He takes great pains that nothing is traceable back to him. I had become a loose end. I needed to be ‘cleaned.’”

She gulped. “What do you mean cleaned?”

“Disposed of, eliminated, made to disappear. Pick one.”

“You expect me to believe that rubbish? That only happens in the movies.”

He shook his head. “I was headed back to Duntulm after our last meeting. I was driving along the coast near the mountains. As I was rounding a curve on the outside lane, a truck came from the opposite direction but he was in my lane. I hit the brakes as he veered to the inside lane. The brakes worked, but they were soft. There was little resistance when I slammed my foot on the pedal.” He leaned forward, the chair legs now firmly on the floor. He stood and began to walk around the cottage. “I should have stopped right there, but I didn’t. I had a crazy idea that, even if no one had tampered with the brake line, I could use its faulty condition to my benefit. I knew that not too far ahead was Witch’s Brew, the seething maelstrom of pounding waves. I knew that if I left evidence that my car went over the cliff, I might just pull off my presumed death.” He stopped by the door and opened it, looking out into the dark.

A darkness that matched his troubled soul
, she thought. She rose and walked toward him. “And then what, you pushed the car off the cliff?”

He laughed ruefully. “Not really.” His gaze roamed the horizon.

She stopped breathing for a moment as she realized he was alone just like she was. Two damaged souls looking for salvation. She swallowed the cold night air as her breathing resumed. “So?”

“As I headed into the curve, I braked, only this time there was no resistance. I couldn’t correct the position, couldn’t get to the inside lane.” He blew out his breath, watching it turn to smoke-like tendrils when it met the cool night air. “I barely had seconds to get out before I went over the cliff with it. I made sure there was no one around and then I headed off the road, into hiding, waiting for an investigation, and hoping that ultimately I’d be declared dead.”

The silence between them spanned more than just time. It joined them on some obscure level. She studied him as he stared off into the night. Finally, she stepped back as he turned and walked into the cottage, closing and securing the door.

“I don’t understand something,” she said.

“What?”

“Why didn’t you contact Alec and let him know you were alive? He’s been trying for nine months to decipher the runes in hopes of drawing out your murderer. He put his personal safety, his life,
and mine
on the line. Why?”

He swept his hand through his hair. “I told you. I’m a desperate man. I have no resources, no credit cards, no cell phone, no legitimate identification.” He looked intensely at her. “I’m off the grid.
Dead
.”

“You could’ve called collect. I believe they still do that. No one would know it was you.”

He shook his head. “Alec would know the minute he heard me. I couldn’t take the chance that my partner hadn’t monitored my emails and knew Alec had my notes, my real notes, and might have Alec under surveillance. I don’t know who the Doctor really is. I couldn’t warn Alec about him. But I knew Alec eventually would end up here. I had to let him unravel what I was working on.”

“But he couldn’t do that, not without outside help. He commissioned two translations and got crap. He started searching for more help, perhaps raising a red flag, alerting your partner that someone was searching for Norland by way of a runic translation.” She closed her hands into tight fists but kept them at her sides. She clenched her teeth and said, “You let all the danger head his way. You practically made sure there was a neon sign pointing over him
and me
.”

“It was a chance I had to take. I had no options. I knew he was resourceful enough to figure it out, or find the right person to help. I knew his brother Robert had virtually unlimited access at the Nordstrom Institute and I knew you were there, so some way I knew he’d figure it out.”

There it was again. He admitted he knew about her, knew who she was and that she worked at the Institute. But how? She tightened her fists, feeling her nails cut into her palms. “So as long as you got what you needed, you didn’t give a damn what happened to him or anyone working with him.”

“I didn’t think my partner would realize what was going on until after Alec puzzled it out and then showed up here in Duntulm.”

So she was right. They were in Duntulm. Alec would head this way knowing that was the key, the answer was here. She prayed he’d find her soon. She relaxed her fists, but kept them clenched. “Why didn’t you get in touch with Alec when we showed up in Portree?”

“I was planning on it. I’d driven in and was waiting for the hotel to open. I didn’t want to take a chance and call him, so I waited outside,” Josh said matter-of-factly.

“Only instead, I came tumbling out in the pre-dawn.”

He nodded. “I recognized you and when you headed for the waterfront, I followed.”

She rubbed her forehead. “So why the lies, why not tell me who you were, what you wanted?”

“Would you have believed me? I was dead, remember? Plus I didn’t know if Alec had told you I was Andrew Mason. I had to figure out something quick. I had to isolate you, buy myself some time.”

Katie glared at him. “Suppose, just for a moment, that I buy into this web you’re spinning. Explain the chloroform?” She shuddered involuntarily. “Do you always have it on you… in case you don’t get lucky?”

“No. I had it in case neither of you would cooperate. I hadn’t seen Alec in almost ten years. I wasn’t sure that once he found out I was alive and didn’t contact him and, in fact, was using him…” He drummed his thumb on the edge of the table. “I was prepared to take you with me. It’s your expertise I needed.”

Katie shook her head, trying to understand him. “This is incredible. You expect me to believe that?”

Josh bowed his head. “Katie, I’m not proud of what I did, but what other choice did I have?”

“You could have asked him.”

“As I said, I would have except your premature arrival
…”

She tilted her head. “There’s something else, Josh. What aren’t you telling me?”

“I have a contact at the Institute who told me about the attempted abduction in Boston. I knew you might put up enough of a fight to draw attention. So I that’s why I had the chloroform. But I didn’t have anything to do with Boston. Someone must have found out about you and what you were working on, but I swear it wasn’t from me or my contact. I’d stake my life on it.”

“Who’s your contact, Josh? Who’s spying for you, passing on information—” The answer slammed into her, knocking the air out of her lungs. She gasped for air, her knuckles white from her death grip on the table edge.
Lucy Millar.
She knew Alec back in his post-graduate days. She must have known Josh. Lucy watched her every move. Was she working for Josh’s partner… or was she the blackmailer?
Her heart raced and then skipped a beat. She started to rise, the room spinning around her. She felt his hands around her, holding her, and then she slipped into darkness.

Alec embraced his brother in a bear hug. “Thanks for coming,” he said hoarsely. He stepped backed. “Willie, Laura. I’m glad you’re here.”

“Any word?” Willie asked as he set his bags down.

Alec shook his head. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

Laura eyed Alec as she stood next to Willie. She planted her hand on her hip. “Just what the hell were you doing to Katie?”

Alec glanced around. Though there was no one in the lobby as it was now almost midnight, he didn’t want to get into this with her. “I think we should continue this upstairs.”

She sighed. “You’re right. Just let me check-in and drop my stuff off in my room.”

“Uh, about that…” Alec began.

Laura glared at him. “What? Just spit it out.”

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a lot like Katie?” She narrowed her eyes but said nothing. “Well, they didn’t have any vacancies so we’re all in one room.”

“What?” Laura, Willie, and Robert responded as one.

“Relax,” Alec replied. “There are two queen-size beds and it’s only for one night.” Alec turned and headed to the room, not sure he wanted to see the looks on their faces.

“Robert and I will take that bed,” Alec said as he pointed to the one already turned down as they stepped into the room. “Laura and Willie can take the other one.” He looked at Laura. Her arms were crossed. She was scowling at him. “Is there a problem, Laura?”

She rolled her eyes. “Where do I begin?”

Willie gently pushed Laura away and toward the other bed. “Let’s calm down and get some rest. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow when we’ll be headin’ to Duntulm in the mornin’. Alec, did ya get the gear and the coordinates from Eric?”

“All set.”

“Good, then let’s get some shut eye.”

****

Katie’s eyelids fluttered as she tried to gauge the brightness in the room before she opened them. The light was dim, the room cool and quiet. The only sound she could make out was her breathing… and his. She rolled her stiff body towards him and opened her eyes.

“You okay?” he asked.

Katie raised her hand to her forehead. “I think so. What happened?”

“You blacked out. It was weird. You just stopped breathing, and then when I held you, you collapsed. I laid you on the bed and opened the window to cool the room and give you some fresh air. Do you feel all right?”

She was exhausted, emotionally wrung out as well as sleep deprived. She didn’t think she had the strength to stand at this point. “I’m tired.”

He stood over her. “Sure. I’ll leave you alone. I’ll take the sofa.” He started to leave.

“Josh?”

He stopped and faced her.

“What happens now? Am I free to go?”