Читать книгу Meg Harris Mysteries 7-Book Bundle - R.J. Harlick - Страница 26

After removing all the branches from the trunk, Eric and I tackled the broken ones scattered along the fall line of the giant tree. By this time, my back was complaining in earnest over the constant bending and pulling. I decided it was time for lunch, and no sooner did I have the words out than Eric, rubbing his own back, had his saw turned off and was lying on the ground. I wasn’t such a wimp after all.

“Meg, you missed one hell of a day yesterday,” Eric mused a little later as he sipped a steaming hot mug of soup.

We sat with our backs against a sun-warmed timber wall, out of the wind that the storm’s demise had ushered in.

Drawing an obvious conclusion, I asked, “What’s CanacGold up to now?” I cupped my hands around my mug to keep them warm.

“Get a pair of binoculars and have a look at the northern tip of Whispers Island,” Eric replied grimly.

With the naked eye, I could only see a line of dots, but with the aid of the binoculars, a military camp sprang into view. Except in this case it was a mining camp with a large red and gold flag flapping from a pole and a row of neatly staked white tents, which covered a strip of land where yesterday trees had stood.

“How did they get there?” I shot back in dismay. “I thought we’d blocked CanacGold’s access to the island.”

“That’s all they managed to get onto the island,” he replied. “And then we stopped them.” Two dimples erupted as he began telling the story.

“I was checking out one of the fishing sites early yesterday morning, when this plane landed so close to me it almost capsized my boat. Once I saw the name CanacGold, I knew something was up, so I followed it to Whispers Island. While I waited to see what was going on, another one landed and taxied up beside the first.

“Soon they had a couple of Zodiacs running back and forth to the island carrying what looked to be equipment and supplies. By the time I was heading back to the camp to see how I could stop them, another plane landed. Looks like your ex didn’t waste any time in coming up with another solution, eh?”

“Yeah, well . . . what can I say. But since I don’t see any planes today, it looks as if you did succeed in stopping them.”

“That we did, but not the way you think.” Eric chuckled in that deep-throated manner I was beginning to realize was his way of facing life’s challenges. “It was John-Joe’s idea. Keep the buggers from landing. And that’s when the fun began.

“Figuring what did we have to lose, John-Joe and I and several others spread out across the lake to wait for the planes’ return. I wasn’t quite sure how we were going to do it, but when the first plane began its descent, John-Joe put his boat directly in its path. Next, all of us were buzzing over the water in ten different directions in an attempt to scare the pilot from landing. We circled around and around, going back and forth, almost hitting each other.”

Laughing, Eric flung his arms around to show the motion. I laughed with him.

“And we succeeded. The plane didn’t get within a hundred feet of the water before the pilot climbed back into the sky. He tried again, and so did the other plane, but each time they chickened out. It was very exhilarating, especially for an old guy like me. I haven’t had so much fun in years.”

“Nothing like trying to get yourselves killed,” I hazarded, thinking no one could pay me enough to be out there in a tiny boat with several tons of plane zooming towards me.

“John-Joe almost did,” Eric continued. “The pontoons of one of the planes barely missed his head when the pilot changed his mind at the last minute. It was touch and go whether the guy was going to keep the plane in the air, but he succeeded. The CanacGold guys tried to chase us away in their Zodiacs. But they only made it worse. Just added more boats to the fray. After that, the planes gave up and flew away.”

“Terrific! But what about today, and the next, and the next? Gareth won’t give up that easily,” I said.

The sound of a chainsaw drifted on the wind. I looked towards its source and saw a tree tumble close to the tents on Whispers Island. The rape had begun.

Eric turned his gaze in the same direction and nodded grimly. “Yeah, I see it. Hopefully they don’t have enough supplies to keep that up for long. We’re going to live on that damn lake. The moment a plane tries to land, we’ll do what we did yesterday. I’ve got five boats on the lake right now. If I need more, I’ll bring in more. See, there’s one of them now.”

He pointed to a large aluminum outboard emerging from behind the cliffs of Indian Point. I noticed two others in the middle of the lake, one with John-Joe’s bright orange cap. But, thankfully, there was no droning speck on the horizon to gear them into action.

“And where was Charlie Cardinal while all this was happening?” I asked.

Eric shrugged his shoulders. “Haven’t heard a peep from him, but I did get a nasty call from your ex. He threatened to send in the police, if we didn’t let them land their planes.”

“Sounds like his approach, call in heavies to do his dirty work.”

“Up to a little action, Meg? Why not join us tomorrow?”

“You’ve got to be kidding?”

“Why not? As dangerous as it might look, I’m convinced it’s safe. This is like the Oka blockade. If CanacGold injures or even kills one of us, the company would have a bigger problem on its hands than just trying to get supplies in.”

“You don’t know Gareth.”

“Sure I do, he’s like Charlie, a bully. Call his bluff, and he runs. So what do you say?”

“Okay,” I said, thinking I’d even pay to see him run again. “And speaking of Gareth, he’s got something else up his sleeve.” I told Eric about seeing Gareth with Senator Cannelli and the words I’d overheard in the parking lot.

“My instinct tells me these documents he mentioned are the missing registry files. And the fact they want to destroy them says they’re bad news for CanacGold. I see this as further evidence Whispers Island isn’t owned by the government. As for Aunt Aggie owning it, I’ve found nothing that points in that direction. Still, with all the secrets I’m discovering about her past you never can tell.”

“Just get a move on it, Meg. I don’t need to tell you we’re running out of time.”

I watched another tree topple. Within a week, they’d be approaching the giant pines.

“You know Eric, I’m confused about the motive for last night’s break-in when the only item taken was Aunt Aggie’s wedding picture.”

Eric turned his grey gaze back towards me. Frowning, he said, “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. He was searching for something too, something I might keep in my personal files or tucked away in my bedroom. He even checked under the mattress.”

“Any idea what it could be?”

“Not really. But I guess I’m beginning to realize that you aren’t the only person who thinks Aunt Aggie owned Whispers Island.”

Eric nodded. “Possibly. I’m sure I’m not the only one of my people to remember your aunt’s link to the island. Leave it with me. I’ll check it out.”

A sudden thought came to mind. “Charlie Cardinal wouldn’t happen to be one of those people, would he?”

Eric chuckled. “First person on my list.”

“There’s another interesting aspect to last night. Gareth was at the Fishing Camp about the time of the break-in. I wouldn’t be the least surprised to discover he had something to do with it. Especially if the guy last night turns out to be Charlie Cardinal.”

“Take care, Meg.”

“Strange. I don’t fear Gareth any more. You said it. He’s a bully. He lost his power to terrorize me the moment I finally I stood up to him.” And it was true. The feeling of tightness had gone.

We finished dismantling the tree by mid-afternoon. The trunk, far too heavy to move, I left for the local mill owner to cut up and take away. After helping me remove the broken glass and board up the kitchen window, Eric left, promising to return later to cook me a sumptuous dinner with one of the lake trout he was keeping for just such an occasion. I wasn’t sure what he meant by this latter statement but decided I’d leave tonight in the hands of the gods.

Despite my sore back, I couldn’t leave my vandalized cottage in its current state of confusion. I started with my bedroom. Not having Marie to goad me into folding my clothes neatly, I just jammed them back into the drawers. I’d worry about tidiness later. After replacing the mattress, I arranged the bedding as neatly as I could, even going so far as to fluff up the duvet and the pillows. I didn’t want to give a bad impression.

I then moved into the living room, which had suffered the worst damage. I wasn’t sure what to do about the sofa cushions. The size of the slashes suggested total replacement. I stacked them in the corner along with the damaged chair. I gathered up the scattered documents and shoved them back in the desk drawers.

As I cleaned, swept and put things back in their place, the outrage I’d felt last night returned. Outrage that someone had dared to break into my home, invade my privacy and scare me away. I cursed even louder when I saw the damage that he’d done to one of Aunt Aggie’s treasured antique end tables. The splintered mahogany fretwork and the cracked top suggested the intruder had just kicked it aside in his haste to leave.

While I was sweeping under one of the wing-backed chairs by the fireplace, I discovered a square of folded paper wedged underneath one of the curved wooden legs. Bending down to pick it up, I realized it might be the object I’d seen fall from behind Aunt Aggie’s wedding picture, the night it had shattered on the hearth.

I carefully unfolded the thin sheet of brittle paper and spread it out on the coffee table. It contained a letter written in thick ink now faded to a soft sepia. The sharpness of the creases suggested she’d re-read it many times.

At the top right-hand corner was the word Berlin and underneath 4 May, 1914. The rest of the letter filled the page.

My Dearest Agatha

Or as I prefer to call you, Liebchen, in the language of my birth. I cannot bear to have you leave me. Please, I desire you to be my wife. I was very wrong to insist you accept what is common practice in my country. I beg again for your forgiveness and ask only that you forget what is a distant past. We could have such a wonderful future together. Please, I will go wherever you wish, even to your wonderful wild country.

Please forgive me. I want only to be with you.

dein Johann

Embossed at the bottom of the page was a family crest with the name, Baron von Wichtenstein, written in a fancy German script.

I almost yelled out “Eureka”. I could only assume that Aunt Aggie had ended up marrying the wayward baron, for there could be no other reason for her to have kept his proposal letter tucked securely behind her wedding photo. So even if she had been left in the lurch, as Mother had said, by the man with the short English name beginning with “w”, she’d obviously not suffered for long. It also supported Eric’s suggestion that the angry scar on the groom’s face might have been the result of a sabre duel.

Still, I was no further ahead in discovering what had happened to Baron von Wichtenstein or why Aunt Aggie had kept her marriage to him a secret to the end.

At which point my musing was interrupted by Eric’s arrival, to the accompaniment of Sergei’s ecstatic yelps. Soon the kitchen was a swirl of enticing aromas, sizzling sounds and our laughing faces. And before I knew it, the evening was over and Eric gone, but not without a lot of misgivings on my part. True to his word, Eric hadn’t attempted to move faster than I was prepared to go. And I knew I wasn’t ready yet.