18

Evan’s car swung into the last remaining parking space. He leapt from the backseat before the driver had switched off the engine and raced over to Lou in several long strides. The small jetty was a hive of activity. People talking, cars, noise, emergency services, but she sat small and quiet on a bench by the wall, with a blanket around her shoulders, seemingly unaware of it all. Tears tracked her cheeks. At that instant, he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and take her away from all this.

“Lou?”

She raised her head slowly. Her eyes were red, face white. She wrung her hands against her lap. Her bottom lip trembled. “He’s dead…AJ’s dead.”

Evan sank down beside her and took her hand. He noticed that she had her prosthesis on and although that puzzled him as he knew she swam without it, now wasn’t the time to ask. “I’m sorry. What happened?”

“He was dropping sonar buoys. I was following underwater to check their positioning. There was another explosion. When I surfaced, the boat was gone and AJ was…was…” She broke off, struggling for control. “I should call Varian.”

“I already have. He’s on his way. Have you spoken to the police?”

Lou nodded slowly, the fingers on her free hand worrying the edge of the blanket. “Yeah, they took a statement. I gave them copies of the photos I’ve taken below the water today. Along with all the photos I had originally of the artefacts and burned bones. They are coming by the manor this afternoon to collect the originals, along with the actual pieces themselves.”

“Why weren’t you in the boat as well? Your unbreakable rule…”

She shrugged. “I broke it. It’s my fault. I wanted to check the remains of Abernay. We were being watched from the shoreline, so he said he’d stay with the boat and drop the buoys. I swam supposedly to check their position.”

“None of this is your fault.” Even as he spoke, Evan’s mind whirled. This was the second attempt on her life in three days. She should have been in that boat right alongside AJ.

“Abernay is gone,” she said quietly. “Blown up last night. The power plant was a cover. There is one house down there they missed. It’s wired ready to go.”

Evan swallowed, his burning stomach sending bile upwards. “You have proof?” he asked.

Lou nodded. “I took photos. Like I said, the police have copies of them now. And there’s a body there. A recent one. It’s possible that’s where the explosion came from, but that wouldn’t have taken out the boat. Not like this.” She glanced up as a camera crew arrived and began filming. “I should give the press a statement.”

He shook his head. “Wait. You need to tell AJ’s family first.”

“He doesn’t have any. He lost his parents last year.” She sniffled, more tears falling. “It should have been me. I fired him, I don’t know how many times this week. He was way too stubborn to accept it.”

The reporter came over. “Dr. Fitzgerald, do you have a moment to answer some questions?”

Lou nodded. She pushed to her feet.

Evan stood and moved out of camera shot. He glanced to his right as a black sedan drew up, and Varian exited the back. “Didn’t take you long to get here. I assumed you hadn’t left town.”

“You know full well I haven’t,” Varian replied. “What happened?”

“The boat exploded. Too early to tell why. AJ’s dead.”

Varian nodded to Lou. “But she isn’t.”

“You don’t sound happy about that.” Evan paused. “You don’t even sound remorseful about AJ.”

Varian scowled. “I’m calling this dig off. The church is dangerous in that condition. There’s a demolition team coming in tomorrow to take it down.”

“She won’t like that.”

“I don’t care. I’m also terminating her contract with immediate effect.”

“That’s heartless, even for you.” Evan studied him. “Does she scare you that much?”

“I’m protecting our interests,” Varian began.

“Don’t you draw me into your mess,” Evan hissed. “Your interests, not mine.” He paused as the recovery crew unloaded a body bag onto a waiting gurney. Even from here, he could tell the body in the bag was much shorter than it should be. That just gave added weight to Lou’s comment that the house couldn’t have caused this. Another crew unloaded the remains of the boat onto the jetty.

Varian cleared his throat. “She’s responsible for the hiring of the boat and for AJ’s death. If she’d done her job properly…”

“She’d have been on the boat and also be dead.” Evan rounded on Varian. “Or is that what you wanted? You couldn’t scare her off, so you tried killing her. And now that’s failed, you’re going to sack her?”

“Not immediately. There will be an investigation.”

“Witch hunt more like.” Evan shoved his hands into his pockets, curling them into fists. He noted that Varian didn’t attempt to deny trying to kill Lou. He spun around; his attention caught by the reporters interviewing Lou a few feet further down the jetty.

Not wanting to be anywhere near Varian, Evan edged closer to Lou. One of the reporters had shoved a microphone in Lou’s face.

“Dr. Fitzgerald, Dark Lake has a history of death, never mind the rumours and troubles that surround it. Would you attribute the death of AJ Wilcox to this or was it, as has been insinuated, mismanagement of the diving expedition?”

Evan shook his head and strode swiftly to Lou’s side. He tugged the microphone towards him in an effort to deflect the question. “Mr. Wilcox’s death was, as far as we know, a tragic accident. The police will conduct a detailed investigation into the cause of the explosion, and you will be informed of the outcome in due time. Meanwhile Dr. Fitzgerald has lost a valued colleague and friend. Now if you’ll excuse us, the interview is over.”

He wrapped an arm around Lou and led her back over to the waiting ambulance.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Let’s get you checked over.”

“I’m fine.”

“Humour me, please. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”

She quaked in his arms as AJ’s body was wheeled past them. Tears swam in her eyes, and she choked back a sob.

Evan drew her closer. “Don’t hold back,” he said gently. He held her as she sobbed. A desire to protect her overwhelmed him, along with an insane desire to go back to Varian and knock his block off for attempting to kill her. Because he knew that was what had happened. No matter what the police report would finally indicate, this was too much of a coincidence to be anything else.

Lou lifted her head from his soaked jacket. “Sorry,” she sniffled.

Evan retrieved a clean hanky from his pocket and pressed it into her hand. “It’s fine.”

Varian appeared, the perpetual scowl seared into his brow. “Lou, we need to talk.”

“It can wait,” Evan told him. “Lou needs to get to the hospital.”

Varian’s scowl deepened. “No, it can’t. Lou, what happened?”

“The boat blew up,” she said. “AJ died.”

“I need a report.”

She glared at him. “The boat blew up. AJ died,” she repeated. “Want it a third time? Let me borrow a phone, and I’ll text it to you.”

“And you’ll get your report,” Evan interrupted. “For crying out loud, Varian, leave the woman alone. Right now she needs to be checked over at the hospital.” Evan helped her into the ambulance. “I’ll meet you there, Lou.” As the paramedics shut the door, his gaze raked over Varian, and he lowered his voice. “You get a grip.”

“I lost a good man out there. If she did anything…” Varian hissed.

“Oh, please! Pot, kettle, black.” Evan stepped to one side as the ambulance drove away. “If I find you have anything to do with this…”

“Are you threatening me?”

“Oh, I don’t make threats. You know that. I make promises. I need to go.”

Varian smirked. “Then by all means go. I’ll handle the press.”

Evan turned his back on him and stomped over to the car. His gaze flicked to Ira. “Take me to the hospital.” He paused. “I’d like you to do a complete background check on Varian Sparrow. I want to know everything there is to know about him. And try to get ahold of his financial records as well, if you can. Also the health and safety records. I want to know how many on site accidents there have been and their causes.”

“You think this was deliberate?”

He climbed into the car. “I know it was. I just can’t prove it. Yet.”