24

As she finished the last entry, a knock at the door made Lou jump. “One minute.” She flung the covers back and padded across to the door. She was stiff and cold and wondered who would want her at this unearthly hour.

Evan smiled. “Morning.”

She did a double take, staring at him in confusion. “It is?”

He nodded. “Half past seven on the dot. You wanted to be at the lake by eight. And when you weren’t at breakfast, I thought I’d come knock you up.” He paused. “I apologize for the wholly inappropriate choice of words there.”

She grinned. “It’s fine, I know what you mean.” Had she really been reading all night?

He moved past her into the room and opened the thick, heavy drapes. Sunlight filled the room, the dust shining in the rays. “See, its daylight. You look dreadful.” Concern shone in his blue eyes. “Have you slept at all?”

“No. I was reading and didn’t realise the time. Have you read the journal at all?”

“Bits of it. Enough to know my great-grandfather was part of what happened here.”

She frowned. “I don’t think he was.”

Evan picked up the journal from the bed and read from the last entry. “‘My job, my calling, is to save lives, not be responsible for their loss, especially in such appalling circumstances. Maybe it’s fitting I spend the rest of my life caring for the dam here. Caring for the lost, the damned, those I betrayed. The irony is not lost on me.’ And a bit farther on. ‘I just hope someday, maybe in eternity, Father will forgive me this last act. Until that point may God have mercy on my soul and on the souls of those innocents caught up in all this.’”

He rubbed the back of his neck, his spirit in obvious torment over this whole affair. “Over and over he refers to what he did, why he did it.” He put the book down. “All of this,” he indicated the room, the gardens beyond the window, “paid for with blood money.”

“You should read all of it,” Lou said. As Evan shook his head, she raised an eyebrow. “There are pages missing, and parts too faded to read, but there is enough there to know the truth. He didn’t kill anyone. There was a plague epidemic. He couldn’t save them, Evan. They died because there weren’t medications or the hospital services like there are now. He was a doctor, and he couldn’t save them. That’s why he blamed himself.”

She studied her hands. She ought to tell him. She had avoided it last night because she wasn’t sure he wasn’t involved somehow. But now, what did she have to lose? “He mentioned hiding a box in the church crypt, didn’t he?”

Evan nodded, reading the text again. “‘I have written more and sealed it in a watertight box and hidden it in the church crypt. Nowhere else is safe. The reach of CS knows no bounds.’ I’m not sure who CS is.”

“My guess would be Chester Sparrow,” Lou muttered. “I discovered last night that Varian’s grandfather was the chief man responsible for the building of the dam. He also had a large stake in the hydroelectric company the dam feeds. I’m guessing Varian still does.”

Evan didn’t seem surprised. “Why did you ask about the box?”

“We found it yesterday morning.” She dragged it out from under her bed. “It needs a key to open it, besides being rusty.”

Evan picked it up. “Heavy. Is this what you tried to sneak in under your coat last night?”

“I wasn’t sneaking it in, but yeah, it was wrapped in my coat. We found it in the church crypt. There is a crest of some kind on one side.”

Evan set the box on the bed and traced it with his fingertip. “The crest belongs to my family. Did you try opening it?”

“Even without the key, which I don’t have, it’s rusted shut. I have the tools to force it open, but didn’t want to damage it.”

“Where would he have put the key?” Evan wondered aloud.

“I can think of two places. In the crypt with the box or the cottage they lived in. But that is now in ruins.”

“There is one other place.” Evan glanced up at her. “When I was a kid, before he died, Grandad told me about a cave that meant a lot to his parents. We drove up there once, but a rock fall had sealed it.”

“Can you take me up there and show me? Perhaps there’s a way in or the rocks might have shifted as a result of all the tremors.”

Evan nodded. “Sure. Once you’ve checked the base of the dam.”

Lou smiled. “I hadn’t forgotten. I also want to go over the inside of the crypt one last time before Varian makes good on this threat to blow up the church.”

“I’ll put this in the safe.”

Lou took the box from him. “It stays here.”

“It belongs to me.”

“Right now it’s part of the dig,” she pressed. “Therefore it’s mine. Once we’ve opened it, documented its contents, and photographed it both inside and out…”

“…then Varian will know what it says,” Evan interrupted. Fear roughened his voice, clouding his gaze. “That isn’t a good idea. He still owns the company that runs the dam. Chances are, he’s behind all of this, as well as the attempt on your—”

He spun around, shutting his mouth firmly. “Forget I said that.”

She moved in front of him. “Don’t leave it there. Finish what you were saying.”

“Varian was behind the attempt on your life in the hotel—”

“What?” Lou interrupted him, anger bursting from her. As Jim once said, Mount Lou was in full scale eruption. “He did what? How do you know? Are you in on it?”

“That is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard.” Evan’s gaze pierced her. “If I wanted you dead, woman, I’d hardly do this, would I?” He pulled her against his firm body and fastened his lips over hers.

The kiss was sudden, passionate, and breath-taking. It siphoned all the anger from her, leaving her dizzy.

Not moving from his arms, she gazed up at him. “OK, but that doesn’t answer how you know.”

“He didn’t deny it when I accused him of it. And he was responsible for the boat blowing up yesterday.”

“He killed AJ?” Her voice was no more than a whisper, her heart aching, her stomach twisting within her. “I should have been on that boat.”

“That’s what he was banking on,” Evan said. He guided her back to the bed, sitting her down, and resting beside her. “He wants this lake business covered up and if killing you is the way to do it…”

“Then why did he send me up here in the first place?” Lou said. She sank into him and buried her face in her hands. “I don’t get it.”

“He told me it’s so he can control what gets reported and made public.”

“What do I do?”

“Finish what you came here for,” Evan said. He held her close, rubbing her arm gently. “Find out the rest of the truth of Dark Lake. Publish it. Show him that you’ll not be scared away.”

“But what happens to your name and your reputation if I publish?” She raised her head, her eyes glistening. “You may well lose everything.”

He shook his head. His finger reached out and wiped away the tears that slid down her cheeks. “The truth is what matters. Varian killed once to prevent it getting out. He won’t hesitate to do it again. I have to know what other secrets the lake is hiding. And in return, I’ll be totally honest with you as to what I know. But first we need to go and check the dam.”

The clock chimed. “Give me a minute to change and grab my stuff.”

Evan nodded. “I’ll see you downstairs. You should eat first.”

“No time. I’ll eat later. I shouldn’t dive on a full stomach anyway.” She shut the door behind him and glanced around the room.

Where would be the best place to hide the box? Not under the bed, obviously. Wrapping it in a plastic bag, she shoved it in the black sack containing her dirty laundry. Then she shoved that in her suitcase and hefted it on top of the wardrobe.

Dressing in her wet suit, she strapped her leg over the top and finished the outfit with tracksuit and trainers.

Every nerve ending tingled. She was close to finding answers. This was why she did what she did. There was nothing quite like the thrill of it.