If you get down here and decide I’m just a delusional old coot tilting at windmills, then turn around and head back to Dallas. We’ll never speak of this again. But I’m telling you, Adam. Something strange is going on in this town. Something dark. I think it has been for years.
So here he was, Adam thought. And there lay a very dead Dr. Nance.
What now?
A few hours ago, he would have liked nothing better than to pack in all the peace and quiet of the country and head straight back to the urban sprawl of his home city, a place he both loved and despised. Maybe with a little more effort, he could pick up the pieces of his shattered life. Claw his way back into the department. Maybe even give Stephanie a call.
He scowled at that thought. The chance of reconnecting with his ex-fiancée was every bit as great as the probability of his walking away from Dr. Nance’s mystery, which was to say, none at all. No way he could turn his back on a dead man’s last request.
As if intuiting his thoughts, the sheriff glanced over his shoulder, caught Adam’s gaze and nodded briefly. Then he turned back to the coroner, speaking in low, urgent tones. She listened intently as she used the back of her gloved hand to push aside her hair.
The gesture stirred a memory. An image flitted. A vision that was there one moment and gone the next.
Who are you? Adam wondered. How do I know you?
He assumed a neutral expression as the sheriff pivoted away from the lake and headed up the bank toward him. The coroner returned to the victim. Two officers continued to search along the water while the remaining cops milled about in a small circle at the top of the embankment.
The young officer who had been photographing the scene joined the coroner. Navarro, the sheriff had called him earlier. He hunkered on the bank with his camera, but instead of focusing on the victim, his attention strayed to Adam. He said something to the coroner that caused her to glance over her shoulder. Her gaze met Adam’s, and for a moment, he stood transfixed by the intensity of her bold stare.
Something that might have been recognition danced in her eyes, or maybe that was a glint from the dying sun. He didn’t know her and yet he still had the strangest feeling that he’d seen her somewhere before. She was average height, slim build, straight dark hair pulled back and fastened haphazardly at her nape. Not beautiful by Adam’s measure, but certainly attractive. A word he rarely used came to mind. Enigmatic.
He’d let his mind wander too far and now a piercing scream physically jolted him back to the scene. The eerie cry carried across the water and halted the sheriff in his tracks. He, along with everyone else in the area, turned anxiously toward the sound.
Everyone except the coroner. Her dark eyes remained fixed on Adam.
Chapter Two
An uneasy quiet settled over the landscape. The hair at the back of Adam’s neck lifted unexpectedly as he scanned the lake. The light had dissolved rapidly with the setting sun. Twilight inched closer, deepening the sky and then the water. Still the coroner’s gaze lingered.
He massaged his nape and then brushed his hand across his scalp, fingering the scar tissue that had begun to tingle. He told himself the sensation was just raw nerve endings that still needed to heal.
At the top of the embankment, someone laughed awkwardly, breaking the silence. Another officer swore. “What the hell was that?”
“A peacock,” the sheriff called up to him. “Probably wandered away from the Thayer place.”
“A peacock? You serious?” The officer peered across the lake. “Sounded like a woman screaming her head off to me.”
Navarro crossed himself. “Maybe that’s exactly what it was.”
An older officer stared down at him from the top of the embankment. “The hell you talking about, son?”
Navarro’s gaze swept the water. “My grandmother says this lake is haunted. She says if you come out here alone in the middle of the night, you can still hear the screams of the mental patients that were tortured in that hospital.”
Someone hummed The Twilight Zone theme, inciting a few chuckles.
Sheriff Brannon ignored the ruckus. “Your grandmother is a fine woman, Navarro, but I wouldn’t put much stock in her ghost stories.”
The young officer continued undaunted. “It’s not just her stories. Her cousin’s friend worked in that place before the government shut it down. He said a lot of bad stuff happened there. All kinds of experiments. Things we couldn’t begin to imagine. They kept the worst of the worst locked in cages on the third floor. Think of the souls that could still be trapped there.” His gaze lifted to the silhouette of the smokestack.
Adam hadn’t walked down to the Ruins yet, but he was itching to see the place by moonlight. Was it still there? he wondered. The secret he’d uncovered beneath the floorboards?
The prickle along his scalp intensified. He ran his fingers through his clipped hair as if he could brush away the unpleasant sensation.
The sheriff sighed wearily. “The place was shut down because funding ran out. It happened all over the country. All that talk about experiments is just an urban legend.”
“Myths and legends are often based in reality,” the coroner said.
Sheriff Brannon groaned. “Don’t encourage him. It was a peacock. End of story. No more talk about trapped souls and haunted lakes. We have a job to do, so let’s get to it.”
A muttered chorus of yessir’s followed. Navarro picked up his camera. The coroner went back to her work. The deputies at the top of the embankment continued to mill about while waiting for her to release the scene. Adam gave her another quick perusal before returning his attention to the sheriff.
“You’re
