Chapter One
The sun dipped beneath the dense pine forest, casting long shadows across Echo Lake. Thankfully, the temperature had dropped from the midday high of triple digits, but the air was still hot and muggy with barely a breeze stirring the long tresses of Spanish moss that shrouded the bank. Beyond the shade, in a patch of lingering sunlight, water lilies unfurled in the heat. From this thick carpet of aquatic vegetation, cypress stumps rose like an army of gnomes to form a circle around the rotting corpse.
Nikki Dresden was glad she’d hauled down her waders from the road along with her kit. The body floated facedown just beyond reach of the bank. She tried not to think about the moccasins and gators that nested in the cattails as she sloshed through the shallow water. The smell of decay wafted on the breeze, making her also glad for the spare clothing and sneakers she kept in a duffle in her SUV. She wasn’t shy about stripping. The navy coveralls she wore now would go in a garbage bag that would be placed in an airtight container for transport back to either the laundry at the lab or the heavy-duty washing machine on her back porch. Nikki had learned early on in her career as the Nance County coroner that once the scent of death invaded the close confines of a vehicle, the odor would linger for days if not weeks. Now she took precautions in every aspect of her job.
Which was why, upon arrival at the lake, she’d spent the first few minutes scribbling notes and sketching the topography and layout of the scene before donning her gear. Nuances were critical and memory unreliable. Even photographs could later create a false perception. A capsized fishing boat underneath the bridge suggested an accidental drowning, but Nikki knew better than to make a snap, uninformed declaration. What appeared to be an accident might later prove otherwise and investigators had one shot at processing the scene.
The first responders had secured the area and Sheriff Tom Brannan kept law enforcement personnel to a minimum. The crime scene unit searched up and down the bank while a young officer named Billy Navarro took photographs and another officer shot video. The deputies that had arrived late to the scene watched from the top of the embankment. A man Nikki didn’t know sat on a log just outside the perimeter. She assumed he was the one who had reported the body. She’d given him a curious glance as she pulled on the waders and had found him staring back her. She couldn’t place him and yet his straightforward regard had unsettled her. Had they met before?
The question niggled at the back of her mind as she focused on the business at hand. At least it was still daylight, though dusk hovered at the edges of the pink horizon. Night creatures already stirred on the opposite bank, the distant serenade of bullfrogs and crickets mingling with the relentless buzz of the blowflies that had honed in on the corpse once it rose to the surface.
Off to the right, she caught the glide of something sinewy and silent in her periphery. The lake here was deeper than she’d thought. Stepping off a ledge, she felt cool liquid ooze into the waders making it difficult to navigate the muddy bottom. She trudged on, trying not to think about what might have slithered in with the water.
Sheriff Brannan called to her from the bank. “Sure you don’t need some help?”
“I’m good.” She tried to keep her balance as she flicked a mosquito from her eyelash. The last thing she wanted was to fall on her butt in front of a bunch of snickering deputies, but the lakebed was slippery, the waders cumbersome and Nikki had never been known for her grace. She grabbed one of the cypress stumps and propelled herself forward.
“What do you see?” the sheriff asked.
The body bobbled as she pushed closer. “Victim is male Caucasian. Gray hair, slender build. Older man, the best I can tell.”
“Any idea how long he’s been in the water? Or who he is?”
“All I can say for certain is that the body is bloated and floating.” Meaning as the corpse had decomposed underwater, the release of gases had caused him to rise to the surface.
“Gotcha,” Tom said. “What about wounds?”
“Nothing visible. The arms and legs are still partially submerged. I can’t see much more than the back of his head and torso.” Nikki took a camera from a waterproof bag and snapped a few shots before she glanced back at the sheriff. “Let’s get him to the bank.”
The stranger rose as if intent on offering assistance. Instead, he paced back and forth for a moment before resuming his place on the log. He seemed…not exactly nervous, but on edge for some reason. Finding a dead body could do that to a person. His gaze remained fixed on the water. Was he looking at her or the corpse? Nikki wondered.
Don’t flatter yourself.
Decked out as she was in rubber waders and shapeless coveralls, hair pulled back in a sloppy bun, face red and sweaty from the heat and humidity, she was more a curiosity than an attraction. Female coroners were still something of a rarity in rural East Texas.
“I’ll need the hook,” she called.
Billy Navarro set aside his camera and extended a telescopic pole out over the water. Nikki grabbed the end and affixed one of the prongs to the victim’s belt. As two of the officers pulled, she tried to guide the body through the tangle of hydrilla and lily pads in order to minimize further damage and to preserve what might be left of any trace evidence.
Once they had him on the bank, the smell intensified in the steamy heat. One of the deputies coughed and turned his head. Another gagged. Nikki hunkered beside the body, taking note of decomposition, animal predation and washerwoman wrinkling in the deceased’s hands.
“No identification?” Tom crouched on the other side of the body and waved aside a fly.
“Not in the back pockets,” Nikki said. “Wallet may have fallen out in the water. Let’s turn him over.”
Tom motioned for help and the two officers who had manned the hook moved in to assist in rolling the victim. The water had done a number on the victim’s face. His blanched features were so distorted he could have been a complete stranger lying on the bank beneath a feathery canopy of cypress leaves. He wasn’t a stranger, though. The twinkle in the blue eyes had frosted, but the nose, the mouth, the small caduceus tattoo on the inner left wrist sent an icy shiver down Nikki’s spine. Recognition knocked her back on her heels.
Billy Navarro leaned over Tom’s shoulder. He was young and inexperienced, but he handled himself with far more poise than some of the seasoned deputies at the top of embankment who were still struggling to keep down their last meals. “Madre de Dios. Is that who I think he is?”
Tom nodded. “Kind of hard to tell with all the bloating. Something’s been gnawing on him, too. But I’d swear on my daddy’s grave that’s Charles Nance.”
“It’s him.” Nikki touched a gloved finger to the dead man’s wrist. “I recognize the tattoo. He once told me he got it on a dare during med school. His watch usually covered it.”
Tom Brannan swore under his breath as Billy moved in for a closer look. “This is bad, Sheriff. Really bad. This man delivered me. My grandmother said I came early and my mother and I would have both died if not for Dr. Nance.” He spoke with a note of reverence and fear as if that fragile connection might somehow cause the dead man’s misfortune to transfer to him.
“Yours isn’t the only life he saved,” Tom said. “His death will be a blow to the whole community.” He glanced up then and caught Nikki’s expression. His voice lowered. “Sorry, Nikki. I wish you hadn’t had to see him like this. You two were pretty tight, weren’t you?”
“He was like a grandfather to me,” she said numbly. “A mentor, a hero. A drill sergeant when I needed one. I wouldn’t have made it through med school without him.”
Tom nodded. “I know how you feel. He helped out a lot of people in this county. He was a hero to many of us.”
Nikki fell silent as she gulped in air. Already she could feel grief gnawing away at the shock of disbelief. Sheriff Brannan meant well, but there was no way he or anyone else could understand the depth of Nikki’s loss. Charles Nance had not only been a friend and mentor, but one of the few people in the town of Belle Pointe, Texas, to ever give her the time of day. She’d grown up a misfit and loner, a troubled girl who’d flirted with darkness and courted disaster. When Tom’s father had considered her a suspect in the disappearances of two of her classmates, Dr. Nance had stepped in and set the first Sheriff Brannan straight.
You’re barking up the wrong tree, Porter. You and I both know you’re targeting this girl and her friends solely for the way they choose to present themselves. Wearing black doesn’t make them bad kids. Nor does the music they listen to. Nikki’s been through a lot and is coping the best way she knows how. I suggest you back off if you don’t want to find yourself on the wrong end of a malicious harassment suit.
Nikki had been astounded by his passionate defense. With the exception of her real grandfather, who had died when she was nine, she’d never had anyone take up for her the way Dr. Nance had. He’d cared enough to look beyond the dyed hair and heavy makeup, beyond the sullen demeanor and the chip on her shoulder. Maybe he’d seen a younger version of himself in Nikki. He’d taken her under his wing, encouraged her interest in science and had been instrumental in helping to secure the scholarships and grants that had made the dream of college and medical school a reality. His influence on her life had been immeasurable. His death would be the same. It would be days, months, perhaps even years before Nikki would be able to process the impact.
She drew another breath as reality settled heavily around her heart. “This doesn’t make sense. He spent a lot of time out here on the lake. He loved to boat and fish. He was an excellent swimmer.”
“Anything can happen on the water,” Tom said. “Especially if you’re out here alone. He was getting on up there in years.”
“Seventy-three,” Nikki murmured. “With no sign of slowing down.”
“Maybe that was the problem. He could have had a heart attack or stroke. Who knows?” Tom’s shrug was far from nonchalant. “But it does make you wonder why no one called in a report. You and I both know he’s been in the water for days. Someone must have missed him. Friends, patients, his housekeeper. Someone.”
“They probably thought he was out of town. He told me last week he was headed to Houston for a medical conference. He planned to take a few extra days to get in some deep-sea fishing out of Galveston while he was down that way. But none of that explains how he ended up here.”
“Last minute change of plans, maybe? It happens. How did he seem to you?”
Nikki thought about that final meeting and Dr. Nance’s usual ribbing.
Sure you won’t humor an old man and come with me? This time next week we can be out to sea, not a care between us. Might even go out deep enough to catch a big blue. Unlike my patients, yours won’t complain if you take a little time off.
“He seemed in a fine mood.” She tried to control the tremor in her voice. “He was looking forward to that fishing expedition in the Gulf.”
“No hint of trouble? No health complaints? Nothing out of the ordinary that you can remember?”
Nikki paused. Had he seemed distracted or was that hindsight playing tricks? Had he looked a little pale, been a little subdued despite his usual teasing?
“Not that I noticed at the time,” she said. “But I was in a hurry to get back to work and now I’m second guessing that whole conversation. Maybe he was sick.”
“Don’t do that to yourself. There could be any number of explanations as to why he changed his plans. Maybe he backed out of the conference and decided to hide out at the lake for some R and R. God knows he deserved to.” Tom trailed his gaze over the water. “I’ll check with the conference registration about a cancellation. If his vehicle is at the cabin, that’ll tell us something about his plans. Maybe we’ll find his wallet and watch there, too. In any case, I think you should let Dr. Ramirez handle the autopsy.”
She nodded her agreement. In addition to her duties as the Nance County coroner, Nikki also worked as one of three full-time pathologists at the Northeast Texas Forensic Science Center. In the state of Texas, any death that couldn’t be explained by medical history or visual examination required an autopsy. The lab serviced all the rural counties in the Piney Woods area so she and her colleagues stayed busy.
“I still can’t believe he’s gone.” She was no stranger to loss. Her beloved grandfather was long dead and the grandmother who raised her had passed away two years ago. Her parents were still alive as far as she knew, but she hadn’t seen or heard from either in years. And now Dr. Nance was gone, too.
“It’ll take some time to sink in,” Tom said. “Nance County Memorial won’t be the same without him. His great-granddaddy built that hospital. There’s been a Nance in charge for as long as anyone can remember. And this coming so soon after all that other trouble….” He shook his head. “The community’s already on edge and people tend to think the worst when something like this happens. We need to head off speculation before the rumor mill starts to grind. We owe Dr. Nance that much. I’d like to call a press conference as soon as possible. Be a good idea if you were there, too.”
Nikki glanced across the body to where Tom still hunkered. She shuddered at the very notion of speaking to reporters about Dr. Nance’s death. “Wouldn’t it be better to wait until after the post mortem?”
“When will that be, do you think?”
“I’ll talk to Dr. Ramirez about prioritizing the schedule, but tomorrow is Friday and we’re swamped. It’ll probably be Monday morning at the earliest.”
“The news will be all over town by then,” Tom worried. “I don’t want to let people stew about it all weekend. At the very least, I’ll need to issue a statement. I’ve got a little pull with the paper these days. They’ll accommodate us as best they can in both the print and online editions.”
Nikki nodded, vaguely aware of his impending nuptials to Rae Cavanaugh, whose relatives owned the Echo Lake Star. But her attention was caught once again by the stranger’s brooding scrutiny. “What’s his story?”
“He told one of my officers that he was walking along the lake when he spotted the body.”
It was hard to read Tom’s expression behind his mirrored sunglasses, but something in his voice troubled Nikki. “You don’t believe him?”
“I’ve no reason not to.”
“Then why that tone?”
Tom’s mouth tightened. “We’ve had our share of trouble in Nance County. Drug trafficking, disappearances, murder. I guess I’m just naturally wary of strangers who happen upon dead bodies. But then, he’s not really a stranger.”
“He isn’t?” Nikki tried to catch a glimpse of the man from the corner of her eye. She saw him rise from his perch on the log and rotate his arms as if to loosen kinked muscles. Then he moved up to the perimeter, leaning a shoulder against the nearest tree trunk as he slipped his hands in his pockets, all the while never taking his eyes off the corpse. Unlike some of the officers, he didn’t seem affected by the smell or the condition of the deceased. On first glance, his body language appeared almost apathetic, but there was tension in his neck and shoulders and something darker than curiosity in the gleam of his eyes.
He was close enough now that Nikki felt the need to lower her voice to a near whisper. “Who is he? How do you know him?”
“I only know of him,” Tom said. “His name is Adam Thayer. He just moved into his grandmother’s old house on the other side of the bridge.”
She stared at him in surprise. “He’s Betsy Thayer’s grandson?” Was that how she knew him? Had she caught a glimpse of him at one time or another when he’d come to see his grandmother? “I thought the family put her home on the market after she died.”
“I doubt they got any bites,” Tom said. “Prime location for a fishing retreat, but the place needs a lot of work. The fact that it was used to hide a kidnapping victim probably didn’t add to the appeal. Come to think of it, maybe it’s a good thing Thayer will be living there for a while. Empty houses tend to attract criminal activity.”
“Not just houses.”
“No, not just houses.”
They turned as one, lifting their heads to the top of the embankment where an old smokestack rose out of the pine trees. The towering cylinder was all that could be seen from their vantage of the tumbledown structure known as the Ruins, a former psychiatric hospital.
Nikki’s observation had touched a nerve for both of them. Fifteen years ago, three teenagers had entered the Ruins on the night of a blood moon. One of the girls was Tom’s younger sister, Ellie. It was presumed that a former mental patient known as Preacher had taken the other two girls when Tom had found Ellie the next morning facedown at the edge of the lake. He’d managed to resuscitate her, but Tom, his sister and the whole town of Belle Pointe had never been the same since that night.
Despite the dark history, Nikki didn’t share the town’s fear of the Ruins. She’d always found beauty and solace in the place, but her penchant for hanging out there when she was younger had only added fuel to the whispers of dark goings-on after the girls had gone missing.
Tom tore his gaze from the smokestack. “Thayer’s only been down here a few days, but already there’s buzz about him in town. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about him before now.”
“I don’t get out much.” Nikki kept her tone neutral as she side-eyed Adam Thayer, a tall, lean man in cargo shorts, wet sneakers and a plain gray T-shirt. His hair was clipped so short that when he bent to swat a mosquito on his ankle, Nikki noticed what appeared to be a scar that ran from his forehead back into his scalp. “So what’s his real story?” she asked.
“Homicide detective,” Tom said. “Dallas PD. Wounded in the line of duty, according to my sister. An arrest somehow turned into an ambush and shootout.”
“That explains the scar.” It was all Nikki could do to keep her gaze averted, not so much out of curiosity, but from the stranger’s magnetic stare. “How does Ellie know him?”
“She went over to the Thayer house one morning to feed the peacocks and found him sitting on the front porch drinking coffee. Evidently, he’d moved in during the night. She was wary at first, but it seems they’ve hit it off.”
Nikki lifted a brow at his tone. “You don’t approve?”
Clearly, he didn’t approve.
They were still speaking in lowered voices across the body. Tom rose and moved down to the water. He motioned with a jerk of his head for Nikki to join him. She peeled off her gloves and followed him.
“Just between you and me, I plan to keep an eye on him,” Tom said.
“Because of your sister?”
He hesitated. “Let’s just say, I don’t trust anyone who feels the need to slip into town by cover of darkness. Something odd about the way he moved in. Something odd about that shooting, too. I’ve got a few friends up that way. The Dallas PD kept a tight lid on the investigation. I’m not accusing him of anything, but it’s a little strange that he’d relocate to a place like Belle Pointe.”
Now it was Tom who’d touched a nerve. Considering that Nikki had once found herself on the wrong end of his father’s unfounded suspicions, she was inclined to give Adam Thayer the benefit of a doubt. She liked Tom. He was a good man and as intuitive a law enforcement officer as she’d ever worked with, but her voice cooled just the same. “Maybe he came here to recuperate.”
“And just happened upon the body of one of our most prominent citizens?”
She gave him a reproachful look. “Now who’s speculating? You don’t think he had anything to do with Dr. Nance’s death, do you? Why would he? If he’s that new in town, I doubt they even met.”
“You said yourself, Dr. Nance spent a lot of time out here on the lake.”
That gave her pause. “You think he saw something?”
“I think I’ve said too much,” Tom muttered. “You’re right. I’m speculating. We need to wait for the autopsy before we start drawing conclusions.”
“What was odd about the shooting?” Nikki couldn’t resist asking.
Tom looked troubled. “The fact that it was so thoroughly hushed up for one thing. Hardly a mention of it in the papers or even on social media. The man took two bullets in the chest. A third skimmed his scalp. By all rights, he should be dead. He was dead from what I hear. His heart stopped beating before the EMTs arrived and the bullets were still flying. That kind of event involving a cop ordinarily generates more than a passing mention.”
Nikki was starting to feel uneasy, too. “What are you saying, Tom?”
“Nothing. Just make sure Dr. Ramirez does a thorough job with the autopsy.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. He’s the best there is. He knows what to look for and I’ll be assisting him. Two pairs of eyes, as they say. But don’t expect miracles. After this long in the water…” She trailed off as she glanced out at the lake and then over her shoulder. Adam Thayer watched her with deep, brooding eyes.
Déjà vu shivered up Nikki’s spine. Their paths had crossed before, she was certain. She still couldn’t place him, still didn’t know the why or when or how of a prior meeting. But even from a distance she could have sworn she caught the glimmer of recognition in his eyes.
The intensity of his gaze only deepened her foreboding. He was too far away to overhear their conversation, but she had a feeling he knew exactly what she was thinking. Even with state of the art forensic equipment and the latest techniques, cause of death after that long in the water could be hard to prove.
No one would know that better than a homicide detective.
*
