Page 91 of The Summer Guests

“Tell me about Project MKUltra.”

Elizabeth froze.

“Surely you know all about it,” said Jo. “Since that’s the reason you came to Maine.”

Slowly, Elizabeth turned to face Jo. “You arewayout of your depth.”

“You and your husband were part of it. So were Arthur Fox and Dr. Greene. So was Vivian Stillwater.”

Silence.

“But Vivian became a problem, didn’t she? She developed a conscience after what happened to Sam Tarkin. Five people dead. What a disaster for your group, if the truth ever came out. Which drug did you feed him, LSD? Or was it some other hallucinogen that broke his mind and made him so paranoid he saw monsters on Main Street? That’s why he killed those people. Not because he was evil or deranged, as everyone thought, but because your little experiment went awry. You couldn’t afford to expose yourselves, so you let the whole world believe that Sam Tarkin was simply a madman. Easy enough to sweep this unfortunate incident under the rug and pretend it had nothing to do with you or your project. But unlike you, Vivian must have had a conscience. She decided she wanted out. She was ready to expose you, blow it all wide open, and she planned to meet someone in Washington, DC. You and your colleagues must have panicked. You needed to ruin Vivian’s credibility, and what better way to make that happen than to induce a convenient psychotic break? Who gave her the drug, Mrs. Conover? Who’s responsible for what happened to her next?”

Elizabeth didn’t say a word.

“Was it your husband? Or Arthur Fox? Or didyouslip her the drug? Drop it into a glass of wine, maybe. Or a nice gin and tonic?”

Jo had laid it all out in the open now, what their group had done, and who was really responsible for the massacre on Main Street. Judging by Elizabeth’s reaction, Jo had hit a vein of truth.

Shoulders drooping, Elizabeth returned to the table and slowly sank back into the chair. “It wasn’t me,” she murmured.

“Then who was it?”

“Dr. Greene. He was in charge of the project. He made all the decisions.”

At last, an answer from her. It might not have been the entire truth, but it confirmed what Jo had just said.

“And the rest of you? Did you all agree this was how to deal with Vivian Stillwater?”

“As I said,hewas in charge. He called the shots.” She looked at Jo. “How did you even know MKUltra had a local connection?”

“I have my sources.”

A raised eyebrow. “Really?”

“I know you think I’m just a small-town cop. But even I can put two and two together. I know Vivian Stillwater was a problem for you and your colleagues. She was going to expose what went wrong, so you slipped her a drug that took care of that problem. Did the fact it left her in a coma bother any of you? Did it bother you that a beautiful, accomplished woman’s life was ruined? ‘Too bad, so sad.’ Is that how you looked at it?”

“We weren’t heartless.”

“But your project was. You tinkered with people’s minds. You destroyed lives. Is that who the lady in the lake was, another Vivian who had to be disposed of? Did you make that particular problem disappear by weighing her down with rocks and dumping her in the pond?”

“Don’t be absurd.”

“Who was the woman, Mrs. Conover?”

“I have no idea.”

“Some local girl you recruited for your study? Or did you talk some summer visitor into getting high on her vacation, only to have it go terribly wrong?”

“I know nothing about those bones.”

“Bones that your granddaughter Zoe discovered when she went swimming that second day, after her visit with Callie Yount. She would have raised the alarm. You knew those bones would expose your secrets. That’s why you had to dispose of Zoe, as well.”

“Wait. You think that I—that I’d even dream of—” She gave a disbelieving laugh. “You’re insane if you think I’d hurt my owngranddaughter.”

“We’ll let Zoe fill in the gaps. She should be waking up soon, and when she does ...” Jo paused to let Elizabeth reach the obvious conclusion: that Zoe would reveal who attacked her. Jo didn’t know if Zoe would remember a single damn thing, but the merepossibilitycould prove useful. It might be enough to force Elizabeth’s hand. “Eventually wewillidentify that skeleton,” said Jo. “Maybe then, you’ll remember whose bones they are.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my memory,” Elizabeth shot back. “And you,ChiefThibodeau, are going to regret this harassment. You have no idea who and what you’re dealing with.”

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