Page 173 of It Happened on the Lake

Craig didn’t seem to notice Rambo and continued smoking, staring across the dark water, watching as a solitary boat, running lights glowing, cut across Lake Twilight.

And then Harper saw it.

A flicker of light on the main floor of the Hunts’ home, a shaft of lamplight from somewhere in the front of the house. Chase’s bedroom? Levi’s? From her vantage point, Harper couldn’t tell. But it worried her as she felt in her bones that Beth was on a clandestine mission, one she didn’t want her husband to be aware of.

And she was about to get caught.

Down near the dock Rambo started barking, low and loud enough that the deep sound rippled across the water. He was near a row of bushes separating the Alexanders’ property from the Hunts’, his head down, his body stiff, his tail straight up.

“No, no, no,” Harper whispered. “Shhh.” As if the big dog could hear her.

Craig flicked his cigarette into the yard below, peered down, presumably at his dog, then turned his attention on the Hunt property.

Oh. God.

Where was Beth?

This was going to be bad.

The slider door of the Hunt house opened, and Harper’s heart nearly stopped.

“Here we go,” she whispered, eyes glued to the unfolding scene.

Rambo was still making a racket when Levi appeared on the deck.

Harper swallowed hard. “Don’t come out,” she said, as if Beth could hear her. “Don’t!”

But Levi stepped out of the house alone. He closed the door behind him and the dog quieted, pacing near the line of shrubs.

Where the hell was Beth?

Harper trained the binoculars over the back of the Hunts’ house but saw no movement. Levi actually raised a hand at Craig, who nodded.

But no Beth.

This is no good, she thought, and then while Craig was facing the back of the Hunts’ place, possibly engaging with Levi, Harper noticed the front door of the Alexander house open enough to let the filmy street light in. Not thirty feet from where Craig was standing at the deck’s rail.

Harper felt every one of her nerves tightening.

Beth slipped through the door and closed it, in plain view of her husband. All he had to do was hear the softest noise, feel the slightest bit of air, and turn to catch her.

Harper’s teeth sunk into her lip. “Be careful.”

Beth scurried up the stairs just as Craig glanced into the house, as if he’d heard something. He started to go inside.

Upstairs, Beth didn’t turn on any lights. Harper was left to imagine her stripping out of her clothes, tossing on pajamas, and sliding quietly into bed to feign sleep.

Or was she reading too much into this?

Maybe it was nothing furtive at all.

Maybe it was all innocent, Beth either sympathizing with Levi or possibly welcoming him back to the neighborhood. Hadn’t she mentioned that Levi might return to the lake house? She could have spied his car and gone over to welcome him with champagne, kind of like she did with Harper a few days earlier—all “compliments of Alexander Realty.” So what if there weren’t chocolates or candles or a cheery basket involved? This could have been a spur-of-the-moment thing.

But it didn’t seem so.

Craig had reached the stairs and was starting up. Quickly.

A cold feeling settled in her blood.