Page 9 of It Happened on the Lake

H arper’s heart nose-dived.

Levi fiddled the window latch, and even in the shadowy night she noted how much the brothers resembled each other.

Chase was the taller of the two, his hair a lighter blond, his eyes a startling blue.

Levi’s deep-set eyes were a light shade of brown, not that she could tell now as he glared at her, his hair rumpled from sleep and a beard shadow evident.

He put a finger to his lips as if she needed to be reminded to be quiet, then pushed the window open quickly and slipped through, shutting the sash softly behind him. Then she noted the small bandage.

“What happened to you?” she whispered.

“Cut myself,” he explained, keeping his voice low. “I . . . um, fell against the jukebox downstairs in the rec room.”

She reached out to touch it, but he jerked away.

“Don’t. It’s fine. No big deal. What’re you doing here?” he demanded, and she smelled alcohol on his breath.

“I can’t find—”

“Shh!” Levi caught her by the elbow and pulled her away from the house. Walking quickly, he shepherded her toward the far side of the road, where there were no houses and the wooded hill rose sharply.

“Looking for Chase.”

He frowned. “I thought he was with you.”

“He said so?”

“No, but since he’s not in his room . . .” He acted as if one thought went unerringly to the next.

She yanked her arm away and rubbed her elbow. “No—no, he was supposed to meet me, but he didn’t show up. His boat—your dad’s boat—is in the middle of the lake.”

“What? Oh, fuck! He took the boat? And he’s not there? You don’t know where he is?” he asked, his gaze boring into hers.

“That’s what I said!”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know! That’s why I’m here,” she whispered harshly, the panic she’d started to quell rising again.

“Tell me what you do know.”

“Nothing. That’s it!”

“But you must’ve had plans or something.”

“Yes!”

“What were they?”

Her stomach knotted as he glared at her. She wanted to die a thousand deaths rather than explain anything to Levi.

“Harper?”

“Fine.” She kept her voice soft and reluctantly filled him in.

She told him that she and Chase had planned to meet on the dock on the island, but he hadn’t shown up.

She’d waited for hours, then spied his boat on the water, took the canoe, found the craft empty, then rowed here, and ended with, “I thought maybe he’d swum back home. ”

“And left Dad’s boat in the middle of the lake?” Levi demanded, incredulous. “That’s crazy. It’s even nuts that he took it without permission. That boat cost Dad a butt-load of money. Dad used his inheritance to buy it. Jesus. It’s his pride and joy.”

“I know! But maybe . . . Chase left it there because something happened. Maybe it stalled, I don’t know. But his car is here, and so I thought maybe he’d swum back or that the boat got away from him and drifted or . . .”

Levi scowled, and in the weak lamplight he looked more like Chase than ever. “He’s not home.” He half ran over to Chase’s car and peered through the window as if he expected to find his brother within. He shook his head as he jogged swiftly back. “Shit, he’s not there.”

“So where is he?” Her voice was rising, and Sievers’s dog was on his feet again, pacing in front of the old man’s bungalow.

“Shh!” Levi pulled her farther down the street, past the Leonettis’ house to a wide spot in the road, a turnabout across from the cabin that was rented out to college kids. Three old cars and an art-covered Volkswagen bus were parked haphazardly in the drive and on the curb.

Harper whispered, “We have to tell your dad.”

Levi shoved his hair from his eyes, then shook his head. “Not yet.”

“He’s a cop, he’ll know what to do.”

“No!” He was vehement. “He’d kill Chase for taking out the boat.”

If he’s not dead already.

The horrid thought stopped her short. She let out a little squeak and blinked hard against a sudden spate of tears. She was so scared she was shaking. “We . . . we have to find him.”

“I know. I know. We will,” he promised, his voice softening.

He awkwardly folded her into his arms. The drizzle was giving way to a fine mist, and Levi’s body against hers felt warm and solid.

Strong and safe. Familiar. Her throat clogged and she clung to him.

“We will, Harper. We’ll find him.” His breath ruffled her damp hair, his lips moving against the wet strands.

She wanted desperately to believe him, to meld into him, to let down completely, to trust him completely.

But she couldn’t.

Wouldn’t.

She and Levi had their own rocky history and were no longer the friends they had been while growing up.

The rift that had widened between them had been her fault as much as his, but there was no going back, no bridge that could span that deep cleft.

She blinked back tears and pushed him gently away, noticing as she did, a shadow pass behind the shades of the rental house. The scent of marijuana drifted out of the open window, and she wondered if whoever was in the house, up and smoking pot at this hour, had heard them.

Well, too bad. Chase was missing.

“Maybe Rand knows something,” Levi suggested.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. But he’s Chase’s best friend. I figure it’s worth a shot.” Levi started walking back down the narrow road.

She had to run to keep up with him when he broke into a jog past his own house. As they reached the A-frame, he stopped, then whispered, “It might be best if it’s just me.”

“But I’m the one who—”

“I know, but it might be best to keep you out of it now, ya know?” He looked at her and she understood.

Rand’s father, like Tom Hunt, was a policeman.

She would have a lot of explaining to do, explaining she’d rather keep to herself.

Levi said, “If Rand doesn’t know where he is, then we’ll have to tell Dad. But . . .”

“For now keep the cops out of it?”

Their gazes met, and he gave a curt nod. From the upper branches of the surrounding trees an owl hooted hollowly.

Levi said, “Until I talk to my old man.”

“He’ll go ballistic.”

Levi’s mouth twisted down at the corners, and he said, “Won’t be the first time.”

She knew that to be true. Chase’s father tried to rule his headstrong sons with an iron fist.

“Stay here.” Levi motioned for her to get into his truck, an old pickup parked on the street opposite the Hunts’ house. As she climbed inside the battered Dodge, he jogged to the Watkins’ scrubby yard.

From the other side of the fence, Sievers’s dog gave off a sharp, warning bark.

Levi paid no attention to it. He stepped onto the concrete slab in front of the door and knocked.

Seconds later an interior light snapped on.

Next door, at Old Man Sievers’s house, the dog started whining and growling, pacing the length of the porch. Harper rolled down the window and adjusted the big side mirror of the pickup so she could watch the Watkins’ porch.

The door opened, and Harper held her breath, hoping that Rand answered. His father, Gerald Watkins, was known as a tough cop, one who never bent the rules.

Luckily Rand stepped through the door. His black hair was shorn in a military cut and he was barefoot, she noted, wearing only jeans and an army jacket thrown over a T-shirt. He and Levi stepped off the porch and talked in low tones beneath a towering fir tree.

The dog went nuts. Barking. Growling. Leaping on the fence.

Illumination suddenly flooded Sievers’s yard.

The old man with his thinning long hair and bristly beard peered out the window. He opened the sash, surveyed his property through narrowed eyes, and focused on his guard dog. “Duke!” Sievers yelled. “Settle down!”

Harper didn’t dare breathe.

Levi and Rand stepped farther from the fence.

With a snort the dog sat on its big haunches and continued to stare through the fence, but Sievers retreated, satisfied no one was trespassing on his property.

Rand cast a narrowed gaze at the truck where she was hiding and she recoiled, then chided herself.

She wasn’t usually a coward. She should talk to Rand herself.

Or Chase’s parents. Or her own. Or have the guts to phone the police.

But here she was cowering in Levi’s truck.

Because something bad happened.

Something very bad.

Something she couldn’t face.

She caught sight of Levi returning and slid across the bench seat to open the pickup’s door, the interior light winking on. She stepped onto the street, the damp air hitting her in the face. “Did Rand know anything?”

“No.” Levi shook his head. “Nothing.”

“Oh God.” Again, the tears threatened as she shut the Dodge’s door quietly and leaned against it. “I need to tell the police,” she said. “Maybe I should . . . I could talk to your dad?”

“No—no, I’ll do that.”

“But I should explain—”

“Listen, Harper,” he cut in, taking hold of her arm.

His fingers were like steel. “You need to go home. Got it?” Then, more calmly, “Just wait. Okay? I’ll talk to my folks and tell them that I knew Chase was going to meet you.

” He released her arm. “They’ll probably come talk to you, and you can tell them that you were waiting for him and you saw the boat. Or whatever.”

“The truth,” she said in a barely audible voice. But not all of it.

“Well, yeah. Just let me break it to them. They’re not all that crazy about you and Chase seeing each other.”

“I know. They hate me. Especially your mom.”

“No, no, it’s just—”

“They hate me,” she said again as a car approached, engine roaring.

Levi pulled her to the side of the road.

Headlights washed over them.

The car—a Chevrolet sedan—slowed, and the driver tossed a newspaper over the fence and into Sievers’s yard.

Along with cigarette smoke, music filtered through the car’s open window, the organ intro to “Light My Fire” by the Doors breaking the quiet of the pre-dawn hours.

The driver hit the gas only to slow for a group of mailboxes grouped together between two firs.

He slipped copies of the daily paper into the accompanying yellow boxes.

“You have to go,” Levi insisted, dark eyes serious.

The sedan’s engine revved again, and the driver pulled a quick U-turn near the rental house at the end of the street.

“Now,” Levi insisted. “Before my folks wake up.” He was pulling her to the side of the road as the Chevy shot past again, music thrumming over the sedan’s knocking motor. “I’ll drive you.”

“No. I can’t just leave the canoe at the swim park.”

“We’ll take it with us.” Levi was firm. Not to be deterred.

“I don’t know—”

“Well, what about your grandmother? Didn’t you say you were taking care of her tonight.”

Gram!

Yes , she thought guiltily, I have to get back .

Harper had been so consumed with worry for Chase she’d forgotten about Gram.

Her grandmother would be getting up soon and need help getting out of bed before demanding her first cup of coffee, her cigarettes, and whatever pills started her day.

“Okay,” she finally said. “Yeah, I have to get back. But what will happen? Will your dad come to the island?”

“Probably. I mean, I don’t know. It depends when he finds Chase, I guess. And if not, yeah, he’ll want to talk to you.”

“Oh God.”

“Look, once I get back and scope out the situation, see where we are, if anyone knows where Chase is, I’ll call you,” he promised, and she knew, deep down, she could trust him. Hadn’t she before? “I’ll phone your grandmother’s place. That’s where you’ll be, right?”

“Yeah.” She was nodding.

“Okay, let’s go.”

She climbed back into the truck and huddled against the passenger door as he slipped behind the wheel on the driver’s side.

She told him where she’d left the canoe, and he drove to the park, left the truck idling before scaling the swim park fence.

Within minutes he returned. He managed to get the canoe over the fence and into the bed of his pickup, refusing her help as he strapped it down and left the tailgate open.

“We won’t go through town,” he said and turned up the hill, taking Southway past the viewpoint and around the far end of the lake to the north shore. They met a few cars, early commuters, and as his truck approached the turnoff to the island, Levi cut the lights.

The sky had turned flinty, clouds low, the mist forcing him to use his wipers. “You have to open the gate,” he told her, “if you want me to haul the canoe back to the dock.”

What were the choices? No matter what, she’d have to tell her parents what happened. She watched as a wavering V of geese flew over the mansion, seeming to nearly skim the top of the turret as they passed.

She opened the gate and Levi drove through, picking her up before driving across the bridge. Silence stretched between them. He parked near the garage, then carried the canoe down to the dock, she a step behind.

Once on the dock, he glanced across the lake.

“They’re up,” he said, staring at his house before turning to leave and staring up the steps again.

Harper followed, noting that Earline, Gram’s one-eared tabby, eyed them from beneath the branches of an overgrown rhododendron.

Once back at the garage, Levi shut the tailgate, then paused.

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen,” he said, catching her eye. “But I think it’s gonna be rough.”

“I know. Thanks,” she whispered unsteadily.

He paused.

“Harper—” He seemed about to say more, holding her gaze for a quick second, the truck’s engine softly ticking as it cooled. But whatever he was about to share, he thought better of it and climbed into his truck.

She watched as he started the engine, made a three-point turn, and drove back across the bridge, his taillights fading as he passed the gatehouse.

Bracing herself, she turned to go into the house to face the music.

Oddly, the strains of the intro to “Light My Fire” sifted through her brain.

There was something in the lyrics about being a liar.

So sad.

And, in her case, so true.