Page 114 of Secrets Along the Shore (Beach Read Thrillers #1)

CHAPTER

TWENTY

I arrived at the lodge just as the sun rose above the mountains, painting Flathead Lake with a bleeding gold.

The sky looked like it was on fire, and I wondered if there was a sign I should be seeing in the sight.

But after over forty-eight hours without sleep, I couldn’t read signs anymore—not in the sky, not in people, and not even in my own language. I was beyond exhausted.

Evan’s golden retriever, slightly skittish over being taken out of his home by a stranger, stuck close to my side, nose twitching. At least I’d saved one life today.

The key opened the lodge’s front door, the old brass knob hard to turn in my weakened state. No lights flicked on when I hit the switch. I tried again, then realized Mr. Monroe hadn’t returned to fix the electrical panel. Darkness would come soon. Another night in the dark.

No way was I sticking around.

I moved through the house like on autopilot, gathering my things. I’d once thought I could make this place a home, maybe even a sanctuary. Foolish. The people of this town didn’t want me here. They never had. Not Sheriff McNealy, not Evan, and certainly not Becca.

They’d all protected Nathan Scanlon.

They’d known what he did.

And still, they kept silent.

How many of us had there been? I’d counted twelve students in the journals, but who knew how many were brought here with no paper trail at all? Livvie had seen the truth, and they’d killed her for it.

In my room, I dropped a sweater into my bag and sat heavily on the bed. I just needed a few minutes. Just a moment to close my eyes. I would have a long drive back to Coeur d’Alene tonight, but it was time to go home.

The golden retriever curled up beside me, his breathing warm and steady. Safe. Comforting. I let my head fall back onto the pillow…and immediately fell into a dream.

Livvie stood on the dock, barefoot and crying.

Her blond curls were wet, clinging to her face, her eyes wide with fear.

“You have to go,” she said. Her voice was crystal clear—something I never heard when she was alive.

Her voice was just as I always imagined.

Sweet, but strong. Then a cloud overtook her, and she vanished before me.

But I still heard her voice through the thickness of the smoke.

“Scarlett, wake up. Wake up now. You have to go.”

I shot up, heart pounding, eyes wide—and saw smoke. Real smoke.

It wasn’t a dream.

The air was thick and gray. The dog barked wildly, pawing at me, but I couldn’t hear him. I was still Deaf. I staggered to the door, flung it open—and flames licked up the main staircase.

“No, no, no,” I gasped.

There was no going down. The only way was up to the third floor attic.

I grabbed the dog’s collar, and we raced up the hall to the attic stairs. I didn’t think. I just moved to where the flames hadn’t reached yet.

When I pushed open the attic door, the air was clearer. I closed the door and saw the dog take off to the other side of the attic. I went after him, not wanting him to get hurt up here. But in the light coming from the window, I saw a form crumpled on the floor.

The dog sniffed and barked in the same moment I shouted, “Evan!”

I dropped beside him, rolling him over. His skin was scorched but his chest moved.

The dog whimpered and licked Evan’s face. He stirred.

“Becca,” he rasped. “Becca did this. Knocked me out. Then came back and locked me up here. I’ve been banging for you to help me. But you couldn’t hear me. She’s dangerous. She’s going to kill you.”

“I know,” I whispered, helping him sip from my water bottle. I hadn’t wanted to believe my old friend was capable, but I couldn’t deny it any longer. “We have to get out of here. But, Evan, there’s no way down.”

Evan shook his head weakly. “There is. A back stairway. Scanlon had it built to escape. I found it the night Becca attacked me…in the basement. She hit me with a crowbar.”

I blinked. “She likes that crowbar.”

“She used it on Livvie too.”

I froze. “What? Are you telling me she killed her sister?”

Evan nodded. “She… Becca killed an animal when Livvie was a kid. Livvie saw it. It traumatized her. That’s why Livvie stopped speaking. Why she blocked out people and stopped hearing.”

My stomach twisted. I thought I was going to vomit.

“Livvie grew stronger because of you,” Evan said. “She wanted to help you. She was going to the police. Becca found out.”

“She killed her sister…”

“She’ll kill again,” he coughed. “Anyone who knows the truth.”

“Sheriff McNealy knows now too.”

“Then she’ll come for him next,” he said.

I slung Evan’s arm around my shoulder. We staggered toward the back of the attic. The heat was unbearable. Smoke stung my eyes, but he pointed out the sliding panel that led to a tight stairwell.

Of course Scanlon would have built this. The man lived in paranoia about being caught in his evil deeds.

Wooden stairs. Old and narrow. And dark. I pushed through, needing to get Evan down, step by step, until we emerged in the basement.

The dog scrambled ahead, wagging his tail at the hatchway.

I pushed it open—and fresh air and sunlight rushed in like a flood. We climbed out into the grass, coughing and trying to see through bleary eyes.

And Becca was waiting .

She stood ten feet away, her face pale, a crowbar dangling from her hand.

“You ruined everything,” she snarled. “You were always in the way. Livvie was mine. My sister. Not yours. If you’d never come here, none of this would’ve happened.”

“You killed her,” I said. “And now you want to kill us. Because we know who you really are. All this to protect Nathan? You don’t think he really loves you, do you?

Has he even come to see you in fifteen years?

I think you were telling the truth when you said you hadn’t seen him since that night.

He used you. You’re just another pawn in the Scanlon legacy. ”

“It’s all your fault! You made me kill her. I had no choice!” She screamed and charged straight at me, crowbar over her head.

I braced for impact—just as the sheriff and his deputies ran out from around the trees, guns drawn.

“Becca! Drop the weapon!” Sheriff McNealy shouted.

She froze, the crowbar still raised.

“I heard it all,” he said. “Put the crowbar down.”

“You’re lying!” she screamed. “ She killed Livvie! She wanted her all to herself!”

“You admitted it, Becca. I heard you.”

She turned, panicked, and bolted toward the lake.

“Becca, stop!” McNealy shouted.

But Becca ran down the dock and dove in.

I ran after her, but McNealy grabbed my arm. “No. Stay back.”

We stood on the dock, the water still. Too still. Minutes passed. Then, off in the distance, her head broke the surface. A glint of metal…

“She’s got a gun!” I cried and dropped to the dock just as Becca shot at me.

McNealy lifted his weapon and fired. The shots vibrated the wood beneath me. I watched Becca’s body jerk, then sink beneath the surface.

Only the ripples her body left in the water remained.

Hours later, as the fire trucks hosed down the smoldering lodge, I sat wrapped in a blanket with Evan beside me. His dog rested his head on his leg, eyes closed.

“I’m sorry,” McNealy said softly, crouching in front of me. “For not believing you sooner. None of us wanted to admit Becca had it in her to kill. But we were wrong.”

“It’s done now,” I said. “Livvie can rest.”

“And you?” he asked.

I looked out at the black water. “I don’t know yet. But I survived. The others didn’t. And I will live my life honoring them all. Especially Livvie, the little girl who was stronger than all of us.”

Evan took my hand, a friend I could count on. I believed that now. “I’d like to help you do that,” he said.

I smiled at him and nodded. “I think I’d like that too.” I rested my head on his shoulder. Then I lifted my face to him with a smirk. “The truth is finally out. So I definitely will be looking for another challenge to tackle.”

Even laughed. “Could be a fun experiment.”

I wagged my finger at him. “Don’t even go there.”

“Too soon?”

“Way too soon.” But I chuckled and dropped my head on his shoulder again, enjoying the setting sun over the lake.

Peace settled on me for the first time since I arrived, and as I looked out on the water, I saw a girl in a rowboat rowing to the other side of the jetty.

Her blond hair waved in the wind just as she turned the corner and disappeared.

I sighed in contentment, knowing that after fifteen years, Livvie also had her long-awaited peace.