Page 240 of Secrets Along the Shore

“You’re lying!” she screamed. “Shekilled 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 notbelieving 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.