Page 52 of The Haunting of Paynes Hollow

“Did it come to blows?”

“What? No.”

“There’s a bruise on your leg, Sam. A fresh one.”

“She caught my arm to talk to me, and I yanked away and fell. That’s all. Afterward, I retreated to my room. She came to the door, probably around midnight, saying she saw lights in the water. I’d been seeing them.”

“Lights on the water?”

“Under it. Something bioluminescent, I presume. Anyway, she hadn’t seen them, and last night, she said she did. I figured she was humoring me.”

“Because you’d argued. Over what?”

I shrug, hoping my face isn’t reddening. “Just being here.”

“She wanted to leave?”

“She thought I did. I don’t. Like I said, it was just a little tiff.”Liar.“I headed to bed early partly to stop fighting, but mostly just because I was tired.”Liar.“But yes, I figured she was humoring me about the lights so I went to sleep. I didn’t hear her leave, but I also wasn’t listening for it.”

He nods, thoughtful, and then says, “Getting a closer look at the lights would explain why she’d be out at the lake.”

I swallow, fighting to control my racing heart. “Yes.”

He leans back, thumbs hooked in his belt loops. “I’m really hoping there’s a simple explanation here, Sam. Maybe she went for a walk after looking at your lights. Maybe she fell and twisted her ankle.”

I need to force out the words. “But you don’t think that’s what happened.”

“I don’t know,” he says firmly. “Even if she was pulled into the lake by an undertow, she very well may have come up on shore somewhere else. Exhausted by the fight, having lost her cell phone, she passes out.”

“Okay. That makes sense. So now…?”

“Now we search. Let me get Josie and my other deputy here.” He starts walking away, taking out his phone. “I’ll call in that lazy-ass caretaker, too.”

I step toward his retreating back. “Don’t bother Ben with this.”

Smits snorts and lifts the phone to his ear. “Ben should be bothered a little more often, if you want my opinion. He’s coming. Doing some work for once.”

Sixteen

I really don’t want Ben Vandergriff here. Ever again, if I have the option. But apparently, I don’t even have the option of not summoning him to help search for my aunt, and when I realize that, I’m ashamed of my impulse. Yes, Ben makes me uncomfortable. Not Ben himself, but his connection to Austin, the reminder of that, the fact that he thinks Austin and I were friends and I cannot set him straight. I can’t set anyone straight, but especially Ben, who may be an ass but doesn’t deserve to have his good memories of his brother tainted.

Yet with Gail missing, I must be grateful for every bit of help. So I only raise that token protest and then shut up. Smits calls Josie, and tells her to notify the other deputy. He also leaves the Ben-summons to her, which is probably for the best.

After that, Smits and I walk up and down the beach. We don’t go far, and when we hear the car engines, Smits returns to the cottage while I keep looking.

Five minutes later, the sheriff ’s whistle brings me jogging to join them. Josie watches me with obvious worry and offers a tentative hug, whispering, “We’ll find her.” The other deputy—a middle-aged man introduced simply as Danny—nods sympathetically my way. Ben just watches me, suspicion rolling off him.

“Okay, so we’re splitting up,” Smits says. “I do not expect trouble,so we don’t need the buddy system. Except for Sam. She’ll go with Ben.”

Ben and I squawk in almost perfect unison.

“I can take Sam,” Josie says.

Her father shakes his head. “I know you’ll search properly, and I know Sam will try. But if Ben’s by himself, he’ll just plunk his ass down and tell us he covered his quadrant.”

“Remind me why I’m here again?” Ben says.

“Because the daughter of your goddamn employer is missing. On the property where you are supposed to be taking care of things.”