Page 21
Story: The Lake Escape
Julia
Gone? Can’t find her? Julia shivered. David sounded far too cavalier. If Christian went missing like that, she’d be in a total panic.
David tried to rationalize the situation.
“She likes to play games when she’s angry,” he said.
“I told Izzy I wouldn’t put it past her to pull a disappearing act just to get a rise out of me.
She can be overly dramatic, and the bigger the reaction she gets, the better.
It’s either that or she took a walk, passed out under a tree, and she’s going to wake up to a helluva hangover.
I’m not trying to freak everyone out. I was just wondering if she came over for a visit. ”
Julia squinted at him. “Why would Fiona come here?” she asked.
“Just to be friendly or maybe to apologize,” David suggested. “She was a wreck last night.”
Julia thought: That’s putting it lightly. And David hasn’t exactly been a shining star, either. Fiona wasn’t fighting loudly with herself .
Julia asked the obvious. “If she’s not home and not here, where could she be?”
Nobody answered. Julia entertained a dark thought. “What if she took an early morning swim to clear her head… and drowned. ” She elongated the word, giving it the gravity it deserved.
Erika rubbed her hands up and down her legs, discharging nervous energy.
“Did she take anything with her? Any luggage? Is her car still here? It would be a relief if she just left you, David. And understandable. You were a blue-ribbon ass last night. But what if… what if she did drown?” Worry lines creased Erika’s face. “Have you tried her phone?”
“Of course I’ve tried her phone,” David snapped. “It goes straight to voicemail.”
“Maybe it’s powered down or the battery died,” Julia suggested.
David shrugged at the possibility. “All I know is the Porsche is still here and so is all her stuff. And she didn’t go for a swim in the lake.
It’s not her thing,” he insisted. “I can’t count how many times she’s told me lake water grosses her out—the mucky bottom, the fish, algae, all that. She’d never go in the water.”
“Could she have gone for a hike?” asked Erika.
David answered so quickly it sounded rehearsed. “She doesn’t like to hike. She hates bugs,” he said.
“She doesn’t like lakes, hiking, or bugs. Why on earth did she even come here?” Julia wanted to know.
“Nobody likes bugs, Jules, and just so you know, I had to talk her into coming,” said David. “It’s a lot of time with the kids in a setting she doesn’t particularly care for. But I thought it might grow on her.”
“Maybe she went home,” Julia suggested.
“Without her car?” Erika reminded everyone.
“Hitchhiked?”
Erika turned her nose up at that one.
“So what then?” asked Julia.
“I don’t know.” David sounded rattled. “I went out for an early morning run and did my usual six miles.”
Of course, he was out running and has to announce it to all, thought Julia. She was surprised he hadn’t already posted his workout to IG. #girlfriendismissingbutdamnIlookfit
“The nanny was up early as well,” David continued, adding details as if he were concocting an alibi. “And she didn’t see or hear Fiona leave.”
“Are you sure she was in bed when you went for your run?”
Julia’s question hung in the air. She couldn’t purge the image of Fiona twirling around the bonfire like a music box ballerina in risqué attire. Now she had a vision of her quietly sneaking out of the bedroom, to go where? Perhaps off on a rendezvous, but with whom?
David did one of those rom-com double takes, looking like a man with rapid-onset indigestion. “Are you thinking she snuck out on me while I was sleeping?” he asked.
The deer heads gazed down with knowing eyes, as if they had the answer but weren’t telling.
David rolled his neck. He was obviously stressed. Or was it all an act?
“She sleepwalks,” he said, clearly relieved to have an explanation for Fiona leaving his bed that didn’t involve an illicit tryst. David’s self-image couldn’t withstand such a blow.
“I’m not sure how alcohol and Ambien mix, but it can’t be a good combination,” he added.
“Either way, I bet she’s sleeping it off somewhere and she’s going to wake up confused, maybe with a few mosquito bites, but no worse for the wear. ”
“Or she sleepwalked right into the lake.” Julia’s voice broke slightly as she sent Erika a worried look.
“That settles it,” said Erika definitively. “We’re calling the police.”
But David pooh-poohed the idea with a grimace. “She’s quite touchy about her sleepwalking. She’d never forgive me if I made a fuss about it. The nanny’s watching the kids. Let me keep looking. I’m sure I’ll find her.”
Maybe. Or maybe not, thought Julia, gulping down her growing apprehension.
Again, she entertained the dark notion that David had nefarious reasons for wanting to delay the police as long as possible.
But that was crazy. He might be a womanizer, but he’d never been violent.
Still, her intuition told her something didn’t add up.
“David, look, let’s not ignore the obvious,” said Julia sternly. “You didn’t have a quiet night with Fiona after the bonfire. I’m pretty sure the whole lake heard you arguing.”
Erika leaned forward in her chair, her elbows resting on her knees, a cagey look narrowing her eyes. “Fucking the nanny, David? Really? How cliché of you.”
David’s smug expression did little to defuse their suspicion.
“Fiona and alcohol do not mix,” he said emphatically.
“And Fiona and your crazy blue concoction is even worse. She was out of her mind last night. You all saw her.” David’s eyebrows shot up in horror.
“It was cringeworthy, the whole thing,” he continued.
“Then, when we’re getting ready for bed, she starts going off on me, spouting all kinds of accusations.
I have no clue where she got that insane idea about the nanny. ”
Julia cleared her throat uncomfortably. “From what I overheard, it sounded like she got it from your behavior.”
“And you don’t think she could have misread something innocent?
These days you touch a young girl on the arm, and you’re suddenly a rapist. Obviously, I wasn’t sexually harassing the nanny—and I certainly wasn’t sleeping with her.
” His top lip curled. “Good God, I hope you two don’t think that of me.
You’ve known me my whole life.” He sought reassurances from Julia, who kept her expression inscrutable.
Erika squinted. “I just hope you don’t have any incriminating internet searches, David. I might be a defense attorney, but I know how prosecutors think. And they’ll look at the twins’ iPads. Just saying.” Her accusatory stare came across like a stab.
David’s posture stiffened. “What are you even suggesting?” he asked. “I didn’t do anything to harm Fiona, if that’s what you’re getting at.” His voice carried an edge, but it only made him sound less trustworthy.
“I sure hope not,” Erika said.
Julia wasn’t jumping to conclusions about David, but she was certainly worried about Fiona. Who knew where she could have gone, what danger she might be in?
This whole thing was too weird to ignore. Someone had to call the police.
“Why did the last nanny quit suddenly?”
David picked up the innuendo, returning Julia’s question with a defiant stare.
She found that quite telling. Good gracious, the things he thought he could get away with because, well, he was David.
All those young girls hoping to be the next big thing, sending him their headshots, praying he’d make the right connection to this producer or that director—always someone important that David claimed to know.
Did he use this power to coerce some of these women into his bed?
Julia had no doubt.
He saw, he wanted, he took. He was a child in that way.
She had always known this about him, but it was strange how it never failed to surprise her.
Who was this man who felt so entitled? Julia could only laugh at herself.
She knew damn well who he was. And yet she still kept him close to her heart.
Childhood bonds were like that, she supposed.
It was easy to look through the distorted lens of time and see David as he once was, with the wistful hope he could be that person again: someone who would carry her on his back, drive far out of his way to rescue her, treat her kids like he’s their devoted uncle—not the self-obsessed caricature he’d become.
“I told you both, nothing happened with the last nanny,” David said in a huff. He turned to go, but stopped himself, standing up straighter and more self-assured.
“She up and quit,” he added, if he were playacting his own attorney and Julia and Erika were the jury he sought to convince. “Put us in a real bind. Gen Zers don’t take work seriously enough, in my opinion.” David seemed satisfied with his retort.
Julia began to construct a mental list of ways David appeared guilty of something heinous.
It was all there, a police detective’s dream: minimal eye contact (except when he gave empty but impassioned speeches about the prior nanny); his answers at the ready, too practiced and well versed; an overly confident, cocky demeanor; known to have a temper.
And last but not least: David had a colossal blowout fight with the missing person the night before she disappeared. None of this looked good.
In her head, Julia composed a truth-telling post for social, wondering how many likes and comments she would get if she dared share it.
Possible captions:
Hey all, this is my hunky, maybe murderous neighbor, David Dunne. Wanna come over for tea? #lakelife #TheGuyNextDoor
or
What’s missing from this picture? Hint: it’s this guy’s girlfriend who we can’t find. And PS, they got into a BIG row last night over the nanny, who he may have shagged. #handthatrocksthecradle
If the sordid scene playing out in her mind had been an Instagram Reel, she would probably have racked up a thousand views in an hour. Instead, she had a headache and a sinking pit in her stomach.
“I’m making the call,” Julia announced as soon as David departed.
Before she could summon the police, in a move that would undoubtedly earn her David’s ire, Lucas emerged from upstairs.
His long hair curtained his face, so it was impossible to read his eyes as he shuffled past them without offering a hello.
Julia didn’t know the musical group depicted on his T-shirt, but she recognized the ripped jeans as a fashion trend that wouldn’t go away.
“Hey, Mom, we’re out of Dr Pepper,” he moaned from the kitchen, his voice muffled, his head most likely buried inside the refrigerator.
We may also be out of time, Julia thought, imagining Fiona at the bottom of the lake or bleeding out after a bear attack.
Erika was quick with her response. “I believe you have a driver’s license, Lucas, and you know how to get to the store. We’re kind of dealing with a crisis here.”
“There’s no chips or anything good to eat,” he called out.
“I said we’re dealing with a crisis.” Erika practically shouted her reply.
Lucas ambled into the living room, munching on an apple—a far healthier choice than soda or chips.
“What’s the problem?” he asked.
“Fiona’s missing,” Erika said.
Lucas did not react. The name Fiona seemed to mean nothing to him. If she suffered a tragedy, she’d be nothing more than a story to tell his friends. It was sad. Fiona was a person with a life and dreams, and his blank reaction was… distressing? Alarming? Deeply concerning? All of the above?
Holy shit. It was really sinking in for Julia. Fiona was gone. She had vanished with no explanation. Julia felt overwhelmed by a sense of unreality—almost dissociation—when Erika interjected something surprising, bringing her back to the moment.
“I saw Fiona head toward our house while you were outside playing guitar. Did you two talk?”
Lucas tossed the half-eaten apple into a wastebasket meant primarily for paper.
His mother didn’t bother with a reaction, perhaps because she already had a disapproving frown plastered on her face.
Lucas stuffed his hands inside the pockets of his torn jeans, looking unsure of himself, like a guy who wanted a guitar to hide behind.
“No,” he said blandly. “I haven’t spoken to her once since we got here.”
Abruptly Lucas turned his back to his mother and headed upstairs. As Julia finally placed a call to the police, she couldn’t help wondering if Lucas was telling the whole story.
Table of Contents
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- Page 21 (Reading here)
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