Page 17 of Traitor
Chapter Six
Ford
“Haveyou seen Ms. Rhodes come in?” Nell asks the moment I walk in.
I glance up, wondering if she can see the tension in my face. “I just got back. How would I have seen her?”
Nell twists her hands looking too flustered to pay any attention to me. “I’m worried. Saw her go out back a while ago and she hasn’t made it in yet. Do you think she wandered off and got herself lost in the woods?”
The coffee in my thermos has gone stone-cold, but I choke it back anyway. I’ve had worse. “I think she’s a grown woman and knows how to find her way back or call for help. I don’t want to get involved. For Christ’s sake, I’m not her keeper.” The look on Nell’s face tells me she’s not going to let this one go. “Fine, I’ll go down to the lake trails and see if I can find her, make sure she’s okay. Will that make you feel better?”
Nell smiles and gives me a hug. “You’re a good man, Ford.”
I grunt as I get to my feet and throw on my jacket. “If you think that’s true, you’ll have another cup of coffee waiting for me when I get back.”
“You got it,” she says in a pleased voice to my retreating back.
With the flashlight I retrieve from under the front desk in one hand and my phone in the other, I head to the back deck, nodding to a couple sitting in front of the fire on my way. Cicadas hum around me as I head down the marked path from the back deck toward the lake. Damn silly woman would have had to work to get herself lost. The lodge is lit up like a Christmas tree at night for this very reason, but there’s always some fool tourist who thinks they’re a master hiker and gets lost.
The beam from the flashlight bobs in front of me as I dial the number Peyton provided when she checked in with my other hand. The line rings and rings until I get her voicemail. Peyton doesn’t seem like the type to go anywhere without her phone attached to her side, so the first rumblings of unease stir inside me.
I pocket my phone and begin to search in earnest. The trail to the water is empty and the top of Bear Lake is as smooth as glass.
Where the fuck could she be?
She probably went around to the front as I was going to the back or some other stupid crap. I tell myself that as I step out onto the dock, hoping I’ll find her sitting at the end with her feet in the water again, like I had this morning.
I find her, but she’s facedown in the water with a murky halo of red that shimmers when I shine the light over her.No!I think, or maybe I shout it. My knees scream out in pain as I slam against the dock. The flashlight plummets from my nerveless hands and skitters away, the beam arching and twirling, flashing on Peyton in a sick carnival of lights.
Her skin is ice-cold by the time I wrap my hands around her arms and her lips are blue. Desperation has me pulling her out of the water with a roar, her limbs knocking against the wood like a rag doll’s. I perform CPR, thankful for the combat medicine I learned in the Corps, and hoping like hell it’ll actually do me some good this time around.
Minutes pass like centuries with me working on her until she coughs, spitting up lake water and hacking for air. I brush back the hair from her face and rub her back until she settles. Her teeth chatter with the cold and I strip off my jacket and cover her with it.
“Peyton? Peyton, it’s Ford. Can you hear me?” Her eyes flicker open and then focus on me. “That’s it. Come back to me.”
She blinks blearily. “W-what?”
“Wake up, sunshine. C’mon.” She’s cold. Far too cold and she won’t stop shivering. I haul her against me, her body small and vulnerable against mine. The urge to protect, to save, is so overwhelming my grip tightens around her. She makes a sound of protest and I gentle my hold.
“Ford?” Her blue lips form my name, but no sound comes out. Her eyes roam over my face, confusion clouding them. “What?”
I brush my hand over her hair and it comes away red. Cursing, I pull a bandana from my pocket and press it to the knot on her head. She winces. “I’m sorry, you must have knocked your head good. You almost drowned.”
“Drowned?” she repeats, shaking her head as though to clear her thoughts. Her eyebrows squish together and she blinks rapidly.
“Yeah, looks like you fell into the water and hit your head. If I hadn’t found you, you could have drowned.” Her eyes widen and she shoots up, nearly knocking heads with me. “What the hell, calm down. You could hurt yourself.”
“He hurt her. She’s hurt. We have to get help.” She begins to struggle out of my arms like a wildcat.
“Hang on there, you keep steady now. You could make it worse.” She rips out of my hold and stumbles back, nearly falling off the other end of the dock. “Peyton, what the hell?”
“He drowned her. He drowned her, and we have to get help.” Her eyes roll in her head and she flips onto her hands and knees and begins crawling when she can’t get to her feet.
“Peyton, wait. Let me help you.” She slaps my hands away when I try to help her stand. “Dammit, did that bump also knock all the common sense out of you? Calm down so we can fix this.” I grab her by the arms and haul her up. When her knees buckle, I brace her against me. “You didn’t drown. You’re fine, you’re here with me. You’re safe.”
Peyton grips my shirt with both fists. “Not me. God, not me. The woman on the boat. The man drowned her. I-I think she’s dead. We have to help her.”
I glance at the empty lake. “There’s no one there, Peyton.”