Page 18 of Traitor
She spins around, and I brace her wavering body with my arms. “What? No, they were just there. A man and a woman, I think. They were arguing, and he pushed her over and drowned her. I’m not making this up.”
I guide her to the edge of the dock, picking up my flashlight along the way. When we get to the edge, I shine the beam out over the empty water. “Can you tell me what happened? Did you see who they were?”
She closes her eyes as she remembers. “I couldn’t see everything, they were pretty far across the lake, it was mostly their shadows with the light of the moon behind them. I heard them arguing, once it got more intense, the sound of her falling after he shoved her nearly echoed. Then the splash of water when he pushed her over.” When the shivers overtake her again, I wrap my jacket more securely around her shoulders.
I know what she’s feeling. The sense of unreality, shock, disbelief. I never wanted to feel it again let alone watch someone else go through it right in front of me.
“Could you see what they were wearing?” I ask. “What the boat looked like? Maybe a tag or name?”
“Not really. The woman was in a dress, shorter than the man who had to be wearing pants, but that’s about it. It was too dark,” she ends on a whisper. She’s shaking so violently, I worry she’s in shock. “It’s too dark. Can we go inside?”
As I walk her back up the dock, her body leaning into my side, I say, “Are you sure this is what you saw? Maybe you were mistaken. It’s pretty hard to see a ways out, you could have been confused.”
Her feet stop moving, forcing me to turn and look at her. Grief ravages her face and too late, I realize she’s crying. She nods to the tags at my neck. “You were in the military, right? Would you mistake someone dying right in front of you?”
Point taken, we start walking again. “The boat. Can you describe it?”
She sighs. “I could probably pick one out if I saw it again. Big. I’m sorry, I’m tired.”
We get to the edge of the dock and begin the short climb up the path that leads to the lodge.
“Why were you down at the lake?” I ask when she gets too quiet.
“Please, Ford. Don’t interrogate me now. I’m too exhausted to argue.”
My strides eat up the ground, but I have to pace myself to keep up with her. “I need to keep you focused and awake. Don’t want you passing out on me. Tell me. Were you trying to take a midnight swim?”
“I’m an artist. I wanted to see what the water looked like at night.” She rests her head against my shoulder and more of her weight leans against me. “It was so pretty. Besides, I can’t swim.”
Ignoring the thought of her drowning, I shake her awake. “Oh, no you don’t. Wake up, Sleeping Beauty.”
She growls at me. “You’re such an asshole, Ford.”
I nearly smile. “Call me whatever you want, but you were underwater for God only knows how long. You hit your head and could be suffering from a concussion. Keeping you conscious supersedes being nice.”
“I think I hate you,” she says.
“You wouldn’t be the first,” I answer.
We reach the steps to the deck and she shoves out of my hold. “I can walk by myself.”
She teeters a little at the top step, but manages to make it to the back door. A wave of heat greets us, along with Nell, and to my growing frustration, Mercy and Lexie.
“We, like, heard there was a missing woman,” Lexie says in a whisper that carries. “Is that her?”
“Is everything okay?” Mercy asks.
“We’ll talk later,” I tell them. “Go to my rooms, please. Nell, will you call the sheriff?”
At the mention of the police, Peyton’s face drains of all color. I cross to her in two long strides and catch her weight before she sinks to the ground.
“Oh, sweet baby Jesus,” Nell says, as she hurries to the phone. For once in her life, she doesn’t argue with me. Maybe I won’t fire her today after all.
“Don’t faint on me, sunshine.”
She glares at me, her eyes clearing a bit. “I wasn’t going to faint. I got a little dizzy.”
I walk her over to the seat in front of the fire. “Dizzy my ass, if I hadn’t caught you, you’d be in a puddle on the floor, now snap out of it.”