Down By The Water (27 page)

I watched her, my eyes wide, pleading. If she noticed, she didn't respond, just kept up the pressure on my neck, my airway, my lifeline. I wondered what she would tell people about my death. Would she come up with something that explained it all away or would she get caught this time?

My strength evaporated and my arms fell from hers, limply trying to pull at her hands under the water, the hands that were still wrapped around my throat.

She squeezed harder and the spots grew bigger and I couldn't keep my mouth closed any longer. My lips parted and the water rushed in, strangling me, choking me. In desperation, I closed them but I needed to cough, needed to get the water out and breathe air instead. Air that I didn't have, air that was just beyond my reach.

I opened my mouth again but, this time, I didn't feel the water. I didn't feel anything. My eyelids felt heavy and a rush of heat coursed through my veins. I was warm and sleepy and oddly relaxed.

My eyes fluttered and I used my last ounce of strength to open them. A shadow moved above me, a giant cloud or something hovering behind my sister, blocking the light that had been streaming into the water as I struggled to remain conscious.

I wondered if it was darkness. Death coming to get me. I wanted to see light. Something blinding and beautiful to greet me as the water stilled my heart.

Her fingers scraped at my neck and, without warning, the pressure was gone from my throat. I felt water splash beyond me, a massive splash that rippled the water above me so I could no longer make out anything.

It didn't matter.

I closed my eyes and wished for light to steal away the darkness.

FIFTY FOUR

Water spouted from my mouth and I was choking. My head pounded. But there was air. I could breathe.

“Come on, Lily,” a voice said. A voice I recognized. “Come on.”

I coughed again and more water gushed from my mouth. My throat ached and my lungs burned and I gasped and gulped and vomited again.

“There you go,” the voice said. “Come on. Open your eyes.”

My eyelids felt heavy, like there were ten pound weights keeping them closed, but I forced them open. The blue sky blinded me and I closed them, blinking away the tears that were forming. I tilted my head to the side and opened them again. Weeds greeted me, an inch from my nose, tiny yellow flowers swaying gently in the soft breeze. I shifted and moaned. I was on my back, splayed out against something hard and firm. The ground. Everything hurt, every part of me ached, but it didn't matter. I was breathing. I was alive.

“You're back.”

I tried to turn my head in the other direction. I rotated it slowly, almost in slow-motion. I knew that voice. My vision was blurred but I could make out the shape of his face. The hazel eyes. The mouth that broke into a smile as soon as my eyes met his.

Ty.

I started to say something, but more water erupted from mouth and the inside of my throat felt like I'd swallowed fire. My entire stomach felt full, distended, and my neck throbbed. For a half second, I wondered why. And then I remembered.

He wiped at my mouth, his fingers warm against my clammy skin, his touch soft. “You don't have to talk,” he said. My eyes adjusted and I could see him clearer, could see the worry in his eyes, the anxiety written all over his face. “It's okay.”

“
Jenna,” I rasped.

He nodded to my left and my head lolled in that direction. My sister lay sprawled on her back, staring up into the trees. Her eyes were open but she lay there, unmoving, her clothes plastered to her body, her hair a tangled mess. I couldn't tell if she was dead or alive.

“I heard everything,” Ty said. His fingers trailed down my cheek, then moved to my shoulder. “I stayed up on the trail. I thought something was wrong when you told me to go. I started to head back, but it just bugged me. Leaving you.”

I tried to nod my head, tried to speak again, but his fingers moved back to my mouth, silencing me. “So I went to the top of the trail, tried to eavesdrop.” He glanced at Jenna, then shifted his gaze back to me, his eyes wet with unshed tears. “It was hard to hear, especially when you guys went quiet. I didn't know she had you under the water until it was almost too late. I got down here, grabbed her and threw her as far into the river as I could to get her off you. Then I pulled you out. She swam back here to the shore and she's been laying there ever since.” His expression hardened. “I told her if she moved, I'd throw her back in. She hasn't made a peep.”

I tried to nod, but the muscles in my neck ached.

“
Don't move,” he said, a frown creasing his forehead. “Just rest.” His voice was a whisper, soft like the wind rustling through the canopy of trees above us. “You're going to be fine.”

I couldn't answer. Not because of the knives still scratching at my throat and not because I was drifting back out of consciousness. I couldn't answer because I wasn't sure what fine meant anymore. I wasn't dead, but the memories of my conversation with Jenna came flooding back and my stomach lurched. I had a dead sister, a memory I'd lived with for years. But I had something new: the knowledge that my other sister had killed her. Had lured her and tricked her and watched her die. And had tried to hurt another girl. Alive was better than being dead, but I wasn't sure about being fine.

Ty stroked my hair, then leaned down and kissed my forehead. “I thought I'd lost you, Lily. It took a minute before you starting coughing and I...I thought you were gone.” His voice cracked.

I took another hesitant breath. Water didn't pour out of my mouth this time and I felt a tiny step closer to normal.

“Don't scare me like that again,” he whispered.

I lifted my arms. They felt heavy and weak, but I got them up and around his shoulders. “I'm sorry,” I managed.

He shook his head, gave me a disapproving look. “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Tears spilled from the corner of my eyes. My entire body ached. And my heart hurt. For Rosie and all that she'd suffered. And for my other sister, who was so broken and damaged that she'd allowed herself to do something to hurt another person. Not one, but several, over and over again, in different ways, through her actions and lies and omissions and deceptions.

Ty leaned down, got his arms underneath me and lifted me to his chest. I tightened my arms around him as best I could, desperate to hang on to him.

“
I've got you, Lily,” he said, holding me close, his voice breaking again. “I won't let you go.”

FIFTY FIVE

Two hours later, I was sitting on the steps of Ty's parents home.

He'd called his father on his cellphone from the river bank and quickly explained to him where we were and what had happened. Colin Reilly came down with Jorgenson and my father and, soon after, paramedics. Ty passed me to my father, who seemed bewildered by the entire scene. Ty explained to his father and Jorgenson what he'd heard and what he'd seen. My father listened, too, but didn't say anything. When Ty was done talking, Jorgenson seemed paralyzed for a moment, unsure what to do, looking between me huddled with my dad and Jenna, who was still prone on the bank. My father had listened, too, and if he was surprised or upset, he didn't show it.

Instead, he looked at me, cradled in his arms. “Is all that true?”

My aching throat was too constricted with tears to answer. I just nodded.

He held me tighter and looked at Jorgenson. If they spoke, I didn't hear them. The sheriff stared at me for a moment, his expression unreadable, then went to Jenna, got her on her feet and led her up the bank, his hand locked firmly on her elbow, guiding her as they disappeared from view.

Not once did she look in my direction.

The paramedics arrived and looked me over. They took my vitals. They put some stuff on my neck to ease the burning of the scratches. They looked down my throat. They said I looked fine, but they wanted to transport me to the hospital as a precautionary measure. I said no. They persisted. I still said no. They turned their attention to my dad, who said he thought it might be a good idea to go.

I stood on wobbly legs and said no again.

I signed the release form the paramedics reluctantly handed to me. With Ty and our fathers, we followed them up the bank and back onto the trail. There was one other police car parked in front of the Reilly's house, an officer from a neighboring town standing next to Jorgenson's car. Jenna was in the back of the sheriff's car, her head down, her still-wet hair plastered to her scalp.

I averted my eyes and stayed away.

I gave a brief statement to Jorgenson. He didn't offer me an apology and I didn't want one. All I wanted was to be done with all of it. I never wanted to see him again and with any luck, I wouldn't.

“
I may have more questions,” he said to me, jotting down notes on a small memo pad.

I just nodded.

“Speaking of questions,” Ty said, taking a step closer to me. “I have a question for you.”

Jorgenson cut his eyes in his direction.

“The bruise,” he said. “On Rosie. Why is there no photo of it?”

Jorgenson's mouth twisted into an ugly line. “I knew Caroline still had a thing for you.”

A muscle in Ty's jaw twitched but he remained silent.

“
It wasn't in the file when she showed it to you,” Jorgenson said. “Or copied it or however she got it to you. I sent it down to the Cities because I was going back through the file when Ms. McMahon here showed up again and I was hoping they might be able to do a little more analysis with it than I could.” He paused, raised an eyebrow. “Be happy to let you know when it comes back to me if you still want to take a look at it.”

Ty didn't answer him. 

Jorgenson turned to me. “You'll need to make yourself available.”

Ty frowned at him. “She's leaving tomorrow, Sheriff. You know that.”

He touched the brim of his hat, adjusting it. “I'm aware. But we're looking at a murder investigation here. And, by the look of things, two charges of attempted murder.”

Ty frowned. “Lily isn't a suspect any more.”

“No,” Jorgenson said slowly. “She isn't.” His brown eyes locked with mine. “She's the star witness.”

It was the closest to an apology I was going to get. I said nothing and averted my eyes. I didn't want to be a witness; I didn't want to be anything except done with him and Pelican Lake and all of the tragedies it represented.

Jorgenson flipped his memo pad shut and stuffed the pen back in his shirt pocket. He tipped his hat goodbye and I stood there, motionless, as I watched him walk back to his car and position himself in the driver's seat. He drove away, Jenna huddled in the back seat.

And my sister, my murdering, lying sister, never looked up.

When the police cleared out, my father took me aside. “I think we should—”

“
Yes,” I said, knowing what he was going to say. “I want to leave tonight.”

“
We can find a place to stay. We'll get your car tomorrow and decide on what to do about getting you to Madison.”

I nodded. I couldn't think too far ahead, but I knew I'd had enough of Lake Land.

“And...Jenna?” Her name sounded foreign, foul on my tongue.

A pained expression crossed my dad's face. “Your mother is coming,” he said. He covered his eyes with his hand, then pinched the bridge of his nose. “We...we have two daughters who need their parents right now. In very different ways.”

I felt a flood of fresh tears. My dad and Jenna had always been at odds with each other, but it didn't mean he didn't love her. I might have to ready myself for living with the idea of having a sister who had done horrible, terrible things but I was pretty sure it didn't compare to being a parent of that child.

“
I need to pack up my stuff,” I said.

“
I'll wait.”

I shook my head. I needed time alone. Not with my thoughts and not to come to terms with what had just happened. I needed to save that for later, when I wasn't half-numb with shock and disbelief. No, I needed time for something else. Someone else.

Ty.

“
No,” I said, trying to make my voice sound firm. But it was thin and raspy and I knew I'd have to be more convincing than that. “Please. I need to do this alone.”

He gritted his teeth and started to protest.

“Please?”

He stared at me, a flurry of emotions crossing his face. I could read them all. Worry. Sadness. Anxiety. And love.

“Fine,” he said, relenting. “I'll text you when I get to the hotel. We can figure things out from there.” He wrapped me in a hug and I could feel the hesitancy. Not because he didn't want to touch me but because he was holding back, wary of hurting my frail, battered body.

Colin Reilly approached me after my dad left, offering me a mumbled apology, or something close to an apology. I didn't say anything, just nodded. I didn't feel the need to thank anyone. There was nothing to be thankful for, except for the fact that I was still alive, and there was only one person who had given me that. He disappeared inside the house, until finally, Ty and I were alone on the front steps.

“So,” he said.

I wrapped my arms around myself. “I don't know what to say,” I admitted.

I didn't. Everything had happened so fast and I was still processing, still trying to figure out the hows and the whys and, more importantly, my reaction to all of it.

“
You don't have to say anything, Lily.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at me. “But I just want you to know something.”

“
Okay.”

“
I can't imagine what's going through your head,” he said. He shook his head. “I mean, I truly can't. I have no idea what to say or what to do. You know? I know it's going to take some time for you. To work through everything, to figure out how you feel about all the stuff that has happened. And I just...” He paused, swallowing a couple of times. He cleared his throat. “I just want you to know that I'm not going anywhere. What we talked about earlier? I meant it. Just because you're gone doesn't mean I'm done with you.”

I swallowed. “Even after today?”

“Especially after today,” he said. He pulled one of his hands from his pocket and reached for mine. His fingers tightened over mine. “I'm not going to crowd you. I'll give you all the time you need. But I'll be here. Waiting on you.”

I leaned over and kissed him. It hurt to stretch my neck, but I didn't care. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He put his hand on my cheek and I leaned into it, closing my eyes. “There's something else.”

I opened my eyes.

“I...I think I'm falling in love with you, Lily,” he said. “And I know the time has been short—I know it's too soon to say it. But I don't care. I almost lost you today. And...” His voice cracked a little and I saw tears form in the corner of his eyes. “And I realized that I don't care if it's soon. I don't care if people think I'm crazy for telling you now. I don't want to waste a single second with you. Because I almost lost out on you. For forever.”

I felt my own eyes cloud with tears. I didn't blink them back, just let them slip and slide down my cheeks. He lifted his hand and wiped them away, his thumb a gentle caress on my skin.

I put my hand over his and smiled at him. “It's never too soon to say it.”