The Push

by J C Fuller

  It didn’t take long to realize the hike out wasn’t going to go as quickly as she had hoped. The forest floor itself an obstacle course, it was heavily covered with ferns, large tree roots, discarded pine cones, twigs, and broken limbs. All things one could easily trip over or roll an ankle on. Even the trees themselves were of no assistance, crowded together, blocking much of the view forward as behind.

  Several times she had to patiently hold back branches or indicate where Gabe should step as he stumbled along half-blind and handcuffed. At times, she’s managed to get a few steps ahead, only to return and help untangle him from a bush or a broken tree limb. As if that hadn’t been frustrating enough, he was also stubbornly persistent in constantly and annoyingly declaring his innocence.

  “I’m telling you, Sheriff. You’ve got the wro—"

  “Watch your step,” Lane instructed, as they approached one of the many fallen logs littering the forest floor. “And your head,” she added, turning around and putting her hand protectively over his.

  “Why are you being so nice to me?” Gabe asked, eying her suspiciously. “You think I’m a killer.”

  “I KNOW you’re a killer.” Lane gave him a withering look.

  “Sheriff, I know how all of this looks. Even the trail camera. But I can explain all of it. You’ve got to hear me out. Lucas is the one…”

  “Give it a rest, Gabe,” Lane said, annoyance heavy in her tone. “Watch it.”

  Lane stepped over another log and scooted around a rotten stump. Suddenly she held up her hand in a fist cautioning Gabe to stop and started to say, “Hold up.” Gabe didn’t and managed to trip over the stump, crashing into her.

  “What’s wrong?” Gabe blinked heavily, his eyes still bloodshot and puffy.

  Shoving Gabe back to his feet, she focused her eyes ahead, peering further down the way. A knot of doubt had edged its way into her thoughts. She didn’t think this was the way she had come. In fact, none of this was looking familiar. They’d either veered off course or missed the path completely. And heaven knows, she didn’t think to leave behind a trail of bread crumbs on her way in.

  “Sheriff, these cuffs are too tight. Any chance of…”

  “Gabe, just be quiet.” Lane took a deep breath, taking in their immediate surroundings, trying to find her bearings again.

  The large number of splintered stumps and fallen logs led her to wonder if there had been one heck of a wind storm a few years back. The logs abandoned where they fell to decompose back into the ground they’d sprouted from. Also, the bushes were thicker here, continually snagging at their clothing and her duty belt. No, this was not the way she had come.

  For a brief second, she thought of retracing their steps to the waterfall. But she was anxious for Lucas, curious to know if Philip had been able to get him help in time. She was also eager to be rid of Gabe as well.

  Lane dropped her fist and started forward, looping to the left. There were more fallen trees, but less bush to contend with. She crawled over a large log, bits of bark and dried moss clinging to her pants. She reached behind and grabbed Gabe’s elbow, helping to balance him as he attempted to swing his leg over.

  “Here, lift up your right leg a little higher. Higher!”

  “I am!” Gabe grumbled, falling into her and losing his balance, his dead weight almost knocking her down to the ground.

  “Here, let me get your arm.”

  “You know, this would be A LOT EASIER if you’d at least let me have my arms upfront! I can barely keep my balance this way,” Gabe complained, having slid over the log face first. With Lane’s help, he slowly lumbered back to his knees and then his feet. Mud and pine needles still covering one side of his face.

  Lane sighed, realizing he had a point. “Okay, just…here. Sit on the log.” Lane patted the large log he’d just climbed or rather, slid over face first.

  “Thanks.” Gabe blinked his eyes again and then tried to swallow. He grimaced and stuck out his tongue, sliding it over the bottom of his front teeth. “Mind if I have a little bit of water?” Gabe nodded towards Lucas’s water bottle dangling from Lane’s duty belt. “I really need to wash my mouth out.”

  Lane nodded, unclipping the water bottle and unscrewing the top for him. She then walked over and tilted the bottle over his mouth, letting a small stream flow before tilting it back.

  Gabe nodded his thanks as he swished the water around his mouth, then spat it to the side.

  “Thanks. That’s better.”

  Exhausted herself, Lane plopped down on the log beside him, looking up at the woods around them. Absently, she took her shirttail and wiped the sweat off her forehead. It was a warm day. Even though they weren’t directly in the sun, the air was humid and hot, the trees trapping the heat in their denseness.

  “Sheriff, why exactly do you think I killed Danie?” Gabe suddenly asked, spitting once again into the bushes. Lane started to bring the water bottle up to her mouth, craving a cool drink herself. “Didn’t anyone tell you I was the one who performed CPR?”

  Lane sighed, bringing the bottle back down without taking a drink.

  “Rejection.” Lane watched him closely, seeing his slight flinch. “I think you knew she preferred Lucas over you. But even worse, she preferred to be alone, than be with you. She wasn’t planning on getting serious with anyone. She was going to head back east and when you suggested you should go with her… I think you saw she didn’t care either way.”

  “That’s not true. She said she thought it was a great idea,” Gabe said, a touch of indignation in his tone.

  “I’m sure she was just being polite,” Lane countered, her mouth quirking up, seeing his anger start to bloom. “But you were too dense to know it.” Lane brought the water bottle back up to her lips and took a long pull from it before screwing the top back on and returning it to her duty belt.

  “I’m far from dense, Sheriff,” Gabe said, a slow smile spreading across his mouth. “You gonna let me have my hands up front or not?”

  “Yeah, just a second.” Lane pushed off from the log and worked her way behind him, grabbing the cuff key from her pocket and inserting it into the right cuff. Twisting the little key, she started to pull his hand out, keeping the wrist bent. If he tried to pull away, she could yank up, causing a high amount of pain to keep him immobile.

  “You hear that?” Gabe asked, turning his head. “Sounds like a helicopter.”

  “Means Lucas and Philip made it back to the…” Lane suddenly swayed on her feet, hit by a wave of light headedness. “the truck.” She blinked her eyes and shook her head, trying to shake the feeling.

  “That’s not good,” Gabe said, quietly.

  “Why…why is that not good?” Lane swallowed, now feeling extremely nauseous. She tried to put the key back into the cuff, but missed, her hands unsteady.

  “What’s taking so long? You feeling okay, Sheriff?” Gabe suddenly stood up from the log, causing Lane to lose her grip on his wrist. “You need help?” he asked, a cold smile upon his lips.

  Lane stumbled back, almost losing her balance.

  “Sit back down,” she slurred, taking a faulting step forward, trying to grab at his wrist.

  “I think you need to be the one to sit down,” Gabe said, his smile widening. He took a step forward, swinging both hands up front, the left cuff still hanging from his wrist.

  “The water bottle…” Lane’s head whirled. “You spiked Lucas’s water bottle,” she slurred. “That’s how you knocked him out.”

  “Don’t you have all the answers today?” Gabe lightly pushed Lane down onto the stump. “But, you’re wrong about one thing. Danie never rejected me.” Gabe peered into her eyes, pulling down on the skin above Lane’s cheek, checking her pupils for dilation. “She was going to pick me.”

  Lane shook her head away from his touch, but found she couldn’t do much more, her eyes already drooping closed.

  “Want to know how I know?” Gabe grabbed Lane’s chin, shaking her awake, “Because she hel
d my hand that day.” He let go of her chin, pushing hard as he did. “She was super shy, you know. I would put my arm around her and she’d shrug out of it. Or I’d hold her hand and she’d take it away. But on that day, she grabbed MY hand.” Gabe stood up as Lane toppled to the side. He grabbed her, steadying her on the log. “In retrospect, when I went to take a nap in my tent, the two girls must have swapped places. I should have known right away, especially when she said she was going to go swimming. But I wasn’t thinking clearly and thought it the perfect opportunity to steal a kiss.” He took a tentative step back, eying Lane to make sure she’d stay put.

  Satisfied, he started to grab at her closed fist, looking for the cuff key, continuing to talk, knowing she could still hear him.

  “It took me a little bit to find her. I had thought she’d gone to the low beach to wade in the water up to her ankles, Danie not being a swimmer per se.” He grabbed Lane’s other hand, finding it empty. “But she was up on the point, on the very cusp, looking down at the water. I snuck up behind her and put my arms around her, holding her against me.”

  He leaned back, a deep frown on his face, “Did you drop the key?” He got up and started to walk around the log.

  In response, Lane blinked her eyes a few times, her head falling back against her shoulder blades, fighting to stay conscious. She tried to tell him to stop, but it only came out as a croak.

  “What did you do with it?” Gabe shoved her off the log, pushing her to the ground. He checked to see if the small silver key had maybe fallen into a crevice. “Not there,” Gabe said to himself, and then to Lane, “I’d startled her, of course. Felt her reach behind and grab me, pulling me close against her body and then she whispered… Brent.”

  Gabe worked his way over to Lane, sticking his hands in her pockets and ruffling through her duty belt.

  “She said it in such a sultry way as if she relished the very sound of his name on her lips.” Gabe stopped, shaking his head as he stood stooped over Lane. “I was completely shocked. The betrayal Danie had shown. Not only to me and Lucas, but to Janie! To lure Brent out there…and Brent! He was no better! Janie loved him and he obviously had meant to meet Danie there. Which made his sudden desire to go looking for firewood on his own so devious.” Gabe stood up, breathing hard. “Before I knew it, I’d grabbed her by the shoulders and whipped her around to face me. To see MY face and know I knew her betrayal! And then…and then, it was a gut reaction to shove her. I wanted her as far away from me as possible. And I just…” Gabe shrugged his shoulders, “I just pushed her away from me as hard as I could and down she tumbled, right off the side of the point.” Gabe suddenly frowned and squinted at her, looking her over..

  “Hold up. There it is!” He bent down, spotting something silver.

  “When I heard the splash, I realized what I had done.” Gabe sighed in relief. He had found the cuff key in the folds of Lane’s pants. Lane thought about reaching for it, but couldn’t make her arms move.

  “I want you to know, Sheriff. I tried to do the right thing.” Gabe sat down heavily on the log. “I tore off my shirt and dove in after her. When I reached her, she was semi-conscious, having split her head open on a rock. I started to drag her back, when I realized she’d tell.” He worked the small key into the lock of the cuff, giving it a twist. “And if she told, I’d lose everything. My scholarships, my friends, my career, my freedom…my life would stop. I loved Danie…but no woman is worth all that.”

  Gabe tossed the handcuffs down on top of Lane before standing up to straddle her waist, reaching for her gun holster.

  “So, I used my forearm and held her down until she stopped thrashing. Then I quickly made my way to land, put my shirt back on, screamed for help and waited till I heard people coming.”

  He unsnapped the gun from the holster.

  “I had started to wade myself back out to save her, when Brent went all superhero and got to her first. Between the two of us, we managed to get her back to dryland and Kevin started CPR. I was worried he’d actually be successful, so I told him to go for help. Then it was just a matter of pretending. When the ranger showed up…Well… then I gave it my honest to goodness try. But by then, she was long gone.”

  Gabe held Lane’s gun in his hand, looking for the safety. Finding it, he flipped it off and placed the gun on top of the log.

  “At the funeral though, I started to suspect something wasn’t right. Janie…. Or rather, who I thought to be Janie, was looking at everyone like they were the boogieman. Wouldn’t let any of us come anywhere near her. A few months later, I happened to see her on a street in Seattle. She was wearing this pretty yellow dress with a large yellow hat. I have to tell you the sight made my heart stop. She looked just like Danie would…” Gabe grunted as he flipped Lane onto her stomach, pulling her arm behind her back. “And that’s when I guessed, they’d switched places. I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, so I followed her a few times, borrowing Lucas’s truck. Always careful to be sure she never saw it was me.”

  Gabe felt Lane resist and yanked hard on her arm, causing a yelp of pain. “You can imagine the panic I felt….and the joy. Danie was alive! And yet, she could destroy everything if she realized it was me. Coming back to the island, I was worried she might talk to the others, piece together where everyone was at. Emotions being so high, since it was the anniversary. I couldn’t risk that.”

  Gabe tightened his hold, bending over her, his spittle hitting her face.

  “You’d guessed right, though. Doctor Hadley had told me he’d seen Janie at the Royal Fork having dinner with her aunt. Even told me how Sue mentioned Janie would be taking the next couple of days to hike up The Mole Hill.” Gabe patted her cheek, drawing her eye, “I wondered what she was really up to, so I waited a day or so, to see if she’d contact me or the rest of the gang. But no one seemed to know she was even on the island.”

  Lane tried to turn her head away, but he shoved her face down into the ground, pressing her cheek hard against the small pebbles and pine needles.

  “Stop squirming. I can tell it’s already starting to wear off.” Gabe reached over and started to yank on the water bottle, trying to wrench it from her duty belt.

  Lane, buying for time, did as she was told. She’d heard the helicopter land and leave, hoping beyond hope, help was soon on its way.

  “She didn’t…. know?” Lane managed to ask, dirt and dried pine needles sticking to her lips and chin. She was starting to feel better, her thoughts slowly losing their haze.

  “That I killed her sister?” Gabe unscrewed the water bottle lid. “No, not for sure. I don’t think she ever figured out which one of us really did it.” He brought the opened bottle up to her mouth, but Lane wriggled her shoulders, jostling the bottle. “Damnit, stay still!”

  With his other hand, Gabe squeezed her cheeks hard, forcing her to open her mouth and poured the remaining water in. “SO, you see, Sheriff. Danie never rejected me, because it was Janie, who thought I was Brent. Not so smart, are you?” He stood up, kicking her hard in the ribs, before stepping over her. He then chucked the water bottle as hard as he could into the woods. As he did, Lane let the liquid dribble out of her mouth and down her chin, managing not to swallow. Gabe walked back over, looming over her.

  “To answer your earlier question by the waterfall, I’d seen her walking into the park.” Gabe suddenly chuckled. “You should have seen the look on her face when she first saw Lucas’s truck. All nervous and scared, until I pulled up in the driver’s seat, giving her the explanation, I had borrowed his truck. Adding a little white lie, saying he’d let me take it so I could be a good grandson, and pick some berries for my grandma’s preserves. Believe me, she was instantly at ease. I then drove her into the park and dropped her off at the base of Indian Flat trail with a friendly good-bye.

  “You followed her…she didn’t see you?” Lane said the words slowly, trying to keep him talking and distracted, buying for time.

  Gabe shook his head, “I don’t think so
, though I spooked her a couple of times. So, I know she was on edge. Then I heard someone behind us and quickly made my way down, running into Brent,” Gabe grunted, the handcuff slipping out of his sweaty hand as he tried to snap it around Lane’s wrist. “I was worried she might confide in him, Brent being Mr. Perfect and all. But she gave him the brush off, and once he was gone, I walked up on her and pushed her off. Another terrible accident.”

  Gabe grabbed Lane’s free arm, intent on getting her completely handcuffed.

  “Of course, that’s what I hoped everyone would think originally, but when I saw Brent was intent on telling his story. How he was the last person to see her alive, another possibility came to mind. I wouldn’t have to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder if Brent was blamed for her murder. Then good ol’ Philly boy, starts coming around, acting like everyone’s big brother and asking about Danie’s drowning. That brought up a whole new set of problems. Starting with Lucas unknowingly pointing the finger at me and then picking up the photo I had planned on planting on Brent in the ambulance. So, sadly, Lucas had to …"

  “LANE!”

  Philip’s voice resounded through the woods and Gabe’s head tilted up, his eyes searching. He let go of her arm and reached for the gun sitting on the log, clumsily gripping it in his hand.

  “LANE? You out there?” Philip’s voice boomed again, slightly closer.

  Gabe shakily pointed the gun towards the trail, then suddenly changed his mind, putting it against the back of Lane’s head.

  “Gabe, don’t do anything stupid,” Lane mumbled, quickly putting herself in his shoes. He was in a quandary. If he killed her using the gun, Philip would be upon him in no time. Standing his ground wasn’t a great idea either. He needed to sneak back through the woods, hike himself out and get on the ferry or steal a boat…if he had any chance of an escape.

  “Gabe…don’t be dum—"

  “Shut up!” Gabe said harshly, pointing the gun back towards the trail, having spotted motion. Philip was getting closer and he was making good time.

  Desperate, Lane wiggled against Gabe’s leg, trying to make noise, kicking with her feet.