Girl Across the Water

by Jody Kihara

  “Um…” He wiped his nose with his sleeve, his glance

  darting away, but just before, I saw a look of panic flicker

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  in his eyes. “No,” he said quickly. But I’d spotted the lie:

  the look of panic had stated ‘yes’.

  To say Dad looked grim was an understatement. “He

  must have found out somehow. Maybe Vanessa let it slip.”

  Jasper’s gaze darted around, giving the lie away

  again. He’d told him, all right. He probably hadn’t meant to,

  though, or hadn’t seen the harm in it... I mean, no one had

  instructed him that it was a big secret or anything. At least,

  not that I knew of.

  “But how would he have got any of it, anyway?” I

  asked Dad. I frowned and shook my head again; it still

  didn’t make sense. “Blackmail?” Was Revo trying to drive

  me crazy, and was somehow going to blackmail Dad with

  that? Or blackmail me? Except that I couldn’t touch the

  money till I was twenty-one... but Revo wouldn’t have

  known that if I’d only just found out about it.

  Dad’s expression was black. “The motorboat,” he

  said to Jasper. “Was that your dad?”

  Jasper burst into tears again. “He said no one would

  get hurt! He said it was all harmless!”

  Shocked, I stared at Dad, suddenly getting what he

  was implying.

  “Revo…” I said out loud. “Was he trying to kill us?”

  Dad met my shocked look, his mouth a straight line.

  “But… but…” I stammered. “The boat turned! He

  could have run us down, but he didn’t, he turned as soon

  as he saw us…”

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  “I don’t know,” Dad said. “Maybe the whole point

  was to keep hoping a convenient ‘accident’ would happen.

  The storm, the signal from the island just when it was at its

  worse… he would have known I wouldn’t let you go alone…”

  “He knew!” I shouted, turning to Jasper. “Revo knew

  I’d told Dad about the girl! Dad wouldn’t have agreed to go

  out to the island if I hadn’t already told him about it. How

  did he find out?”

  Jasper looked down, more tears falling.

  “How did he know?” I demanded again, and then my

  brain kicked into gear. “You’ve been in contact with him,

  haven’t you? The whole time! Your walks in the woods…

  staying home at the cabin… where’s Revo been staying?”

  Jasper put his elbows on his knees and his face in his

  hands. He could only sob in reply.

  “Is he living with the neighbors? Is that where he’s

  been hiding out?”

  Jasper jumped up from the chair, knocking it over,

  and ran up the stairs. I heard the bedroom door slam shut.

  Dad and I sat staring at each other for a minute before Dad

  got up and said, “We have to call the police.”

  “What do we tell them?” I asked, getting up to follow

  him as he headed up the stairs and into his bedroom. He

  grabbed his cell phone off the dresser, then stopped for a

  second, giving thought to what I’d just said.

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  “I don’t know, exactly… it’s either another of his

  badly thought-out plans gone wrong, or…” Dad’s expression

  darkened again. “…attempted murder.”

  I stood there, my mouth open.

  Dad began dialing, and I wondered again about the

  motorboat: had he been aiming at us, or had he really not

  seen us because it was dark and my flashlight was pointed

  away from him? Then again, why didn’t he have his light

  on? Maybe Revo was too stupid to know how to work it…

  Attempted murder, I thought, and my insides chilled. Revo

  wouldn’t go that far, would he?

  “Dammit!” Dad snapped.

  I jumped. “What?”

  “No reception!” He used a few more words I’d never

  heard from him, before hurling the cell phone onto the bed.

  “We can drive into town,” I said. “Go to the police

  station.”

  “It’s probably shut. No wait, at least my phone will

  work in town.” He ran his hand through his hair, a few

  more curses escaping him, and then sighed.

  “What?” I asked. “Let’s go! We have to, right?”

  “Yeah, I just… I don’t even know what we’re

  charging him with. And then… there’s Jasper to think of.”

  “What…? You’re not serious, are you? Dad, you can’t

  not report Revo because of Jasper!” My anger was bubbling

  up again. “Jasper was in on the whole thing, Dad, he

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  almost let us get killed!” I suddenly wanted to run into the

  bedroom and beat the snot out of Jasper. I knew he was

  weak and stupid and easily swayed, but I never would have

  thought he was capable if this level of deceit, not to

  mention serious harm. “If we don’t go now, Revo might get

  away! Dad, he’s probably heading out of town right now!”

  “You’re right,” Dad said. Although I could see he was

  tempted, for a second, to let Revo run.

  And just then, from outside the cabin, we heard four

  loud gunshots.

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  Chapter 13

  We remained frozen for a second, staring at each

  other, before springing into action. I ran out onto the

  landing, Dad right behind me. The other bedroom door was

  open, which was strange, because it had been shut when

  we’d come up the stairs. “Jasper?” I asked, storming in. He

  wasn’t there. “Dad, Jasper’s not here!”

  “Jasper!” Dad shouted, running downstairs.

  I followed, and as we pounded down the stairs, we

  both saw the front door was open.

  “Jasper!” Dad called again, his voice rising in panic.

  He was about to run outside, but I barreled past

  him, slammed the door shut, and pulled him down. “Are

  you nuts? We just heard gunshots, you can’t go out there!”

  I reached up and locked the door. “Stay down!” I ordered,

  feeling proud of myself for learning so much from TV. “We

  don’t know who’s out there, and we don’t have a gun!”

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  Dad pushed me off him and got up. “Paul, Jasper’s

  out there. I have to go!”

  “Maybe he’s somewhere in the cabin,” I said, pretty

  sure he wasn’t. Keeping hunched down, I ran through the

  kitchen and into the living room, calling out for him —but

  he wasn’t there.

  “I have to go find him,” Dad said. I knew he was

  right, but outside there might be a potential killer, and as

  long as we didn’t have a weapon, we were sitting ducks.

  “We don’t have a flashlight!” was my final protest as

  Dad unlocked the door and headed out. I stopped to think

  for a second before turning off the hall light and closing the

  door behind me as I followed him. With no flashlight and no

  backlighting, we’d be less of a target.

 
; “Jasper!” Dad called again, running across the yard.

  I wished he’d stop shouting; it made me think: target!

  Again.

  He got as far as the truck and halted. I ran up

  behind him, taking in the scene that was lit up by the

  headlights of another truck — a big GMC. Standing in front

  of it was Jasper, and behind him a man, his hands resting

  on Jasper’s shoulders. When Dad yelled, “Damn you!” and

  lunged for him, I realized it must be Revo. I’d never met

  him before, and wished I could get a better look at him, but

  with the glaring headlights behind him, I couldn’t make out

  his face.

  “Stop right there!” bellowed another voice, and ‘Pa’

  stepped into the scene, shotgun raised to his shoulder.

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  Jasper screamed, “No!” at the same time that I

  yelled “Dad! ” My dad stopped in his tracks, his head

  moving to glance from ‘Pa’ to Revo and back again. “Let

  Jasper go!” he shouted.

  Revo gave a nasty laugh. “Nope. I’m taking my son,

  seeing as you’ve taken everything else of mine. Just

  thought we’d make sure you can’t follow us. Pretty handy

  that your phone doesn’t work out here.” He gave another

  chuckle.

  I turned to look at our truck and realized the tires

  were completely flat. So they’d shot them out — and of

  course, we only had one spare.

  Dad stood there, tall and strong, and I marveled at

  how unafraid he seemed. “At least you’re above killing us in

  cold blood,” he said. “But did you know that even if you had

  managed to arrange an ‘accident’, none of my father’s

  money would go to Jasper? My share of the will goes

  entirely to Paul in the event of my death, and if Paul were

  to die―” Dad’s voice got really low at the mention of this―

  “then it goes to Paul’s mom. Not Jasper, not Vanessa.

  They’d get a portion of my own savings, but you can be

  damn sure I’ve got that tied up so that you can’t get at it.”

  I couldn’t make out the expression on Revo’s face

  because of the light behind him, but I assumed it was

  murderous. He spat at dad, hard, like a redneck out of a

  movie. “Damn you, VanDerMere! You rich SOBs are all the

  same — all you care about is keeping your money to

  yourselves.”

  “I care about my family,” Dad answered coolly.

  “Which is more than you can say, Revo. You’ve never come

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  to see Vanessa and Jasper except for a cash handout.

  When did you ever come for the sake of seeing your son?”

  “Plenty of times!” Revo spat out.

  Dad, don’t make him madder, I silently willed. Not

  while there’s a gun pointed at you.

  “Not true, Revo. You’ve only ever come to blackmail,

  swindle, or beg. And here you are trying it again. And just

  like all your other failed cons, this plan’s a complete

  shambles.”

  “You forced me into it! Ever since you made Vanessa

  stop giving me alimony. It was never your place to

  interfere, you tight-fisted bastard!”

  Dad almost laughed. “Alimony? You owe her child

  support, not the other way around. Years’ worth!”

  Stop getting him angry, I prayed again . Think, Dad!

  “Look, you screwed this one up badly,” Dad

  continued. “But if you let Jasper go, I won’t charge you.

  You can just disappear from our lives. But you’d better stay

  gone this time, Revo, I mean it. If you make another

  appearance, I’ll put out a restraining order on you.”

  “No!” It was Jasper’s voice that cut through the

  strange, misty scene. “I’m sorry.” he sobbed. “I’m really,

  really sorry. But now that I’ve messed everything up I think

  I should go.”

  “See?” Revo said. “He wants to be with his dad. His

  real dad.

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  Even I knew Revo didn’t want Jasper; he was only

  doing it to spite my father.

  “Jasper!” Dad said firmly. “Of course you don’t have

  to go. We can go back home and work this all out. Where

  would you go, anyway? Revo’s got no home, no job,

  nothing. You’ve got a home, you have school… and what

  about your mom?”

  Jasper was crying hard. “I’m sorry,” was all he could

  say.

  “We’re walking away all right,” Revo said, and from

  the tone of his voice I could picture the sneer on his face.

  “But I’m sure you’ll be sending some money now and then,

  so that Vanessa can hear from her son.”

  I could tell Dad wanted to launch himself at Revo,

  but Pa’s shotgun was still leveled at his chest. Revo backed

  away towards the driver’s side of the truck, pulling Jasper

  with him. They got in, slammed the door, and the truck

  gunned to life.

  “Take a few steps back,” Pa ordered Dad, motioning

  with the gun. “In fact, all the way to the cabin. Inside, and

  shut the door.”

  We were helpless. We had to follow his instructions.

  Dad pulled the door almost shut, and stood watching

  as the truck backed away fast, spraying dirt and gravel as it

  barreled down the road.

  Then he opened the door and ran back outside.

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  Chapter 14

  “Where are you going?” I yelled after him.

  “I’ll have to follow them on foot! They’re probably

  going to their cabin.”

  “Wait, it’s dark, you can’t see where you’re going,

  and you don’t know if they’re waiting for you somewhere

  with that gun. Dad, please!” He turned in a full circle,

  clearly desperate.

  “I’ll get the cell phone working,” I said. “If they go to

  their cabin, they’ll only stop a minute, and then they’re out

  of there. Do you think they’re going to wait around till

  morning?”

  “I have to get Jasper back,” he argued, but he

  sounded weary.

  “Well, you won’t do it on foot. Help me onto the roof,

  and I’ll get reception from there. And if that doesn’t work,

  we have to at least have the phone with us when we run

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  into town.” He saw the logic in this, and came back to the

  cabin. “Or we could canoe down the lake and reach town

  that way!” I said excitedly. But then I remembered: the

  canoe was floating somewhere out in the middle of the

  lake, upside-down or maybe even sunk to the bottom.

  “Roof,” I said, feeling years older as I ran up the

  stairs ahead of Dad. I guess he was so worked up, he

  couldn’t think straight. But I knew I could get onto the roof

  from his bedroom window, and the cell phone should get

  reception from there; on a clear day, we’d got it just by

  leaning out the window.

  “Paul, it’s too wet out there, the roof will be

  slippery,” he protested,
but I knew he wanted me to try.

  “Safety me with a rope, then,” I said. “There’s one in

  the hall cupboard.”

  He ran off to get it.

  I wedged the phone firmly in my inside jacket pocket

  ― the last thing I wanted was to have the phone tumble

  from my pocket as I climbed.

  The window opened vertically, giving me a gap of

  about three feet. I pushed it until it wedged open, and

  stuck my head out, drops of water falling from the eaves to

  my neck. Twisting around so that I was half-seated on the

  windowpane, I looked up at the roof, trying to figure out

  how to do this. The climb looked way harder than I’d

  imagined, and I wondered if I could make it, especially

  given how dark and wet it was.

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  “Wait!” Dad said, coming in with the rope. I sat

  there facing him, the pane of glass between our heads, as

  he tied the rope around my waist.

  “Okay, hold my legs, I’m going to stand on the sill

  and try and get reception from here first,” I said. Dad put

  his arms so tightly around my legs that my whole body

  tipped backward, and I almost fell. “Dad!” I squawked, my

  hands grabbing for the top of the window frame. There

  wasn’t much to hold on to, and the wood was wet.

  “Sorry,” he said, loosening his grip. I pulled the

  phone out, and the backlight came on as soon I opened it.

  Now I could see the reception indicator… just one tiny bar

  out of five, and even that one was flickering. But at least it

  was there.

  I dialed 911, hit ‘send’, and held the phone close to

  my ear. Nothing. I pulled it away to look at the signal

  indicator again ― the phone was still trying to connect.

  Finally, a ringing sound. “Got it!” I told Dad.

  A female voice answered. “This is 911, please state

  your emergency.”

  “There’s been a kidnapping!” I said. “And an

  attempted murder. We’re out in one of the cabin on Mair’s

  Lake, the second one, just up from Stanton, and this phone

  might cut out any second. Please, can you send a police

  car, our tires have been shot out.”

  The lady first asked if anyone was hurt, then

  confirmed where we were and said there was a car on its