Below the Surface

by Tim Shoemaker

  Cooper joined him — in body anyway. His mind wanted to stay topside. With Gordy. Maybe even in the cabin. He held onto the swim platform and adjusted his mask to be sure it sealed well around the edges.

  Dad handed him a mouthpiece, forcing air through it with the purge valve to clear all the water out of it.

  Cooper clamped down with his teeth. He breathed in. And out.

  “Okay,” Dad said, “here we go. You won’t be alone.” Dad inserted his own mouthpiece, grabbed the rope with one hand, and locked onto Cooper’s wrist with the other. He gave a single nod, then slid under the darkening waters.

  Bubbles mushroomed to the surface. Cooper took two short breaths and stopped kicking. Gravity — and the weight belt — did their work. He was sinking.

  He saw Dad’s face immediately. Saw the strength there. The love. Cooper started kicking again, to hold this depth. And Cooper breathed. Ragged and unsteady at first. But after a minute, it evened out.

  Dad must have sensed it. Or else he was watching the rhythm of Cooper’s bubbles. Dad pointed at Cooper’s eyes, then back at his own. Keep your eyes on me. Okay. He could do that. Dad pointed at Cooper’s legs and shook his head. Don’t kick. Cooper swallowed. Relaxed his legs.

  The water was getting colder. Darker. They were dropping again. Cooper kicked. He looked up and couldn’t see the surface. He pulled against Dad’s grip, but Dad’s squeeze grew tighter.

  Cooper looked at his dad and moved in closer to see his eyes in the dim light. Then his feet touched bottom. He sucked hard and fast on the air. The metallic hiss of the air and the bubbles rippling over his face were the only sounds he could hear. And an engine. Distant.

  The last time he’d actually breathed underwater was when he’d been rescued from the flooded basement. His stomach knotted instantly. The panic attacks were related. They had to be. He’d thought he was out of danger when he got freed from the chains — when he got out of the basement. There was no reason to be afraid now. He believed he’d beaten his fear. Killed it months ago. But he’d only buried it. Fear had a way of resurrecting itself, and right now it was crawling up his throat.

  Dad pointed at his own bubbles. Then at Cooper’s. Then back at his own. Dad took one breath for every two of Cooper’s. Okay. Relax. Even out that breathing. You are not alone. It seemed to be working. Dad gave him a thumbs-up sign.

  The water around them was a deep green, and it faded to black in every direction except up. Cooper didn’t see any sign of evil creatures bent on devouring him. But he wished Dad had the dive knife — just in case.

  Dad pointed up. Surface?

  Cooper nodded, and a couple minutes later, Lunk was helping them with the gear. And he still wasn’t wearing his lifejacket.

  Gordy leaned over the rail. “No psycho-panic thing?”

  Psycho-panic thing? He wanted to argue that choice of words, but Gordy was Gordy. That’s the way he saw it — and in a way, he was right. “Nothing intense.”

  Cooper wanted to believe the whole thing was over. But he knew better. He hoisted himself onto the swim platform. This was about the basement. It made sense. And maybe he’d always known — but didn’t want to admit it.

  If there was nothing hiding underwater, what had caused his fear? Something worse. Something lurking in his head.

  “When I’m back this weekend, we’ll do this again,” Dad said.

  “What if that doesn’t work?” Gordy said.

  Lunk cleared his throat. “Gordy!”

  There was no mistaking the glare that Lunk fired Gordy’s way.

  “I’m just sayin’,” Gordy said.

  Dad climbed onto the swim platform. “It’s a fair question. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll get professional help.”

  Gordy nodded like he’d had it figured out from the beginning. “A shrink?”

  Dad eyed Cooper. “The psychologist who came to the school might help.”

  “Dr. McElhinney.” That would be okay with Coop. He liked the guy. But he hoped it didn’t come to that.

  “Baby steps,” Dad said.

  Cooper felt a little bit like a baby. But if Dad or Lunk shared that opinion, it didn’t show on their faces.

  “I think we made good progress,” Dad said.

  Cooper nodded, wanting to believe it was true. He’d won this round with fear, but the fight wasn’t over. Not nearly. He stared into the dark water. Something was still down there. Watching. Just below the surface. Cooper pulled his feet onto the swim platform. Whatever it was, it wasn’t finished with him yet. Cooper knew that in his heart. It was waiting for him. Just waiting to catch him alone.

  Hiro didn’t see Cooper’s dad and the guys all day until they met at the Upper Crust, a short drive from town, for dinner. The pizza place looked like an antique store. Odd memorabilia hung from the ceiling and was mounted on the walls. She sat with Lunk, Gordy, and Coop at their own table. Mattie sat with the adults nearby. With the noise level in this place, the other table wouldn’t be joining in their conversation.

  “I love this place already,” Gordy said. “Wouldn’t you like to have some of this vintage stuff hanging in your room?”

  Hiro raised her eyebrows. “Like the shark suspended from the ceiling?”

  “Especially the shark.” Gordy pointed to the stuffed monster overhead. “This place is amazing.”

  “The only thing amazing about this place is that it hasn’t been condemned as a fire hazard.”

  Lunk snickered. “Guns. Neon signs. Mounted fish and animals. Not your decorating style?”

  “Do not call this decorating,” Hiro said. “Call this a disaster. Men with screw guns gone berserk.”

  “It’s like a museum,” Gordy said.

  Hiro shook her head. “It’s a man cave.”

  Lunk and Gordy laughed. But Coop was strangely distracted. Was he still upset about what she’d done at Scoops? If that was it, she needed to get things aired out. She didn’t want it to spoil their vacation. Actually, she didn’t want any kind of a wedge between her and Coop — vacation or not.

  Gordy started in about their time on The Getaway. Skiing. Widgets. Coop’s panic attack — and the theory behind it. And Gordy talked about his nose. Every bloody detail.

  Hiro watched Coop. Was that what was bothering him? He still seemed distant. By the time the pizza arrived, she’d built up enough nerve to bring up the topic.

  “I went back to Scoops last night,” she said, “after you guys dropped me off at The Cove.”

  Now she had Coop’s full attention.

  “You went there alone?” Coop said.

  Ooops. Hiro shrugged.

  Coop’s face turned red. “First, you mess up by tipping your hand and letting them know you suspect them — ”

  “It wasn’t a mistake. It was calculated. I was baiting them.”

  Coop waved her off. “Which was a big mistake. And after all that, you went back there alone?”

  She hated the way he made that sound.

  “What happened to ‘play-it-safe Hiro’?” Lunk said.

  “I knew what I was doing,” Hiro said.

  “Yeah, but did anybody else know?” Coop said.

  All eyes were on her. Coop was right. Sort of. She should have let someone know about her plan. But if she had, she never could have talked to Katie.

  “Did you just keep us in the dark — or did you fail to tell your mom too?”

  Now she wished she’d never brought it up. She needed to get them past this. “Katie had some very interesting things to say. Do you want to hear them or not?”

  Lunk cleared his throat. “I’d like to know.”

  “She said you were cute, Lunk.”

  Lunk’s face got red. Good. That should keep him quiet for a few minutes. “I told her what we heard and saw. And our theory.”

  Gordy laughed. “Our theory?”

  Hiro gave him a don’t-go-there look that she hoped would keep him quiet. “Do you want to know what she said or not?”

 
None of them wanted to admit it, but Hiro knew she had them. “Four words. That’s all.”

  “Let me guess,” Gordy said. “Want more ice cream?”

  Hiro made a face to show how little she appreciated his humor. “She said, ‘Better watch your back.’ What does that tell you?”

  “That maybe we should take her advice,” Coop said.

  “So we sit around and do nothing?” Hiro said.

  “Now that you mention it,” Coop said, “yeah.” He took another slice of pizza.

  “I’m with Coop,” Gordy said. “Let’s not look for trouble.”

  “I didn’t look for it,” Hiro said. “It found us.”

  “That’s a stretch,” Lunk said.

  “So what do we do?” Hiro wasn’t about to let it go. But she’d feel a lot better about it if the guys bought into it. Even just a little.

  Cooper sighed. “Aren’t you always reminding me to leave the investigation to the police?”

  “This is different,” Hiro said. “I’ve got a feeling about this.”

  “Ah . . .” Lunk raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly. “The feeling.”

  Gordy laughed. “You’re pulling that women’s intermission thing on us again.”

  Hiro let that one go.

  Coop held up a hand. “If you’re right — even partially — then we all have to take this more seriously.”

  Hiro studied him. Tried to read him. Was he finally coming around?

  “Aw, come on, Coop,” Gordy said. He turned to Lunk. “What do you think?”

  “Overactive cop imagination,” Lunk said.

  Hiro ignored Lunk; she wanted to hear what Coop had to say.

  “Look,” Coop said. “You think there’s a connection between the missing girl and Tommy Kryptoski, right?” He looked straight at her.

  Hiro nodded.

  “And if you’re right — you let the wrong people know about your theory.”

  “I told you already,” Hiro said. “I was baiting them.”

  Coop held up his hand again. “If you’re wrong, no harm done. But if you’re right about your theory . . .” — Coop paused to look at Lunk and Gordy, then back at her — “then you’d better watch your back. We’ll all have to.”

  Hiro suddenly felt really uncomfortable. Like maybe baiting Lynn had been a mistake. She could get any one of them hurt. Maybe that’s what was bothering Coop. Maybe he was worried about her safety.

  “Because if Hiro is right,” Lunk said, “she’s the only one who is challenging Kryptoski’s story.”

  “So if the missing girl was the first one we saw in the boat . . .” Gordy began.

  Cooper looked at Hiro. “You could end up missing too.”

  Two hours later Cooper was back on the boat. Dad headed for home after dinner. And Hiro convinced her mom to let her stay on board The Getaway until later that evening. To celebrate Cooper’s progress in the water that afternoon, Gordy bought each of them a pint of ice cream from Scoops, which he didn’t let them open until they were back on the boat.

  They sat on the swim platform with their feet dangling in the warm water and ate their ice cream in silence. “Thanks for the ice cream, Gordy,” Hiro said.

  Gordy grinned. “I didn’t mow lawns all summer for nothing.”

  Lunk took a bite of vanilla. “But nothing is what you’ll have if you keep spending your money like this.”

  Gordy waved him off. “I’m on vacation.”

  Cooper stared toward the beach. Lake Shore Drive was quiet. And the weather was pretty typical for late August in the Midwest: hot days and cold nights. Steam rose off the lake and drifted over the still surface.

  “Okay.” Gordy broke the silence. “Who’s got a spooky story? But it has to be about a lake — at night.”

  Classic Gordy. Cooper just couldn’t go there. Not tonight. Their vacation already had more creep factors than he wanted. He needed courage just to let his feet dangle in the black water — especially with the mist clinging to the lake. The last thing he wanted to think about was what was hiding below the surface.

  Hiro lifted one leg out of the water but put it back just as quickly. “The water is much warmer than the air.” She snuggled inside her sweatshirt. “I’m freezing.”

  “You’re holding a pint of ice cream,” Lunk said. “Of course you’re cold.”

  No, it was more than that. Cooper set down his pint on the teakwood platform and rubbed his hands together. The chill went right through him, but not from the temperature. It was the thought of Hiro being in danger. What if she was right? What if Fat Elvis saw her as just another one of Kryptoski’s messes that needed to be cleaned up? No matter what they felt about her theories, they’d have to somehow stay even more on guard. What if she was right about everything?

  “Kinda creepy out,” Gordy said. “I love it.”

  The moon shone bright and full, but the fog kept the light from reflecting off the lake. There was a time when Cooper would have enjoyed a night like this. But right now, his mind kept drifting back to Sunday night. What if the girl on the beach wasn’t the same girl who picked up a pizza with Kryptoski? What if the girl holding the pizza box was Wendy Besecker — the missing girl?

  Krypto Night sat at anchor. The line from the buoy to the boat hung slack, and the boat’s silhouette turned slowly toward them. Moved by some invisible current, no doubt. It almost seemed alive, like it was watching them and turning to get a better view.

  Hiro raised her chin toward the moon and closed her eyes. Her face practically glowed.

  Gordy whacked at a mosquito. “Think there could be alligators in the lake?”

  “Ridiculous,” Hiro said. “This far north?”

  “It’s possible,” Gordy said. “See, sometimes people buy cute little alligators and keep them in their bathtubs.”

  “Why would they do that?” Hiro said.

  “To keep it as a pet. A novelty.” Gordy waved her off. “Why do people buy boa constrictors?”

  “Because the cheese slipped off their cracker,” Hiro said.

  Gordy laughed. “That may be true, but lots of people keep strange and really dangerous pets. Like alligators. And when the gators outgrow the tub — their owners need to find a new place for them to live.”

  Hiro shook her head. “So you’re saying people dump alligators into lakes?”

  “I’m not saying it. My dad told me that.”

  Cooper smiled. He could just hear Uncle Jim spinning a story like that. He was good at telling scary stories, which is probably where Gordy picked it up.

  “Truth is” — Gordy paused, his eyes growing wide — “one could be down there right now.” He leaned forward and looked down into the black water. “Close. Circling.”

  Hiro screamed and jerked her legs out of the water. “You just bumped my leg with your foot, Gordon Digby!”

  “Me?” Gordy pasted on an innocent face. “Maybe it was —”

  Hiro slugged him in the arm. “It was you. Well, good luck getting anybody to go for a night swim anytime soon.”

  Gordy and Lunk laughed.

  Hiro was right about one thing: There was no way Cooper was taking a night swim. He’d made that decision long before Gordy started spinning his alligator story. It was dark. Dad was gone. The idea of swimming at night didn’t sound good at all. He knew there were no alligators in the lake. But there was something. It couldn’t all be in his head, could it? Casually, he pulled his feet out of the water, hoping the others wouldn’t notice. He scooted backward, and leaned against the transom.

  “Did the alligator bump your leg too?” Gordy grinned.

  So much for not being noticed. The best way to handle Gordy’s teasing was to give him a taste of his own medicine. “Not an alligator,” Cooper whispered, “but something . . . I could feel it. Something awful. And close enough to grab my ankles and pull me to the bottom of the lake.”

  The grin melted right off Gordy’s face. “Seriously?” He yanked his feet out of the water.

&nb
sp; Lunk and Hiro laughed.

  “Ever thought about going into acting?” Lunk said. “You looked dead serious.”

  Cooper smiled, but that was the best he could do. The thing was, he wasn’t acting. That was exactly what he believed. He couldn’t explain it. He didn’t want to try.

  Hiro stood up. “Okay, let’s cut the talk about creepy things in the lake.”

  “Why don’t we sit on the bow?” Cooper said. “We can finish our ice cream there.”

  Hiro started climbing over the transom rail. “I love that idea.”

  Cooper followed her, glad to be off the swim deck. He felt better inside the boat. Higher. Safer.

  “All right.” Gordy sat cross-legged next to Cooper. “No more talk about creepy things in the lake. How about just a creepy story then? Who’s going to start?”

  Lunk leaned forward. “Ever hear the story about the Lady of the Lake?”

  Cooper pictured the big excursion boat parked by the Riviera docks.

  Gordy took a bite of ice cream. “You mean the steamboat with the paddle wheel on the back?”

  Lunk shook his head. “An old lady who loved to go fishing in the lake. She knew the lake better than anybody, and she fished all year round, no matter the weather. In the summer she’d be out in her bass boat. In the winter she’d drive out on the frozen lake in her pickup and use one of those big augers to drill through the ice. They called her the Lady of the Lake.”

  He paused.

  Cooper wasn’t sure if the pause was for dramatic effect, or if he was making sure everyone was still listening.

  “Well,” Lunk said, “It was late winter — just last year. Southern Wisconsin went through a ten-day warm spell. Ice still covered the lake, but it was patchy. The old lady ate her dinner and headed out in her pickup to go fishing — just like usual. They say people warned her that the ice was getting thin, but she just laughed.”

  Lunk pointed toward the beach. “She drove her old Ford pickup right off Lake Shore Drive and onto the ice. She dropped it into four-wheel drive and headed to her favorite fishing haunt.” He pointed to a spot about halfway between Maytag Point and one of the old Wrigley estates.