Below the Surface

by Tim Shoemaker

  Cooper was picturing the scene. The ice. The lady driving her pickup.

  “There was a guy out walking his dog along the north shore. He spotted her truck roaring across the lake. ‘Is she insane?’ the guy mumbled to himself. He knew the ice on his side of the lake wouldn’t support the weight of that truck. He ran to the shoreline and waved his arms in the air, motioning her to turn back. And she must have seen him, because she skidded to a stop.”

  “This isn’t a true story,” Hiro said.

  “Isn’t it?” Lunk let the question hang there for a moment. “What the man saw next still gives me goose bumps. He heard a series of sharp cracks — like the sound of a huge limb snapping off a tree after an ice storm.”

  “Gunshots?” Gordy dug his spoon deep into his pint of ice cream.

  Lunk shook his head. “A section of ice directly below and in front of the truck — it was the size of your average Taco Bell — yawned open like a giant trapdoor.” He used both hands to simulate the ice giving way.

  Cooper looked out over the black water and imagined what it would look like if it were covered with ice — and cracking.

  Gordy seemed to be eating in slow motion now. He lifted the spoon of ice cream from the pint, but then stopped, his eyes riveted on Lunk.

  “As the pickup’s front bumper disappeared under the black, icy waters, the old lady slammed the truck into reverse and tried to race up the incline and back onto solid ice. The man on the shore watched helplessly. Her off-road tires threw water eight feet into the air as she tried to back up. But she was trying to go uphill on wet ice. The engine was screaming as though it knew the danger it was in. The man could barely make out the lady’s face, but he saw her sheer terror. She knew.”

  “Knew what?” Gordy whispered.

  “That she was going down,” Lunk said.

  Cooper swallowed hard. He felt the woman’s fear. It was just a story. He knew that. But it felt so real.

  “And suddenly” — Lunk leaned in closer — “it was over.”

  “This is when you say that man woke up and it was all a bad dream,” Hiro said. “Am I right?”

  “Not this time, Hiro.” Lunk wore a dead-serious expression. “With a giant whoosh, the ice gave way, and the truck vanished beneath the water. The sound of the engine cut off instantly — and the silence afterward was so creepy — so eerie — that the man stood there on the shore, and his whole body shook uncontrollably.”

  A tremor rippled through Cooper’s body.

  Gordy sat there frozen with his spoon in mid-air. The ice cream glossed over and dripped onto the deck as it melted. “The truck was just gone? It didn’t bob on the surface for a minute so she could climb out?”

  Lunk shook his head. “Gone. There was nothing on the surface but chunks of ice floating on black water.”

  “Ridiculous,” Hiro said.

  Gordy motioned her to be quiet. Yippee Skippee dripped onto his shirt. “So what happened?”

  Lunk shrugged. “Rescue divers went down. They found the truck seventy feet below the surface. It was resting on all four tires at the bottom of the lake — up to its bumpers in muck. It looked like she’d driven the pickup there and gotten stuck.”

  Gordy dropped the spoon into his empty cup. “And the woman?”

  “They never found her body. The window was rolled down — and she was gone.”

  Hiro crossed her arms. “Maybe she was abducted by aliens.”

  “It’s the currents,” Lunk said. “This is a spring-fed lake. They figure the currents keep moving her around.”

  Gordy stared at Lunk. “You’re saying she’s still in the lake?”

  “Absolutely.” Lunk swept his arm from one end of the lake to the other. “She could be anywhere. Fishermen claim to have seen her drifting under their boats. More than one has snagged her with a fishing line. But when they reeled their catch to the surface and saw they’d caught a dead woman’s body, they cut the line and headed for shore. The body obviously drifted back to the bottom.”

  And Cooper’s dad wanted to take him down to the bottom again this weekend? Great. Now he’d have this spooky story rolling around in his head too.

  Gordy’s eyes were wide.

  “The Lady of the Lake doesn’t eat fish anymore,” Lunk said. “But you can bet they feed on her.”

  “Okay, that was disgusting.” Hiro shook her head. “Impressive story, though, Lunk. Nicely done.”

  Lunk grinned.

  “So, Gordy,” Hiro said. “You up for a night swim?”

  Gordy looked at the water like he wasn’t sure whether Lunk’s story was true. “It seems a little late to go swimming tonight.”

  Hiro and Lunk laughed. Cooper probably would have laughed too, but an uneasy feeling was growing inside of him.

  He stared out over the deathly still lake. The steaming vapors danced and swirled as if to some mournful tune undetected by human ears.

  A boat, maybe fifty yards away, caught his attention. Some kind of a high-powered searchlight was lashed to a pole, and the beam was pointing straight down into the water. The boat crept along at barely more than an idle, following the south shoreline at just about the no-wake buoy point.

  “That’s weird.” Cooper nodded in the direction of the boat.

  Lunk followed his gaze. “Are they fishing?”

  “Yeah, but for what?” Cooper could make out the silhouettes of two men on board. One was driving the boat and looking over the side, while the other one stood near the stern, peering down into the water.

  “Where’s his fishing pole?” Gordy whispered.

  “They’re searching for something,” Hiro said.

  Lunk nudged Gordy. “See? They’re still looking for the Lady of the Lake.”

  Nobody said anything. The searchlight gave the mist an unearthly glow. The swirls swept around the mysterious boat. Ghostly. Mesmerizing. It was like the fog was trying to get inside the boat. Like it was reaching for something.

  “I don’t think we’re supposed to be seeing this,” Hiro whispered.

  “Why are we whispering?” Lunk said.

  Instinct. The word popped into Cooper’s head. Something inside all of them was sounding a warning.

  “Coop,” Hiro said, “where are your binoculars?”

  Cooper crept back to the cabin and returned in less than a minute. He focused in on the boat. The driver was too shadowed to make out his features. But the guy standing in the stern? Cooper sucked in his breath. “It’s Fat Elvis. And he’s holding something. Maybe a spear gun?”

  “Let me see,” Hiro said.

  Cooper handed her the binoculars. The boat continued to snake its way around some of the moored sailboats.

  “That’s him,” Hiro said.

  “Spearfishing is illegal here.” Gordy reached for the binoculars. “I’ll bet he goes out at night like this all the time. Probably snags some big ones.”

  Hiro removed the binoculars from around her neck. “Katie said he cleans up Kryptoski’s messes, right? So what if he’s cleaning up a mess right now?”

  Cooper was way ahead of her.

  Gordy squinted through the eyepieces. “He’s looking for the camera? At night? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Not the camera, Gordy,” Hiro whispered. “A body.”

  Gordy looked at Lunk. “The Lady of the Lake.”

  Lunk nodded. “Except this one is real.”

  They’re getting closer,” Cooper said. “Let’s get off the bow and into the cabin.”

  No one said a word until they were inside. Nobody turned on a light. They all seemed to understand that if Hiro’s theory was true, then getting caught spying on Fat Elvis could be dangerous — or fatal.

  “Calm water,” Hiro said. “And a bright light. It would reflect off her white shirt — and her skin.”

  “You shouldn’t have baited Lynn like you did,” Cooper said, but then stopped. He’d covered this ground with Hiro already. If there had been a murder, Hiro already knew she cou
ld be a target.

  “But nothing’s happened,” Gordy said. “No more warnings. No threats. Maybe there’s another explanation for all this — like illegal spearfishing.”

  Hiro shrugged. “Sometimes the obvious answer is the answer. What if Pom-Pom is Wendy Besecker, not Lynn Tutek? What if Kryptoski did run over her with his boat in a fit of rage?” she said.

  The cabin was absolutely silent.

  “After Wendy is reported missing, as long as nobody can prove the two of them were ever together, Kryptoski is in the clear.”

  “That’s why the police were so interested in your story,” Gordy said.

  “Exactly. If I could put the two of them together — they’d have something,” Hiro said.

  Cooper looked at her. “But when you couldn’t identify the girl for sure, that ended that.”

  “Unless a body turns up in the lake,” Hiro said. “That would change everything.”

  It definitely would — if the police ever found the body. Cooper couldn’t quite wrap his head around that thought. Then the police would definitely want to question Hiro again. Unless Kryptoski or Fat Elvis got to her first.

  Gordy peeked out a porthole. “If these two guys found a body . . . what do you think they’d do with it?”

  Hiro shrugged. “Make it disappear for good.”

  “How?” Gordy kept his eyes on the boat. “Drag the body to the deepest part of the lake — or haul it out of the lake and bury it?”

  Hiro thought about that for a moment. “It would be dicey either way. Search and recovery teams could find it in the water eventually. But hauling a body into a boat and then transferring it to a car seems more risky.”

  Cooper agreed.

  Gordy kept his eye on the boat as if he were afraid he’d miss something — like a body getting hauled into the boat. “He seems to be driving a grid pattern. So he’s definitely looking for something. Should we call the police?”

  “And tell them what?” Lunk said. “Some guys are shining a spotlight into the water? That isn’t a crime. Without that camera — or a body — there’s no proof of a crime at all.”

  “I hate to admit it,” Hiro said, “but Lunk’s right.”

  “We just need to lie low,” Lunk said. “Mind our own business. If we come across as a threat to the wrong people . . .” He drew his index finger across his throat.

  Cooper had been thinking about that too. “If we call the police and they stop by The Getaway, Fat Elvis will know somebody was watching them.”

  “How hard will it be for them to figure out we’re the ones who called it in?” Lunk said.

  “And it’s not like they’re actually doing anything illegal,” Hiro said. “They could toss the speargun over the side and just tell the police they were looking for a good fishing spot.”

  Lunk’s story was creepy enough. But what if a body really was drifting somewhere below the surface of the lake? And if that were true, then it was somebody they’d seen just a few days earlier. Unreal.

  The boat carefully weaved in and out of the sailboats moored in the bay, slowing down to take extra time at the buoys. It was as if they were making sure nothing was tangled in the chains anchoring the buoys to the cement blocks resting on the lake bottom. Were they really looking for a body?

  “I still say they’re spearfishing,” Gordy said. “They’ve got a spear gun. Why would they need that if they were searching for a dead body? She’s dead.”

  Hiro stared out the porthole. “Could they tie a rope to the spear? Maybe that’s how they’d try to recover the body.”

  “They’d stick her and reel her in?” Gordy shook his head. “That is so sick, Hiro.”

  Hiro glanced at the time on her phone. “I hate to leave, but I have to get to shore. My mom will be waiting for me on the beach soon.” She stared at the mysterious boat. “But I don’t want them to see us.”

  Cooper couldn’t agree more. And the thought of paddling through that fog unnerved him.

  “He’s stopping,” Lunk said.

  Hiro snatched the binoculars from Gordy and refocused them. “Fat Elvis is talking on the phone.”

  “You do realize,” Cooper said, “that just two nights ago we were hiding in this boat, watching something strange going on.”

  He was hoping someone would come up with a logical explanation for the series of events. Something they hadn’t thought of before. Something that would make the whole thing not seem as dark. Cooper couldn’t come up with anything. Apparently none of the others could either.

  Fat Elvis suddenly doused the searchlight. Cooper could barely make out the boat now, except for the green and red running lights on the bow. The boat did a one-eighty and cruised out of the mooring area. It picked up speed before it disappeared from view.

  Hiro’s phone chirped, and she checked the screen. “My mom’s on her way.” She looked at Cooper. “Can you take me to the beach?”

  Gordy went to the bow with the binoculars. Lunk helped Cooper drop the inflatable into the water beside the swim platform. The steam on the lake twisted and swirled away as if it were alive. Startled. But it crept right back and surrounded the boat. Possessing it almost.

  Hiro sat in the back. Cooper took his place in the bow, facing her. Lunk gave them a shove, and Cooper leaned back and paddled. He didn’t want to think about alligators or the Lady of the Lake right now. Or the missing girl, either — the one who might be just below the surface. Silently drifting in the currents.

  Cooper shook his head. He had to stop thinking about this stuff. He kept his strokes shallow. Every time he dipped his hands into the warm water, his stomach tightened — and not just because of the strain from paddling.

  “That was soooo spooky,” Hiro said.

  “Since I’m the one with my arms in the water,” Cooper said, “think we can change the topic?”

  Hiro nodded. “I like the way your dad is going into the water with you. Think it will help?”

  He wasn’t sure this subject was much better. “I hope so,” Cooper said. “I did okay. No panicky feelings.” It sounded so lame. He’d never had a problem being underwater before. Never.

  “That’s good,” Hiro said. “Really good.”

  Her tone had a “case closed” ring to it, as though she believed his panic attacks were behind him for good. Like he’d beaten it. If only it were that easy. Even now he felt something was stalking him in the black water. Carrying a chain with his name on it.

  He kept his strokes quick. Short. And he didn’t even want to think about paddling back to The Getaway alone.

  “Looks like you’ll be in for a night of more ghost stories with those two.” Hiro jerked her thumb toward The Getaway behind her.

  The waterline of his dad’s boat disappeared in the fog. It actually looked like it was floating — but not on the water. On top of the fog.

  He didn’t believe in ghosts any more than Hiro did, or the stories he’d heard about them. But he believed in demons — which was a much scarier thought. He wondered if demons ever went underwater. Cooper pulled his hands inside the inflatable and let the boat drift for a moment.

  They glided past Krypto Night, and Hiro stretched to look inside. But with the boat cover on tight, what could she hope to see?

  She started paddling the inflatable herself. “Let’s get away from this boat. Something about it makes my skin crawl.”

  Cooper reached back and pulled. Honestly? He didn’t like being so close to the boat either. Maybe it was the fog. The black water. The boat with the searchlight. The spooky stories. Take your pick. But right now, Cooper wished his dad were still there. They’d be camping tonight instead of sleeping on The Getaway.

  “That could be my mom now.” Hiro pointed at a car driving down Lake Shore Drive. “The headlights, fog lights — yeah, definitely the right configuration for a Honda Civic.”

  The car pulled onto the shoulder and stopped. Cooper picked up the pace and headed for it. He passed the no-wake buoys, paddled into the prote
cted swimming area, and ran the inflatable onto the beach.

  Hiro swung a leg over the side and stood in ankle-deep water. “Be careful going back.”

  She looked dead serious. Terrific. The thought of going back alone was creeping him out as it was — and her comment certainly didn’t help things. But he didn’t want his true feelings to show.

  “Is Gordy’s alligator story getting to you?” Cooper tried giving her a convincing smile. “Or is it Lunk’s Lady of the Lake?”

  Hiro shook her head. “Neither. It’s our own story.” She looked toward the middle of the lake like she expected someone or something to rise up out of the water. “What’s going on here is . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  She had that look in her eyes. She was seeing — or imagining — something. Whatever it was, it was spooking her good, which wasn’t doing Cooper any favors.

  “Just be careful, Coop.” She touched his arm. “I mean it.”

  “You were saying something before,” Cooper said. “Finish it.”

  She’d started walking toward her mom’s car, but she glanced back at him for just a second. “Forget I said anything.”

  He stood there on the beach and watched as the car’s taillights headed down Lake Shore Drive.

  Right. Like that’s really going to happen.

  The car started up the hill — and moments later the taillights disappeared over the hill. A loneliness enveloped him that was just as real and thick as the fog shrouding the lake. He’d been resisting Hiro, hadn’t he? So quick to discount her theories, when in reality they made a lot of sense. Maybe he’d been distracted with all his fears of the water. But it was more than that, wasn’t it? He’d been in denial, not wanting to admit they really might be in danger. Because that reminded him of what happened to him in the basement too. But living in denial only increased the danger, didn’t it? They were more likely to be off guard. Easy targets. And Hiro would be the most vulnerable of them all.

  Maybe it was the way Fat Elvis was searching with the light that made Cooper turn the corner in his mind. Funny how it took a foggy night to help him see clearly. Now he wanted to talk to Hiro more than ever. To tell her he finally got it. To let her know he was all in. She was hurting, and he hadn’t been helping her much.