“Not lately,” Niqui told her. “You two were the last to call us.”
“Do you think the cops are here about the phone call to Thomas’ mom?” Aaron asked with a wince.
“Probably,” Daniel said, and suddenly, they heard clipped knocks at the back door. “I’ll get it.”
His expression was grim as he crossed the room and opened the screen door. “Hello,” he said, plastering a smile on his face and attempting to sound welcoming and friendly. “What can I do for you, officers?”
“Is there a Holly Halsey here?” one of the deputies asked. He was the shorter of the men, and bald and buff. The other man was older, probably fifty, with a full head of salt and pepper hair, and a faux friendly smile on his face.
“She’s not home right now,” Daniel told him.
“You kids vacationing up here?” the older cop asked.
Daniel nodded. “Yep. Spending a week. Anything I can help you with. I don’t know when Holly will be back.”
“Maybe you can help us,” the younger deputy said. “Mind if we come in?”
“Um, sure,” Daniel said, glancing back at his friends, who sat stiffly at the dinette.
He stepped aside, to allow the deputies into the cabin. He was surprised when they abruptly strode toward the kitchen.
The older deputy introduced himself as Deputy Hudson, and the younger man as Deputy Handbury. Hudson’s eyes narrowed when he saw Thomas sitting at the table. “Hey, Thomas,” he said. “How are you, son?”
“I’m all right,” he said, without making eye contact.
“Good to hear. Hey, I just spoke to your Mom. I think she’d probably like it if you headed on home.”
He rose with a nod, glanced at the older kids, and then hurried out of the cabin. They heard the door close with a bang behind him.
The deputies were silent for a moment, but Deputy Hudson finally spoke. “So, you kids know Thomas, do you?”
Since he had just been sitting at the table with them, it was obvious they knew the kid. Aaron forced himself to keep the sarcasm from his voice when he answered. “Yeah, he’s a nice kid.”
“Nice,” Hudson said, nodding. “A little mixed up, but yeah, all in all, a good kid. He’s been through a lot. Has some problems as a result.”
“We’ve heard,” Daniel told the deputy. “It’s sad about his sister.”
“So you know about his sister?” Handbury said. “I take it Holly knows about her too.”
Daniel nodded. “Yes. Why?” he asked, looking perplexed.
Suddenly, the older deputy took a step closer to the table and said sternly, “Does your friend think it’s funny, calling that poor family, when they’ve been through so much already?”
“What are you talking about?” Niqui said, but couldn’t manage eye contact with either deputy. She was well aware who had made that phone call.
“It seems Thomas’ folks received a call from your friend’s phone. Her number showed up on their caller I.D.” Hudson studied the group for a moment. “We managed to track the phone number to your friend, and then we connected with her mother via phone a while ago.”
Daniel shot Aaron a glance, noting he was doing his best to keep his face impassive. “When was this phone call?” Daniel asked, turning to the older cop.
“You see, Holly lost her phone,” Aaron added. “So she couldn’t have made any phone call.”
“Yeah, that’s what we understand from her mother. Her mother tells us she lost the phone in the lake yesterday, but if that’s the case, how is it Thomas’ folks received that phone call?” Hudson asked.
Aaron shrugged. “I have no idea. Maybe there’s been some mistake.”
“Did any of you actually see her phone go into the lake?”
All of the teens shook their heads.
“So it appears your friend is lying about losing her phone in the water,” the older cop said matter-of-factly.
“Holly wouldn’t lie about anything,” Kendall exclaimed, quick to come to her friend’s defense. “Maybe she…”
“Maybe she what?” the older deputy asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“Maybe she thought she lost it in the lake, but was mistaken,” Kendall suggested.
“Or, maybe she didn’t lose her phone at all, and is using it to make crank phone calls to a family that has been through enough already,” the younger man speculated.
“Holly didn’t make any calls,” Niqui said adamantly. “If someone called from her phone, I can promise you it wasn’t her.”
“Was it you?” Handbury asked.
“No!”
“Then who made that call?” the older cop asked, and then narrowed his gaze. “In fact, Holly’s mother mentioned she received an interesting phone call, too. She said some girl called. Apparently this girl said something to the effect, ‘They want out, it’s so dark, and help us.’”
The kids remained silent.
“Nothing to say?” the older cop asked.
“What can we say?” Aaron said. “Holly wouldn’t do that, and neither would any of us. As you saw for yourself, we’ve met Thomas. He told us about his sister. We would never hurt him or his family like that. As you said before, they’ve been through enough.”
Both deputies eyed the teens speculatively. “Did Thomas mention to you kids that he believes his sister is still up here—that she lives in that reservoir?” He shook his head sadly. “Poor little guy.”
“He told us,” Aaron said.
Hudson grinned widely and persuasively. “Come on, it might be just a little bit funny to make a phone call pretending to be a dead girl, considering her little brother thinks she’s out there in the lake. Maybe you were hoping Thomas would answer the phone. Maybe you meant no real harm. Tell us the truth, and we can be on our way.” He spread his arms expansively. “No one want to fess up?”
“No one,” Daniel said stoically. “Because we didn’t do it.”
“You said you don’t know when your friend is coming back?” the older cop said.
“No idea,” Aaron said in measured tones.
“Where is she?”
He met the older cop’s gaze. “We’re not sure.”
“Really? You don’t know where your friend is right now?”
“Her stepdad’s a deputy, you know,” Niqui said, and finally made eye contact with Handbury.
The younger cop smiled. “Yes. We spoke to David Gray. He assured us that Holly wouldn’t make crank phone calls, but you can understand our concerns, can’t you? When we received the call from Thomas’ mother, and heard how distraught she was, we certainly had to follow up.”
“We understand,” Daniel assured him. “But it wasn’t Holly who made that call. I can guarantee you that.”
“You can guarantee it, huh?” Hudson said with a smirk.
“Yes,” Kendall said adamantly. “Like we said before, Holly would never play a mean trick like that on anyone.”
Hudson studied her face. “I saw you over at the boat dock at Saddle Dam, didn’t I?”
She nodded. “Yeah, we just came from there.”
Hudson nodded this time. “Just checking out the park?” he inquired, taking a step closer to the table. Suddenly, his eyes lighted on the items spread out on the tabletop, still laid out in a straight line. “What have you got there?” he asked with a frown.
Aaron glanced at him with alarm. He had actually forgotten about the killer’s mementos on the tabletop. How had they forgotten those trinkets? And the knife! It was lying haphazardly on the table, the red stain on the blade in plain view.
Handbury took a step closer and reached to pick up the barrette. He fingered it, before laying it back on the table. “Yours?” he asked Niqui.
She shook her head, her eyes darting to Kendall.
“Yours?” the cop repeated, directing the question to Kendall this time.
She shook her head. “Not mine.”
“Who do they belong to?” the older cop asked, reaching for the cha
rm bracelet on the table top. He draped it over his fingers, studying each charm. Aaron rose from the table, glancing at the faces of his friends. What should they do? he wondered frantically.
“Something on your mind, son?” Hudson asked, watching Aaron with interest.
His face was rife with indecision. Should he tell these cops about discovering the items in the shed? He glanced at his friends, attempting to convey his uncertainty.
“Son?” Hudson pressed.
Aaron expelled a long sigh, and then nodded. “Uh, yeah, something’s on my mind.”
His friends watched him with a cautious alarm. Had he decided to tell the deputies about the mementos they’d found in the shed?
“What is it, son?” Hudson asked, frowning.
He rounded the table, to where the older deputy stood, still holding onto the charm bracelet. He took it from him, singling out the tiny skate in his fingers. “Look at this,” he said, pointing. His earnest eyes were fastened on the deputy’s face. “Do you see it?”
The deputy took the bracelet back and studied the tiny skate, finally reaching into his breast pocket for a pair of reading glasses. He slipped them on and stared intently at the charm. He shot a startled glance at his friend, and then passed it to him. “Handbury, look at this.”
The younger cop studied the skate. “Dear God. Where did you kids find this?” He turned to his friend. “Isn’t that the name of the girl who…?”
Hudson nodded, and then his eyes dropped to the tabletop again. “Was … the charm bracelet found with these other items?”
Aaron nodded. “Yes.”
Suddenly, Hudson’s eyes widened as he spotted the knife. He aimed a finger at it. “Who does this belong to?” he asked in measured tones, studying the large buck knife with a critical eye.
No one spoke.
“Nobody claiming it?” he asked.
“It’s not ours,” Aaron said grimly. “We found it too.”
“Along with the other items?” Hudson said with alarm.
“Yeah, sort of.”
Hudson raked a nervous hand through his salt and pepper hair. “Okay, look, start from the beginning…”
Chapter Twenty-three
Holly struggled to see clearly in the water. Although she was presently only ten feet or so deep, the pollen and other particulates made it difficult to make out much, save her own arms in front of her face. She blindly reached out, feeling around her with outstretched hands. If only the murky, green water would clear, so she and Zack could see what Cassie was trying to show them.
Holly could just make out Cassie’s lithe form swimming in wide circles around them. What was Cassie doing? she wondered. The ghost girl seemed agitated—her movements suddenly swift and erratic, like a fish darting about in the shallows.
It wasn’t until Holly saw a huge rock coming toward her and aimed at her face that she realized Cassie was trying to protect her, as the girl veered in front of her, snatching the rock away from a smaller form, and in the nick of time. Holly gasped, swallowed water, choked, and burst to the surface. Zack broke the surface beside her.
Holly coughed, trying to expel the water from her throat. “Are you all right?” Zack asked with concern.
She nodded, as yet unable to speak.
“Did you see … something?” Zack asked.
She nodded again. “Yes, I think the little ghost just tried to kill me.”
Zack’s eyes widened in alarm. “What?”
“Yeah,” she said, and coughed again. “I couldn’t see very well, and was trying to feel around the shelf of rocks, when suddenly, a big rock was coming at my face.”
“You must have been…” Zack sighed. “You must have been close to the body.”
Holly felt chills erupt on her wet skin. “But we weren’t very deep,” she said. “The girls were dumped in much deeper water.”
Zack shrugged. “Maybe the killer changed his m.o.”
“Maybe,” Holly mused, and then nearly leapt out of her skin when Cassie appeared beside her. Once again, Cassie’s face remained inches below the water. And once again, Holly was struck by the girl’s beauty. Bright sunlight sparkled on the water’s surface, illuminating Cassie’s eyes and perfect features.
“I’m sorry about Erick,” she signed. “He saw you were getting close to his body and he got frightened. He tried to scare you off with the rock.”
“Doesn’t he want to be found?” Zack asked.
She nodded. “Yes, but like the rest of us, he doesn’t know who actually murdered him. He never saw a face either. He was simply … protecting himself.”
“We understand,” Holly assured her. “Cassie, we were wondering why the killer would have changed his way of … doing things. Why would he bury … Erick … in such shallow water, and the others in deeper water?”
She shook her head and shrugged. “There was a mud slide here.” She gestured toward the hillside, where an old logging road had given way. Many of the upended trees were pointing toward the water. “The slide created this shallow shelf,” she signed, “when the mud, rock, and other debris came down. Maybe the killer expected the slide to worsen, and the bodies would eventually be covered up. I … just don’t know.”
“So … you said there are two bodies here?” Zack reminded her.
She nodded. “Lucy is here too. She’s eight.” Cassie looked down into the water and gestured. Two little faces appeared beside her, one a boy with jet black hair, the other, a tiny girl with strawberry blond hair. The boy held out a hand toward Holly, just breaching the surface. The little hand suddenly began to disintegrate, falling back into the water like a rain shower. The boy frowned and yanked what remained of his hand below the surface again, where it immediately took shape again.
“Erick is sorry for trying to hit you,” Cassie told Holly. “He wanted to shake your hand, only he hasn’t learned how to retain his form out of water yet.”
Holly felt a lump rise in her throat. She felt like crying for the children. She turned to Zack, who also looked at the children with a sympathetic frown. “I want to hug them,” she murmured.
“I know,” he said sadly, watching the frightened, little faces beside Cassie.
“Cassie,” Holly said, “will they let us … bring their bodies up?”
Cassie looked to her left, and then to her right. She nodded. “I think so, well, as long as the others are found too,” she said.
“But what about you, Cassie?” Holly signed. “Is your body under the bridge too?”
The girl shook her head. “No.”
“Well, you have to tell us where to find you,” Holly said. “So that you can leave this lake too.”
She shook her head and began signing. “You don’t understand. We can leave anytime—our spirits, that is.”
Holly translated for Zack, who frowned. “We don’t understand. Why do you stay then?” Zack inquired.
“We made a pact,” Cassie told him. “You see, the girls who were murdered before me, they were terrified of the water before I came, and are, frankly, still terrified of the water. They can leave, but like me, don’t.”
“I’m really confused,” Holly said.
Cassie began signing, and Holly translated for Zack again. “The girls had decided that no one would leave until their killer was identified. When I came along, I agreed with them that our murderer had to be found before any of us should leave this lake. The difference between me and the others is—I love the water. I assured them I would find a way to find our killer, so that they can finally leave. Many of the girls have been here a very long time.”
“But you won’t leave?” Holly said, still confused.
“I’m not ready to go,” Cassie told her, and once again, Holly translated for Zack. “My family comes up to this lake each summer. I want to see them—be with them—as long as they continue coming. When they stop, only then will I leave.”
“You’ll go into the light?” Zack said.
She nodded. “Yes. When my
family stops coming, I’ll leave. But…”
“Yes?” Holly prompted.
“If my body is found, they’ll never come back here again, and then…”
“You won’t be able to see them,” Zack said, understanding dawning.
Holly didn’t have the heart to tell her that once all the other bodies were found, Cassie’s parents would likely conclude Cassie had been murdered to, and might stop returning to the lake anyway. She sighed loudly. “Cassie, we believe your killer is the man who lived in the cabin before my stepfather bought it, but he’s…”
Cassie watched her, her pale eyes fixed on Holly’s face. “Yes?”
“He’s dead.”
Cassie’s hands dropped into the water, their translucence taking on the greenish hue of the reservoir. She met Holly’s eyes and raised a defeated hand. “I…”
“Yes?” Holly prompted.
“I admit, I … wanted revenge.”
“What did she say?” Zack asked, and she told him.
“I can understand that,” he said, raking a hand through his hair. “I can certainly understand that.”
“Zack, what do we do now?” Holly asked.
He turned to Cassie. “Where is Lucy’s body? Can we bring it up?”
“Give me a minute or two to talk to them, and then yes, we’ll bring the bodies up,” she signed.
***
Holly stood at the edge of the shelf, staring intently into the water, while Zack paced nearby. It was a surreal experience, she decided, waiting for a ghost to appear to give the all-clear to bring the bodies of two small children to the surface.
Cassie had asked for a moment to speak with the children, in order to assure them that Holly and Zack truly wanted to help them. Before submerging into the water, Cassie had told them that like her, Erick had loved water and had adapted to his afterlife in the lake. The little girl, Lucy, however, was petrified of water and had been before her death, as well.
“Do you think they’ll let us bring them up?” Zack asked.
The Reservoir Page 17