The Lake Never Tells

by Alex Tully

  He turned quickly, his feet shuffling beneath him, his heart thudding in his chest. He pushed his legs into the sand, as hard as he could, running toward the hill, toward home. The rain started to fall, and he continued to run. He didn’t stop running, and he didn’t dare look back.

  “Grams! Grams!” he was yelling it before he even reached the trailer. He ran straight to her bedroom, “Grams! Wake up!”

  She shot up in bed, “Parker?!” She turned on the bedside light, “Parker, what is it?”

  Without hesitation, he crawled right into bed next to her.

  Grams put her arm around him, “Parker, what is it? You’re shaking.”

  “I saw something.”

  “Did you have a nightmare?”

  “No…I…I know I’m not allowed but…”

  “But what Parker?”

  “I’m sorry—but I went down to the beach to look for firecrackers and stuff, and I saw something down by the water—.”

  “Just now?”

  “Yeah, and at first I thought it was like a log or something, but then I went closer.”

  He stopped as an overwhelming feeling of fear washed over him. Grams took him by the shoulders and looked at him with her ‘everything will be okay’ face, “What was it, Parker?”

  The words came out in a whisper, “a body.”

  “What?” Grams eyes grew huge, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…are you sure, Parker?”

  He nodded, “I’m sure.”

  “Oh dear lord, we need to call the police,” she reached for the phone.

  “I know who it is…” Parker trailed off.

  Grams froze, “What?”

  “I saw the face,” And he saw it every time he closed his eyes.

  CHAPTER 28

  ETHAN

  Ethan left the house early that morning to head over to the Sea-quester. He’d had a shitty night’s sleep—he couldn’t stop thinking about the fight between him and Zoe. She had texted him right after, saying she was sorry, but he didn’t respond. He honestly didn’t know what to say, but he just knew he needed to say it to her face.

  As soon as Ethan got down by the water and started walking to the yacht, he could see a bunch of people gathered by the dock at Sunny Shores. It was only 8:30 in the morning—something was going on.

  The familiar tinge of anxiety—a flutter in his chest, a tingle in his fingers—sprouted up inside of him as he got closer. He spotted Zoe in the crowd talking with her mom. And beyond the crowd, he could see lines of yellow crime tape keeping them at bay.

  The anxiety went into overdrive—what the hell happened? All thoughts of the fight with Zoe went by the wayside and he went straight over to her, “Hey, what’s going on?”

  Debbie answered for her, “Old Marty Crawford bit the dust,” she said, taking a long drag off her cigarette.

  What the f…?

  “Parker found his body on the beach,” Zoe looked seriously shaken.

  “Holy shit, is Parker okay?” He looked further down the beach and could see police officers had gathered around something at the waterline.

  “They’re interviewing him right now,” Zoe said, “I talked to him for a little bit this morning but all he really said was that he snuck out to try to find fireworks and stuff on the beach and he saw something by the water…and when he got closer, he realized it was a body—and he said it was Mr. Crawford.”

  Ethan couldn’t believe it. Marty Crawford! “Do they know what happened?”

  Zoe shook her head, “We haven’t heard anything yet.”

  Ethan’s mind was racing, “Well it doesn’t make sense for him to drown, I mean the guy was always doing laps in the pool.”

  “Yeah, but if he was shit-faced…or doing drugs,” Debbie dropped her cigarette and smashed it into the gravel with her foot.

  Ethan thought about the night before and punching Marty out. What the hell happened after that?

  “So, where’s Parker?” he asked.

  Zoe was avoiding eye contact, “The police are still questioning him at the station.”

  He couldn’t read her—he couldn’t tell if she was still upset with him, or just upset in general. He wished Debbie would leave so they could talk about their fight and clear the air.

  “Well, at least he’s got Shirley looking out for him,” Ethan offered.

  Debbie was eyeing him up and down, “Ethan, is it? How do you know Shirley?”

  “Uh, well, I met—.”

  But before he could finish his sentence, Zoe grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away, “Come on.”

  She led him onto the beach, past the No Trespassing sign, toward Crystal Waters, “I can’t take her anymore. Can we sit over here for a minute?”

  All he wanted to do was sit with her and talk, “Sure.”

  They found a spot in the white sand that was starting to warm up from the morning sun.

  He started, “Zoe, I’m really sorry about last night—.”

  “Stop,” she grabbed his hand and squeezed it, “Ethan, I am the one who’s sorry. Seriously, that was totally on me, like one hundred percent.”

  “No, Zoe—.”

  “No, Ethan,” she stopped him again, and they both let out a nervous laugh.

  She smiled, “Just let me get this out. I had so much shit going on yesterday, and I think I just hit a breaking point. Before you came over, I was already in a bad place. I took it all out on you because you just happened to be there. I know you were just trying to help. So I’m sorry, for real.”

  “Well, whatever you might think, this isn’t all on you. I was an idiot to just throw things out there…like I did. If roles were reversed, I would’ve been really pissed off.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah really,” he turned to her so their faces were only inches apart, “Hey, you wanna just start over?”

  “Yeah,” she smiled.

  He leaned into her and kissed her, and had every intention of making it a quick one, but instead found his hands going to the sides of her face, pulling her even closer.

  But then Zoe pulled away, “Sorry,” she laughed, “but my mom’s like right over there.”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  “No, it’s just,” Zoe’s face was all flushed, and it made her even prettier, “she’s staring over here. It’s like all of a sudden, she cares what I’m doing. God, I can’t wait to get away from her.”

  Ethan glanced over toward Sunny Shores and sure enough, Debbie was giving him daggers. “Well speaking of mothers you want to get away from,” he started, “I found out my mom is having an affair with my therapist.”

  “What?!” Zoe shrieked, “Oh my god Ethan! How did you find out?”

  And so, he told her about his appointment with Dr. Malone, and forgetting his hat, and the cringe-worthy conversation he overheard. And he also told her how he hadn’t said anything to Emma yet, how he hadn’t told anyone—but he wanted to tell her.

  In fact, he wanted to tell her everything. As they sat close, holding hands, and looking out at the blue water, he decided that moment would be as good as any. He wanted to tell her about that night last October, the night that changed his life forever, “Zoe?”

  She looked at him and smiled, “Yeah?”

  “You know how—,” but he never finished his sentence.

  “Hey lovebirds!” Meredith’s voice boomed behind them, “Uh, do you think it’s appropriate to be sucking face when we got a dead body down on the beach?!”

  CHAPTER 29

  ZOE

  “Zoe?” Ethan looked suddenly serious, like he was going to say something really important.

  “Yeah?” she hung on every word.

  “You know how—.”

  “Hey lovebirds!” Meredith’s voice boomed behind them, “Uh, do you think it’s appropriate to be sucking face when we got a dead body down on the beach?!”

  Meredith! Could her timing be any worse?

  Her best friend plopped down in the sand, “Why do you look so serious, Ethan?
Did you have a secret man-crush on Crawford or something?”

  “No Meredith,” Ethan cracked a smile.

  “What’s up?” Zoe asked.

  “Well, so the station is pretty crazy right now. Not every day that a dead body washes up on the beach—and the fact that it’s Crawford, well—.”

  “Did you find anything out?” Zoe interrupted.

  “Geez, okay…well, through some very good eavesdropping, I did find out there were no outward signs of,” Meredith held up her fingers in air quotes, “foul play, meaning like he wasn’t shot or stabbed or anything obvious like that.”

  “Anything else?” Zoe asked.

  “No,” Meredith sighed, “my dad was being a complete psycho and kicked me out.”

  “So, do you think Crawford just drowned?” Ethan asked, “I mean the guy could seriously swim.”

  “Yeah, well maybe he had a heart attack or something, and fell in the water,” Meredith said matter-of-factly, “he was old.”

  “They probably won’t know for sure until they do an autopsy,” Ethan said.

  Zoe couldn’t believe they were actually talking about this stuff, “How long does that take?”

  Meredith piped in with her expertise, no doubt she’d already googled everything, “They can do a preliminary autopsy in like twenty-four hours, but a really detailed one takes a few weeks. But I think they might put a rush on it, considering who we’re talking about here.”

  “It’s so weird,” Zoe thought about the night before, “I was just freaking out on him last night—I mean I hated that man with every fiber of my being, and I wished many times he’d keel over. But now that he has, I feel kind of bad.”

  “Hey, yoo-hoo,” Meredith whistled at Ethan, “What are you thinking?”

  Ethan had been staring out over the water, looking like he was deep in thought, “About Crawford?”

  “Uh, yeah, hello?” Meredith laughed, “You were at the party last night, weren’t you? Did you see anything suspicious?”

  “Well,” Ethan paused.

  “What?”

  “I did see Crawford,” he looked at Zoe, “actually, I saw him and his wife having a pretty bad fight.”

  “Ooohh, a suspect!” Meredith squealed, “What were they fighting about?”

  “I don’t really know, Mrs. Crawford was going on about how it was the end, and she was done with all his bullshit—she sounded dead serious too. And then I heard her say Zoe’s name, and that’s when I went over there…” he looked away.

  “What? You went over there!”

  Zoe had never found out exactly what was said between Ethan and the Crawford’s but the way he was hesitating, it couldn’t be good.

  “Well, Crawford was drunk,” Ethan picked up a stick and started twirling it in the sand, “and he pissed me off.”

  “What’d he say?” Meredith looked like she might explode.

  “Well, first I heard Mrs. Crawford say something about him putting his hands on Zoe. So I was already triggered, but then he said something about my parents being shitty lawyers, and…”

  Oh no…

  “And?” Zoe braced herself.

  “And, I punched him.”

  “No Ethan!” This was not good.

  “OMG!” Meredith’s eyes were huge, “Are you serious? In front of his wife?”

  “Yes, in front of his wife. I don’t know, I just lost it.”

  “I can’t believe you did that!” Meredith shoved Ethan so hard on the shoulder, that he fell backward in the sand, “What happened after that?!”

  “Well,” Ethan shrugged, “I mean, he was already pretty drunk…but, I kind of knocked him out.”

  Not good at all…

  Now Meredith jumped up, “No way!”

  She was freaking out, but Ethan and Zoe just looked at each other. She was sure he was thinking the same thing she was—that punching a guy the night before he ended up dead, would look bad—like, really, bad.

  “You actually knocked him out?” Meredith needed more details, “Like onto the ground, like he was unconscious, eyes closed?”

  Ethan sighed, “Yes, eyes closed. And…”

  “There’s more?!” Meredith was gonna have a coronary.

  “Well, I also knocked out his tooth—it landed right in front of me. That’s when I took off.”

  Meredith winced, “Well, ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have suspect number two.”

  CHAPTER 30

  PARKER

  “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, how much longer is this going to take?” Grams was pissed.

  They’d been sitting at the police station for what seemed like forever, although it was probably only ten minutes. Parker never knew they had so many cops in Marblehead—every couple of minutes the glass doors would open, and another cop would walk in.

  Beyond the check-in desk, Parker could see a tall man in a suit with a shiny bald head and a gray mustache. He was barking out orders, “McGee, I need you to take Lamb and Keirinski down to Crystal Waters and start getting statements from everyone at the party. I want you to talk to every guest—go door-to-door just to be sure we don’t miss anybody.”

  “Roberts, I want you and Cabot to talk to the work staff—make sure you get names and addresses of everyone who worked the party—waiters, caterers, musicians—I mean everyone. And then start making the rounds.”

  “Johnson, I need all of the camera footage from Crystal Waters. Gayle Crawford said to talk to a Mr.—,” the bald man looked down at a small notepad, “a Mr. Ben Lee, and you can find him at the office next to the Galley restaurant.”

  “Kelley, obviously we need all of the phone records from Crawford’s cell—the Mrs. gave the consent, so there should be no issues there.”

  “And then,” he looked up, and pointed in the direction of Parker, “I’m going to talk to that young man over there.”

  The bald man quickly made his way around the desk and into the waiting area. As he got closer, Parker’s stomach began to hurt.

  “I’m sorry to keep you waiting,” he stretched out his hand to Parker, “I’m Detective Zeller and I’ll be taking your statement.”

  Grams stood up, “It’s about damn time.”

  The Detective smiled, “Follow me please.”

  He led them back through another glass door, past the area where all the cops had gotten their assignments, and into a short hallway with only one door on each side. He opened the door on the right and waved them into a small room with no windows. The only thing inside was a metal table and chairs.

  The Detective sat on one side, “Please sit down.”

  Parker and Grams sat across from him. It was exactly like one of those crime TV shows—a huge mirror hung on the wall directly across from him. He wondered if there was anyone behind it.

  “There’s no one back there,” Detective Zeller said like he was reading Parker’s mind, “We only use that in very special cases.”

  Parker quickly looked away, embarrassed.

  “This is just a formality Parker, but we need to have your statement on the record,” the Detective put his phone on the table and pushed the record button, “Mrs. Webb, as his guardian, can you please state that Parker is making his statement voluntarily.”

  “Yes, yes, let’s get on with it.”

  “And that you understand I am recording it.”

  “Yes, for the love of Pete, I understand.”

  Detective Zeller pulled a black notepad and pen out of his jacket pocket. He looked at Parker, “So Parker I’d just like you to tell me exactly what you saw when you went on the beach this morning.”

  So Parker told the same story that he’d already told the cops at the trailer park—how he saw something at the waterline, how he thought it was a log, how he got closer, how he saw the face…he’d never forget that face.

  “So you say you recognized the face as Mr. Crawford? How were you so sure?”

  Parker shrugged, “I could just tell it was him.” As gross as it was, it was still Mr. Cr
awford, he knew that much.

  The Detective jotted something down in his notepad, “Well, how do you know him? Where had you seen him before?”

  Parker turned and looked at Grams, what should he say?

  Grams must’ve seen the panic on his face and answered for him, “Last summer, my grandson snuck over to Crystal Waters to swim in the pool a few times, that is, until I found out about it. That’s where he saw Mr. Crawford.”

  And that was a huge mistake on his part, because after he got caught, Grams got way more strict, and gave him way less freedom.

  Detective Zeller didn’t seem to care about that, “And Parker, you’re sure you saw no one else on the beach?”

  “No.”

  “No, you didn’t see anyone, or no you’re not sure?”

  Grams let out another one of her long sighs.

  “No, I didn’t see anyone,” and then he added, “and I’m sure.”

  “Okay, fair enough, I think that’s about it,” the Detective hit the record button on his phone and sat back in his chair, “Now that we’re done with that, can I ask you something off the record, Mrs. Webb?”

  Grams paused, “If it’s quick.” She was losing her patience.

  “Crawford just purchased the Sunny Shores trailer park, correct?”

  “Yes,” Grams nodded, “We just found out a couple of days ago.”

  “And that means everyone will be out of a place to live come October, correct?”

  “Correct,” Grams paused, her voice was very edgy, “But I think you already know all of this Detective. And I’m really starting to wonder if you know the meaning of the word quick.”

  Uh-oh…

  “Just one more question,” the Detective didn’t seem to care if Grams was pissed, “can you think of anyone who would wish ill-will on Martin Crawford?”

  Grams stared at the detective, “Are you serious?”

  “Let me clarify,” Detective Zeller folded his hands on the table and leaned in closer, “Do you think any of the residents of Sunny Shores would’ve been upset enough about the sale, to actually confront him?”

  “If you are expecting me to give you a name, you will be sorely disappointed,” Grams stood up. She was ready to leave.