“Get on home, son.” The sheriff says, pushing away from the table and ambling out of the room. I hang my head in defeat, kicking myself for not just telling the truth in the first place.
“Young man?” The sheriff’s wife and front desk clerk calls out as I’m about to leave. Turning, I see she has something in a plastic baggy that she’s holding out for me to take. “Your father requested we turn over any evidence found. You wouldn’t mind taking this would you?” She hands over the bag and I look down to see what it could be.
Beneath the plastic lays a dirt encrusted camera, and I remember how Hazel had been taking pictures of us all that night. Heart thrumming erratically, my fingers clutch around the bag. “Thank you, ma’am. I’ll be sure to take care of it.”
The media closes in around me, and I tuck the bag into my back pocket, dodging the multitude of questions. They’veseemed to have multiplied since I first arrived, meaning the story will most likely be making national headlines by this evening. I just have to figure out if I can get the camera to work and the pictures developed to clear Hazel’s name and put my brother behind bars, but when I arrive back at the school, my father is waiting for me expectantly.
“Come with me, Ace.” His low voice reverberates threateningly.
“Yeah Pops, just need to go to the bathroom first.” I duck into the first stall, looking around for a place to hide the evidence. Above me are several ceiling tiles, so I climb onto the back of the toilet, pushing the tile until it gives way. Dust comes flying out and I cough, almost slipping off the urine encrusted porcelain. It’s fucking disgusting, but I manage to slide the bag in, placing the tile back into place and dropping down to the ground.
“Hurry the fuck up.” My father’s voice comes through the door as I wash my hands. Looking at myself in the mirror, I steady my body, grappling with the person I see staring back at me. I let Hazel down by not standing up to my family, but I won’t make the same mistake again.
Seeing my father’s imposing form, I can already imagine what he has in store for me for betraying the family, but I don’t fucking care. I’ll take whatever punishment gladly if it means standing up for what I believe in.
CHAPTER 42
HAZEL
27 YEARS OLD
The lake has not yet frozenover, letting Kyle row us out into the middle. From here, I can see the expansive Catskills that surround us. The crumbling house we’d visited as kids nowhere to be seen, and I wonder if it finally gave way to decay. The bitter harsh cold of the air seeps into my bones, rendering me immobile. I can feel my heart rate slowing, the painful burn of the dangerously low temperature eating at my exposed skin.
“You’d never know that Sarah lays buried beneath all this water.” Kyle muses, as if proud of himself. In a way, I know he must be. He’s escaped consequences for this long, working his advantage of connections and money to bend the world to his will.
I don’t respond to him, too cold and angry to do anything other than sit on this wooden bench while the waves rock the boat. He’s stopped rowing, expelling a hot breath of air that fogs instantly between us from the exertion. The scar I’ve left on his face pulls at his skin, and I smile, knowing that even if I don’t make it out of here, he’ll have to live with the reminder of what he did every day.
“I never could find out what you did with that camera of yours, Hazel. You don’t happen to know where that is do you?”
So, he doesn’t have the camera? My grin deepens almost maniacally. If I have to die here today, I hope that karma kicks him right in the nuts delivering that camera and all its evidence straight to the news.
“What the hell are you smiling about?” He asks, clearly unsettled. I must have ruffled his sensitive disposition. He’s the type that can’t handle the thought of someone laughing at his expense.
“Your face.” I cackle, feeling close to delirious.
The shift in his demeanor is instant. He quickly lunges at me, face inches from mine.
“Say hello to your slut of a friend for me.” Suddenly, I find myself toppling, but he’s pushed too hard, taking us both down into the freezing water, capsizing the tiny canoe.
I sink down, belatedly realizing that I should kick my legs. With my hands tied, it’s almost impossible to reach the surface, my body already tired and slowed from the cold. But I break through, gasping in a breath of air, as rivulets of water sluice down my face.
Kyle is not far off, finding me instantly. He pushes my head beneath the surface and a stream of water rushes into my open mouth. Instinctively, I go to scream, but that only lets in more water. It burns my lungs. Arms flailing, I attempt to push him off, but he’s too strong.
There was a time where I would have just given up, letting the darkness consume me, but a fire inside me has been ignited. I thrash and claw my way to the surface as best I can with my restraints. I inhale a deep breath before he plunges me back below again.
His hands dig into my scalp. His short, sharp fingernails pierce my flesh hard enough to draw blood. I make contact withhis face, clawing at his eyes, his cheek, and neck until he’s finally forced to release me. I find myself sinking, down, down, down as tiny air bubbles escape my nose. I need oxygen. I need to get out of these restraints. I frantically yank and pull against the duct tape and find that the struggle seems to have loosened it. It finally breaks apart, and I swim like hell for the surface.
Emerging through the freezing water, I take a sharp breath of oxygen, ribs sucking in the welcome relief. My face is a mix of tears, snot, and lake as I try to get away. The cold water seeps deep into my bones making it harder to swim, but the pier isn’t that far. I can make it. I just need to keep moving.
Every lift of my arm and every kick of my legs feels like a million needles are stabbing me. The numb creeps up my feet and into my legs until I can’t even tell if I’m truly moving them anymore, but I must be because it seems to be getting closer and closer.
Shivering, my fingers grip into the wood as if it’s my savior. I know Kyle must be right behind me, but my hands are too slippery and numb to hoist myself up. This is the most tired I’ve ever been, but I have to keep going or he’ll catch up with me. And I know exactly the kind of evil he’s capable of. I refuse to be another name he can add to his list of kills. I need to get away and tell the police what he’s done. Fuck, the whole world should know what he’s done.
Looking around, I notice there’s a ladder off to the side. In just a few strokes, I make it and clumsily grip the lowest rung. Barely able to grasp on, I find it within myself to pull. But just as I’m about to mount the pier, I’m yanked down. My body collapsing into the water with a violent splash. Instinct kicks in and I claw and thrash at my attacker.
Kyle anticipates my movements and with a snarl, grabs ahold of me once again, and I know that this is the end as my head is forced beneath the inky black surface once again. Kyle’s redangry face with his neck muscles popping through, my nail marks marring his perfect complexion is the last thing I see before I start to slip into unconsciousness.
Trying to fight it, my heart begins to beat so hard that I can hear it banging against my inner ears as the panic takes hold of me. I can’t let him win, but nothing I do makes him release me this time. His grip is too tight. His muscles and determination too strong.
