Chapter 16 - Back to the Lake
Ruiz drove ninety miles an hour.
Emma sat in the back seat despite being told repeatedly to stay at the station.
“You can arrest me later,” she said.
David was beside her. Samuel and Evelyn followed in another patrol car.
At Pine Hollow, rain had started again—not a storm yet, but enough to darken the water.
Richard stood at the end of the dock.
The gasoline can was open.
“Richard!” Ruiz shouted.
He turned.
For the first time, Emma saw fear in her father’s face.
Not regret.
Fear.
“You should’ve left it alone,” he called.
Emma walked past Ruiz before she could stop her.
“You put my baby in that boat.”
“I needed you scared.”
“You could’ve killed him.”
“I knew Johnson was across the lake.”
Samuel arrived behind them and shouted, “You didn’t know anything. You gambled with a child’s life.”
Richard’s face twisted.
“You were supposed to be dead by now, old man.”
Ruiz’s eyes sharpened. “Put down the gas can.”
Richard laughed.
Then Evelyn stepped from the second cruiser.
Richard went completely still.
“No,” he whispered.
Evelyn walked toward him.
Samuel reached for her, but she shook him off.
“Look at me, Richard.”
He backed toward the edge of the dock.
“You don’t remember.”
“I remember enough.”
“You were sick.”
“You made me sick.”
“You needed me.”
“I was afraid of you.”
Emma stood between her mother and father, three decades of lies collapsing in the rain.
Richard lifted the gasoline can.
Ruiz raised her weapon.
“Drop it!”
Instead, Richard threw it toward the cabin steps.
David tackled it away before it spilled near the porch.
Richard ran.
Not toward shore.
Toward the blue boat.
He jumped in, cut the line, and shoved off.
Samuel stared after him.
May you like
The sky growled.
Then Richard reached under the seat and pulled out a gun.
