Chapter 2 - The Door That Should Have Been Locked
"You misunderstood her," Vivian said when I caught up beside the lifeguard station. "Lily must have heard me talking to one of the volunteers."
"She said you told her to use the gate."
"Caleb, your daughter's frightened. Don't interrogate her."
Her calm voice might have worked on me an hour earlier. Vivian had run Briarwood since Anna was alive. She brought soup when my wife died and remembered Lily's birthdays. I wanted to trust her.
But at the far end of the deck, Nora was standing between two security guards, pointing at a waist-high service gate.
"Look at the latch," she said. "It was open when I got here. There's supposed to be a warning chime. It never rang."
"She's making excuses," Vivian said.
I touched the gate. A black rubber wedge sat beneath it. A child could walk straight from the party area to the deep-water edge without passing the lifeguard desk.
"Why is this here?" I asked.
One guard, Mason Kline, cleared his throat. "Equipment deliveries. We had to keep the route clear for the gala."
"During a children's event?"
He looked at Vivian before answering. "Temporary arrangement."
The paramedics arrived. They checked Lily's breathing, put a warm blanket around her and recommended hospital evaluation because she had been coughing after being submerged. I climbed into the ambulance with her.
"Is the wet lady in trouble?" Lily asked.
"I don't know yet, sweetheart."
"She didn't hurt me. She found me underneath the water."
I swallowed. Through the ambulance window, I saw Nora standing alone with her hands shaking. For the first time I wondered if I had made a terrible mistake.
Then Lily said, "I was trying to get the yellow duck. The lady told me Daddy was over there."
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"What lady?"
"The one who took off her yellow scarf when everybody started yelling."
