The Reservoir (15 page)

“Looks like,” Holly said.

Zack extended a hand to Holly, so she could step into the small boat without tipping it and falling into the lake.  He quickly untied the rope, and carefully stepped inside, situating himself on the seat in the back, by the small, outboard motor. 

After a couple good tugs on the pull starter, the tiny engine roared to life and Zack steered them toward open water. 

Holly noted the water was smooth as glass today.  She didn’t miss the choppy waters that came with the wind, but did miss a cooling breeze.  Under the trees on the bank, she hadn’t realized how warm a day it was already. 

“It’s hot!” Zack said, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead, where beads of perspiration had already formed.

Holly nodded.  “Great day for a dip,” she said without enthusiasm.  “Hey, Zack, where are we going?” she asked him, speaking loudly to be heard over the tiny, but spunky motor.

“I thought we’d head up the Siouxon.  Since Cassie’s jet ski was found at the end of the channel, I thought that would be as good a place as any to start looking.”

“And what are we looking for, specifically?” Holly asked.

Zack gave a lopsided smile.  “Well, whatever Cassie wants to show us,” he said with a shrug, and to Holly’s surprise, shouted, “Cassie!  We’re here.  Come help us help you!”

“Well, okaaay then,” Holly said, bracing for whatever was about to come their way.  It was such an odd thing—hearing Zack summoning a ghost.  If only they could be assured this ghost was not a malevolent ghost, but instead, a friendly ghost.  Holly attempted to send good vibes Cassie’s way, in hopes the girl would recognize they had the best intentions.

While Zack concentrated on steering the boat safely away from the few big boats speeding by, and around any floating logs, Holly kept her eyes trained on the water.  If Cassie approached, she wanted to see her.  She simply wasn’t up for any surprises today.

Crossing the distance from the dock at the cabin to the channel leading to the creek took much longer than it would have in her stepfather’s boat.  Sitting in the tiny boat, so close to the water she could skim her hand across the top, Holly felt exposed and unnerved.  When Zack noticed the tight expression on her face, he smiled reassuringly.  “Everything’s going to be all right,” he told her.

“Promise?”

He hesitated only briefly.  “I promise.”

After several long moments, they arrived at the bridge.  Several boats were anchored along the nearby shore.  Another boat sat close to the bridge and a teenager was standing on the tall bank nearby and was about to jump into the water below. 

Zack slowed and cut the little boat’s motor a few feet away from bridge and drifted close.  They were so close, Zack was able to reach out and touch one of the bridge’s support pillars.  He looked above them at the bridge’s crossbeams, and then carefully studied the opening to the other side.  “I think we can make it, Holly,” he told her.  “This boat is so small, we should clear the underside of the bridge easily enough.”  He gave the opening a second appraisal.  “Just the same, duck your head when we go under.”

Holly nodded and watched Zack start the boat back up.  With a couple crisp tugs of the pull start, the engine started up like a top and they slipped under the bridge without incident. 

“Easy, peasy,” Zack said, grinning at Holly.  He sobered, however, and asked, “Do you think the water will rise and trap us back here?”

Holly winced as she considered the question.  “We cleared it pretty easily.  It would have to rise several feet in order to trap us.  I think we’re fine.”

“Good,” he said with relief.

As they motored along the channel, Holly noticed Zack checking out the terrain on either side of them.  Tall trees flanked them on both sides.  Zack pointed off.  “Look at all those trees.  There are so many, you can’t see the forest through the trees,” he teased.

Holly laughed at his corny joke, realizing he was trying to lighten her troubled mood.  Holly glanced into the water again.  The murky, green water was deep, but soon became so shallow and clear, Holly could see to the bottom.

“How deep is it now?” Zack asked.

“Maybe eight, ten feet tops,” she told him.

“Did you say your stepdad brings his boat back here?” Zack asked with a frown.

She nodded.  “Everybody does it.  You just have to stick to a particular course, otherwise, you’ll tear up your prop or scrape up your hull.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re in this dinky dinghy,” he said with a grin.

Holly chuckled, causing a rosy hue to tint her cheeks. 

Zack smiled with relief.  “I’m glad to see some color in your face again,” he said.  “Lately, you’ve been as pale as a…  Er, strike that comment.”

“Probably just a sunburn,” she quipped, glancing up and squinting up at the sun.

“Naw, I made you laugh.” 

Holly shielded her eyes with her hand and glanced back at him.  She couldn’t help smiling.  He was so handsome.  His skin was sun kissed enough that his sparkling blue eyes were a striking contrast to his tan.  His hair was cropped close, and looked great on him.  He had beautifully masculine lips, and his shoulders and chest were broad but chiseled.  Holly practically swooned just looking at him.

“Holly, if we weren’t presently ghost hunting, from the look in your eyes, I’d be thinkin’ you have something else on your mind besides ghost hunting.”  He arched his eyebrows suggestively.  “And I’m thinkin’ that somethin’ else might involve me and my manly lips.”

Holly burst out laughing, and then collapsed in a fit of giggles.  Zack feigned offense.  “Is it the idea of kissing me that’s amusing to you?  Because, I happen to consider kissing you serious business.  I would appreciate the same courtesy.  I might just have to come over there and stop that laughter with a kiss.”

Holly only laughed harder, beckoning him closer with a wave. 

“If I didn’t have to drive this dinky dinghy, I’d be there in a heartbeat,” he assured her.

Holly managed to get a grip on her laugher, although it felt good to relax.  She had anticipated a lot of laughter on this particular trip, but unfortunately, jocularity of any kind had been in short supply.   

Zack’s eyes were so focused on Holly’s face, he didn’t notice a small log in his path until he bumped into it.  “Oops,” he said with an exaggerated wince.  “We’ll just keep that little tap between the two of us.  What Aaron doesn’t know, won’t hurt him.”

Holly chuckled lightly.  They knew Aaron could get type ‘A’ when it came to his boat.  He forever kept the little thing buffed and waxed.  Any little scratch was dealt with expediently and the responsible party was given a talking to about the proper care of other peoples’ property.  Aaron was like that about his Bronco, too.

“Yeah, we’ll spare Aaron the brain aneurysm,” Holly quipped and Zack laughed.

Holly noticed Zack seemed in good spirits, all things considered, but then she remembered Zack often got silly when he was worried or feeling pressure.  That realization caused her to send a sympathetic glance his way.  He noticed.

“Don’t worry.  The boat’s fine.”

“I’m not worried about the boat,” she told him.  “I was just thinking…”

“What?” he said, glancing at her and then back to the water.

“I was remembering that you always get goofy when you’re worried about something.”

He feigned offense again, giving a mock angry look.  “I do not!”

She nodded, turning back and studying his face.  “You’re trying to be brave for me.” 

“We’ll be brave for each other,” he said at last, bringing the boat around to the bank, and then leaping out and pulling it to shore. 

Holly leapt out to help him, but he had it situated before she could lend a hand.  She joined him on the rocky bank, standing beside him as he surveyed the scene.  The creek was broad here and topped out at about ten feet deep.  Holly knew it became deeper as it narrowed, further along toward the waterfall.  She spied a log jutting out across the creek.  She sighed heavily.  Apparently, that was where law enforcement had found Cassie’s jet ski two years before.

Zack took her hand and together they stepped over rocks to reach the log.  Zack glanced around them and frowned.  “So the waterfall is up that way?” he asked, pointing.

Holly nodded.  “Yes, just up there.”

“And the trail head isn’t far above it?”

“That’s right.”

“It’s pretty rugged terrain, isn’t it?  It doesn’t look easy getting to the waterfall by land from here,” he observed.

Holly saw his point.  “Maybe Cassie swam along the creek to the waterfall.”

Zack weighed the remark with a tilt of his head.  “If it was dark, that would be terrifying.  I wouldn’t want to do it.  If she did manage it, I don’t know how she managed not to break her leg.  It has to be slippery out there.”

Zack shook his head abruptly.  “I’m not buying that theory.  I mean, think about it.  A girl all alone, in the dark, and on the water, trying to find her way through rocks and debris.  And then she’d have to climb up or beside the waterfall…”  Zack stretched his neck, attempting to get a look at the waterfall.  “What are the falls like?” he asked.

Holly met his gaze.  “To be honest, I’ve never gone all the way back there.  I swam close, and what I saw was a broad, sort of tiered falls, but it may go farther back.  I just don’t know.”

“Would you like to check it out?” he asked, squeezing her hand.

Holly glanced past him, in the direction of the falls.  “Truth?” she said finally.

He nodded. 

“Not especially.”

Zack accepted her answer and glanced around.  “Presumably, Search and Rescue scoured these woods and didn’t find anything, so it wouldn’t do us any good to look for her here.”

Holly searched his eyes.  “Zack, what are we doing?  This is a wild goose chase.”

“No, it’s a wild ‘ghost’ chase,” he corrected her.

“You’re doing it again,” she said pointedly.  “Being silly to cover your anxiety.”

He leaned his face closer to hers, touching her forehead with his.  “You’re not getting any argument from me.”  He pulled back after a moment, stared intently into her eyes, and then leaned in for a kiss, covering her lips with his own.  He pressed with a gentle insistence, only deepening the kiss when she responded.  When he pulled back and smiled, she went weak in the knees. 

“Wow,” she said.

“Wow,” he echoed, and took her hand, pulling her against him in a hug that neither wanted to leave.  “We have to go,” he said finally, the disappointment evident in his voice.  “You don’t know how much I wish the two of us had come up this creek alone, with towels and a picnic basket, for a long day together.”  He smoothed a hand through his hair, and smiled resignedly.  “When you originally suggested all of us coming up here for the week, I was really nervous…”

“Why?” Holly interrupted softly.

“Because, I’d planned to tell you how I felt about you.  I’d finally worked up the courage.”

“And you have told me,” she said, smiling wistfully.  “By the way, did I mention that when I’d suggested the trip, I had hoped to work up the courage to tell you the same thing?”

He laughed lightly.  “Well, as I said before, one good thing, no, one
great
thing came from this trip,” he said.  “You and me.”  He gave her a puzzled look.  “Is that two good things?”

Holly chuckled again, but sobered.  “We have to go.  I wish we could stay, but we can’t.  Obviously, Cassie isn’t here.”

At the mention of Cassie, Zack emitted a long, weary sigh.  “It’s not fair, you know.  The two of us, young and … in love…”  He checked her face to see her response to his words.  Seeing her soft smile, he continued, “Anyway, we get to live, but she doesn’t.  We get to be in love, but she doesn’t.  Some vile human being snuffed her out.”  He shook his head, his voice angry now.  “It’s just not fair.”

Holly nodded.  “I know.  And it’s why we’re going to do our best to find her killer, so she can…”  Suddenly, she frowned.  “Zack, what do you think will happen if we find her killer?  And if we find the girls’ bodies—Cassie’s body—will they all be released from this lake?”

Zack gave an uncertain shrug.  “I kind of wonder if she really wants to leave this lake.  After Thomas said how much she loved the water, it made me question what she wants from us.  I think you might have been right when you said Cassie reached out to us to help her friends.”

“Maybe,” Holly mused…  She stopped talking when she heard laughter emanating from the direction they’d just traveled.  She turned, her eyes fixed on the water.  Although she didn’t expect to discover Cassie in the water laughing, the sound of voices other than hers and Zack’s startled her.

“It’s a boat,” Zack said.  “Well, so much for alone time.  We should get out of here.”  He turned to leave, but Holly clutched his arm.  He gave her a questioning glance.

“Zack, can we come back here someday?  Just you and me?  I mean, when we deal with everything else?”

He smiled and smoothed a tendril of hair off of her cheek.  “Count on it.”  He brushed a kiss across her lips and then took her hand.  Together, they walked back to the boat.

After climbing in, they motored past the larger boat that had dropped anchor.  The cabin cruiser was full of small children, who promptly donned vests and jumped into the shallows.  Zack waved as he steered past them, his eyes reflecting his surprise to see such a large boat in such a tight space.

Once safely past them, Zack picked up speed, remembering the course Holly had directed him on the way in.  He didn’t say much on the way out, nor did Holly.  Each was lost to their thoughts, wondering, would they encounter Cassie today?  If so, Holly hoped it would be soon, although, a part of her was forced to concede she was terrified about an impending encounter. 

If only she could know if Cassie was nearby, watching them.  If only Cassie would make her presence known. 

As they left the shallows and the water deepened, Holly kept her eyes fixed on the bridge ahead.  She scanned the immediate area, realizing that all the boats that had been here on their way in were gone.