The Reservoir (21 page)

“We’re getting paranoid,” Kendall said. 

“Hey, don’t use that word,” Daniel said glumly.

Kendall squeezed his hand.  “Daniel, stop worrying.  You’re fine.”

He mustered a smile.  “Thanks.”

They stood a moment or two longer, now watching the deputies climb on the jet skis and head for open water.

Aaron reached a tentative hand toward the items on the table and picked up a bracelet.  It was a charm bracelet, and reminded him of one his younger sister had received years ago.  Silver trinkets dangled from the chain, each no doubt representing an important milestone in the owner’s life. 

He studied each charm, his fingers running over several.  He paused to look more closely at a tiny ice skate.  When he felt indentations on the skate, he held the bracelet closer to his face.  He saw a tiny engraving, and realized it was writing.  “You guys, what does this say?” he asked, squinting at the miniscule lettering.

Niqui took the charm from him and studied it.  “It’s a name,” she said sadly.  “Kiki Lee.”

“Kiki Lee?” Aaron said, his eyes widening.  “Isn’t that the name of a girl who went missing from Portland quite a few years ago?”

Niqui shook her head uncertainly.  “I don’t remember the name.”

“No, listen, I know I’m right,” he said.  “Remember, she was an ice skater who was a contender for the Junior Olympics.  One morning after a practice, she was waiting for her dad in the parking lot of the skating rink, but when he got there, she was gone.  Don’t you remember?  We were just little kids then, but I remember hearing a lot of news coverage about it.  My mom was really upset, because she had been thinking about letting my sister take up ice skating.”

Niqui’s eyes widened and she nodded her head.  “You’re right.  I do remember that.”  Suddenly, she exclaimed, “He killed her!  The man, who lived here before David, killed that poor girl.”  She glanced around, her eyes reflecting terror.  “In this cabin, probably.”

Thomas sat quietly, unspeaking, as Aaron and Niqui held eye contact.  “That poor little girl,” Aaron said sadly.

“Aaron, what should we do?” Niqui asked, wrapping her arms around her chest and rocking herself slightly.

He squeezed her shoulder and then checked his watch.  He shook his head.  “I don’t know.  Should we try to call Holly and Zack again?  Should we call the police?”

“They’re already here!” Daniel called breathlessly, coming from the back porch and hurrying across the living room and into the kitchen.  “Kendall and I just saw them pulling up on jet skis.”

“Great, just great,” Aaron muttered.

“Where have you guys been?” Niqui inquired.  “Did you just get back?  We didn’t hear you pull up.” 

“Yeah, we just got back,” Kendall said as she entered the kitchen, but waved off the first question, as she gazed perplexedly at the table top.  “There’s no time to talk about where we’ve been, or … about whatever that stuff is on the table there.  Have you heard from Zack and Holly?” she finished in a rush.

“Not lately,” Niqui told her.  “You two were the last to call us.”

“Do you think the cops are here about the phone call to Thomas’ mom?” Aaron asked with a wince.

“Probably,” Daniel said, and suddenly, they heard clipped knocks at the back door.  “I’ll get it.” 

His expression was grim as he crossed the room and opened the screen door.  “Hello,” he said, plastering a smile on his face and attempting to sound welcoming and friendly.  “What can I do for you, officers?”

“Is there a Holly Halsey here?” one of the deputies asked.  He was the shorter of the men, and bald and buff.  The other man was older, probably fifty, with a full head of salt and pepper hair, and a faux friendly smile on his face.

“She’s not home right now,” Daniel told him.

“You kids vacationing up here?” the older cop asked.

Daniel nodded.  “Yep.  Spending a week.  Anything I can help you with.  I don’t know when Holly will be back.”

“Maybe you can help us,” the younger deputy said.  “Mind if we come in?”

“Um, sure,” Daniel said, glancing back at his friends, who sat stiffly at the dinette.

He stepped aside, to allow the deputies into the cabin.  He was surprised when they abruptly strode toward the kitchen.

The older deputy introduced himself as Deputy Hudson, and the younger man as Deputy Handbury.   Hudson’s eyes narrowed when he saw Thomas sitting at the table.  “Hey, Thomas,” he said.  “How are you, son?”

“I’m all right,” he said, without making eye contact.

“Good to hear.  Hey, I just spoke to your Mom.  I think she’d probably like it if you headed on home.”

He rose with a nod, glanced at the older kids, and then hurried out of the cabin.  They heard the door close with a bang behind him. 

The deputies were silent for a moment, but Deputy Hudson finally spoke.  “So, you kids know Thomas, do you?”

Since he had just been sitting at the table with them, it was obvious they knew the kid.  Aaron forced himself to keep the sarcasm from his voice when he answered.  “Yeah, he’s a nice kid.”

“Nice,” Hudson said, nodding.  “A little mixed up, but yeah, all in all, a good kid.  He’s been through a lot.  Has some problems as a result.”

“We’ve heard,” Daniel told the deputy.  “It’s sad about his sister.”

“So you know about his sister?” Handbury said.  “I take it Holly knows about her too.”

Daniel nodded.  “Yes.  Why?” he asked, looking perplexed.

Suddenly, the older deputy took a step closer to the table and said sternly, “Does your friend think it’s funny, calling that poor family, when they’ve been through so much already?”

“What are you talking about?” Niqui said, but couldn’t manage eye contact with either deputy.  She was well aware who had made that phone call.

“It seems Thomas’ folks received a call from your friend’s phone.  Her number showed up on their caller I.D.”  Hudson studied the group for a moment.  “We managed to track the phone number to your friend, and then we connected with her mother via phone a while ago.”

Daniel shot Aaron a glance, noting he was doing his best to keep his face impassive.  “When was this phone call?” Daniel asked, turning to the older cop.

“You see, Holly lost her phone,” Aaron added.  “So she couldn’t have made any phone call.”

“Yeah, that’s what we understand from her mother.  Her mother tells us she lost the phone in the lake yesterday, but if that’s the case, how is it Thomas’ folks received that phone call?” Hudson asked.

Aaron shrugged.  “I have no idea.  Maybe there’s been some mistake.”

“Did any of you actually see her phone go into the lake?”

All of the teens shook their heads. 

“So it appears your friend is lying about losing her phone in the water,” the older cop said matter-of-factly.

“Holly wouldn’t lie about anything,” Kendall exclaimed, quick to come to her friend’s defense.  “Maybe she…”

“Maybe she
what
?” the older deputy asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“Maybe she
thought
she lost it in the lake, but was mistaken,” Kendall suggested.        

“Or, maybe she didn’t lose her phone at all, and is using it to make crank phone calls to a family that has been through enough already,” the younger man speculated.

“Holly didn’t make any calls,” Niqui said adamantly.  “If someone called from her phone, I can promise you it wasn’t her.”

“Was it you?” Handbury asked.

“No!”

“Then who made that call?” the older cop asked, and then narrowed his gaze.  “In fact, Holly’s mother mentioned she received an interesting phone call, too.  She said some girl called.  Apparently this girl said something to the effect, ‘They want out, it’s so dark, and help us.’”

The kids remained silent. 

“Nothing to say?” the older cop asked.

“What can we say?” Aaron said.  “Holly wouldn’t do that, and neither would any of us.  As you saw for yourself, we’ve met Thomas.  He told us about his sister.  We would never hurt him or his family like that.  As you said before, they’ve been through enough.”

Both deputies eyed the teens speculatively.  “Did Thomas mention to you kids that he believes his sister is still up here—that she lives in that reservoir?”  He shook his head sadly.  “Poor little guy.”

“He told us,” Aaron said.

Hudson grinned widely and persuasively.  “Come on, it might be just a little bit funny to make a phone call pretending to be a dead girl, considering her little brother thinks she’s out there in the lake.  Maybe you were hoping Thomas would answer the phone.  Maybe you meant no real harm.  Tell us the truth, and we can be on our way.”  He spread his arms expansively.  “No one want to fess up?”

“No one,” Daniel said stoically.  “Because we didn’t do it.”

“You said you don’t know when your friend is coming back?” the older cop said.

“No idea,” Aaron said in measured tones.

“Where is she?”

He met the older cop’s gaze.  “We’re not sure.”

“Really?  You don’t know where your friend is right now?”

“Her stepdad’s a deputy, you know,” Niqui said, and finally made eye contact with Handbury. 

The younger cop smiled.  “Yes.  We spoke to David Gray.  He assured us that Holly wouldn’t make crank phone calls, but you can understand our concerns, can’t you?  When we received the call from Thomas’ mother, and heard how distraught she was, we certainly had to follow up.”

“We understand,” Daniel assured him.  “But it wasn’t Holly who made that call.  I can guarantee you that.”

“You can guarantee it, huh?” Hudson said with a smirk.

“Yes,” Kendall said adamantly.  “Like we said before, Holly would never play a mean trick like that on anyone.”

Hudson studied her face.  “I saw you over at the boat dock at Saddle Dam, didn’t I?”

She nodded.  “Yeah, we just came from there.”

Hudson nodded this time.  “Just checking out the park?” he inquired, taking a step closer to the table.  Suddenly, his eyes lighted on the items spread out on the tabletop, still laid out in a straight line.  “What have you got there?” he asked with a frown.

Aaron glanced at him with alarm.  He had actually forgotten about the killer’s mementos on the tabletop.  How had they forgotten those trinkets?  And the knife!  It was lying haphazardly on the table, the red stain on the blade in plain view.

Handbury took a step closer and reached to pick up the barrette.  He fingered it, before laying it back on the table.  “Yours?” he asked Niqui.

She shook her head, her eyes darting to Kendall.

“Yours?” the cop repeated, directing the question to Kendall this time.

She shook her head.  “Not mine.”

“Who do they belong to?” the older cop asked, reaching for the charm bracelet on the table top.  He draped it over his fingers, studying each charm.  Aaron rose from the table, glancing at the faces of his friends.  What should they do? he wondered frantically.

“Something on your mind, son?” Hudson asked, watching Aaron with interest.

His face was rife with indecision.  Should he tell these cops about discovering the items in the shed?  He glanced at his friends, attempting to convey his uncertainty.

“Son?” Hudson pressed.  

Aaron expelled a long sigh, and then nodded.  “Uh, yeah, something’s on my mind.”

His friends watched him with a cautious alarm.  Had he decided to tell the deputies about the mementos they’d found in the shed?

“What is it, son?” Hudson asked, frowning.

He rounded the table, to where the older deputy stood, still holding onto the charm bracelet.  He took it from him, singling out the tiny skate in his fingers.  “Look at this,” he said, pointing.  His earnest eyes were fastened on the deputy’s face.  “Do you see it?”

The deputy took the bracelet back and studied the tiny skate, finally reaching into his breast pocket for a pair of reading glasses.  He slipped them on and stared intently at the charm.  He shot a startled glance at his friend, and then passed it to him.  “Handbury, look at this.”

The younger cop studied the skate.  “Dear God.  Where did you kids find this?”  He turned to his friend.  “Isn’t that the name of the girl who…?”

Hudson nodded, and then his eyes dropped to the tabletop again.  “Was … the charm bracelet found with these other items?”

Aaron nodded.  “Yes.”

Suddenly, Hudson’s eyes widened as he spotted the knife.  He aimed a finger at it.  “Who does this belong to?” he asked in measured tones, studying the large buck knife with a critical eye.

No one spoke.

“Nobody claiming it?” he asked.

“It’s not ours,” Aaron said grimly.  “We found it too.”

“Along with the other items?” Hudson said with alarm. 

“Yeah, sort of.”

Hudson raked a nervous hand through his salt and pepper hair.  “Okay, look, start from the beginning…”

Holly struggled to see clearly in the water.  Although she was presently only ten feet or so deep, the pollen and other particulates made it difficult to make out much, save her own arms in front of her face.  She blindly reached out, feeling around her with outstretched hands.  If only the murky, green water would clear, so she and Zack could see what Cassie was trying to show them.

Holly could just make out Cassie’s lithe form swimming in wide circles around them.  What was Cassie doing? she wondered.  The ghost girl seemed agitated—her movements suddenly swift and erratic, like a fish darting about in the shallows. 

It wasn’t until Holly saw a huge rock coming toward her and aimed at her face that she realized Cassie was trying to protect her, as the girl veered in front of her, snatching the rock away from a smaller form, and in the nick of time.  Holly gasped, swallowed water, choked, and burst to the surface.  Zack broke the surface beside her.

Holly coughed, trying to expel the water from her throat.  “Are you all right?” Zack asked with concern.

She nodded, as yet unable to speak.

“Did you see … something?” Zack asked. 

She nodded again.  “Yes, I think the little ghost just tried to kill me.”

Zack’s eyes widened in alarm.  “
What
?”