Down By The Water

by Cruise, Anna

  Relief flooded me but I also felt something else, something I knew was to be expected. Disappointment. My time in Pelican Lake was almost up and I couldn't have been happier. But it also meant my time with Ty was coming to an end.

  I just nodded at Sven, still aware of no one moving to go help with the chickens. Jorgenson was frowning, like he was irritated that he'd been interrupted and Ty wasn't going to move until Jorgenson moved.

  Movement on the trail caught my eye and I shifted my gaze.

  A pair coming up the path. An adult and a child. A little girl.

  The girl scanned the crowd of people before her. The calm expression vanished from her face, her eyes widening in terror, her mouth forming a perfect O. No sound came out but Annie reached for her mother, clawing at her with desperate hands. Sheila picked her up, confusion flitting across her face before she turned away, heading back down the trail, wondering what had clearly spooked her daughter.

  Slowly, I looked at the people standing near me.

  Annie had seen all of them and they'd all seen her.

  Annie had reacted to one of them.

  Because one of them was the person who had tried to kill her.

  FIFTY ONE

  Jorgenson's eyes narrowed in my direction. “Well, wasn't that interesting.”

  I was still unnerved, checking the faces of everyone standing there. Everyone looked confused, unsure of why Annie had been so scared.

  Everyone except Jorgenson.

  I was trying to get my thoughts in order and looked at him. “What?”

  “Looks like she saw something that scared her,” he said, his eyes focused on me with laser-like intensity. “Or someone.”

  My father stepped in front of me. “That's enough, Sheriff.”

  “I saw that little girl look at your daughter,” Jorgenson said. “And I agree. That is enough.”

  Ty shuffled closer to my father, like they were trying to block him from me, create some sort of protective barrier.

  “You have no idea what was going on with that girl,” my father argued.

  “I know enough when I see it.”

  “You don't know anything,” Ty said.

  “Ty!” Colin Reilly said sharply. “Stay out of it.”

  To Ty's credit, he didn't even look at his father.

  I glanced up at Jenna and Sven. Sven was wide-eyed, like he'd walked into a circus full of crazy people. Jenna just stared at me for a moment, then Jorgenson, shaking her head.

  I pushed between my father and Ty and looked Jorgenson right in the eye. “Yeah. She did see something. Or someone.”

  Everything went still and I felt everyone's eyes move toward me.

  “I think you're right, Sheriff,” I said. “Or at least half-right.”

  The corners of his mouth twitched. “That so?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Only problem is I didn't do anything. To my sister or to Annie.” I paused, weighing my words, knowing that once I said them, there was no going back. “So I'm wondering if she was looking at you.”

  There were no dramatic gasps or anything like that, but it felt like all of the air outside was mysteriously sucked away from all of us.

  “Excuse me?” he said, his cheeks flushing and an expression resembling a dog about to attack on his face.

  “Why not?” I asked, looking around. “You were around ten years ago and you were here this time. You assumed she was looking at me. But here's the problem. I know I didn't do anything.” I paused. “So I wonder if she was looking at you.”

  The crimson in his cheeks brightened and his mouth curled up into a snarl. “Young lady, if you...”

  “I mean, why not?” I said, raising my voice over his. I'd mentioned it to him on another occasion, more to get a rise out of him than anything else. But, suddenly, the idea didn't seem so far-fetched. In fact, it seemed to be the only plausible reason for everything that was happening. “You're so hell-bent on blaming me for Rosie and Annie. And no one can see a reason why. But maybe it's because you want to make everyone look anywhere but at you. Put the blame on someone else if you...”

  “Enough!” he roared, his entire face going red. “That is enough out of your smart little mouth!”

  His anger was enough to make me take a step back, creating more space between us.

  Jorgenson's entire face shook as he looked around at all of the eyes now on him. He returned his furious gaze to me. “I have spent ten years trying to figure out what happened to you sister and everything has always pointed at you. Everything. You were the last one to see her. You were the one that was supposed to be watching her. You.” He stabbed a finger in the air at the direction of the trail. “And then that little girl has something happen to her and guess what? You're here. Again.”

  “So were you,” I said.

  He shook his head. “You're wrong, young lady. I may have been in this town, doing my job, but I wasn't near either of those girls until after something happened to them. After! But you...you were with them before. You were here. Both times. You.”

  I felt the bravery seeping out of me like I'd sprung a leak. He was right, of course. He'd been present, but only after something had gone wrong. His accusations felt like darts thrown at me, darts that had found their target. Mine now felt stupid and shallow and hollow. I felt the tears start to form in the corners of my eyes and as much I wanted them to stop, I couldn't make them.

  “So before you start throwing accusations around, you better remember one thing,” he said, the snarl turning into an ugly-looking smile on his ugly-looking face. “You are the only thing both those girls have in common.”

  Everyone's eyes were on me and I couldn't breathe. It felt like no matter what I said or what I did, I would always be the one tied to both Rosie and now Annie. It felt like there was nothing I could do to prove my innocence. It was his word against mine and his was far more powerful than mine.

  I took a step back and stumbled. Ty reached for me, but I jerked my arm away before he could touch me.

  “Lily,” he said.

  Tears blinded my eyes and I took another step backward. “I didn't do anything.”

  “So you say,” Jorgenson spat. “So you say.”

  My dad was saying something to Jorgenson but I couldn't hear what he was saying. All I could hear was Jorgenson telling the world I was guilty. And I didn't want to hear it anymore.

  I took a couple more steps backward, then pivoted and forced my legs to go.

  I heard Ty calling my name. Maybe Jenna, too. Everything was fuzzy.

  I started jogging, then sprinting as fast as I could, trying to get from everything. From the lies that Jorgenson was successfully spinning into truth.

  FIFTY TWO

  “Lily! Lily! Where are you?”

  I was sitting on a rock near the river's edge, shrouded in heavy trees, when I heard Ty calling for me. I'd run as far as I could until my burning lungs and thighs had forced me to stop. I'd stumbled through the treeline, down over the rocks and to the shore. I stood there, my chest heaving, tears streaming down my face, trying to catch my breath and staunch the crying. I finally found a rock with a flat enough surface to sit down on and I'd been there for maybe ten minutes before I heard his voice above me on the trail.

  “Come on, Lily! Where are you?”

  I sighed and turned over my shoulder. “I'm down here.”

  His feet shuffled quickly against the path and then shrubs and branches gave way as he came down the hillside to where I was sitting. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead and he wiped it away. “I couldn't find you.”

  I didn't say anything.

  “I was worried,” he said, in between huffing and puffing. “Why did you take off like that?”

  I wiped at my eyes, certain that I was an absolute mess of tears and dirt and who knew what else. “I can't take it anymore, Ty. I just can't.”

  He squatted down next to me, laying his hands on my knees. “You can't let Jorgenson get to you.”

  I s
hook my head. “I can't keep fighting him. As long as I'm here, he's going to be after me and I can't shake the memories. I just can't. I've tried, but I can't. I have to leave. Now. Right now. Go with my dad and just fuck the car, fuck waiting. I can't stay here a second longer.”

  “So you're just gonna up and bail?” he asked. “I don't think that proves anything.”

  “I can't prove anything,” I said. “It's his word against mine. And the whole world thinks I'm guilty.”

  “No, they don't,” Ty said quietly.

  “Not yet,” I told him. “But they will. He already has the people up at the house convinced I did it.”

  “He doesn't have me.”

  “It doesn't matter.” I chewed on my lip and stared out at the water. I didn't want to think about walking back into that house, watching his dad glare at me or his mom stare at me in confusion. I didn't want to be there when they tried to explain to his sister who I was and what I'd been accused of. “I need to go.”

  He frowned, but finally nodded. “Okay. I guess.”

  “I'm sorry,” I said, laying my hand on top of his.

  He nodded again. “I know. I know. I just...I don't want you to go.”

  I knew that he wasn't just talking about me leaving the house.

  “We knew I'd have to go at some point.”

  “I was hoping I could convince you to make it some point further down the road,” he said.

  I leaned down and kissed him. “You know I can't.” I hesitated for a minute. “You can come visit me...”

  His hand found my cheek. “Maybe I need to think about finally going to college,” he said, leaning his forehead against mine. “Leaving this place and seeing the world.”

  “But you like it here,” I told him. “This is where you want to be. This is your future.”

  He shrugged. “Well, sometimes plans change. Maybe I think I want to be here because I haven't seen what else is out there. Especially Madison.”

  I smiled in spite of myself. “Yes. Pretty sure every place pales in comparison to Madison, Wisconsin.”

  He kissed me again, his lips lingering on mine. He pulled away and looked at me. “We'll figure it out. Just promise me something.”

  “What?”

  “Don't forget about me. Don't give up on me.” His eyes burned with an intensity I'd never seen before. “Because I'm not giving up on you.”

  “I couldn't,” I said. “I won't.”

  He smiled and lowered his mouth to kiss me again. But a voice on the trail stopped us.

  “Lily?” Jenna called. “Where are you?”

  “See?” Ty said. “You got everybody worried.”

  I nodded. “I know. But I couldn't stand there and listen to him anymore.” I turned over my shoulder. “Down here!”

  Less than a minute later, Jenna was standing next to us. Her face was flushed, her breathing a little ragged. “You alright?”

  “I'm fine.”

  “Jorgenson is still up there, running his mouth at Dad,” she said, frowning. She pushed at her bangs. “He's such an ass.”

  “He really is,” Ty agreed.

  Jenna looked at me. “Dad wants to go. And he wants you to come with.” Her eyes darted to Ty before coming back to me. “Like, right now.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  Her eyebrows arched in surprise. “Really? No fighting?”

  I glanced at Ty, then shook my head. “I'm done.”

  She stared at me, her eyebrows still raised, and jutted her bottom lip. “Wow. Okay. Cool.” She pushed at her hair again. Her complexion had returned almost to normal, her breathing steadied. “But I think you were right.”

  “About what?”

  “About Jorgenson,” she answered. “It could totally be him.”

  Ty and I exchanged looks before I looked back at my sister. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because of exactly what you said up there,” she said. “Who's to say he's not making all this crap up just to lay it on you? Has anyone ever thought he was a suspect? Did anyone ever even suggest it? Besides you just now, I mean.”

  I glanced at Ty.

  “I guess we sort of did,” he said, shrugging. “But we didn't really tell anyone.”

  Jenna looked at him, confused. “What are you talking about? How long have you thought it?”

  He looked at me and I nodded my head, giving him permission to continue.

  “It was something I brought up, actually,” he said. “I wanted to take a look at the case file. Rosie's file. See what was in it.”

  “What? When? How?”

  I took over, explaining to her how Ty had arranged to get the from Caroline and how we'd read through it. She listened, one hand on her hip, the other hovering close to her mouth.

  “So was there anything in there?” she asked when I was done. She chewed a nail. “I mean, anything new?”

  I shook my head. “Not really.” Because there hadn't been. Only conjecture, which is exactly what the sheriff had.

  “Well, no,” Ty said. “The bruise thing.”

  I didn't want to bring it up. Because it was pointless. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jenna asked, looking from me to him, then back to me.

  “There was a bruise,” I said, waving my hand as if that would somehow make my words disappear. “On Rosie's body. He'd mentioned it years ago to Mom and Dad and we were trying to find out more about it. But there was no picture of it in the file.”

  “And I think that's weird,” Ty said. “That there's no picture. There should've been one taken by the coroner.”

  “He's used it against me,” I said. “He claims that's the irrefutable evidence that proves I did something to Rosie.”

  “And I just wonder if there was a bruise at all,” Ty explained. “Since there was no picture. So we're thinking it was something he made up. Something he said that existed, just to see if he could get Lily to crack. You know?”

  Jenna took all that in and then nodded slowly. “Wow. That's crazy.” She looked at me. “Why didn't you ever tell me?”

  I shrugged. “Why would I have? I didn't do anything to Rosie and Dad always said it was bullshit. The sheriff came out to the house and told us about it, asked me some questions, then left. It was the last I heard about it. Until we looked at the report, anyway. And it's there, in his write-up, but there's no picture that we can find.”

  “So maybe Jorgenson has something to hide,” Ty explained to my sister. “Or maybe not. I just think it's weird that there's no picture in the file.”

  “Maybe it was lost,” I said. “I don't know. And I don't care anymore.”

  Jenna thought for a moment, then looked at Ty. “I think you're right.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “About the picture?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Why wouldn't it be there? If you got the whole file, there should've been a picture in there.” She looked at me, her pointer finger between her lips. “I'd ask him. No, actually, I'd demand. Tell him you aren't leaving until you see the picture of the bruise on her back. You know?”

  I shrugged again. “I don't know.”

  “Don't you want to see it?” she asked. “See if it exists? Because I bet he can't produce it. I bet he was lying. Lying all along.”

  I looked at her. I blinked a couple of times. And then a hard knot formed in my stomach, twisting and coiling as I continued to stare at her.

  My heart slammed against the inside of my chest and the engines in my ears roared, my temple throbbing just as hard as my heart was beating. My breath caught and my eyes glazed over just a little, my sister becoming a blur in front of me. I was glad I was sitting because I might've fainted if I'd been standing.

  “You wanna go?” Ty asked. “Go find your dad?”

  I blinked hard, trying to clear my head, trying to stop the whooshing sound roaring through my ears.

  “Lily?” he asked. “You okay?”

  I swallowed hard and looked up at him. His voice sounded weir
d, like he was speaking to me underwater. I started to speak and my own voice sounded the same, heavy and distorted. I spoke slowly, measuring my words, trying to sound normal. “I'm fine. But...can you give us a minute? Me and Jenna?”

  He glanced at Jenna and she made a face at him like she had no idea what I wanted.

  “Sure,” he said, but I barely heard him. “I'll meet you up on the trail.”

  I watched him make his way up the hillside and disappear over the ridge and on to the trail, leaving me alone with my sister.

  FIFTY THREE

  “We should go,” Jenna said. “Dad's waiting.”

  I stood from the rock. I took a deep breath and glanced down at my shirt, convinced she would see my heart beating against my chest. But there was nothing to see. I swallowed a couple of times, gulping in air before I trusted myself to speak.

  “Why?”

  “Because he's waiting,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “Remember?”

  “Why?” I asked again.

  She squinted at me. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  The knot grew in my gut, twisting up my insides. “I didn't tell you about the bruise,” I said.

  She looked at me like I was crazy. “You just told me about it like three minutes ago, Lily.”

  I shook my head slowly. “I didn't tell you where it was.”

  She hesitated, then shrugged. “You must've.”

  “No. I didn't.”

  “Then how would I have—”

  “I don't know, Jenna,” I said. “How would you have known?”

  But I did know. I'd been there when Rosie died and when Annie had gone into the river. So had Jorgenson, in theory.

  But so had Jenna.

  “Look, you're tired,” my sister said. Her tone sounded like she was addressing a cranky toddler. “You're stressed. Let's just go find Dad and get going.”

  “How did you know, Jenna?” I asked again. “How did you know the bruise was on her back?”

  She stood there, her hands on her hips, the river moving slowly behind her.

  I waited.

  She brought a finger to her lip, then thought better of it and placed that hand back on her hip. “I guess I guessed right.”