The Lady of Dark Lake

by Raven Snow

  “But this other woman was the first to jump in,” Conners pointed out.

  “Yeah, but it was only me and her who heard it. No one else—”

  “Do you know the names of the other people who were there?”

  Even if she hadn’t gone to the police station with the intention of naming names and pointing fingers, there didn’t seem to be much of a way around it. She really should have realized as much before she got there. “A girl named Andrea was working there. Destiny was the one who jumped in before me. She and some guy named Dom pulled me out— though I wasn’t conscious for that last part, so I’m just kinda taking other people’s word on it.”

  There was no trace of a smile left on Conners’ face. The names weren’t new to him. At the very least, one of them had left him wary. Lady wasn’t sure which, but she was willing to bet it was Dom. He struck her as the shadiest of the three. Abruptly, Conners stood. “Come on.”

  “What? Where are we going?” Lady stood as well, creating something of a traffic jam in the cramped office.

  “To the marina,” Conners said, motioning her along. “You can finish your statement on the way. Or not. I’m not sure anything actually gets filed around here. He aimed a pointed glare at the only other officer in the station as he said that part.

  Lady tried to look on the bright side. At least this meant that she would probably get a ride back to the inn out of the whole ordeal. She wouldn’t be forced to walk all the way back with the world’s heaviest book on her shoulder. She was following at Conners’ heels when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She stopped and turned to face a huge cork board. There were a lot of things tacked to it—a patrol schedule, a sign-up sheet for someone’s retirement party, pictures and sticky notes.

  It was one of the pictures that caught Lady by surprise. “Missing?” read the sticky note beside it. The picture itself showed Andrea and Destiny standing at the marina and smiling for the camera. Between them stood a blonde young man with a handsome face and pale skin.

  Chapter Seven

  The marina was much as it had been the last time Lady had been there. No one was working in the wooden building that claimed to be open. Andrea and Destiny were both down at the docks. At the very least, Destiny appeared to be doing something this time. She was up on a ladder, nailing something to a boat house. Lady figured it was probably some loose boards. The storms had been rough, and the boathouses looked old.

  Andrea was sitting nearby, her feet dangling over the water. There was a toolbox beside her, but she wasn’t doing anything with it. Instead she was staring at her phone, her back to Lady and Conners as they approached.

  “Good afternoon, ladies.” Conners managed to greet them both without sounding the least bit friendly. “Working hard or hardly working?”

  Both women turned. Andrea jumped and nearly dropped her phone in the process. “I’m working,” said Destiny with a frown. “I’m not sure what Andrea’s doing down there.”

  “Taking a quick breather,” Andrea snapped right back. “It’s hot out here, if you haven’t noticed.”

  “Oh, I’ve noticed. How much breath do you need before you can pass up some nails?”

  Andrea rolled her eyes but reached into the toolbox anyway. She handed a few nails up to Destiny who slipped them into the back pocket of her shorts. Her attention had shifted from Conners to Lady. “So, what brings the two of you here?”

  “Lady!” Andrea seemed to only now register who it was standing next to Conners. She smiled and hooked her thumbs through the beltloops of her denim cut-offs. “You look like you’re feeling better. I’m glad you’re up and about.”

  Conners spoke before Lady could say anything. “This young lady here says there might have been a drowning yesterday. Do either of you know anything about that?”

  Lady could see how Destiny’s muscles tensed on the ladder. She wondered if Conners saw it too, the visceral reaction she was having while that frown of hers deepened. It was Andrea who spoke up first. “I didn’t see anything or hear anything,” she offered.

  “How about you?” Conners asked, singling Destiny out specifically.

  “I thought I heard something, but it was probably the wind. Lady there probably only thinks she heard something because I suggested it. Dom got here not long after we both went in. He didn’t hear anything either.” Destiny said all that to Conners. She looked to Lady next. “Why did you go to the police about it? It’s not like there’s anything to report.”

  “Don’t you worry about what she did and didn’t report to me.” Conners looked out across the lake. He was silent, and everyone else was too. There was a weight on all of them. Lady could feel it. Anticipation was in the air, anticipation for something inevitable. “Andrea, have you heard anything from Riley?”

  Andrea looked down at her phone. “I wish people would stop asking me that,” she muttered. “No, I haven’t seen him since the last time you asked. Why?”

  Destiny caught on before Andrea did. “You don’t think it was him in the lake, do you?” She laughed as if incredulous. “No way. What kind of sense would that make? More likely he dumped Andrea’s sorry butt and skipped town.”

  “Hey!” snapped Andrea, giving the ladder a kick. It wobbled a bit, prompting Lady and Conners to step up and steady it. “He would never dump me.” Andrea ignored the dirty looks she was getting. She certainly sounded sure of herself. “He’s a good guy. He probably just…” She trailed off, looking down at her phone again.

  “Just what?” challenged Destiny, only daring to speak once she was off the ladder and on more reliable ground.

  “You don’t know him like I know him.” Andrea looked like she might take a swing at Destiny, but Conners stepped between them. “He didn’t drown,” she said to Conners instead. “It wouldn’t even make sense. He goes missing and then turns up the next day in the middle of the lake? Drowning?”

  “You don’t swim on the clock sometimes?”

  Andrea glanced past Conners, meeting Destiny’s eyes briefly. She lowered her voice, like telling the truth here might get her in trouble. “Sure, I guess, but that’s not what we were doing yesterday. People were blowing my phone up trying to figure out where he was yesterday. Why would he turn up swimming alone all the way out there?” She pointed across the now-still waters of the lake.

  Conners nodded but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t clear if he agreed with her or not. Instead, he walked to the end of the pier and pulled out his phone.

  “I thought you were leaving town,” said Andrea once Conner was out of earshot.

  Destiny rolled her eyes. “What she means is that she can’t believe you called the cops.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” snapped Andrea. “Though, I am a little surprised you called the police over something like this.”

  Lady shrugged and tried to play it cool. Even though she didn’t feel cool. She didn’t feel cool at all. “I didn’t know he would come all the way out here. I thought I would just make a statement and be on my way.”

  “That’s the thing with the police around here. There isn’t anything for them to do, so they jump on every little thing.” Destiny inclined her head in Conners’ direction.

  Lady wasn’t so sure about Destiny’s assessment. Sure, Destiny might have lived in Dark Lake longer, but Conners hadn’t exactly seemed thrilled at the prospect of Lady adding something else onto his work load. “Well, I’m sorry. I thought someone possibly drowning was worth reporting.”

  “It’s fine,” Andrea said quickly. “It will be anyway. The worst that can come out of this is a lecture from the boss.”

  “So, who’s Riley?” asked Lady. “I mean, I get that he’s your boyfriend and that he’s missing, but—”

  “Go get some more planks for me, will you?” interrupted Destiny, climbing back up the ladder.

  Andrea was obviously fighting the urge to kick one of the lower rungs again. “Yeah, sure,” she grumbled. She headed down the pier and mo
tioned for Lady to follow. “Sorry about her,” she said as they fell into step together. Andrea seemed to be heading for the office building. “She gets like that sometimes.”

  “Does it have something to do with Riley?” Lady had seen how tense things were between them, how they had both gotten rather emotional at the mere mention of the guy. She regretted asking once the words had left her mouth.

  Andrea looked away. She took a deep breath. It actually took her a few seconds to answer. “I’m really worried about him.”

  “He’s only been missing for a couple of days, right?” That was what Lady had gleaned from the conversation anyway.

  “Yeah, but…” Andrea trailed off and shrugged instead. “Yeah, I guess it’s probably him that’s got her so uptight right now. She’s probably worried too. She had a crush on him. It’s super obvious. It’s always been super obvious.”

  “You said she had a boyfriend.” Lady knew Dom had denied as much, but it was what Andrea had told her.

  “Yeah, but I don’t know how into each other they are. He kind of creeps me out, to be honest. I think she’s looking to upgrade.”

  Lady didn’t feel like bringing up her encounter with Dom. “And Riley would be an upgrade.”

  “Sure.” Andrea’s voice was soft.

  “I’m sorry. About your boyfriend, I mean. I hope he turns up.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Andrea stopped behind the office building. There was a shed that stretched out a ways. The walls had a lot of gaps and were terribly flimsy, but the roof looked like it served well enough to keep the rain out. The wood was dry inside of it, at least, and there were no smells of mildew. “Hey, do you want to go grab a drink tonight?”

  “Huh?” That caught Lady off guard. It was an offer she hadn’t expected, not then and there.

  Andrea seemed to realize how out of the blue it was. “Sorry, I just… I need to get out you know? And you seem cool. I’d go with my other friends, but they’re all worried about Riley. If I went with them it would be Riley, Riley, Riley, and… Ugh. I don’t know. That sounds selfish, doesn’t it?”

  Lady couldn’t remember the last time someone had called her cool. Had anyone ever called her cool? Was cool even a thing you normally called another person? She liked it. “No.” The word came out of her mouth halting at first. “No, that’s not selfish. It’s nice to get away from all the noise in your head sometimes.”

  “Right?” Andrea smiled and cuffed Lady on the shoulder. “You get it. So what do you say?”

  Lady had never been one for club hopping. She didn’t frequent bars either, not unless their food was good. “Sure?” she said anyway, because why not? It couldn’t be worse than avoiding Ms. Poole at the inn. “Where are you going?”

  “I know a place.” Andrea winked. Some people couldn’t wink without it looking weird, but Andrea pulled it off with ease. “It’s the only place in town, actually. You’ll like it. Don’t worry. I’ll pick you up. How’s nine? Does that sound okay?”

  “Nine sounds good to me.” Lady would have to check with Ms. Poole first, make sure she was still allowed to sleep under her roof even though she was broke. She didn’t mention that part, though.

  “Great! Wear something cute.”

  Lady looked down at what she was wearing while Andrea gathered planks. This was the last clean set of clothes she had and they weren’t even clean now that she’d walked miles in them on a hot day. Again, she kept that part to herself. “Want me to help with that?” she asked instead and accepted some planks from Andrea.

  Conners was having a word with Destiny when they returned. She had climbed off her ladder and was leaning again the boat house with her hands shoved in her pockets. She was upset about something, but from what Lady had seen, that was par for the course with her.

  “What?” asked Andrea, dumping the boards she was carrying at Destiny’s feet. Lady placed hers nearby as well.

  “We need to clear out. They’re going to drag the lake,” Destiny said, her voice deadpan.

  “What?” Andrea was startled and Lady was right there with her. Dragging the lake on a hunch seemed like an overreaction and a huge waste of resources.

  “We’re not dragging the lake,” Conners said with a sigh. “I’m just sending in a couple of divers.”

  “That still seems like a lot. I really can’t be sure I even saw anything.” Lady felt warm, embarrassed, like everything had spiraled out of control. It was as if she had told her homeroom teacher that little Timmy was drawing explosions in class and now the entire school was being evacuated because of a bomb scare.

  “Listen to the lady, Guy,” said Destiny, getting herself a frown from Conners. Was Guy his first name? That would explain the annoyed look he had given Lady when she told him her first name. “This seems like a lot.”

  “It really isn’t,” Conners assured all of them. It was clear from the way he stood tall, arms folded over his chest, that he wasn’t backing down any time soon. He looked to Lady. “We have plenty of trained divers in Dark Lake. There’s even a trained volunteer team for things like this. It’s no trouble at all.”

  “It’s trouble for us,” Destiny insisted. “The marina will have to close while you’re out there doing all that looking.”

  “You’ll live.”

  “I need the paycheck.”

  “You’ll live.” Conners pointed to the office. “Come on. Let’s regroup in there and give that boss of yours a call, shall we?”

  Chapter Eight

  For someone who hadn’t meant to spend long in Dark Lake, Lady sure was making waves before she went on her merry way. So far, she had made at least one enemy. Destiny hadn’t stopped glaring at her once they were all inside the office. Lady had ignored her, had done her best to act like it didn’t make her hyper-aware of her own body language, even though it did.

  The owner of the marina was a squat little man named Mr. Sullivan. He wore suspenders to keep his overtaxed pants up and had to keep mopping at his beet red forehead as sweat beaded down it. He didn’t do well in the heat, whether it be from the weather or from the police. To Conners, he was all smiles, but that smile kept falling away from his face the moment the man wasn’t looking. He definitely wasn’t the type to compensate Andrea and Destiny for the time they would be forced to spend off work.

  The ride home was one conducted mostly in silence. “They’re all pretty mad at me, huh?” Lady had asked when they had first gotten back into the police cruiser. She had asked the question with a halfhearted smile, but Conners had only shrugged. Lady didn’t try talking to him again.

  Conners let Lady out in front of the inn. “I’ll let you know if we find anything,” he said as Lady opened the door to get out. “Your number is on your statement, right?”

  Lady nodded. “Yeah, but I’m not sure how long I’ll be here. I’m hoping to leave tomorrow.” She kept saying she was about to leave, but it was starting to feel less and less true.

  “I’d rather you stick around until this is finished,” said Conners, though he didn’t argue with her. “Hey, you did the right thing coming forward.”

  It didn’t feel like she had. It also felt like Conners was saying that just because he was supposed to as part of his job. Lady nodded anyway. “If you say so.” She raised her hand in a halfhearted wave and hoped she wouldn’t have to see him again.

  ***

  The inn was quiet when Lady entered. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but good smells were in the air. Bread. She could smell freshly baked bread. There was something else, something familiar. Was it a stew, maybe?

  There was a soft meow at Lady’s ankles. She looked down to find Lion winding around them. “Hey there, boy. I was gone forever, huh?” She leaned down and picked him up. He purred, nuzzling his furry face against her cheek. “I’m sorry.”

  “You really should be.” It was Ms. Poole who had spoken. She was standing in the door to the dining room, her hands folded in front of her and her mouth a firm line.

  Lady jumpe
d, prompting Lion to jump back to the floor. She hadn’t heard Ms. Poole coming. This was probably about the fact that she had up and left without making plans for tonight or tomorrow. She managed a smile and a nervous laugh. “You startled me. What’s that smell? It smells good.”

  “Do you plan on staying another night?” Ms. Poole wouldn’t be distracted.

  “I didn’t really. I got kind of sidetracked with… a lot of stuff. I guess I’m staying one more night, if that’s okay.”

  “You need to plan these things out ahead of time. You can’t go through your whole life flying by the seat of your pants.” Ms. Poole shook her head as if in disapproval. “Come along. If you’re staying another night, you’ll need to pull your weight around here.”

  “Right.” Lady found herself relieved Ms. Poole hadn’t simply kicked her out into the street. “Right behind you. Let me just drop my stuff off in my room.” Her room. Lady didn’t like the way those words had just come out of her mouth like that. She shook her head to clear it and dropped the tote bag containing the world’s heaviest book onto her bed. After that, she headed into the dining room in search of Ms. Poole.

  “Through here.” Ms. Poole was in the sitting room, the one she and Al had sat talking in earlier. She had opened a door to a hallway. It was long and dark and a little ominous. There was only a single light bulb. It was halfway down the hall and not nearly bright enough to keep the shadows at bay. “This door.” Ms. Poole took the heavy keychain from her waist and shoved a large metal key in the lock of the first door on the left. “It’s a storage room that hasn’t been used in a long time.”

  The door opened. Lady could see that there were a lot of things inside, though in the dim light she could only really see the faint outline of them. “If it’s a storage room, it’s been used this whole time, right?” Lady cracked a smile at Ms. Poole but didn’t get one back. “Because storage rooms are only meant to be used for stora—”

  “I want everything dusted.” Ms. Poole cut her off before she could finish that thought. “Be very careful. There are valuable things in there. You can’t imagine how valuable.”