The Secrets of Lake Road - Karen Katchur Page 0,13

there was no one in the bar to watch.

She stood alone on the balcony. Thunder clapped. The recovery team reached the dock where the sheriff and Heil waited. From where she stood, she couldn’t tell what was passed to the sheriff, but it was definitely a bag, and she believed it contained whatever they had found on the lake bottom. One of the deputies charged onto the dock, taking orders and then dashing away, passing Eddie on the beach.

The recovery team finished securing their watercraft and rushed for cover from the storm that was quickly making its way over the mountain. Eddie met with the sheriff and Heil when they stepped off the dock. Heil was shaking his head, hiking his shorts over his expansive waistline. Thunder roared across the sky. The wind whirled, whipping Jo’s hair across her face.

The men were talking, arguing. Heil was waving his stumpy arms around. Eddie stood between them. He was hunched over, looking more and more uncomfortable as time passed, covering his stomach as though he’d been sucker-punched. Heil pointed at him and motioned toward the Pavilion and bar. A few more words were exchanged, the men shouting as the storm moved overhead. They hurried into the Pavilion. After another minute or two Eddie returned to the balcony.

“You’re never going to believe it.” He gripped the rail. The wind continued to howl. The first few drops of rain sprinkled her cheeks.

“Is it something from the little girl?” She had to holler over the wind.

“No.” He shook his head. “It’s got nothing to do with the girl.”

“Then what?” A bolt of lightning split the sky.

Eddie took ahold of her arm and pulled her off the balcony and into the bar just in time. The rain came pouring down, blowing sideways in the wind, hammering against the building. Thunder cracked. Something in Eddie’s eyes frightened her. “What is it? What did they find?”

“Bones,” he shouted. “They think they found Billy’s bones.”

CHAPTER FIVE

The air was thick with humidity, fermenting what was rotten in the lake. At times it smelled like dead fish, dank and feral. Other times it smelled like a thousand decaying lily pads and plant life, sodden and moldy. Tonight it smelled a little bit like both.

Caroline breathed into the palm of her hand to keep from getting sick. She was standing under the overhang on the top step of the Pavilion. The sheriff’s deputy had chased her off the beach, forcing her inside and out of the storm. She had backed up slowly at first, breathing into her cupped hand, unable to move her eyes away from the water. A loud crack of thunder had felt as though it shook the ground beneath her feet. When she had turned, she caught sight of her mother on the bar balcony. Even in the dark she could see the haunted look on her mother’s face, the one that thrashed her insides and kept her hidden inside herself. It could be days until her mother surfaced.

Lightning flashed. Thunder stomped and bumped across the sky. One of the deputies escorted Sara’s mother to his vehicle. She was in for a long night. The underwater recovery team had packed their gear and gone home. They weren’t expected to return until morning.

“There you are.” Gram pulled Caroline into her arms. “You didn’t come home for supper. You know you’re supposed to check in and let me know your plans.”

“Didn’t you hear?” She stepped back and searched Gram’s wrinkled and worn face, her thinning white hair, and her eyes, where the youthful spirit sparkled even in dark times. It was the sparkle Caroline relied on and looked for, a sign to tell her everything was going to be all right.

“Yes, I heard,” Gram said. Rain poured onto the roof of the Pavilion, battering the old building with its onslaught. She yelled over the storm, “Let’s go home. You must be starving.”

Gram had told her once that she had seen enough death in her lifetime, and she didn’t like to talk about it. She had said, “It is what it is, and there’s nothing anybody can do to stop it.” She told Caroline it was something everyone had to live with, and Caroline often wondered if Gram had been referring to something more personal, someone in her past other than Pop.

She followed Gram through the Pavilion. The pool table and pinball machines stood empty. The jukebox remained quiet. A few people milled around the snack stand, but the loud rain halted