she have hesitated to uncover his crimes if she thought it would hurt Jean? Yes, again.”
Luther’s face is a mask of rage, transporting me back to those times at the cabin when he would explode at me. “Goddamnit, Tess, you’ve made up a good story but that doesn’t mean—”
My phone ringing cuts him off. I look to see if it’s Rudy, but it’s Kevin Bantree. I answer it and put it on speaker so Luther will know I’m not bluffing.
“Tess,” Bantree sounds like he’s out of breath. “Rudy made a break for it. I couldn’t stop him. He’s running toward the Point.”
I’m about to ask him how far away he is, but then I catch a flash of purple and gold on the north path. “I see him,” I say. “I’ll catch up to him.”
Luther’s seen him too, and he’s already running through the trees, trying to cut Rudy off. But Rudy is fast. He’s been training for track all year and jogging with Lila. He sprints forward when he hears Luther and easily evades him. I follow, screaming Rudy’s name, but I doubt Rudy can hear anything above his own labored breathing and the surge of the sea as we get closer to the Point. The tide is coming in, crashing over the far rocks on Maiden Island and spilling over the causeway. I’m relieved to see it. Rudy will have to stop. Then Luther will have to confess or see his son go to jail.
I hear Kevin behind me and he soon catches up with me. “Go back, Tess,” he says. “Let me take care of this.”
I shake my head, but he’s already pushing past me. I jog behind him. When the path angles down toward the beach I catch a glimpse of Rudy and Luther, who have reached the end of the peninsula just below the Point. Rudy stops and looks back. He sees Luther close on his heels, he sees the steep path up to the Point. He turns to face the causeway, which is already underwater. He’ll stop now—
But he doesn’t. He leaps from the path down onto the causeway. I lose sight of him because of the slope of the ground, just as I couldn’t see the Little Sister Stone when I was here last—and I picture Rudy broken on that rock as Lila had been. I cry out and sprint forward. As I come to the end of the path I peer out and catch my breath. It looks like the causeway is crowded by figures in white dresses, as if the ghosts of the drowned sisters have risen out of the sea. But of course it’s just the fog, pillars of which are drifting across the causeway, blurring the line between water and sand—and obscuring Rudy. Luther is on the causeway, leaping from one rock to the next through the incoming tide following Rudy, trying to save him from drowning. I wasn’t entirely wrong. Luther does love Rudy, but will his love be enough to save him?
Kevin has stopped on the path and has his radio out. When I reach him he puts his arm out to keep me from plummeting to the causeway.
“I’ve called the coast guard,” he screams over the crash of the waves. “They’re sending a boat and rescue equipment.”
I nod, too winded to reply, and take a step back. I’ve made a terrible gamble and put my own son at risk. There’s only one way to make up for that. While Kevin turns away to bark another order into his radio I use his distraction to swerve past him and leap down into the surf.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I land to the right of the Little Sister Stone, sinking ankle-deep in wet sand and soaking my jeans to the thigh. The sand clutches at me, pulling me down, and just as I get my balance a wave knocks me over. The drifting pillars of fog obscure my vision and make me dizzy. The slate-gray sky wheels above, as deep and wet as the ocean below. Everything is upside down; I’ve turned my own son in to the police and I’m counting on the monster of my nightmares to save him. How will I ever find my way in this topsy-turvy universe?
Then a hand grabs my arm and hauls me up onto the stone causeway. “We have to go back,” Kevin Bantree yells over the crashing waves.
I shake my head and look east. Through the fog I can just make out Rudy.