Page 131 of It Happened on the Lake

“Don’t know. I don’t think we’ll ever know.”

“I guess . . .”

“Didn’t you say that Levi plans on moving back?”

“Mmhmm. Soon. Maybe this weekend? He has a studio over his business in Sellwood, but he let his lease go.”

He hadn’t mentioned that when he’d visited her in the hospital. She asked, “He told you?”

“Yeah.” Beth was still staring through the eyepiece of the powerful scope.

“Have you been there?”

“To his place?” A bit of color rose in her cheeks. “Yeah. I heard he might be interested in selling his house on the point, so I tracked him down.”

“Oh.” It seemed innocent enough, though Beth avoided her eyes, kept slowly moving the telescope.

“And is he? Interested?”

“Mmm. Who knows?”

“When he stopped by the hospital, he said he was a private eye.”

“Yeah, I think he worked for the government for a while. FBI or CIA, maybe, something like that,” she mused. “Then something happened—he got a divorce or . . . no! His wife died. That was it!”

“Died? How?”

Beth straightened away from the telescope. “I don’t know all the details, or many of them really, but he came back to the Portland area a few years back.”

“From where?”

“All around, I guess.” She shrugged. “Washington, D.C., Seattle, and somewhere in California, I think. I don’t really know.” She turned her attention back to the telescope. “This could be addictive,” she said.

Harper bit her tongue, but Beth didn’t notice, she was too enthralled by what she could see. “This is so fantastic, you can see into Almsville. The Catholic church spire and city hall. Yep, there’s the flag. And the water tower near East Bridge.” She was slowly moving the telescope. “And all along the south side of the lake, the open spaces between the trees for houses and the road. Talk about a bird’s-eye view! I mean, the view downstairs was spectacular, don’t get me wrong. But this panorama? Wow. I had no idea.” She straightened and dusted her hands, then slowly walked around the suite, all the while looking through the grimy windows. “Hey, there’s St. Catherine’s,” she said, and it was true, from the north side of this room one could see the hospital’s second and third stories rising on the hill over the tops of the trees. “So . . . at night—do you see the city lights? Can you actually see Portland?”

“Just the glow from the city. The hills are in the way.”

“Doesn’t matter. This—” Beth swung her arms wide and turned slowly. “This is incredible!” Frowning, she looked at the windows. “And when the glass is cleaned—God, I can’t imagine what you can see.”

“So it’s better than the bat cave?”

“Don’t remind me.”

She peered through the telescope once more, training it on the opposite shore. “What a view! Just look at what you can see. It’s . . . it’s almost too clear. I mean, I can read Oster on my blender.” Suddenly she lifted her head and backed away from the telescope. “It’s a little creepy, if you know what I mean. How much is visible, especially if the blinds aren’t drawn.” She worried her glossy lip. “So you think, I mean, could maybe your grandfather have watched us? I mean, a long time ago, when he was alive, you know. When I was living there with Mom and Dad and my brothers?”

There was no reason to lie, no reputation to protect. “Yes, sometimes, I think so,” Harper had to admit. It was obvious. “He spent a lot of time up here.”

“Oh. Ick. And my bedroom . . .” Once more, the exaggerated shiver. “Do you think he watched my parents . . . you know . . . doing it?” Her expression turned to disgust.

“I don’t know,” Harper said quickly as the image of her grandfather jerking off filled her brain again. “Look, whatever he did, it’s . . . it was a long time ago. He’s been dead for ages.” Dear God, was she making excuses for Gramps now? Or maybe for herself? Of course she didn’t touch herself or fantasize while looking through the lenses, but even as a teen she’d stared through binoculars and telescopes hoping for a glimpse of Chase and felt a thrill run through her blood just at the sight of him.

Stupid.

Beth leaned down and put her eye up to the telescope again. She fiddled with the focus. “Anyone looking through this”—she tapped the metal optical tube—“could observe us and—oh God—videotape us . . . or . . . or . . . blackmail us if we were doing anything illegal.” She looked up sharply. “Not that we are. No way. But from here you can watch us and . . . well, all of the houses on the point.”

Harper thought again about Craig and the gun. “Good thing you’re not criminals.”

“For a lot of reasons,” Beth said, peering through. “Oh, look, there’s my husband now.”

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