Page 94 of Darkwater Lane

I show them in and offer coffee. Diakos takes a seat at the table, but the other officer stands off to the side, trying to fade into the background. Sam hears the commotion and comes down the hallway. The minute he spots Diakos, his eyes swivel to meet mine. I can see the question in them.

“A body was found in the lake,” I tell him. I have my back to the two police officers, so I let the naked fear and confusion show on my face. “They want to ask us if we heard anything.”

His steps falter, and his face drains of color. “A body?” Sam was in Stillhouse Lake four years ago when the first woman’s body was discovered. The police knocked on his door, just like mine. He must feel the same sense of déjà vu that I do.

“An accident?” he asks, though he knows from my expression it wasn’t. “Do we know who it is yet?”

“We still haven’t identified her.”

He notes the same thing I did: that it’s a female victim. Just like Melvin liked.

“I’ll wake the kids,” I tell him. His hand reaches out and brushes mine as I pass. It’s a touch of comfort and solidarity. A reminder that we’re in this together.

Or a reminder to present a united front, regardless.

Once I’m out of sight, I hesitate outside Connor’s door and listen as Sam pulls down a mug and pours himself a cup of coffee. “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, but I can try,” he says.

“Did you hear anything suspicious last night?” Diakos asks.

“Around what time?”

“That’s what we’re hoping to figure out. Right now, our window is frustratingly vague, but we’re assuming after dark.”

Sam hesitates a moment, and I can picture him staring off into space, a little crinkle in his forehead as he thinks. “I can’t say that I heard anything at all. I wish I could be more help.”

He doesn’t tell them he wasn’t home for much of the night. A queasy feeling starts rumbling in my stomach. I hope that’s not a mistake that comes back to bite him down the road. What if there are witnesses who saw him out? What if they get a warrant for our security cameras that show him arriving home late?

I make a mental note to delete the footage.Does that mean I suspect he was behind this?

I don’t have time to answer that question. Especially when I’m not sure I’ll like the answer.

I knock softly on Connor’s door and then move on to Lanny’s.Florida’s already awake, sitting in the middle of the blow-up mattress on the floor, her knees pulled to her chest and her eyes wide and frightened. Lanny perches next to her, a hand on her back.

“Are they here for me? ’Cause of my family?” Florida’s voice is small and a tear trails down her cheek.

I kick myself for not thinking about how having cops arrive at the house unannounced might affect Florida after everything that happened yesterday. “No, sweetie,” I tell her. “They want to know if anyone heard anything out on the lake last night.”

Connor hovers behind me in the doorway and I feel him stiffen. Lanny and he exchange a glance. Of course reliving this part of their past would be traumatizing.

“It’s going to be okay,” I reassure them.

They know by now that I can’t promise that.

In the kitchen, Diakos’s eyes go wide when he recognizes Florida. I step between them. “My understanding is that you’re here to ask about last night,” I tell him. “If you feel the urge to ask about anything else, like, say…her family, then I’m going to have to call my lawyer and get her involved which will take some time, given that her office is in Knoxville, and she’d have to drive all the way out here—if and when her schedule allows.”

He holds up his hands. “The feds took over the Belldene case. I don’t have anything to do with that. I’m only interested in what happened on the lake last night.”

I nod, indicating he’s free to proceed.

Lanny brushes past me, heading straight for the coffee. Diakos asks her first if she heard anything suspicious the night before. Her answer is a very quick and succinct, “Nope.” She doesn’t even pause to consider or think about it.

Her bedroom window faces the lake. The last time this happened, she heard the boat and the splash of the body hitting the water. She was one of the few witnesses. That was the reason I’dstarted making plans to leave Stillhouse Lake. Until that point we’d been living under the radar, trying to avoid attention.

Little did I know that Melvin had already found us by then.

I wonder if Lanny truly didn’t hear anything this time, or if she doesn’t want to get involved. She’s savvier now than she was back then. She understands the system and that it doesn’t always favor the innocent. She’s not going to tell the cops anything until she’s talked it over with Sam and me.

Connor, on the other hand, does take a moment to think about it and then shrugs. “I went to bed early.”

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