Page 17 of The Lake Escape
Julia remained mesmerized. At that moment, Fiona was divine— a wild nymph clutching her glowing blue drink as she shook and shimmied in uninhibited revelry. In her tiny top, it looked like she was acting out a scene from a fantasy film, a precursor to a weird sex ritual honoring a mythical goddess.
Judging by the look on Christian’s face, Fionawasthe goddess.
She danced her way back to the group, approaching David with a swing in her step and a seductive glint in her eyes. She put her back to him before lowering herself onto his lap, still moving her hips with unabashed intensity, giving him what was unmistakably a lap dance. David looked remarkably uncomfortable for someone who often boasted about his prowess in the bedroom. He pushed Fiona off him with a grunt of annoyance.
“Get control of yourself,” he said.
Fiona didn’t care. She kept on dancing as if nothing had happened.
“I wouldn’t pass that up,” said Rick, chuckling as he flashed a hungry smile.
Fiona focused on Erika as if seeking her permission, to which Erika acquiesced with a shrug. “I’m not saying no,” she said. “That guy should get a thrillsomewhere.”
Julia was shocked. She’d never let Christian do the same. There wasn’t time for second thoughts (or common sense) to take hold. Fiona grinded into Rick’s lap, moving her body in ways that kept the men transfixed.
Before the “dance” could escalate to the level of a live sex show, the music ended, and a new song came on. The spell was broken.
Fiona peeled herself off Rick, only to plunk herself down in the seat beside David, who couldn’t bear to meet her eyes.
“Yowza, Dave, you’ve brought us a real live wire,” Erika said, taking delight in her husband’s cheap thrill.
Do they have an open relationship?Julia didn’t think so, but honestly, that could explain how their unlikely marriage endured.
David cleared his throat to dislodge his discomfort. “So,” he said, addressing nobody in particular, “any updates on the discovery up north?”
It made sense he’d want to redirect away from Fiona’s escapades, but he’d sure picked a grim topic.
“I don’t think the bones have been ID’d yet,” Erika said as she bowed her head in respect.
Confusion washed over Fiona’s face. Her near-flawless skin took on the pallor of the moon. “Bones? What bones?” she asked.
“Someone bought land a few miles from here, started construction on a house, and dug up some bones,” Christian explained. “At first they thought it was a deer—until they unearthed a human skull.” He turned his attention to Rick. “Hey, wasn’t that near your family’s hunting grounds?”
“Close, but not our property, thankfully. My parents don’t need that kind of stress.” He grimaced. “They’re just hoping for a happy, quiet retirement.”
Julia exchanged wary glances with Erika and David. Firelight danced in their eyes as if the past were flickering within. She knew what they were thinking. They’d grown up hearing the warnings from their parents:Keep your eyes open. Make sure someone knows where you’re going at all times. And don’t wander off alone.
Fiona was about to get indoctrinated.
“It’s hard not to wonder…” Erika wrapped her arms around herself.
“The lake takes them,” said David, his voice ominous and drawn out, as though he were about to spook everyone with a ghost story. Fiona huddled closer to him.
“That folklore is just silly campfire nonsense,” Rick said.
“Wait, I’m confused,” said Fiona, looking to David for answers, but Erika spoke up.
“The lake takes them,” she said. “That’s the legend around here.”
Julia felt the need to elaborate. “Two women disappeared from Lake Timmeny thirty years apart.”
“First, it was a young woman around nineteen named Anna Olsen,” Erika said. “That was way back in the mid-sixties. The police had no leads, and her body was never found.”
“Then it happened again,exactlythirty years later,” said David in a hushed voice, as if the spirits of these two women might be listening. “Another young girl named Susan Welch—we called her Susie—disappeared from her home while on vacation with her family. No sign of forced entry or a struggle of any kind. Two young women, both around the same age, go missing without a trace, no evidence, no apparent motive… just poof—gone.” His voice trailed off dramatically.
“The police searched the area,” Erika added. “Divers looked in the water, but no luck. Susie simply vanished. No note. No body. No clue what happened to her. Same as Anna.”
All fell silent.
