Page 62 of The Girls in the Lake
A burst of light flashed over the mountains in the distance.
Grace turned to Ethan.
‘I wish we had a boat. Could you imagine being on the lake watching it? I’d be able to get some really cool photos for my Instagram page.’
He laughed. ‘I think it might be dangerous to go out on the water in a thunderstorm. Especially armed with a mobile phone.’
‘Why? You don’t believe everything they tell you, do you?’
He shook his head, embarrassed. ‘No, I don’t. I have a boat we can use if you really want to, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.’
She ran inside to grab the wine and glasses. ‘Come on, scaredy-cat, let’s go out a little bit. If the storm gets too close for comfort, we can go back to your cabin. It’s going to start raining. If we get wet, we might need to strip off and get dry.’
She winked at him, and Ethan decided being reckless and impossibly stupid might just be worth it.
Seventy-One
Josh and Sam went to James Marshall’s apartment. Paton took the marina. The apartment was in darkness. They got out of the car and checked the area, looking for his car. It was parked in the underground car park. They could see it through the locked gates.
‘What now, Josh?’
He radioed Paton. ‘Any luck?’
‘No, the boat’s in darkness. Everything is in darkness.’
‘Crap. We’ll hang around for a while and see if he turns up. You do the same.’
Huge splotches of rain began to fall and the sky vibrated with a loud clap of thunder. Sam looked at Josh.
‘I’m not getting fried by lightning, let’s wait in the car.’
He threw the keys to her and she hurried back to the silver Ford Focus. Josh had a walk around the perimeter of the apartments. The rain began to bounce off the floor, huge drops that were soaking him to the skin. He ran towards the car, throwing open the door just as a loud crack of thunder filled the air.
‘Shit, it’s raining cats and dogs.’
Sam laughed. ‘You don’t say?’
She had the engine running and the heater was blasting warm air around the car. Josh’s radio began ringing, and he answered to a hushed Paton.
‘Boss, he’s here at the marina. Just got out of a taxi. He has a woman with him.’
Sam put her foot on the accelerator and raced the short drive to the marina.
‘Not too fast, we don’t want him to get spooked by us speeding in there.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because if we screw this up, he can afford the best legal defence money can buy, and he’d walk. We need to get irrefutable evidence, something that can’t be dismissed or glossed over by some smart-mouth lawyer.’
She slowed down. ‘Let’s hope she doesn’t go into the water before we get there then.’
‘Why?’
‘Paton can’t swim.’
Josh closed his eyes for a second, then radioed the control room.
‘I need extra patrols to make the area of Glebe Road marina, but I want them to hang back and stay quiet unless you get a signal from me.’
