Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Jumped
Maya Torres didn't stop to take off her shoes.
She had been carrying a tray of empty glasses when she saw the wheelchair disappear over the pool edge. Sloane stood perfectly still. That was the part Maya would remember later: not the splash, but how little the blonde woman moved.
Maya dropped the tray. Glass shattered behind her. She ran and dove with both arms out, her beige housekeeping uniform pulling tight as she hit the water.
The pool was deeper than it looked. She kicked toward the black shape on the bottom and found Claire strapped into the wheelchair, eyes half closed, hair drifting like seaweed.
“Come on,” Maya tried to say, releasing a stream of bubbles.
The buckle was jammed against Claire's stomach. Maya got a thumb under the metal tab and yanked. Nothing. She shoved her own shoulder behind the strap, made room, and pulled again until the latch snapped open.
Claire floated free. Maya hooked an arm beneath her shoulders and kicked upward. Their heads burst into the air together.
“Breathe!” Maya gasped. “Claire, please!”
Claire coughed, swallowed water, then coughed again. Maya hauled her toward the pool steps. It took everything she had to pull a pregnant woman across the slick ledge. She scraped both knees raw but didn't let go. For an instant, Maya remembered another night when water had risen and no one had reached her sister. She forced the memory away. Claire was still breathing.
Sloane finally moved. She came closer, one manicured hand hovering above Claire.
“What happened?” she asked loudly. “I heard a splash!”
Maya stared at her. “You were standing right there.”
“The chair rolled. I tried to grab it.”
“No, you didn't.”
Claire's lips trembled. “She pushed—”
A new voice cut across the terrace. “Claire?”
Ethan Bennett stood in the open French doors, his ivory suit glowing against the mansion's warm lights. The smile he had worn for the fundraiser was gone. He saw his wife soaked and shaking on the stone. He saw Maya on her knees. Then he saw the empty place where the wheelchair had been.
He ran.
“Call 911!” Maya shouted.
Ethan crouched beside Claire. “Baby, look at me. What happened?”
Claire tried to answer. Her face twisted. Her hand clamped around her belly.
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“Oh, God,” she whispered. “Something's wrong.”
A sharp contraction bent her in half.
