Chapter 14 - The Light Across the Water

Elise smelled gasoline before Kent finished warning her. It hung in the boathouse air, sharp enough to sting her nose. The flare in her fist could signal the homes across the lake. It could also turn the whole building into a fireball.

"Put it down," Kent said.

"Move away from the door."

"You don't understand. Simone told me she'd call it an accident. She made me drain the old tank, but the hose split."

Elise watched his hands. He wasn't reaching for a weapon. He was shaking.

"You locked me in that room for more than a month," she said. "Don't ask me to feel sorry for you."

"I'm not."

"Then help me get out."

Kent stepped aside. Elise kept the flare aimed at the floor and limped past him, out into the cold night. Across the water a porch light blinked on. She waved both arms and shouted. Her voice broke before the second word.

A car came down the driveway. Simone's headlights swept over the trees.

"She's back," Kent said.

Elise moved toward the dark fence. Simone jumped out before the car fully stopped. She was wearing the same wedding dress, now stained at the hem with mud, a dark coat draped over her shoulders. Her face looked almost ordinary in the headlights.

"Elise," she called. "For once, be reasonable."

"You've got an interesting definition of that word."

Simone took a step closer. "I know you sent Adrian after the accounts. You could have left the city and started over. Instead you had to make yourself a martyr."

"I wanted the money returned to the kids it belonged to."

"Those programs were failing before I got there. Nobody notices a missing line item when the whole budget is a mess."

Elise felt the weight of the flare. She had wanted proof of exactly those words, but her phone was gone. No recording. Only the truth spoken beside a lake.

Simone glanced toward the boathouse. "Kent, finish what we agreed."

He didn't move.

"Kent."

"There's a child involved," he said. "I won't do anything else."

Simone reached into her coat. Elise saw the shine of a small pistol.

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At the same instant, distant headlights appeared beyond the pines. More than one vehicle. No sirens.

Simone raised the gun and said, "Nobody gets to leave me with all the blame."