Chapter 5 - THE LAKE
“Noah?”
He sat at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal he hadn’t touched.
I pulled out the chair across from him.
“Can I ask you about the lake?”
The spoon stopped in his hand.
That was enough.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
He said it too quickly.
“Noah.”
“She said not to tell.”
“Vanessa isn’t here.”
His eyes moved to the window.
“What are you afraid of?”
He whispered, “The man.”
My chest tightened.
“What man?”
“At the cabin.”
I glanced at Hale.
He stayed quiet.
Noah pushed the cereal away.
“Vanessa said he was her cousin.”
“What was his name?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she call him anything?”
Noah thought.
“Mick.”
Hale immediately wrote it down.
“What did Mick do?”
Noah’s breathing changed.
I reached across the table.
“You’re safe.”
“He asked questions.”
“What kind?”
“About you.”
“About me?”
“When you go to work. What car you drive. If you lock your bedroom door.”
Hale looked at me.
I felt ice spread through my body.
“Anything else?”
Noah nodded.
“He asked where you keep important papers.”
“What papers?”
“I said I didn’t know.”
His eyes filled.
“That’s when Vanessa got mad.”
“What did she do?”
“She took me outside.”
My jaw clenched.
“To the lake?”
He nodded.
“She told me if I kept ruining things, she’d leave me there.”
I couldn’t speak for a moment.
Noah continued.
“She made me stand on the dock.”
“At night?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
He began crying.
“I was scared.”
I moved beside him and hugged him.
“I know.”
“I thought there were snakes.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, Dad.”
He pulled away.
His face had changed.
“There was somebody in the water.”
Hale leaned forward.
“Somebody swimming?”
Noah shook his head.
“No.”
“What did you see?”
“A bag.”
“A bag?”
“A big black bag.”
I felt something shift in the room.
“What was in it?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you said somebody was in the water.”
Noah rubbed his nose.
“Because a hand came out.”
Nobody spoke.
Hale stared at him.
“A human hand?”
Noah nodded.
“Vanessa pushed the bag with a stick until it went under.”
My chair scraped backward.
Hale stood immediately.
“Daniel, stay here.”
“What do you mean stay here?”
He was already reaching for his phone.
“If Noah saw what he thinks he saw, this isn’t just a child abuse case anymore.”
He walked toward the hallway.
I heard him say, “Get county investigators on the line.”
My phone buzzed.
A text.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
A photograph appeared.
It showed me and Noah through our kitchen window.
Taken minutes ago.
Beneath it was one sentence.
STOP ASKING ABOUT THE LAKE.
I looked up at the window.
May you like
The curtains were open.
Someone was watching us.
