Twisted Creek

Chapter 25

Distant thunder rumbled. The sound of rain tapping against the window lulled me near sleep but I couldn’t find the off button in my brain. Thoughts danced from one problem to another as if channel-surfing.

I decided I should stop worrying about Willie being a pervert and start worrying about Luke. He was like a phantom kisser. Every time he touched me I went all soft inside, and tonight I’d made it as plain as I knew how that I’d welcome a little more.

But he’d disappeared.

Maybe it was me. Maybe I had some kind of natural repellent when it came to men.

I closed my eyes. I knew little about him, except that he made my toes curl every time he kissed me. I think with men it’s not so much about knowing how to kiss, but more about knowing how a woman wants it. Problem is, a woman wants it different at different times. Tonight he got it right. Hard and hungry with need. I drifted to sleep remembering every detail.

When Nana called me I thought the roof must be leaking. All the years of growing up, no matter where we lived, the roof always seemed to leak. My job was usually to run around the house until I stepped in water. Nana always followed with the pots. Then, we’d go back to sleep with the sound of a tin-can band playing until the rain stopped.

“Allie,” Nana said again. “Get up. Someone’s at the door.”

I glanced at the rainy night beyond my window. “It’s too early to open.”

“I know, but they won’t quit knocking.”

I groaned and pulled on my flannel shirt. “I’ll see who it is.”

Nana waited. She had a few rules no one else seemed to follow. One was she never answered the door after dark. I’d heard her say many times that news coming at night is always bad.

It was a good rule, only problem was if she didn’t answer the door…that left only me to go.

I reached the ground level and switched on the twinkle lights so I could see my way to the door. All the bright-colored boxes of cookies and snacks sparkled at me, but they couldn’t help the fear growing like bindweed around my lungs. No one would come to my door at this hour unless there was a problem-a serious problem that couldn’t wait until daylight.

The wind did most of the opening when I turned the knob. Rain blew in as icy spikes against my skin. I stepped aside so Willie could rush in. Even in his parka and hat, I knew his smell. Only now it was a wet Willie odor-kind of like the smell of an old dishtowel and dirt. It would take more than one storm to wash that away.

“What’s wrong?” I knew he wouldn’t be here unless something had happened. Willie liked to fish after dark, but even he wouldn’t have gone out tonight.

“Trouble,” he yelled as he tugged off his hat. “I didn’t know where else to go. I thought you might could get a fire going out by the dock, but in this rain it’s not likely.”

“What trouble?” I said the words slow as if I could keep whatever it was smaller.

Willie scrubbed his hand across his face. “I found Timothy’s boat bashed against the north shore. The little motor he uses when he’s out late was still running.”

My first thought was that the boy had finally decided to fall in, but that didn’t make sense. He rowed out every day to think about killing himself, Luke said. But tonight he’d used a motor because the water was so rough. A man who had all day to fall in wouldn’t hook up a motor so he could do it in the middle of a storm.

Tonight he’d looked happier than I’d ever seen him. He’d even teased Mrs. Deals about getting fat because the old lady had asked for a big slice of the second round of Nana’s pie.

“Maybe it just came untied?” I said. The instant the words were out of my mouth I knew they didn’t make sense. No one ties a boat up with the motor running.

At least, that’s what I think. But, then again, I don’t think there is a manual for suicide on water.

“No, it didn’t come loose from nowhere.” Willie shook his head, swishing water like a dog. “He ties it up here under your dock when the wind gets up as he’s afraid it won’t stay on that broken-down dock of his. Tonight, he took Mrs. Deals home. I almost offered my motorboat because I could see the storm just waiting on the edge of the horizon and that little motor he has ain’t much more powerful than a mixer.”

“Maybe he’s still at her place?” I glanced at the clock by the register. After midnight. Not likely.

Willie confirmed, “No, I stopped by her place and woke her up. She said he left there hours ago. She said the wind was getting up and she told him to stay close to the shore and circle around the dam instead of crossing the lake.”

I nodded as if the plan made sense. “Maybe he flipped the boat and swam to shore.”

Willie shook his head. “I checked his house. No one is there. Plus…”

Luke came through the kitchen door from the back and finished Willie’s sentence, “…Timothy can’t swim.”

The vision of Timothy’s sad eyes closing as his body drifted down into black water crossed my mind and I blinked as if I could keep more bad thoughts out. “We have to do something.”

Luke nodded in agreement. “Willie, pull a life jacket on and get that spotlight out of the shed. We’ll cross to the north shore and start following the path he would have taken.”

“Could he have had a vest on?” I could picture him, wet and frightened as he bobbed in the water.

“Might have.” Willie pulled his hat back on as he moved to the door. “Mrs. Deals makes me wear one when she rides with me. If he had it in his boat, he may have used it.”

Luke met my eyes. “I’ve never seen him wear one.” He didn’t turn away, but shared my fears even though neither of us said more.

An old Cadillac pulled in from the road. We all stood on the porch and watched as Mrs. Deals and Mary Lynn climbed out. Mrs. Deals looked like death’s grandmother in her black cape of a raincoat and black galoshes. Mary Lynn wore a bright pink slicker and mustard yellow boots over her stretch pants.

Mary Lynn ran around to hold an umbrella over Mrs. Deals as they sloshed through the mud. The rain was coming in sheets now.

“What’s being done?” Mrs. Deals shouted as she moved into the store. “We can’t leave that boy out in this.” She looked straight at me. “Get all the lights turned on in this place, girl. If we can’t build a fire it’ll be the next best thing.”

I jumped into action.

Luke swore under his breath as if he considered the women far more bother than help. “We’re going out to search. Don’t worry. He probably pulled to shore when the storm got bad and didn’t tie the boat down. We’ll find him standing somewhere waiting for a ride.”

No one believed him.

“If he did, he’s somewhere along that stretch where the fire was, and there ain’t no one out there.” Willie tried the next lie. “There’s a good chance if he was following the shoreline that he wasn’t in water over his head even if the boat flipped. Most places along the north shore there’s fifty feet before the shallow falls off.”

“Not at the dam.” Mrs. Deals snorted.

I’d seen the dam. The water looked deep there and the dam was too high for a man to pull up on. Anyone in the water along that side would have to swim. Even if Timothy could swim, I wasn’t sure he’d be strong enough to cross to land in choppy water.

Luke grabbed Willie’s arm and pulled him into the office. I heard him whisper, “We may have another problem, Willie.”

I moved closer so I could hear better.

Luke looked at me as if trying to push me back with a stare.

“I’m staying,” I said as I straightened, daring him to try to shove me away.

He growled, but continued, “I think that fire was set by men making drugs. If Timothy made it to shore, he might have stumbled upon more trouble than the storm.”

To my surprise, Willie looked like he was following Luke’s logic. “I got a flare gun in my boat. I’ll keep it ready. If there’s any trouble of that kind I’ll stay out of the way and let you handle it.”

Luke nodded once. “Then we go. Drugs or no drugs, Tim might need our help tonight.”

He turned to me. “You stay here. If the rain stops, try to find enough dry wood to start a fire.”

He moved to the door without looking at me again, but when he passed, his hand slid along my back in a light touch no one else would have noticed.

“Stay put folks, we’ll find him.” Luke raised his voice to all of us. “Have coffee and blankets ready. If we’re not back in an hour, drive over to Mrs. Deals’s place and call the sheriff. Tell him we need a team out here.”

“I already thought of that. The storm knocked my phone out.” Mrs. Deals looked angry. “Find that boy.”

Luke nodded once and followed Willie out.

I felt helpless. All I didn’t understand would fill a moon crater. Why had Willie said he’d step aside and let Luke handle trouble? How did Luke know about the drugs?

We all huddled around a table and drank coffee. Mary Lynn’s dog yelped when Paul pulled up in his Jeep. He’d remembered Willie talking about signaling with a light and came as soon as he spotted it on the lake. With his hair uncombed and wearing an old pair of jeans, he almost looked like he belonged among the Nesters.

As the storm pelted the windows, I washed new thermoses and filled them with coffee. Fishermen drifted in, drawn first to the light on the lake, and then the lights at Jefferson’s Crossing. Those who had motors on their fishing boats paired up and headed out to crisscross the lake. All were familiar with the danger of being on the lake, even with the storm dying. All wanted to help.

“I’ve got to do something,” Paul said as the third search team left. “I’m doing no good here.”

“No,” Mary Lynn whispered. “You don’t know the lake well enough.”

He touched her shoulder. “I’ve got an idea. I’ll be in no danger, Mary. I can drive back and forth over the dam road. If he did get tossed out of the boat, he probably made it to shore and decided to walk home. I can pick him up along the road and be right back here.”

When I handed him a thermos, he whispered, “Stay with Mary Lynn. She’s worried about the boy.”

“I promise.”

Once he closed the door, the air in the store seemed heavy with worry. I sat with the women, feeling jumpy. Finally, my eyes met Mary Lynn’s stare.

“We have to help,” she whispered. “I know of one place to look that has not been covered by the boats or Paul’s car on the road. If Timothy did make it to shore, he might be by the old lodge, and if the men making drugs tried one cabin, they might try another. If he stumbled in on them, they might not kill him, but leave him tied up. Or he could be hurt, unable to see Willie’s light or make it to the road to flag down Paul.”

She’d thought of even more bad news than I had.

“We could go look, but neither of us can handle a boat across the lake at night, even if we had one,” I answered.

“Take my car,” Mrs. Deals snapped.

“But that road down to the cabins is terrible. It would probably ruin a car.”

She shrugged. “I need a new one anyway. Take it. There are flares in the trunk. Set one off if you find him and the men will see it.”

“Then I’m going.” Mary Lynn stood.

I ran for my clothes. “I promised Paul I’d stay with you, so I’m going along.”

Mary Lynn collected flashlights and a few blankets. “If he’s there, he’ll be wet and cold at the least.”

When I glanced back at Mrs. Deals she nodded once. “Nana and I will be right here when you get back. Don’t worry about us.”

My last thought before I climbed in the Cadillac was that Luke wasn’t going to be happy about us leaving.