voice if she heard it again.
Besides, this was about survival. It was always about survival.
She darted behind a towering cedar to catch her breath.
“Nicole Harris!” Detective Donovan shouted. He sounded frantic. The beam of a flashlight arced across the property, then skipped across the lake.
She slowly backed up, turned and—
Came face first with a chain-link security fence. She was locked in, with nowhere to go.
“No,” she gasped.
“What’s the matter?” a man said.
Startled, she spun around and eyed the surrounding trees but didn’t see anyone.
“Who’s there?”
Silence echoed back at her. Goose bumps shot down her arms. She scanned the area, looking for escape, but saw only darkness.
Suddenly a man stepped out from behind a tree, the brim of his baseball cap pulled low, shielding his face.
“I said, what’s the matter?”
“Who are you?”
“Who are you?”
There was something about his voice, the way he lurked in the shadows and wouldn’t identify himself, that set off a gazillion red flags in her brain.
Then he took a step toward her.
She took off, sprinting in the direction of the lake. Maybe not her smartest move but this had been a day of irrational decisions borne of fear.
If she could get out to the dock and wave her arms, cry out like a crazy person, Detective Donovan would see her, right? At this point she’d take the cops over a strange man with a creepy demeanor.
“Hey,” the man called after her.
She kept running.
Aimed for the dock.
She wanted to scream, call out for help, but she needed every ounce of energy to breathe.
Was he close?
She glanced over her shoulder...and tripped on a tree root poking up from the ground. Her messenger bag slipped off her shoulder as she tumbled over the edge of the embankment into the water.
She squeezed her eyes shut against the pain of rocks digging into her back and legs. Her head slammed against something hard and she plunged into the water, her breath catching in her throat.
“Help!” she cried, although it sounded more like one of her cat’s high-pitched squeaks. She treaded water, shaking her head to clear it of a buzzing sound.
The weight of her clothes pulled her down.
Her mind spun with panic.
Stupid, worthless moron.
They were her monster father’s words, words that taunted her as she struggled to stay above the water’s surface. Arms flailing, she fought for breath, for life.
She tried to call out.
Her vision blurred and the buzzing intensified.
Help, somebody help me.
Instead, the water swallowed her, pulling her into its chilling embrace.
* * *
Alex knew he heard a woman call out for help. “Nicole! Nicole Harris!”
Complete and utter silence answered him.
His heart pounded against his chest as he listened intently for the sound of distress.
Then he heard a splash.
He sprinted toward the lake and aimed his flashlight at the water, desperate to see a break in the calm surface.
He was on his own. No one knew Nicole had gone missing. Alex didn’t have time to tell anyone in the house. He had to find her, make sure she was okay.
The silence ringing in his ears indicated she was not okay. Why did she run? He didn’t get it. Unless she was involved in Edward’s murder?
He refused to believe that. She wouldn’t have been trembling in the closet if she’d been a part of the plan to kill him. She would have been long gone before authorities showed up.
“Nicole!” he called out.
He skimmed the water’s surface with his flashlight.
If Nicole had no reason to run from the authorities, that meant...she’d been running from the killer?
“Nicole! Answer me!” he demanded, jogging along the shoreline to the small pier. Racing onto the wooden planks, he aimed his flashlight across the wet rocks by the shore and spotted her messenger bag. He pointed the beam out about ten feet from shore...
And spotted a break in the water.
A hand reached out, then sank below the surface.
“Not happening.” He ripped off his jacket and firearm and tossed them on the wooden planks. He kicked off his boots and dove in.
His body cramped as he hit the frigid water, but it wasn’t as if he had another option. Nicole had either fallen in or been pushed. She might drown if he didn’t get to her.
Blackness surrounded him beneath the water’s surface. He swung his arms in the hopes of making contact. Defeat taunted him, but he shoved it aside and kept flailing his arms in desperation.
And brushed up against something.
Someone.
With renewed strength he gripped her arm and kicked to the surface, pulling her with him. Rolling her onto her back, he placed an arm around her chest and swam toward the dock.
He was close, so close. He got to the dock ladder, hoisted her over his shoulder and climbed the metal steps. He laid her gently against the wooden planks.
He felt for a pulse.
She was alive, but not breathing. He started chest compressions. One, two, three, four...
No one’s going to hurt you.
A promise he didn’t intend to make and was unable to keep. Yet he couldn’t have guessed she’d run out into the darkness. What had spooked her?
Finishing chest compressions, he tilted her head and performed mouth-to-mouth. She coughed, the best sound he’d heard in years, and he gently rolled her onto her side facing him. She retched twice and went still. She blinked a few times, turned her head and looked up at Alex.
“You’re okay,” he assured her.
So
