Deep Betrayal

to cross, but I went after him. “Jack, we’re not supposed to be this far.”
    Jack charged ahead, but I stopped in my tracks. My hand rose shakily to my mouth. A pale arm emerged from under the pier where the deck met the ground. The hand was palm up, its fingers curled eerily toward the sky.
    “Hey, now, kids,” Chief Eaton said, standing up and coming our way. I hadn’t seen him there before. He’d been crouched down at the side of the pier with a camera. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the tape.”
    Jack’s face went stony, and Chief Eaton squared his shoulders. “I’m not going to have any more trouble from you, am I, Jack? People in town are going to need some time and space to grieve. I don’t want you flappin’ your lips about any of your cockamamie stories. Respect. Do you understand me?”
    “Loud and clear, sir,” Jack said through his teeth.
    “I’ve had a mini vacation planned for months,” Chief Eaton said. “This new accident has set me back a day, but I don’t want you ruining my fishing trip with any more unnecessary antics. No more. Got it?”
    “I heard you the first time, sir.”
    Chief Eaton paused to assess Jack, who stared back unflinchingly, his jaw firmly set. It didn’t take a genius to know what was really going on in his head. Even Chief Eaton could read those thoughts.
    “You’d have to be cold-blooded to use a tragedy like this for your own sick gains,” said the chief.
    Jack’s eyes burned with anger, and I gently turned him back toward the street. Gabby was standing there with her hands on her hips.
    “And you should head on home, too, now, missy,” Chief Eaton said.
    “I will,” I said, glancing back over my shoulder at him.
    By the time we got to the car, Jack’s mood had withered to a dark gloom. He muttered under his breath about something never being enough. I didn’t want to ask. Instead I slid open my phone and saw I’d missed two texts.
    JULES: Are you excited? It’s going to be so great. I thought maybe you and your man could show us around. Phillip’s uncle has a boat. We could check out some of those islands you were talking about.
    JULES: Are you still there?

24
CONFESSION
    A hand slapped down hard on the kitchen counter. “Tell me,” Mom said. “Don’t lie to me anymore, Jason.”
    “You’re getting upset over nothing.” Dad’s voice was a cool contrast to Mom’s frantic plea.
    “Nothing? Nothing? What is wrong with you?”
    Sophie and I crept down the stairs to listen. I held my arms open, and she crawled into my lap, burying her face in my neck.
    “Where are you going?” Mom asked, her voice dropping an octave. “Every day you disappear. For hours on end.”
    “I told you, Carolyn. I’m working. Getting ready for classes.” From where I sat, I could see Dad’s face. It was barely recognizable. A person’s soul is in their eyes, and his were all wrong.
    “Bullshit,” Mom said, and Dad winced, turning his back on her. I thought a curse from my mother’s lips would make the earth crack open. Instead, the front door slammed with an enormous bang , sending vibrations up the wooden steps and into my backside.
    I shifted Sophie onto the step and ran back to my room, throwing open my window to the crisp morning air. “Dad? Dad?” I called.
    I couldn’t see him, but he snapped back, “What?”
    “You all right?” I asked, quiet and unsure.
    “Perfect.” He took three long strides down the porch steps and across the driveway.
    “Where are you going?” I called.
    “Out.”
    I took the screen off the window and crawled onto the porch roof just as Calder came around the side of the house. I hadn’t seen him in days, and he ignored the fact I was even there.
    He grabbed Dad’s shoulder and stopped him in his tracks. “Give her another try, Jason. You need to give it time to work.”
    “I tried to do it like you told me, but it’s no use. I only feel worse.”
    “Dad, please don’t go,” I said, creeping closer to the gutter. “I haven’t seen you in two weeks.”
    He didn’t turn around. He only shook off Calder’s handand ran into the woods. I watched him go, forcing myself not to ask Calder the questions that hung in the air between us: Was Dad’s betrayal complete? Had he left us for good? I knew the answers. To have Calder confirm them aloud would only make them more real.
    Calder was smart enough and kind enough to be silent. He seemed to be listening for something, anyway—something too far