Five Days in Summer

pulled her back down the path and into the bramble. They skidded down the grassy slope and Daisy fell onto her white shorts that were dirty and streaked with green and now she was crying.
    “Let go of me!”
    “Where? Show me where .”
    “There!” She was crying harder and pointing at the dock.
    David ran onto the dock, to the end, and stood in front of the white boat. He saw a little door just across the deck. The boat pitched to the left and then stopped and just kind of rocked on top of the water.
    David turned around to look at Daisy. She was running up the hill, not waiting for the money.
    He heard a sound coming from the boat. Like an animal that was scared.
    He leaned over and pulled on the rope that anchored the boat to the dock. He pulled as hard as he could and the boat inched toward him. A foot away and he stopped pulling, stood up and hopped aboard. He walked softly on his sneakers across the deck, quiet as a cat, just like when he needed to creep up on Sam and really take him by surprise.
    He bent down to the half-size door and put his hand on the knob and wondered if it was locked and heard that sound again, the animal sound, and he was shaking and he didn’t want to but he turned the knob because he had no choice. He turned the knob and pushed open the door.
    David peered into the boat. It took his eyes a second to adjust to the darkness but then he saw her, his mother, at least her body. She looked like a dummy flopped against the wall of the boat, her face was stiff like a mask and her eyes were rolled back in her head. She was naked and he had seen her naked before but this was different because her skin was blue in some places and gray in others and she was sitting in a puddle of pee. It smelled like a sewer and there was his mother and he felt something bad twist through his brain.
    “Mom!” David said.
    He couldn’t tell if she heard him or if she was even alive. She wasn’t moving.
    Then David heard the animal again but it wasn’t an animal — it was Sammie. He was lying in front of their mother, all tied up.
    David was shaking. Someone had brought Sam here this morning and it must have been that creepy Dr.Bell: I’m not a pirate. Would you like to get in my car? He must have picked Sammie up on the old Indian road, after David heard a car and ran off to hide in the woods. But the doctor wasn’t here now; the boat’s cabin was small, just one room. David knew he had to move fast.
    The first thing he did was go to his mother and quickly work to untie the rope binding her wrists. The rope was damp and it smelled like mold. The knot was tight but he picked at it until finally he could unloop one part, then another; then he tugged it off. He half expected her hands to reach up and hold him, but they didn’t even move; they just dropped down on the floor. He kneeled in front of her and up close saw that there were bruises at her temples and the skin around her eyes was creased. Her eyes were wide open but they were just bloodshot whites.
    “Look at me, Mom!”
    Her eyes didn’t flinch.
    He put his cheek to her face and felt the warm pulse of breath at her nose.
    He pulled at the corner of black tape at her mouth and her skin pulled up too; he was afraid he’d hurt her so he stopped. He’d work the rope off her ankles; then he’d untie Sam. He didn’t know how he’d get them out of here but that was a problem he’d solve later. First he’d just get them free, and if he could wake Mom up, maybe they’d be able to walk out — no, run — on their own.
    He was picking at the rope around her ankles when he thought he heard footsteps. He stopped working and kept still.
    Someone was walking across the boat, right over their heads.

Chapter 33
    The sound of a bell infiltrated Amy’s dream, and only after a few long minutes did she realize it was her doorbell. She was on top of her covers, fully dressed. She had fallen asleep so fast she didn’t even remember lying down. Forcing herself up, she went to her bedroom window and looked out on her front lawn. Snow’s squad car was back. The doorbell rang again, and again. She went to the bathroom, brushed her hair, splashed some cold water on her face, and made a promise to herself to be civil to Al Snow.
    She smiled at him when she opened her front door.
    “They found the boat,” he said. “I’m supposed to get you.”
    The smile vanished. “Where?”
    He started down the path; she’d never seen him move so fast, hadn’t known