Secrets at Midnight
Leona Palmer Haag
Chapter 40
Jenn resented traveling with Matt, but found no
other option besides killing him, which she refused to do unless absolutely
necessary. Unable to ditch him, she followed. Find me, her soul cried out. Rescue
me and Katie!
As they hiked Matt passed information about the
forest to her over his shoulder—edible plants, deer droppings, animal
tracks—nothing important. Katie whacked the back of his head with a
pinecone—something she’d enjoy doing herself. When he abruptly stopped, she
crashed into him knocking him into a tree trunk. “Look,” he said, righting
himself and pointing toward dark water.
Jenn’s blisters seemed to enlarge as she realized
how little progress she’d made. “I thought I'd reach the lake before lunch
yesterday.”
“This is a different lake—farther than the one
visible from the cabin.”
She sat on a rock and leaned against a tree trunk
and closed her eyes. “How much farther—any idea?”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.
“No. Let’s keep moving. They'll eventually discover how we escaped and follow.”
“No one is following us.” She waved heavenward. “No
helicopters.” She cupped a hand behind her ear. “No motors and no one is
calling our names. We’re alone.”
“You knew I’d follow you, and you waited for me
with a gun—a gut feeling, right? Trust me—we’re being followed—another gut
feeling. Mine, this time.” He started off, moving aside a branch for her.
She trailed. “You’re paranoid. You think everyone
wants to kill us. Maybe they only want you. Why don’t you go that way and I’ll go
this way.”
He chuckled and helped her over a boulder. “Sorry,
but you’re stuck with me. Didn’t I promise your mom long ago that—”
“Key word: long ago. By now she’s released you from
your vow. And how old were you—five. Much too young to make promises like
that.”
They circled the lake—a mere pond—banter pausing
only to catch their breaths as they scrambled through rough places. “Lunch
time,” Matt announced. They stopped below the outlet where the water flowed
clear.
“I’ll have a number five, super-sized,” Jenn
mumbled. She removed her shoes and examined raw skin behind her heels.
Matt opened his pack. “Coming right up—later.” He
pulled apart slices of smashed bread and loaded on peanut butter with a pocket
knife. Too hungry to turn down something she didn’t care for, Jenn ate. Her own
food supply—destined for Katie—had dwindled.
Matt held up a paper-thin sandwich. It wasn’t much
too look at, yet he smiled. “A lunch sure to stick to the roof of your mouth,
but even better if it sticks to your ribs. It's the diet version—thin.”
Katie giggled and grabbed for it.
“A girl with a sense of humor,” Matt said. He
pulled another slice off the lump and spread peanut butter and passed it to
Jenn.
After eating Katie wanted to remain free to play,
but Matt captured her and loaded her up and placed her on his shoulders and
they continued on. The clouds overhead merged and rain fell in torrents.
“There’s another lake ahead,” he called over his shoulder.
“Good. We need more water,” she mumbled.
When they reached the rocky shore, Matt placed
Katie beneath a low hanging ledge out of the rain. Scrunching next to her
daughter with only her feet exposed, Jenn watched him lash fallen trees
together with several pliable branches. He wove branches over the top and added
a pine bough mat.
“What are you making, a log cabin?” she called out.
“A raft. We’ll float along the shore to confuse
trackers.”
“No one’s crazy enough to follow in this downpour.”
“Maybe not, but we’ll take precautions and it will
increase our pace.” He placed his pack on deck and pushed the makeshift boat
into the water. It rocked precariously. He adjusted the branches and tested
again, this time declaring it safe. He bowed, and with a wave said, “Ladies
first.”
She shook her head, knocking water droplets down
her neck. “You can't get me on that thing.”
“Then you'll have to get on yourself.” He
shouldered her aside and picked up Katie and headed for the lake.
Jenn jumped up and followed, tugging on his jacket
tail. “Give me my baby.”
“Or what—you'll shoot me?”
“Yes!”
He placed Katie’s pack next to his and boarded the
raft, then turned to her. “Let’s get moving.”
“I said I’m not getting on.”
“Then swim or hike around the lake.” With a long
branch, he shoved off. The raft rocked as it slid from shore.
Against her better judgment, Jenn waded into the
frigid water. The raft shifted and swayed, nearly tipping Katie off as she
climbed aboard. With the branch, Matt pushed against the rocky lake bottom,
propelling them outward until it became too deep to touch bottom. Like a dry
leaf floating without rudder or sail, they were stranded.
Jenn focused on ripples lapping against the logs,
then adjusted her gaze to rainwater pocking the lake’s surface. After several
minutes she broke the silence. “You know we'll drown if we sink. This isn't how
I expected to die.”
“Then we’ll wait until a more exciting way presents
itself.”
“How do you want to go?”
“Since I’ve ruled out drowning, I’d prefer....”
She looked up when he paused.
“I don't want to die. I haven’t taken Monica to France.
I've never gone deep sea fishing, surfing or skiing. What about you—what do you
want to do before you die?”
She peered at the gray sky lowering to push them
into a watery grave. “I've always wanted to see New York City. I'm sure it
would scare me to death, but I'd like to experience it just once.”
“Then we’ll live.”
“A trip to New York isn’t enough to live for.
Mostly, I've wanted to have a family and raise my kids. And I’ve always wanted
to be a school teacher—ever since I was little. I pictured myself teaching
third grade, not preschool.”
“That’s a good thing to live for.”
“I wanted to die old—with a cat.”
“A cat? Then we’ll make it.”
“I’m allergic to cats.”
“Then let’s live for third graders putting
thumbtacks on your chair.”
“How? We're stuck in the middle of a lake and we’re
sinking. I've been watching a twig. It used to be all the way out of the water
and now it's all the way under.”
Matt examined the logs. “Which twig?”
“All of them.”
Rain pinged on the packs and splashed against
water, the only sounds interrupting the silence as Matt studied the raft. Then
his eyes raced to the distant shore and back. “We’re taking on water. I’d bail
but….”
“Boats with leaves for bottoms can’t be bailed.”
He grabbed the branch he’d used for pushing off and
tried to row. He dipped and shoved, but the raft only swaying. “We're drifting
toward shore,” he said after several minutes of hard work.
Water lapped at Jenn's feet. Minutes later it
enclosed her shoes, then crept up her ankles. She watched water inch up Matt’s thighs
as he knelt on the raft trying to row. Then Matt’s branch touched bottom. He
pushed deep into the water until his elbow was submerged. The raft shuddered
and inched closer to shore. Again and again he pushed and the raft trembled. He
heaved and shoved until he no longer had to push his arm into the water. “We're
going to make it,” he grunted.
Sitting more in the water than out, and frozen to
the bone, Jenn held Katie's pack in her lap above the frigid water. She
shivered violently as it covered Katie’s feet and inched higher. Katie stirred,
rocking the raft and nearly toppled Jenn overboard. She clutched her daughter
to her chest in a bear hug to steady them. Katie howled.
“Katie’s sopping wet and freezing,” she said.
“I’m rowing,” Matt grunted.
Jenn lifted Katie higher, only to have her daughter
kick and lunge at the precise moment the raft wobbled. Everyone scrambled to
stay aboard as they tipped. Jenn yanked Katie close again and grabbed the raft
and held on. Katie wailed as she sank in water up to her thighs. Jenn lifted
her higher, but couldn’t hold her completely out of the water. “Matt, I can’t
do this,” she whimpered.
He shoved the branch as hard as he could. A sharp
snap vibrated the raft. Matt drew his hand from the water, pulling up a
two-foot segment of broken stick. Jenn pressed Katie’s head into her shoulder
and locked it in place with her chin. Her eyes closed—unable to watch her
daughter drown.
“We’ll make it,” Matt said.
She shook her head. “I don’t want to hear any more
lies.”
“We’re drifting in a current. It’ll take us to
shore.”
Her eyes flew open. “In three days!”
“Maybe thirty minutes.”
“We’ll be dumped overboard first.”
Jinxed, a log broke loose and rolled, dragging
several branches under. With icy fingers, Jenn grabbed a handful of twigs and
clung on. “Now what?”
Matt pulled the separated log back and attempted
replacing it, almost sending everyone into the lake. He gave up and the raft
stopped rocking. He grabbed her shoulders. “We’re okay—okay?”
“We’re not!”
“I taught you how to swim—you haven’t forgotten,
right?”
She shook her head, shivering.
“I'll pull the raft to shore. Hold on tight. If you
have to swim, take Katie to shore. You remember how to rescue someone—tow them
behind you with….”
“I know! I remember! Start towing!”
He patted Katie’s head. “Be good to your mom and
don’t drink lake water.”
Katie howled and kicked in reply. Before Jenn
blinked, Matt disappeared into the dark water. His head bobbed up and he
grabbed the raft and pulled. After several minutes he shook water from his
hair. “I can touch ground. We’re almost there.” Minutes later he stood in water
to his waist. “Give me Katie.”
Jenn handed her over, then slid into the water. She
found her feet on rocks seconds before the raft disintegrated.
End Chapter 40
Comment if you'd like, but be aware that I've already finished this novel and won't change the ending. You'll have to keep reading to learn whether I eventually kill Matt.
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