Page 68 of This is Why We Lied

“That’s the bead circle for the Camp Fire Girls. It’s roughly four hundred yards from the campgrounds, give or take. Too many Boy Scouts were sneaking over in the middle of the night, so they pushed it farther out. What you need to do is stay on the forty-five-degree angle from the diving platform. You’ll find some bunkhouses that have been standing since the 1920s. I’m sure they’re still there. Dave’s bound to be in one of them.” Delilah’s hands were on her hips. “If you give me a moment to change, I’ll take you right to it.”

Will said, “That’s not happening.”

“I agree,” Nadine chimed in. “We’ve already got one woman stabbed to death.”

“Actually,” Delilah said. “Now that I’m thinking about it, a canoe would be quicker.”

Will liked the idea of sneaking up on Dave from the water. “There’s a trail to the equipment shed, right?”

“Take Old Bachelor, just past the sawhorses. Go left on the Loop Trail, then back down at the fork toward the lake. The shed’s tucked behind some pines.”

“I’ll go with you,” Sara volunteered.

Will was about to shut her down, but then he remembered he only had one good hand. He told Sara, “You have to stay in the boat.”

“Understood.”

They started to leave, but Nadine was suddenly blocking his way.

“Hold up there, big guy. I’ve been happy letting you two kids tag along up till now, but Biscuits made it real clear he’s not turning over the investigating. You can have the body, but the GBI doesn’t have any authorization to be hunting down a murder suspect in Dillon County.”

“You’re right,” Will said. “Tell the sheriff my wife and I are prepared to make our statements when he finds the time. For now, we’re heading back to our cottage.”

Nadine knew he was full of shit, but she had the sense to stop blocking his way. She stepped aside with a heavy sigh.

Delilah said, “Good luck.”

Will followed Sara. She used the flashlight to supplement the changeable moonlight. Instead of following Delilah’s directions toward the trail, she kept to the lake shore, probably because the route was more of a direct path to the shed. Will tried to plot out how they would handle the canoe. He could probably use the heel of his injured hand as a fulcrum, then pull back with his good hand, which meant the bulk of the work would need to come from his biceps and shoulders. He tested his bandaged hand. The fingers could move if he ignored the searing pain.

“Do you want my opinion?” Sara asked.

Will hadn’t thought that her opinion was any different from his. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing wrong,” she said, sounding like a lot was wrong. “My opinion, if you’re interested, is that you should wait for Faith.”

Will had waited around long enough. “I told you she hit a traffic jam. If Dave’s at the campsite—”

“You’re unarmed. You’re injured. You’re soaking wet from the rain. Your bandage is filthy. You’re probably setting up an infection. You’re clearly in tremendous pain. You don’t have authorization, and you have never paddled a canoe in your life.”

Will chose the easiest point to knock down. “I can figure out how to paddle a canoe.”

Sara used the light to find a way past the rocky shore. He caught the set look to her face. She was angrier than he’d thought.

“Sara, what do you want me to do?”

Her head started shaking as she splashed through the shallow water. “Nothing.”

Will didn’t have an argument for nothing. What he knew was that Sara was incredibly, consistently logical. She didn’t get upset without reason. He silently scrolled back through the conversation at the crime scene. Sara had gone quiet when Nadine had told them that Dave carried a switchblade. And that he had used it on other men.

He studied her stiff back as she picked her way across a rocky incline. Her movements were jerky, like the anxiety was trying to punch its way out of her body.

He said, “Sara.”

“You need both hands to perform a forward stroke in a canoe,” she lectured. “Your dominant hand is the control hand. It goes on the top of the paddle at the palm grip. Your stroke hand goes on the shaft. You have to be able to stroke the paddle through the water while you push down and twist the control if you want to keep the canoe straight. Can you twist and stroke with both of your hands?”

“I like it better when you do it.”

Sara swung around on him. “I do, too, babe. Let’s go back to the cottage and bang one out.”

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