Pine Lake. Amanda Stevens
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Besides, I didn’t call the cops because of you.” He hesitated, his eyes going past her to the water. “No easy way to say this. I found a body in the lake before I saw you on the bridge.”
Olive’s hand crept to her throat. “A body?”
“A woman.”
“Do you know who she is?”
“No. But if she’s local, the sheriff or one of his deputies can likely identify her.”
Olive closed her eyes in dread. “If she’s local, she’s probably someone I know.” A former student perhaps or even a friend. “Pine Lake is small. Everyone knows everyone.”
“I remember.”
She turned to the lake in horror. Someone she knew could be out there in the water at that very moment, dead and drifting. It gave her the oddest feeling. Part fear, part sadness, part relief. If she’d fallen from the rafters, she’d likely be dead and drifting, too.
But she was safe and sound thanks to Jack King and this night was no longer about her.
She wrapped her arms around her middle. “Could you tell how she died? Was it a drowning accident?”
His gaze on her deepened. Olive shivered at the intensity of his stare. The scruff on his lower face made him look dangerously enigmatic. The way he towered over her made him seem just plain dangerous.
“You should wait and ask the sheriff those questions. I wouldn’t want to be accused of interfering in his investigation.”
“Of course. I understand. It’s just...what if it is someone I know?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said with a nod as Tommy Driscoll and two of his deputies came crashing through the underbrush. The subordinates wore uniforms, but Tommy had on jeans, cowboy boots and a white dress shirt with pearl buttons. He looked as if he had been out dancing. Or up to no good.
He stopped dead when he spotted them. Then he said something over his shoulder to one of the deputies before he joined Olive and Jack on the bank.
Olive tried not to show her disdain for the Caddo County sheriff. She respected his position but not so much the man. If Jack King had been her favorite of Nathan’s friends, Tommy Driscoll had been her least. Even as a teenager, he’d been arrogant and overbearing and she’d seen no evidence of evolution.
Unlike Jack, the years hadn’t been kind to him physically. His muscles had softened as his features had hardened. He was still married to his high school sweetheart, but rumors about affairs had run rampant for years. Beth Driscoll taught science at Pine Lake High School. She was a lovely woman and a dedicated teacher. Olive would never understand why someone who had so much going for her would put up with a man like Tommy.
He and Jack eyed each other warily before Tommy gave a brief nod. “Jack.”
“Tommy.”
They didn’t shake hands, Olive noted.
“Good to see you, buddy. Sorry it has to be under these circumstances. When did you get into town?”
“A few hours ago.”
“Helluva homecoming.” Tommy’s gaze slid to Olive, taking in her pajamas and bare feet. “Olive? What are you doing down here?”
“She just got here,” Jack said.
Tommy frowned. “Got here from where?”
“From the road. She said she heard my boat.”
It was all Olive could do not to turn and gape at Jack. Somehow she managed to stifle her shock under Tommy’s narrow-eyed inspection.
“Let’s let Olive answer for herself,” he said.
She nodded. “I was out for a walk when I heard the boat. I came down here to see who was out on the lake so late. I thought someone might be dumping trash. You know what an environmental hazard that poses.”
“I know you like your causes,” Tommy said. “But you’re telling me you were out for a walk at this hour? In your pajamas? Without shoes?”
“I didn’t expect to end up so far from the house. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and I only meant to get a bit of fresh air to clear my head. Next thing I knew, I’d walked all the way to the lake.”
Tommy’s gaze went from Olive to Jack and then back to Olive. He lowered his voice as he took a step toward her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
His implication couldn’t have been plainer and she resented it on Jack’s behalf. She told herself it was silly to feel so protective of a stranger, but she found herself pressing closer to him anyway. “Of course, I am,” she said coolly. “And I think you’ve more important things to worry about than me.”
He gave her another curious look before turning back to Jack. “Where’s the body?”
Jack gestured toward the lake. “I can take you out in the boat and show you.”
Tommy nodded. “Yeah, let’s go have a look.”
The deputies still hovered a few feet away and Tommy went over to confer for a moment.
“What was that all about?” Olive whispered furiously.
“Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” Jack said.
“By lying to the police?”
“It’ll be okay,” he assured her.
Olive wasn’t as convinced, but it was a little too late for second thoughts. Not only had she gone along with Jack’s fabrication, she’d embellished his account. If she came clean now, it would make both of them look foolish and possibly suspect.
But those lies had flowed just a little too easily, from her and from Jack. Olive had never considered herself the subversive type, although as Tommy had pointed out, she supported causes near and dear to her heart and had never been shy about voicing an opinion. Deliberately misleading the police, though? That was a serious matter and one she shouldn’t have undertaken so lightly.
She watched nervously as the two men climbed into the boat and pushed off. When they’d cleared the bank, Jack started the engine and steered them across the channel to the shallow water on the other side. They sat with the motor idling as he angled the spotlight down through the lily pads.
It seemed to Olive they stayed out on the water for an awfully long time. What were they talking about?
Finally, they headed back. Jack tied off and they disembarked.
Tommy climbed up the bank to where Olive and the two deputies waited. “Be easier to get her out from the other side,” he said. “Hope you boys brought your waders.”
Jack came up the bank, too, and she found herself instinctively gravitating to his side even as she kept her focus on the sheriff. “Who is she, Tommy?”
He hesitated. “I guess you’ll find out soon enough. It’s Jamie Butaud.”
Olive felt sick. “Are you sure?”
“Pretty certain. The physical description matches up. And Jack here spotted a tattoo on her left arm. I remember seeing it on Jamie.”
“A mermaid,” Olive murmured.
“You knew her?” Jack inquired gently.
“She was in one of my classes a few years ago before she dropped out of school. I always worried about her. She seemed so lost.”
“She worked for Nathan, didn’t she?” Tommy asked.
Both men peered at Olive in the dark, but it was the fierceness of Jack’s sudden concentration that took her by surprise. “Yes, as a receptionist.”
“When was the last time you saw her?” Tommy asked.
Olive