know that the environmental protection laws aren’t perfect. On some level, I
understand what bothers you about them. And why you defend people accused
of breaking them.” She gazed out at the lake, thinking about the schools of ? sh
that had been driven out by pollution and misuse of the waterways. “But they’re
the best we have, so I have to work with them. I have to do what I can while
there’s still time.”
“And you don’t think that would eventually come between—”
“Greetings!” Natalie called, striding across the lawn toward them.
She was in uniform, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail and tucked
beneath a green cap with the forest service emblem on the front. “Hi, Leslie.
Dev said you were coming up, but I thought it was tonight.”
“I came up a day early, as it happens.”
Natalie’s eyes ? ickered to Dev, and Leslie saw her expression change to one
of speculation. “Really. So how are you doing?”
“Fine. Great, actually,” Leslie said, leaning back slightly to look up as Natalie
stopped beside her. “How about you?”
Natalie squatted down with a shake of her head. “Ask me at the end of this
crazy weekend. It’s the last big rush until leaf season.
Everybody’s trying to catch the last little bit of summer.”
“I feel the same way, even if the lake is already too cold to swim.”
Leslie realized she wasn’t jealous, even though Natalie had probably expected
to ? nd Dev alone. Dev was by her side, had awakened in her bed, had called
her name in the night. “I hope things stay quiet for you.”
“They might,” Natalie said with a sigh, her eyes narrowing as she stared down to
the water. “If people would stop doing idiotic things like that.”
Leslie followed her gaze. A tour boat, one of the broad, ? at-bottomed
sightseeing craft ? lled with rows of deck chairs for people to sit in while the
boat made a slow circuit along the shoreline, lumbered into view. It was packed
with people, standing and sitting. More people than Leslie could ever remember
seeing in one of those boats.
“I can’t imagine that’s very much fun,” Leslie said, “being crammed together like
sard—oh my God!”
“Jesus Christ!” Dev shouted, jumping up.
The boat tilted to one side and, in a fraction of a second, capsized.
Leslie, Dev, and Natalie raced toward the water as the panicked shouts of the
people who had been thrown into the lake seventy feet from shore ? lled the air.
“We need rescue boats in Bolton Landing by the Lakeview,”
Natalie shouted into her radio. “And paramedics. We’ve got people in the
water. At least two dozen.”
While Natalie was organizing the rescue, Leslie and Dev kicked off their shoes
and dove into the lake. Some people were already straggling to shore but others
were clearly in trouble, ? ailing in the water and screaming. Leslie, her strokes
hard and clean, swam past the people who were close enough to make it to
safety on their own. She saw at least three people go under and not come up
again. Dev was close by, slightly behind her. Dev had never been as fast as
Leslie in the water.
Leslie reached the ? rst ? oundering victim in less than a minute.
“Stop struggling and let me help you,” she shouted, treading water a few feet
away to avoid being struck by the man’s windmilling arms.
“I can’t swim,” he cried hoarsely, his eyes wild with panic. “My wife. My wife. I
can’t ? nd my wife.”
“I’ll tow you to shore,” Leslie called, cautiously approaching.
“Let me grab your shirt. Don’t hit me.”
Her words seemed to penetrate his panic, because he relaxed enough for her to
get her arm over his shoulder from behind and under his armpit. “Just relax and
kick your feet. I’ll do the rest of the work.”
“My wife,” he gasped. “Please ? nd my wife.”
When Leslie got him close enough to shore that he could stand on the bottom,
she let him go. Natalie and her mother and some of the guests were helping
people from the water. Leslie didn’t stop, but turned and immediately swam
back to the overturned boat. The white-painted bottom glinted unnaturally in the
sunlight. She dove, powering down until she could peer around the side into
what had been the open passenger compartment. She’d hoped that air, and
possibly survivors, had been trapped beneath. There was nothing under the boat
but a body ? oating lazily to and fro. Swallowing back her horri? ed gasp, she
kicked
away and pumped toward the surface, gulping air when she broke free.
Then she grabbed the closest victim and started back toward shore.
“The boat’s here,” Natalie shouted, in water up to her waist, as Leslie wearily
guided an elderly woman into Natalie’s outstretched arms.
“How many…how many more can you see,” Leslie gasped, her arms and legs
leaden. She’d lost track of the passage of time or how many trips she’d made
back out to the slowly sinking boat.
“Six or seven,” Natalie said. “You’re too tired, Leslie. Stay ashore.”
But Leslie could still hear screaming. Ignoring Natalie, she turned and plunged
back into the water. She thought she saw Dev dragging an unconscious man
toward shore, but she wasn’t sure. On her next trip back, she collapsed to her
knees in the shallow water, struggling for breath.
“Leslie,” her mother said urgently, “don’t go back out. You’re ready to
collapse.”
“Where’s…Dev,” Leslie rasped. “Is she…in?”
Eileen glanced anxiously around. The grass abutting the shoreline was covered
with victims, some unconscious, others moaning or crying.
The wail of sirens added to the chaos as paramedics raced down from the
parking lot. “I don’t see her. She must be here somewhere.”
A surge of adrenaline spurred Leslie upright, and, heart pounding, she scanned
the shore. Natalie was directing the paramedics toward the most seriously
injured. A few guests from the lodge were handing out blankets, and her father
was transporting the less injured up the hill in his cart. But she didn’t see Dev.
She spun toward the lake. Twenty yards offshore she saw Dev laboring slowly
with another struggling victim in tow. As she watched, the woman ? ailed wildly
and both she and Dev went under the surface. Leslie dove back into the icy
water.
Leslie pulled underwater, stroke after stroke. She was faster underwater, and
she didn’t need to see. She knew these waters, this shoreline, this lake like she
knew her own re? ection in the mirror. She knew exactly where Dev was.
Lungs screaming, she stayed under until she reached Dev’s location. When she
