‘Is that you?’ Helen gasped, her breath hot on Abilene’s face.
‘Of course it’s me! Jesus! You almost gave me a heart attack.’
‘I’m sorry.’ The clench loosened, went away. She felt hands grip her upper arms. ‘Stay with…’
‘Shhhh.’
They went silent, stood motionless.
‘Somebody’s in here,’ Cora whispered.
Helen made a whimpery sound. Her fingers dug into Abilene’s arms.
And Abilene heard it, too. A single, soft flop of water somewhere in the blackness to her left.
Her bowels squirmed. Shivers scurried up her back. In spite of the water’s heat, she felt her skin go stiff with goosebumps.
Cora’s calm, quiet voice said, ‘Let’s just get out of the pool.’ The words were followed by a flurry of lapping, splashing sounds from her direction.
Abilene clutched Helen’s wrists and forced her hands away.
‘Don’t leave me!’
‘Come on! ’ Clinging to one wrist, Abilene lunged past Helen. Pulled her around. Towed her. The sounds of their own rush through the water masked whatever noise the intruder might be making.
Making as he hurried closer to them in the darkness.
The water felt like a strong, hot wind thrusting against Abilene, trying to slow her down.
She wished she could let go of Helen. She could slip beneath the surface and swim silently to the other side. But she kept her grip on the wrist of the terrified, whimpering girl, and kept trudging forward.
‘What’s going on?’ Cora didn’t sound so calm, now.
‘We’re coming.’
‘Hurry.’
'Jesus!’
‘I’m right here,’ Cora said. Straight ahead. Close.
‘Are you out?’
‘Yes.’
Helen squealed, ‘Yeeahhh!’
‘It’s me. Just me.’ Cora.
Helen jerked her hand free. Abilene heard water suck and splash and drip. She reached out to the side and felt a slick, bare leg. Though she could see nothing, she pictured Helen scrambling out of the pool, being helped by Cora.
Nobody in here now but me and him.
Abilene flung herself forward. Her hands slapped the rim of the pool. Kicking at the water, she boosted herself up. She expected a hand to grab one of her ankles and jerk her down. Then her knees met cool hardness of the pool’s edge. She scurried through the darkness, hands and knees sliding. From off to the side came sounds of slapping feet.
‘Where are you?’ A whisper. Cora.
‘Over here.’ She stopped. ‘Helen with you?’
‘Yeah. Don’t move. Quiet.’
Silently, Abilene got to her feet. She put out her hands and crept forward. She thought the stairway should be straight ahead of her, but it wasn’t. Instead, she met a wall. Turning around, she leaned back against it. The wall felt cool and slippery against her wet skin.
She was breathless, her heart slamming. She struggled to stop gasping.
The only sounds she heard were her own heartbeat, her own breathing, and the faint lapping sounds of water. Nothing from her friends. Nothing from anyone moving about in the pool.
That doesn’t mean he’s gone, she thought. He might be swimming under water. Coming closer. Or standing motionless, listening and waiting.
She gazed into the blackness. She couldn’t see the pool. Nothing at all was visible except the gloom of the high windows and the pale archway. She realized that the archway with its curved top and vertical sides was shaped like a headstone.
A headstone. A marker for the grave of the headless body found in the pool twelve years ago.
She imagined the body floating there now. And wondered if that was what they’d heard. Not an intruder at all, but the decapitated corpse of…
Bull.
There’s no damn stiff in the pool.
Maybe there’s no one at all, she told herself. Maybe what we heard was nothing. Maybe currents from the hot spring had simply disturbed the surface and made those splashy sounds.
Abilene’s heart lurched as she heard a quiet, groaning creak.
Someone stepping on a floorboard?
That didn’t make sense. The pool’s apron was granite, not… the stairs.
A beam of light, angling downward, swirled through the darkness just to her right. It cast a bright disk on the floor. Scooted about. Settled on the extinguished lantern.
A second beam started flitting around.
Two people with flashlights?
And Abilene almost laughed as she remembered Finley and Vivian.
What if it’s not them?
‘Who turned out the lights down here?’
It was them, all right.
‘Get down here quick!’ Cora called.
Abilene turned her head. Though the flashlight beams were on her other side, they provided enough brightness for her to make out the dim shapes of Cora and Helen. The two stood only a few feet to her left, just in front of the wall, Helen hanging onto Cora’s arm.
She gave the pool area a quick scan, saw no one, then watched as Cora pulled away from Helen.
‘Do you think it was a false alarm?’ Abilene asked.
‘I don’t know.’ Cora watched the water as she hurried toward Abilene. Helen, right behind her, kept a hand on Cora’s shoulder.
‘What’s going on?’ Finley asked. She was still out of sight, but the light beams were jumping around and Abilene heard feet thumping down the stairs.
‘Is everything all right?’ Vivian asked.
Abilene rounded the corner just as Finley and Vivian, side by side, stepped off the bottom of the stairway.
Cora rushed toward them, leaving Helen behind. ‘What took you guys so long?’
‘I thought we were pretty snappy about it. Why’s the lantern out?’
‘Somebody’s here.’
‘Holy shit. Someone’s here nowV
‘Think so.’
‘Oh my God,’ Vivian said.
Cora snatched the flashlight from Finley’s hand and swung around. Rushing toward the pool, she flicked the beam to the right and left, making sure nobody had followed them out.
Abilene went after her. She heard the others approaching as Cora began to sweep the light over the water’s surface.
She saw cut-off jeans.
With a gasp, she lurched backward. Collided with someone. Dry hands grabbed her sides. She felt skin against her back. Bare breasts. Finley.
Then she saw that the cut-off jeans were empty.
Nobody in them.
Another flashlight joined Cora’s. Both beams searched the water.
As Finley stepped around to her side, Abilene saw that the pool was littered with floating and submerged
