The guard puts him in the chair across from Dean and Jonah rests his arms on it, flipping his hands slightly as if he expected his son to hold them.
“I can't believe you're here,” Jonah says. “It's so incredible to see you, son. And you, Emma. I knew the two of you would always end up together. You would end up working toward immense control.”
I turn away so I don't have to see the interaction between the two men. But I can hear it. I don't have a choice. I don't know what Dean plans on saying today. He hasn't told me. But it won’t take long to find out.
“I need you to stop, Jonah,” Dean starts. “I'm not here for a visit. I'm not here to catch up with you or bond. I'm definitely not here to give you some sort of twisted pleasure over seeing Emma and me together. I'm here for you to listen to me, and that's all you're going to do. You understand?”
I glance back over my shoulder and see Jonah give a single nod.
“Good,” Dean says. “I spent a lot of time questioning who I am and what it means. I have carried guilt and my sense of responsibility for far too long. And recently I wondered if I was capable of doing something I didn't think I could ever do, but it looked as if I did. And it made me start to wonder if your being my father means more than I want it to. Jonah’s son. I wondered if it was in me the way it's in you. But now I know that isn't the truth. I am your son. But I am also Emma's cousin. Ian's nephew. Xavier’s best friend. They are enough to prove I'm nothing like you. And I never will be.”
Dean stands up, ready to leave, and Jonah follows his lead.
“Will you come back and visit again?” Jonah asks. “Bring Emma.”
Dean looks over to the guard who has to be in the room during this type of visit. The only reason that it could happen at all is because I pulled a few strings, so I have to be there as well. The guard nods and Dean walks around the table.
Jonah looks confused as Dean opens his arms and takes him into a hug. He moves his mouth almost like he's going to kiss him, but it just brushes the skin at the front of his ear and down along his cheek so he can speak softly into Jonah's ear.
“I will never think of you again,” he says softly.
He leaves Jonah, and we walk out of the prison together.
Epilogue
Two weeks later …
I look down at my feet and see the dark water wash up on the shore and touch the toes of my shoes. That image caught me. It's seared itself into my mind and I've been carrying it since that night. It reminds me of something.
Just as quickly as the thought of the water comes into my mind, it melts down into Elsie sitting in that cavern. I remember the words I spoke to her.
“I’m going to get you out of here. I'm going to send help.”
I gave that same message before. Maybe not the exact words. But with the same urgent sentiment in my heart.
Leaning back in my office chair, I intertwine my fingers behind my head and close my eyes. Behind them, I can see the scene just as clearly as if I'm still standing in the sand looking out over the blue ocean at the rocks jutting out in the water.
“Am I interrupting?” Sam asks.
I sit up and look over at the door where he's leaning.
“Of course not,” I smile.
He comes in and kisses me before putting a manila folder on the desk in front of me.
“What's this?” I ask.
“We identified her,” he says.
“The girl in the cavern?” I ask. “With the missing shoe?”
“Her name was Delaney Mendoza. She was twelve years old. She wasn't from the area. She had been abducted two states over and brought to Sherando Ridge,” he says.
“What's going to happen to her?” I ask.
“Her family will need to be contacted,” he says. “Then we'll decide from there.”
“I'll do it,” I say. “They should hear it from me since I'm the one who found her.”
“That would be great,” he says. “I think it'll be comforting hearing it from you.”
“Wait,” I say. “If the body was Delaney Mendoza, what about Ashley Stevenson? Her family said she went missing five years ago and was in that area. They found a few of her belongings chained the bottom of the lake.”
“All the remains have been accounted for,” Sam shrugs. “They've all been tested. Besides, her age doesn't line up. She would have been thirteen five years ago. Much too young.”
“So, she's not in the campground?” I ask.
‘No,” Sam says. “She’s still missing.”
He walks out of the office, and I stare after him for a few seconds before turning my attention back to my desk. The thought of dark water washing up on my toes forms in the back of my mind again, and I reach for another of the pictures from my desk.
Leaning back in the chair again, I study the image of the site of Greg's death on the beach in DC.
THE END
Dear reader,
I hope you enjoyed reading The Girl and the Cursed Lake.
Thank you for continuing to go on great Emma adventures with me!
Please, leave me
