Chapter 9 #3
“Thanks.” He felt guilty enough leaving her and Bruno while he searched for Skye’s car. He trusted Bruno would protect Evie, but the dog couldn’t stop a bullet.
And this guy had tried to shoot at her several times already. She might have had a point about the killer being smart enough to avoid the nature preserve in the daytime, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
He stripped off his T-shirt and toed off his shoes, then reached into the back seat for the snorkel gear. Evie and Bruno stood back as he walked barefoot to the edge of the parking lot that overlooked the river.
It was easy to imagine the killer shoving the VW bug over the side and down into the water.
Right in this exact spot. He tried to remember what the riverfront looked like back then but couldn’t.
He’d spent his free time as a lakefront lifeguard.
Now he saw there were several large rocks separating the edge of the parking lot from the riverbank.
He carefully stepped down the rocks, making his way to the point he could easily lower himself into the murky water.
The spring-fed river water was cold, which felt wonderful against his overheated skin.
He sat for a moment, noticing the river current wasn’t that strong.
He wasn’t an expert, but he had to believe the recent drought and bright sunlight overhead had caused the water levels to drop significantly.
Fourteen years ago, Skye had gone missing in June, when the water levels would have likely been higher with the spring rains.
Would the river’s current have taken the VW bug downstream for several yards before the vehicle filled with water and sank to the bottom?
Maybe. He slipped the rest of the way into the river. Then he lowered the face mask into place and adjusted the snorkel apparatus to fit into his mouth.
Glancing behind him, he saw Evie and Bruno standing up on the riverbank, watching him. He flashed a quick thumbs-up sign, then lowered his face into the water and pushed away from the river’s edge with his feet.
At first, he couldn’t see much of anything. Even though nobody else was swimming in this area, the murky water wasn’t as clear as he’d hoped. After all these years, he doubted he’d see the yellow color of the Volkswagen, so he decided to look for unusual shapes along the bottom.
When he understood the water was too deep for him to see the bottom, he drew in a long, slow deep breath through the snorkel air valve, then dove deep, doing his best not to stir up the muck.
Ignoring the fish, he went as deep as possible until he could see what appeared to be algae sticking up from the river bottom.
After about thirty seconds of scanning the bottom, he was forced to head back up to the surface to breathe. As he blew the water out of the snorkel gear, it occurred to him that this process of looking for the car could take a lot longer than he anticipated.
With renewed determination, he drew in another deep breath and dove back down to the bottom of the river. This time, he kicked his feet, propelling himself forward.
Still nothing. He headed up to the surface to take another breath, wishing he had scuba diving gear rather than a snorkel mask. He cast his gaze to the riverbank, reassured to see Evie and Bruno standing there.
He didn’t want to admit his idea was a total and complete failure. He breathed deeply for a long minute, then went back down. He went a few feet farther every time, determined not to miss it.
On his fifth time down, he caught a glimpse of an odd shape along the murky river bottom. Could be a rock or some other debris that had been dropped into the water over the years. With a powerful kick, he moved closer.
And realized he was seeing the distinct rounded shape of a VW bug. The metal was corroded and mostly rust colored, but there was still the faint tint of yellow shining beneath the mud, slime, and other algae that obliterated most of the car from view. He blinked, hoping he wasn’t imagining it.
Abruptly realizing he needed more air, he turned and kicked frantically to reach the surface.
Removing the snorkel airway, he sucked in a deep breath.
He wanted to give Evie the good news, but he needed to make sure.
As much as he hated to admit it, the car could belong to anyone.
For all he knew, there was more than one car that had been dropped into the river.
He took another deep breath, fit the snorkel mouthpiece into his mouth, and dove back down. The rounded shape looked even more like a car this time.
He went farther, putting his hand on the side of the vehicle. Then he searched for something he could use as an identifier.
The license plate was mostly rusted away and covered in green slime.
He pushed the mud and grime aside until he could make out the initial letter K followed by the letter P.
He stared in shock, remembering Skye’s license plate was KP1924.
He’d seen it on the flyers posted around town after she’d gone missing.
There was no mistake. He’d found Skye’s car!