A Flicker of Doubt - Tim Myers [1]
My name is Harrison Black, and my great aunt Belle had left me the entire place, including At Wick’s End, along with a hefty mortgage and a caveat not to sell the place for five years, not that I had any intention of ever parting with it. The people of River’s Edge had become family to me.
I could hardly bear to bring myself to look. “There’s a body floating in the water,” I shouted inanely. “She’s dead. What should I do?”
Markum considered it for a moment, then said, “I could call the sheriff, but it’s hard to tell how far the body will drift by the time he gets here. Do you have any rope with you?”
“Yes,” I admitted reluctantly, understanding instantly what he had in mind. I was-a candlemaker by trade, so the worst things I had to deal with in my business were wax bums and nasty customers; nothing in my life had prepared me for what I was facing. Markum-was a self- proclaimed expert in salvage and recovery, though I’d never been able to pin him down much more than that on what he did from day to day. He didn’t sound at all panicked by the situation, but then again, be was standing safely on shore while I was the one drifting six inches from the lifeless body.
“Harrison, you’ve got to bring her in,” he said.
“I know that” I shouted a little harsher than I meant to. I wasn’t sure if I was up to the task, but I didn’t really have a choice. I couldn’t exactly ask Markum to swim out there and get her himself.
I reached behind me and retrieved the rope I kept on board to tie the kayak up while I went exploring some of the Gunpowder River’s coves. I was going to have to get a new tether after this. There was no way I’d ever be able to use it again once this was over. After I had the rope in my hand, I wondered how I was going to tie it to the body securely enough to pull her to shore.
Markum called out, “I hate to bring this up, but you’re drifting away at a pretty good clip. You can stare at it all you want to, but it’s not going to get any easier.”
I hated it, but I knew he was right Judging from the general area where I’d found her, if I waited much longer, I might not be able to pull her weight through the water back upstream. And if she got away from me and drifted swiftly down the river, I’d be haunted by the memory that I’d let it happen. Where could I attach the rope, though? Should I tie it to her hand? I shuddered at the thought No way. How about her leg? That was too gruesome to even consider. There was a belt on her dress, maybe it would hold until I got her to shore. I hastily pulled my rope through it and tied it off. My hand had brushed against her waist by accident, and I nearly dropped the rope as the body bobbed gently from my touch. With a grim determination, I started paddling backward toward the steps of the complex.
I’d covered less than a dozen feet when my load suddenly got lighter, Blast it all. The belt had come off and I could see the woman drifting downstream again. I paddled back toward her, not daring to look at Markum.
For some reason I was furious with him, probably because he was safely on land and I was wrestling with this body.
I approached her again, then I saw to my horror that when the belt had come loose, it had somehow flipped her over in the water.
Staring down at a stranger would have been bad enough, but I knew this woman and knew her all too well.
It was Becka Lane, my ex-girlfriend.. Her lustrous blonde hair was fanned out around her head in the water like a halo, and the peaceful expression on her face looked more like she was sleeping than dead. Her dress had bunched up near her waist