Page 31 of Serenity Falls

But no one stops what they’re doing, no one turns. They’re too far away to hear. I stand and run down towards the shoreline. The hat bobs on the water.

It occurs to me that one drowning in twenty-four hours is a terrible accident but two is starting to look like a pattern, or a jinx. I reach the edge of the lake. The hat is floating further from the shore. Could the kid have gone under, maybe got trapped by weeds or mud? Or gators. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I yank off my trainers and socks (again) and wade into the water (again). It’s much colder than I expected. I hear shouts from behind me, but I ignore them. The water is up past my shins, dragging down my shorts. Just a little further and I can reach the hat. And then someone grabs my arm.

I turn. It’s one of the muscular, sweaty joggers.

He glares at me. ‘What the hell are you doing? There are gators in that lake, man.’

He starts hauling me back towards the shore.

‘No,’ I cry. ‘The hat. There’s a kid in the water.’

But it’s no good. Another jogger joins him and grabs my other arm. I could try to resist, but it would be pathetic and pointless. The two men are younger and fitter than me. They drag me back on to the bank, where I slip and land on my backside.

‘I saw a boy—’ I say again … and the words curl and die on my tongue.

A young woman stands on the bank. She’s holding a little boy in her arms; chunky legs wrapped around her slim waist. Blue shorts, yellow T-shirt.

I try to stand. ‘Hey. Is that your son? Is he okay?’

She walks up. ‘He’s fine. I just lost him there for a while. I guess he must have dropped his hat in the water. I’m so sorry—’

Sorry you lost your kid, and I almost became an alligator’s lunch? But the anger and humiliation are tempered by relief. ‘It’s fine,’ I lie. ‘I’m just glad he’s all right.’

She looks me up and down. She’s willowy, long blonde hair, dressed in an ankle-length flowered sundress, feet bare beneath.

‘Are you okay?’ she asks. Her voice has a lazy southern drawl.

I look down at my dripping shorts and legs, slimy with pond weed. ‘I’ve been better.’

‘Well, it was very brave of you. Thank you.’ She looks at the little boy. ‘Say “thank you”, Brandon.’

‘Thanks, mister,’ the little boy says.

The woman smiles and holds out a hand heavy with bracelets. ‘I’m Hailey.’

I shake her hand. ‘Dan Barker.’

Her eyebrows raise. ‘Oh, the new guy.’

‘Word really does travel fast around here.’

‘Well, we don’t get a lot of new blood, so you’re an interesting specimen.’

‘I’m not sure whether I should feel pleased or worried about that.’

Her lips tilt. ‘Time will tell.’

The little boy squirms in her arms. ‘Mama. I lost my hat.’

‘I know, hun. We’ll buy you a new one.’

‘But that was Dave—’

‘Shush.’ She places a finger on his lips. ‘I said we’ll get you a new one.’

She turns back to me. ‘Thank you again, Mr Barker.’

‘It was nothing.’