A Place to Land by Lauren K. Denton

Author:Lauren K. Denton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harper Muse
Published: 2022-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

Ten

Liza had to invent a reason to go back to the Fox Cove development. She’d already asked the contractor, Carl, all the questions she needed answers to the first time she went, but she needed to see the boat again, and she didn’t feel comfortable just showing up to poke around down by the water.

Before photos. People love a good before and after.

She’d already walked up and down the street, snapping photos of all the houses in their preconstruction state, and now she stood in the middle of the yard behind the most dilapidated house in the neighborhood: 61 River Ash Road. She stared down at the river and the hunk of metal washed up on its shore.

Her mind told her to put one foot in front of the other and walk toward it, but it was like trying to push together two magnets with the same poles. She kept seeing that old photo—Jay Malone standing in this boat, holding his fish, with that big, wide smile on his face. Nothing should have felt off, but it did.

She fluttered her silk blouse away from the hot skin of her chest and forced herself to walk down to the edge of the river. As she approached the boat, it somehow seemed more barnacle covered, more grimy, more slimy with algae and plant growth than before, which was impossible since it had been drying out in the sun for weeks now. She stared a moment, trying to imagine what could have happened to send the boat underwater. Why did she care so much? It was just an old boat. It shouldn’t matter at all.

“Did you get the photos you needed?”

She startled. Carl was walking down the grassy slope toward her.

“I did. Thank you. I was just taking a breather before heading back to the office.”

Carl stood next to her and nodded, toed the hull of the boat with his boot. “Want to take this thing with you?”

She coughed out a laugh. “No, thanks.”

“I need it gone. No one cares about it. Whoever it belonged to, seems they wanted to sink it anyway.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Drain plugs are gone.” He leaned over and pointed. “See those two holes? One on either side of the stern. Those don’t just fall out. If it were just one, maybe it was an accident, but both? Looks to me like someone wanted this boat to go under.”

One of the workers called to Carl from the side of the house, and he waved and started that way. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

“I will. Thanks.”

Liza watched him cross the yard and pause by the worker who’d flagged him. When they disappeared around the front of the house, Liza stepped closer to the boat. What is it? What am I looking for? She couldn’t shake it.

She walked a circle around the boat, seeing it from all angles, and that’s when she noticed the small door built into the side of the hull. It was only about

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