The Secrets of Lake Road by Karen Katchur

Author:Karen Katchur
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781466874701
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2015-08-04T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Kevin walked beside Johnny. The sun broke through the storm clouds. The rain slowed to a drizzle. There must have been a rainbow somewhere, but the trees in the colony were as big as giants and centuries old, blocking much of the view of the sky except for the occasional glimpses between branches.

Johnny stuffed his hands into his pockets. His hair covered his face. It was hard for Kevin to read his expression, but he could sense the boy’s angst. The silence between them felt strained and uncomfortable. Kevin was sorry for it, knowing he was partly to blame. He had no idea how to cross the invisible divide that kept Johnny separate from him, or even if he wanted to.

“Maybe she’s at the ballpark,” Kevin said, knowing how much Caroline loved to play ball. Why she would be in the park in the rain he couldn’t say. But the kids often hung out in the dugouts for the lack of anything better to do. It’s what he might’ve done at her age.

He continued. “You know you’re a pretty good ballplayer. Good enough to get a baseball scholarship if you wanted to go to college.”

“Really?” Johnny said in his cocky voice. “We’re going to talk about this now?”

“Do you have something else you’d rather talk about?”

Johnny sighed. “No.”

Kevin lit a cigarette. Life would be easier if Johnny went to college and moved away. It was a selfish thought, but one he had often and believed to be true. He wondered if maybe it would give his marriage a fresh start, a new beginning, or as the kids say a “do-over.”

He had rarely been alone with Johnny when he had been a toddler running around the backyard with his baseball bat, let alone the teenager he had become, the man he would be. Kevin had spent a lifetime on the road in his rig. It had been easier to stay away than deal with the tension at home, the guilt he felt whenever he looked at Jo and Johnny, the mother and son who were getting along fine without him. He admitted it was what he wanted. A part of him was afraid of Johnny. Hell, Kevin was just a kid himself when Johnny was born.

“This summer sucks,” Johnny mumbled.

Kevin glanced at him. “They’ll find the little girl and things will go back to normal. You’ll see. Heil will make sure of it.”

“Well, it sure is taking a long time.” Johnny sounded annoyed and maybe he heard it in his own voice because he added, “I don’t mean to sound cruel. I feel real bad about what happened. She was just a kid, you know? But why are they dragging it out? Why can’t they find her?”

“It’s a natural lake. It’s deep.” Kevin pulled in a long drag and exhaled slowly. “The lake community can’t afford to bring in outsiders to help. Or they won’t. It draws too much attention. The recovery team is the only one in the county. And there’s a lot of lake to cover.

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