“Stop wasting time. Where’s the fucking diary?” He raised his arm, the gun pointing straight at me.
I heard another car coming up from behind us. McKinney dropped his arm. I spun around, hand raised to flag down the driver, then stopped when I recognized the red car. It was Ashley.
Shauna gasped.
The car rocked to a stop, and the driver’s door flung open. Ashley climbed out, cell phone in hand. “Stop.” Her voice was high and panicked.
“What are you doing here?” Shauna demanded.
Ashley looked at me, her face stricken, then faced her mother. “I can’t let you hurt Toni.”
“Ashley, go home,” McKinney said.
“I know what you’re going to do. I filmed everything. I called 911. And they know there’s a video, but you can’t find it—I’ve hidden the camera.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Give it to me.” Shauna started toward her daughter.
It was my chance.
I sprinted toward the lake and dove off the cliff, shots ringing out behind me as I crashed into the water, the cold snatching the breath from my lungs. I surfaced spluttering and disoriented in the dark, then saw the long beam of a flashlight shining down from the cliff. I sucked in some air and dove again, hearing more shots, muffled thrums as they struck the water around me.
Gasping for air, I popped back up just in time to see Ashley hit the water a few feet in front of me, near the old floating dock. Shots were still going off, one of them really close. I heard Ashley cry out, and from above, McKinney’s voice.
“Shauna, stop! Ashley’s down there.”
I swam closer to her, whispered, “Ashley, are you hurt?”
“I’ve been shot.” Her breaths were gasps. “My shoulder.”
“Can you make it to the dock?” At least we’d have some cover there.
“Maybe.” Her voice was high.
“I’m right behind you.”
In the moonlight, I could see Ashley trying to dog-paddle with one arm, but she kept going under, gasping and spluttering. She was almost to the dock. I noticed the beam of a flashlight coming down the hill, the light bobbing.
“We’re almost there,” I told her. “You can do it.”
“My arm…”
Then she went silent. She was underwater. I waited a moment, but she didn’t come back up. I sucked in a breath and dove down to where’d she’d been, feeling through the dark water for her. Nothing. Straining for breath, I swam deeper, closer to the dock, and felt something smooth. Her arm? She slipped from my grasp. I reached out, touched some fabric. I tugged her closer, gripped her arm, and pulled, but she was stuck on something under the dock. Would I hurt her if I tried again? I tightened my grip and yanked hard. This time she floated loose.
We rose to the surface. She was limp. I wrapped one arm under her chin and swam hard for the shore. I couldn’t see Shauna or McKinney, couldn’t see anything. They could already be waiting for me. But I had to risk it.
My feet touched the pebbled bottom, and I dragged Ashley the last few steps, my arms aching. I glanced down and saw her pale face in the moonlight. The shoulder of her shirt was dark. Blood? How much had she lost?
“Hang in there,” I whispered. I eased her down onto the beach and knelt to check her pulse. My hands were cold and wet so it was hard to tell. I put my ear by her mouth and couldn’t feel a breath. I was freezing and panting, but adrenaline was still pumping through my veins. I took off my shirt and pressed it against her shoulder, then started CPR while trying frantically to figure out what to do next. I didn’t want Ashley to die, but if I tried to alert Shauna and Frank so they could help her, they’d probably kill me. Before I could make a decision one way or another, I heard rustling noises.
Shauna burst through the bushes. “Get away from my daughter!”
“She’s hurt,” I said. “I’m trying to help—”
Shauna pushed me off Ashley and grabbed her in her arms. “Ashley! Oh, my God!”
McKinney came out of the bushes, dropped to his knees beside Shauna, and felt for Ashley’s pulse. “She’s not breathing. Lay her down.” Shauna started screaming her daughter’s name. McKinney pulled Ashley from her arms and laid her down on her back. He started giving her CPR. I should’ve run, but I was frozen by the image in front of me, McKinney bent over Ashley, her skin pale.
McKinney, panting like he was almost out of breath, said to Shauna, “You have to do chest compressions.” But Shauna was just staring down at Ashley now and crying, obviously in shock. I pushed Shauna out of the way, starting chest compressions while McKinney blew into Ashley’s mouth.
“Come on, Ashley,” he chanted. “Stay with us.”