“I told you, they’re in trouble. Aubrey left a suicide note. My other friend called the police to look for them.”
They were on the river road now, and Tim stepped hard on the gas. Jenny’s hair whipped into her eyes in the rush of air from the window. Darkness was falling. The moths looked like snowflakes rushing into the glare of the headlights.
“She’s bad news,” Tim said, over the roar of the wind.
“Who?”
“Kate, who do you think? If Lucas wasn’t messed up in this, I wouldn’t even try to help her. But he’s my cousin.”
“Lucas can take care of himself,” Jenny said, still angry at him from Jamaica.
They parked near the boat launch and ran toward the hiking trail. Sprinting down the narrow path, Jenny was soon out of breath and sweating. Branches caught in her hair and scratched at her legs. More than once, she stumbled on the uneven surface, and had to call to Tim to slow down so he didn’t leave her behind in the gathering dark. Finally, the path curved as she remembered, opening to the right to reveal the ruined bridge, backlit against an indigo sky. Just enough light remained to make out the forms of Aubrey, Kate, and Lucas halfway across its span, standing at the point where the railbed fell away to nothing. She made it to the foot of the bridge in time to see Kate advancing on Lucas, raining blows on him as he backed toward the edge of the bridge.
“Holy shit, stop it, stop!” Tim yelled.
Lucas took a step backward to get away from Kate’s punishing blows, and began to flail and slip backward. Tim screamed Lucas’s name. Lucas let out a terrible shriek as he disappeared off the edge of the bridge, a shriek that hung in the air for an endless, sickening moment, stopping abruptly when he hit the icy black water below.
Tim reached the spot where his cousin had stood a split second before. Jenny caught up with him, skidding to a top, unable to believe her eyes. Did that really happen? Did Lucas really fall into the river? Did he come back up? Kate stared down into the abyss with her hands pressed to her mouth. Beside her, Aubrey screamed hysterically. Jenny looked down and saw only black water.
“You pushed him! You pushed him, you crazy bitch!” Tim shouted, grabbing Kate’s hands away from her face and shaking her.
Kate’s eyes were unfocused. Her mouth hung open but no words came out.
Tim let go of Kate and whirled toward Jenny. “We have to do something. He’s a great swimmer, but not in water this cold. I’m going after him. You go to the parking lot. Try to get help. There’s a pay phone. Call 911.”
Tim sprinted back to the foot of the bridge before Jenny could get a word out. A tumbledown metal fence cordoned off the steep hillside. He clambered over it and ducked under the bridge trestle, disappearing from view.
Kate sank to the ground, shaking visibly. Aubrey knelt beside her and took her in her arms. Jenny had come here to stop Kate and Aubrey from harming themselves, but now Kate had gone and hurt someone else. Screw her roommates, and the damage they caused. Jenny had dragged Tim Healy into this mess, and now he’d gone after Lucas and might be in danger, too. She wanted to help Tim look for Lucas, but she was afraid to leave her roommates here, in this condition. Of the two of them, Aubrey seemed in better shape, though that wasn’t saying much. Jenny shook Aubrey by the shoulder and looked her in the eye.
“Aubrey, listen, we have to help Lucas. If he’s hurt, or God forbid, if he dies, Kate could go to jail. Do you understand?”
“She didn’t mean to push him.”
“It sure looked like she did,” Jenny said. “But there’s no time to argue. He could die if we don’t do something. I know you don’t want that. I’m going with Tim, to try to help. You go to the parking lot and call the police. Can you do that?”
Aubrey nodded, but she looked so shaken that Jenny doubted it. This was a girl who had just left a suicide note, and here she was sitting on a broken bridge, at the edge of an abyss.
“I read your note,” Jenny said. “I can’t leave you here.”
Aubrey glanced toward the spot where Lucas had fallen. “The note was a mistake. I know that now.”
“I’m glad. But you and Kate need to get away from here, okay? I won’t leave you in a place where you could jump.”
“We won’t jump! Not after what just happened.”
“I believe you, but please, stand up, get moving. Both of you.”
Jenny held out her hands and helped Aubrey to her feet. Aubrey’s eyes looked a little clearer, giving Jenny a measure of reassurance.
“I’ll take care of Kate,” Aubrey said. “We’ll leave here as soon as she calms down. Go look for Lucas.”
Time was running out. A person could die in minutes in water that cold. Jenny had no choice but to take Aubrey at her word. She nodded and walked to the end of the bridge, to the place where she’d seen Tim go over the fence.
The fence was damaged here, fallen low to the ground so that Jenny was able to walk right over it. She stopped short on the other side and looked down. The hill fell away at a treacherous angle. Far below, Tim stood at the bottom of the embankment. Jenny ventured forward a few steps, her heart in her throat. It looked too steep to attempt. But she couldn’t bear the thought of plucky Tim Healy going to Lucas’s rescue with no help, and maybe getting hurt himself. She’d known Tim since he was a kid. He was three grades behind her, funny, decent, and from a nice family. She had to help him if she could.
Jenny stayed low and cut back and forth across the face of the slope. Halfway down, she hit a slippery patch. Her feet flew out from under her and she slid the rest of the way on her butt.
At the river’s edge, she stood up, brushed off, and looked for Tim. But he was gone.
“Tim! Tim!” Jenny called, but the only reply was the rush of water.