Chương 1
"Eli Dawson kicked the phone away less than a second before blue sparks snapped across the water around Nathan Vale’s hand.
The black phone skipped once through the muddy shallows, struck a broken strip of concrete, and vanished beneath brown water with a hiss. Nathan did not move. He lay on his side under the highway bridge, one cheek pressed into mud, his charcoal coat soaked dark and heavy around him while runoff poured between the concrete pillars toward the swollen river.
Eli dropped to his knees and grabbed the man by the lapels.
“Wake up! Your dead son said you’d drown here tonight!”
Nathan came awake with a violent inhale.
For several seconds he seemed unable to separate breathing from drowning. He coughed, spat muddy water, rolled weakly onto his back, and stared past Eli at the underside of the bridge as if the gray concrete might explain how he had gotten there.
Then his eyes found the boy.
Eli was eleven, thin enough that his wet beige T-shirt clung to every rib. Dark hair hung across his forehead in dripping strands. His navy pants were muddy to the knees, and gray rubber boots disappeared beneath the rushing water whenever it surged over the uneven pavement.
Nathan blinked slowly.
“What did you say?”
Eli’s fingers tightened on his coat.
“Get up.”
Nathan tried. His left elbow gave way.
“What did you say about my son?”
The question came out clearer the second time.
Eli stopped pulling.
Rainwater ticked from somewhere high above them. Beyond the pillars, the river carried branches, bottles, and half a wooden pallet past with a speed that made Eli keep checking the waterline. Nathan’s abandoned black SUV sat forty yards away at an angle beside a drainage barrier, its front passenger door open. One headlight still burned dimly.
Eli glanced toward it, then back at Nathan.
“You need to move first.”
“My son.”
Nathan’s voice had changed.
Eli knew that tone. Adults used it when they were afraid but did not want children to notice.
He reached under the collar of his shirt.
The short broken chain caught against the wet fabric. He pulled harder and brought out the scratched silver compass that had been resting against his skin.
Nathan looked at it without understanding.
Then he stopped breathing.
Eli opened his muddy hand.
“He told me you’d recognize this.”
Nathan’s right hand rose, but only halfway. His fingers shook. His expensive gold wristwatch flashed briefly beneath his sleeve.
“No.”
Eli waited.
Nathan touched the side of the compass with two fingers, almost gently. Mud moved beneath his thumbnail as he turned it.
The initials were still visible.
L.V.
Nathan made a sound so quiet Eli almost missed it.
“Lucas was buried with that.”
The river hissed beyond them.
Eli watched the man’s face change.
Disbelief disappeared first.
Then anger.
Then something worse.
Nathan looked up at him.
“Who are you?”
Eli did not answer.
A metallic knock came from beside the SUV.
Not loud.
Just metal touching metal.
Nathan’s head started to turn.
Eli grabbed his jaw.
“Don’t.”
Nathan froze.
Eli leaned close enough that Nathan could see the rain trembling in his eyelashes.
“He said the man who killed him is still inside your family.”
Nathan stared at him.
For the first time since waking, his face went completely still.
A single tear collected at the edge of his right eye but did not fall.
“What man?”
Eli shook his head.
“Not here.”
Another metallic sound came from the SUV.
Nathan tried to sit up too quickly and nearly collapsed.
Eli caught his shoulder.
“Can you walk?”
“I can walk.”
“You just fell over sitting.”
Nathan gave him a look that might have been irritation under other circumstances. Now it was mostly panic.
“My phone.”
“It was electrocuting you.”
“My car has another.”
“No.”
Nathan stared at him.
Eli pointed toward the SUV.
“The person who put you here is waiting to see if you get up.”
Nathan followed the direction of Eli’s finger without moving his head.
The passenger door remained open.
Rainwater ran in silver threads from the roof.
Nobody was visible.
“You saw someone?”
“I saw enough.”
“Who?”
“You won’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
Eli looked at him for a moment, then stood.
Nathan expected another answer.
Instead the boy reached down.
“Come on.”
Nathan took his hand.
The first attempt failed. His shoes slipped in the mud and he fell to one knee. Pain tore across his ribs. He swore, pressed a hand to his side, and remained there until the dizziness eased.
Eli did not tell him to hurry.
That frightened Nathan more than if the boy had shouted.
They moved deeper beneath the bridge, away from the SUV and the open stretch beside the river. Eli led him behind a massive concrete support stained black by decades of runoff. On the far side, the ground rose several feet into a narrow service ledge.
Nathan sat against the pillar.
His hands would not stop shaking.
“Give me the compass.”
Eli closed his fist around it.
“No.”
“That belongs to me.”
“It belonged to Lucas.”
Nathan flinched.
Eli saw it.
“You knew him?”
Nathan looked up sharply.
Eli sat opposite him, knees raised, boots planted in the water.
“I never met him.”
“Then don’t say his name like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you knew him.”
Eli rubbed rainwater from his face.
“He talked a lot.”
Nathan stared.
“What does that mean?”
Eli looked toward the bridge opening.
The black SUV was still visible between two pillars.
“My mom says when somebody tells you something impossible, you should ask what they mean before deciding they’re lying.”
“Your mother sounds sensible.”
“She’s in county jail.”
Nathan did not know what to say to that.
May you like
Eli picked mud from the broken chain.
Nathan noticed the boy’s hands then. Small cuts crossed his knuckles. One fingernail was split. His skin had the pale wrinkled look of someone who had been wet too long.
