Blood on the Rail

I turn at the sound of tires and see twin headlights fishtailing through the rain toward the bridge. Tessa moves before I do, fast despite the limp I can now see in her right leg. She catches my wrist once, hard enough to hurt, and shoves a plastic sleeve into my palm.

"If they take me again, don't let Vivian call it mercy," she says.

"Take you where?"

But the headlights flood us white. Tessa's face changes from fury to calculation. She vaults the low maintenance barrier and disappears down the service stairs toward the lake path. A horn blares. I run after her, slip on rain-slick metal, and slash my hand open on the rail. By the time I regain my footing, she is gone into the trees.

The SUV brakes hard behind my car. Nico jumps out, not Owen, state badge clipped to his jacket and fury written all over him. "What the hell are you doing out here alone?" he shouts over the wind.

I stare at him, breathless, bleeding, the plastic sleeve clenched in my cut hand. "I thought it was him."

"Who?"

I do not answer because another set of lights appears at the far end of the bridge, slower this time, black sedan, the kind Vivian's driver favors. Nico sees it too and swears. He grabs my elbow and pulls me toward his vehicle just as the sedan turns away without stopping.

Back in the SUV, I finally look at the plastic sleeve. Inside is a motel keycard and a photograph of a Harbor House file drawer. Taped across the picture is a strip of paper in Tessa's hand: The names are still where she keeps the daughters.

Nico catches sight of the note and goes still. "Tell me exactly who you saw."

I look back through the rain-streaked rear glass at the bridge rail gleaming red where my hand slid. Some of the blood is mine. Some is not. Tessa cut herself too when she grabbed me. The lake has taken people from me before. Tonight it gives me proof instead.

"My sister," I say. "Alive. And running from the same family I came from."