Deceived (34 page)

The small boy's
legs churned furiously, carrying him down the path a few feet ahead of his
pursuers. The moon, quarter-full, dimly lit the faces of the trees, of the
bushes, but of the path itself the boy saw nothing and could only trust that
his feet, which dipped into the blackness below rhythmically, like pistons,
would find soft sand and nothing more.

Something about
the night air flushed the boy with excitement, raised goose bumps on his skin. Made
him run faster, like an animal, a wild thing, impossible to catch.

The path ended,
opening up on ten yards of lawn. The boy's lungs burned. He heard the footsteps
behind him, gaining. Five yards now.

His bare feet
moved from grass to wood
—
no one could catch him now. He lengthened his
strides over the last few feet then leapt high into the air, unleashing a
victorious scream.

The pier was
just wide enough for two, and Meg and Nick jogged its length hand in hand. They
followed their son off its end, jumped into the warm, dark water. They bobbed
to the surface and played then, the three of them, as children play. Their
laughter continued as they stepped to shore minutes later. Three towels hung
from a tree; Meg wrapped the boy in one and rubbed his back vigorously.

"I won,
dad," the boy crowed between shivers.

Nick nodded,
smiling, then draped an arm around the boy, another around Meg, and led the way
up the path.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Koeper is a former lawyer who splits his time between
a home in Austin, Texas and a cottage in Wisconsin. He has published two other
books, MURDER AT AUGUSTA and EXPOSED. 

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