Prologue

  Merritt Island, Florida

  “There we go. They’re at it again.”

  Mrs. Berkeley put her finger gently on the drapes and pulled them aside, just enough to peek out, but not so much that she might be seen from the street. Her eyes landed on the beautiful Victorian house across from her on Old Settlement Road. Their road was a small dead-end street on the island, in a secluded and exclusive part of Merritt Island, with only about ten houses that almost never got on the market. Mrs. Berkeley knew everyone who lived there very well, as some families had been there through several generations. She was especially fond of the couple living across the street from her in the pink house with the wrap-around porches. But their fighting lately had been getting on her nerves.

  “Can you believe them? Fighting again like this,” she said to her Miniature Schnauzer, Daisy, who stared at her with big brown eyes, but mostly at the cookie in her hand that she expected to get a bite of soon, as usual.

  Mrs. Berkeley broke off a piece of the cookie and fed it to the dog. It almost snapped it out of her hand, then gulped it down before it continued to stare at her with its very brown eyes that she couldn’t say no to.

  “What is happening to this street and the people?” she said, while she peered over there once again as someone yelled loudly. Mrs. Berkeley let go of the drape with a small snort. “Well, it’s none of our business, is it, Daisy? No, it isn’t.”

  The dog lifted its paw and begged for another piece, and Mrs. Berkeley caved. The voices rose from across the street, and Mrs. Berkeley got a nervous sensation in her chest. This was a nice street. People didn’t usually yell at one another, especially not so loud that the neighbors could hear it.

  “I sure hope they’re not going to get a divorce,” Mrs. Berkeley said, a hand to her chest to calm her pounding heart. She never liked it when people fought. She and her husband, Dr. Berkeley, most certainly had never yelled at one another like that. They could disagree on things, absolutely. And if he misbehaved, Mrs. Berkeley would give him the silent treatment for days until he caved. That was how it was done back in her day. Civilized and educated people didn’t yell or fight.

  “Those poor children.”

  Daisy answered with a pant, sticking her tongue out, while Mrs. Berkeley ate the rest of the cookie. Seeing it disappear into Mrs. Berkeley’s mouth, the dog laid down on the couch, head resting on its paws.

  “Now, I never,” Mrs. Berkeley exclaimed as a loud noise sounded from across the street. She put her finger on the drape and pulled it aside again. “It sounds almost like they’re fighting. And who is that yelling so loudly? Tsk.”

  She stared out the window at the driveway where Mrs. Henry’s nice new Tesla was parked just as the garage door opened, and someone staggered outside.

  “Nancy?” Mrs. Berkeley said, staring at the woman running down the driveway, squinting her eyes to better see in the darkness. “My Goodness, dear Nancy, why are you running like that?”

  It was her. Mrs. Berkeley was almost certain, even though it was hard to see. Nancy was so elegant, even when running. Why was she running? She seemed almost like she was scared? But what could have frightened her so?

  Pulse quickening, Mrs. Berkeley held her breath as she saw the shadow come up behind Nancy. Moving swiftly through the darkness, the shadow grabbed her by the ponytail from behind and yanked her back forcefully. Nancy let out a scream that made Mrs. Berkeley’s heart jump as her legs shot out underneath her, and she landed on the pavement before she was dragged, kicking and screaming, back inside the house.

  Seeing this, Mrs. Berkeley let go of the drape and took a step away from the window. Sweat sprang to her upper lip, which she had recently had botoxed. A tic grew evident near her eye as she stared at the window, heart beating fast in her chest.

  Then she shook her head. “It’s none of our business, Daisy, dear. It really isn’t.”

  She turned to walk away while she could hear Nancy screaming:

  “Stop it. Stop!”

  That’s when she decided to have that brandy after all, even though she was trying to cut down on the late-night alcohol. She had just grabbed the bottle from the shelf when the shot echoed through the neighborhood.

  It wasn’t the first time Mrs. Berkeley drank an entire bottle of brandy before bedtime, but it was the first time she drank it straight from the bottle.

  Part I

  FIVE YEARS LATER

  Sykes Creek, Merritt Island, Florida

  Chapter 1

  “Is this the right way to do it, Dad?”

  Bryan Nelson looked at his son, Max, holding the shrimp between his fingers while putting it on the hook. Bryan couldn’t help but smile. He had wanted to take his son fishing for as long as he could remember, but his wife had told him no. After being in an accident as a child, Terri was terrified of boats and didn’t want her kid out on one of them. Ever. There was nothing Bryan could say or do to make her change her mind, and during his upbringing, she had instilled her fears into the boy, making him scared of anything to do with water and especially boats.

  Now, they were separated, and Bryan had decided to take the boy fishing. Bryan had fished all his life and held some of his dearest memories with his late father doing just that. Why rob his son of that? Bryan was only sad that he had waited so long to do it. He had listened to Terri for way too long, and in that way, missed out on many great adventures and hours spent with his son.

  It was time to change that now—time to make memories that would last them both a lifetime.

  “Yes, that’s perfect, son,” he said. “Now, watch me as I cast first, and I’ll help you cast yours too, okay?”

  The boy gleamed up at his father, then nodded. Bryan cast his line, and it plopped in the water far away.

  “Whoooa,” the boy exclaimed when seeing how far his dad had thrown the line. His big eyes stared up at him, and Bryan felt like a superhero. It wasn’t a feeling he had experienced a lot in his time as a father. Terri had always told him he was worthless and that he could do nothing right. And maybe it was true. Bryan hadn’t accomplished much in life if you looked at it from the outside. He still worked in the same boat shop he had as a teenager when it was just a part-time job. But that was only because he really enjoyed it. He liked helping people finding the right boat for them. And he absolutely loved being out on the water himself, and these were people who shared that same passion. His passion for boating and fishing made him the best salesman the store had, and the owner, old Hubbard, had told him if he kept this up, he might let him take over the store once he decided to retire. He didn’t have a son, and Bryan was the closest he had to one.

  “Now, it’s your turn,” Bryan said with a sniffle. He walked up behind his son and helped grab the pole between his small hands, then slung the line out in the still water, where the hook with the shrimp plunged in.

  “That was a pretty good throw there, son,” he said, patting the boy on the shoulder. That made the boy stand up straight with pride. He was getting so tall, and soon he’d be taller than his father. This was the time to enjoy him, to bond. In a few years, it would be too late.

  Bryan was going to get in trouble for taking the boy fishing today. He was supposed to be in school. Terri was going to rip his head off when she found out. Yet, he did it anyway. This was his only chance. If he asked first, he knew the answer. Terri wasn’t the boss of him anymore. Max was his son too.

  “So, now we wait and keep an eye on the pole, okay, son?” he asked. “Let me know if it starts moving.”

  The boy nodded. Bryan grabbed a juice box from the cooler and handed it to him. It was a hot one out today. Important to stay hydrated. Bryan grabbed a beer for himself and sat back, pulling his cap down a little to better cover his face from the scorching sun. It was a nice day to be out on the water. The fish were jumping around them, and there were no other sounds except for the occasional heron that would take off, squawking.

  This is the life. Nothing better than this. Right here.

  Bryan closed his eyes and sipped his beer, enjoying this moment. Barely had the sizzling sensation of the beer hitting his stomach settled before he heard his son gasp lightly, then say:

  “What’s that?’

  Bryan opened his eyes and looked at the boy. He was pointing out at the water. “What’s what, boy?”

  “There’s something in the water. Something big.”

  Thinking it might be a tarpon or maybe even a bull shark, Bryan rose to his feet and approached the edge of the boat where Max was standing.

  “Let me see where?” Bryan asked.

  “Over there. That red thing.”

  Bryan felt disappointment as he stared at the red thing on the surface. At first, it looked like a piece of wood or a big lump of seaweed, but the color was wrong. You didn’t see that kind of bright red color in nature. What worried Bryan the most was how the mass seemed to bob up and down. And as it surfaced again, he believed for a second that it might be a piece of fabric, maybe a jacket someone had lost from the bridge on 520 nearby, or perhaps from a boat. It disappeared again, pulled by the current, then resurfaced closer to them, and that’s when Bryan realized it was more than just a jacket or a shirt. It was something bigger. It kept bobbing up, then disappearing underwater, and that’s when Bryan knew exactly what it was. He had seen this before, in his time serving in the coast guard. They had been sent out to that plane crash—a small ai
rcraft that had crashed into the water with a family of four inside it. They had pulled that first body out of the water, burnt beyond recognition, and he still dreamt about it at night.

  “What is it, Daddy? What is it? Is it a fish?” Max asked, his voice growing excited. “Is it a big shark, maybe?”

  Bryan grabbed the boy by the shoulders and pulled him away from the edge. “No, son. It’s not.”

  “Then, what is it? Daddy?”

  Bryan swallowed and grabbed a paddle as the mass came closer, and he was able to reach out for it. He touched it and, as it moved, the long brown hair swayed in the water.

  Seeing this, Bryan took off his cap and shirt, then jumped in.

  Chapter 2

  “I’m fat!”

  I stared at myself in the mirror that I had accidentally looked at myself in when walking by. We were in Target, Matt and I, and were supposed to be buying baby stuff for the nursery. But now I didn’t want to go any further. I just wanted to cry.

  Matt came up behind me and touched my stomach. “You’re not fat, Eva Rae.”

  I nodded. “Yes, I am. Look at me. I look awful.”

  “I think you’re beautiful,” he smiled.

  “Well, you don’t count.”

  “Oh, really? And why is that?”

  I sulked. “Because you’re biased.”

  He let go of me. “Okay, how about this, then? Yes, you’re fat, Eva Rae.”

  “Geez, thanks,” I said.

  He grabbed my face between his hands. I wanted to punch him and kiss him at the same time. I guess my hormones were wacky as usual these days.

  “You’re supposed to be fat, remember? You’re expecting.”

  “Please, don’t use that expression,” I said. “It makes me feel like I’m eighty. Or that you are. It also makes me want to gag.”

  Matt laughed and let go of me. I smiled with a shrug, then touched my belly. I was still at the stage where you couldn’t really tell if I was pregnant or had just gained a lot of weight. And I had gained a lot—more than with any of my other three children at this point. The pregnancy had been harder on me as well. I was more tired and felt more nauseated than in my earlier pregnancies.

  Maybe I was just too old for this. Being pregnant at forty-two wasn’t exactly ideal.

  Matt placed a hand on my stomach and kissed me. “I can’t wait to hold our baby in my arms.”

  I sighed. Matt had one other child, Elijah, but he hadn’t been a part of the boy’s baby years. He had gotten a woman pregnant, and she decided not to tell him until the child was three years old. He had missed out on a lot that he hoped to make up for now, but I feared he’d be scared away. He had no idea how hard it was to have a little infant in your life. He hadn’t gone through the sleepless nights or the crying for hours on end. He hadn’t had a hormonal woman in his life, yelling at him one minute, then wanting to make passionate love to him the next. I feared he was in for a bit of a surprise. Luckily, I had done it three times before. Oliva was now fifteen, Christine thirteen, and Alex seven, and I feared I had forgotten just how hard it was. I thought I was done with this part of my life and wasn’t sure I could deal with another time around. This wasn’t just the baby years, with the waking up every hour to eat or the constant changing of diapers, there’d be the terrible toddler years where you didn’t have a second to think, and then all the other stuff that I had probably forgotten about. I felt like I had enough dealing with two teenage girls in my life, driving me nuts. Adding a baby on top of it?

  It was spelling disaster.

  “I like this one over here,” he said and pointed at a crib. “Doesn’t that look like one he—or she—could sleep in all night, huh? It sure looks comfortable.”

  “Matt, it’s five hundred bucks. You must be crazy.”

  “But it’s the best one here. Nothing’s too good for our baby, right? We want her—or him—to be comfortable in the bed, so he’ll sleep all night, right?”

  I sighed and put my hand on his shoulder. “You do realize the baby is never going to sleep in that thing, right? I’ll be feeding him or her all night, and then eventually, the baby will end up sleeping in our bed. That’s what happened to all of my other three children.”

  Matt looked dumfounded. “But…how will we avoid lying on top of her or him? I’m a heavy sleeper.”

  “Oh, don’t worry, you won’t be sleeping in the bed. You’ll probably be in the guestroom, so you can take the baby in the morning in order to give me a couple of hours of sleep.”

  Matt stared at me, mouth gaping. I hated to make him feel like he was oblivious, but I needed to be honest right away, so he wouldn’t be disappointed. Having a baby was no joke, and a comfortable—very expensive—bed was no guarantee for a good night’s rest. There was only one thing we could be certain of, and that was that it was going to be hard work.

  Chapter 3

  THEN:

  “Hey, what’s with the long face?”

  Jade looked up from her phone with a sniffle. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand, then shook her head. It was Billy who had asked. He was a close friend of her parents, and right now, he was helping them by fixing the sink in the kitchen.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know you were here.”

  Billy was going through his toolbox and pulled out a wrench. “Your mom called. Said you had water coming out this morning. She couldn’t get ahold of a plumber who could make it out today, so I said I would do it.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Jade said, remembering the chaotic morning they’d had before school. Their dad was away for the week, as he often was as a traveling salesman. Billy was his best friend since high school. He lived close by and was her mom’s go-to guy when Jade’s dad was away.

  “So, what’s up?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You looked really sad when you walked in while looking at that phone of yours.”

  Jade shrugged, then put down the phone. She walked to the fridge and opened it.

  “Just some friend stuff.”

  He nodded, still holding the wrench in hand. “I see. Friends can be a bummer, huh? Especially at your age. I remember my sister always having trouble with hers. One day she went to school, and her best friend for years had turned her back on her and was now best friends with someone else. Just like that. I never understood how girls could be so mean to one another in middle school.”

  “Yeah, well, I am a freshman now in high school. Things were supposed to be different,” Jade said and pulled out the milk. “At least I always thought it would be. But the drama this year is awful. It makes me sick.”

  Billy nodded. “Yeah, well, it used to make my sister sick too.”

  “I try to stay out of it, but they keep dragging me in, and I don’t like it,” she said. “I don’t really have many friends and stay mostly to myself in school.”

  “What?” Billy said. “A girl like you doesn’t have many friends? That can’t be true.”

  “Well, it is. No one likes me at school.”

  “I’m sure the boys do. They must be lining up to date you, right?”

  That made Jade laugh. “Not really. They prefer the popular girls, and I am not one of those.”

  “They must be nuts,” Billy said with a wink. “A girl like you back in my day would have been very popular.” He shook his head. “Kids these days.”

  Jade poured herself a glass of milk, then drank it. She felt Billy’s eyes on her, and it made her blush. She realized she had a milk mustache and wiped it away. She approached the sink and looked down at him as he crawled in underneath it again with the wrench in his hand.

  “So, what’s wrong?” she said, leaning in above him. “With the sink?”

  He looked up at her, then smiled. “It’s nothing really. I just need to change a gasket. It’ll be done in a jiff, and I’ll be out of your hair.”

  Jade shrugged again. She didn’t mind having Billy at the house. On the contrary, she preferred him over an empty house. She never liked coming home and being all alone in the big dark house. Her brother Ethan wouldn’t be home till after football practice in two hours, and her mother had said she would be home right before dinner. Jade was always alone in the house for several hours, and she hated that. Especially after the neighbors had their car broken into, it freaked her out. Having Billy there made her feel safer. He was tall and strong, and he was a cop.