Perri O’Shaughnessy - Breach Of Promise

She found herself inside a ruined pile of rocks which screened a small, dry, squarish cave, barely large enough to contain her, but very well hidden from view. Panting, almost crying with relief, trying to keep herself from making any noise, she sat down in the dirt, put her arms around her knees and shivered, burying her face into her arms.

Her eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness. When she finally looked around, she realized this was no natural formation. The walls formed a pattern, with larger boulders forming the base that gradually shrunk in size as they approached the top. The ceiling consisted of one huge slab. An intricate entryway, now collapsed, but with enough remnants to be discernible, had once lovingly described an arch.

Nina had fallen into what must once long ago have been the sailor’s tomb.

“Come out, Nina,” Genevieve said from somewhere above. “Don’t force me to come after you…”

Trying desperately to be silent, but sucking air in great gulps, Nina leaned back into the spidery walls of her cave, listening for sounds.

Wind. Rain.

And then, footfalls.

She got down on her hands and knees, reaching for something she could use for a weapon. Her hand landed on a loose rock, heavy, jagged. She held it aloft.

Only a few feet away now. The sounds came closer, closer…

And then, with a swiftness and noise that had abandoned stealth, they moved away.

Nina breathed out a sob. And the next thing she heard was Paul’s voice.

“Nina!” His voice rumbled, deep and full and desperate, traveling across the distance like a lion’s roar. “Nina!”

“Here!” she said, trying to stand up, whacking herself on the head. “I’m right here!”

She heard rocks falling around her, then the thump of heavy steps.

“Where?”

Paul’s voice sounded right beside her. She pushed a loose pile of rock away and stepped out into his arms, covered head to toe with dirt and dust. After a short moment, all too short, he stepped back.

“What the hell is going on?” he asked.

“Where is Genevieve?”

“I think I heard a splash back there. Someone dove off a rock near the cove,” he said.

“Her hearing aid. It wasn’t real.”

Paul seemed to understand immediately.

“Where are the boats?”

“Tied together in the cove.”

“She’ll take them both.”

“Let her, Nina,” Paul said, pushing the mop of her hair away from her eyes. “We can wait here. We’ll keep each other warm. I told Matt where we were going. He’ll find us.”

“What about Winston?”

“Oh, shit!”

“You left him tied up?”

The expression on his face gave her her answer.

“She’ll kill him!” Nina said.

“Why is she trying to kill Winston?”

“He knows more than we do about her. Maybe she knew when we found the bug he would connect her to Wright’s death.”

They tore back over the hump of hill to the pathway and ran down to the cove.

When they reached the small sandy beach, Genevieve had already unhitched the rental boat from its mooring on a rock and was climbing in. Banging against some rocks, the Andreadore bobbed behind. The kayak was by now a small yellow sliver on the horizon, heading toward the main body of the lake to the east.

“Where’s Winston?” Paul yelled.

“There!” Nina shouted. “She dumped him! He must have been trying to swim away from her and got caught in the current.” Out beyond the cove, also caught in the drifting waters they saw him flailing, the dark orb of his head dipping below the surface.

“I’ll go after her,” she told Paul. “I’m not strong enough to lug Winston back. You get him.” She started to jump into the water, but he held her back.

“Let her go,” he said.

Nina looked at Genevieve in the boat, and back at Paul. “We can’t leave Winston out there.”

“I’ll get Winston.” He held on to her.

“You’re no good to me or anyone else dead!” Nina cried. “She’ll run you both down if I don’t stop her!”

With a look of agonized indecision, he let go.

Nina dove, swimming as fast as she could to cover the few short yards between her and the speedboat. In spite of the pain, she ordered her injured wrist into action, kicking furiously to make up for the weakness in her stroke. Behind her, she dimly noted splashing as Paul set off to rescue Winston.

Rain broke from the sky, battering the water below and the people in it. Wet already, Nina hardly noticed. Within seconds, she reached the boat. Genevieve was searching frantically for something. Alternately kicking, cursing, and screaming at the boat, she lurched from side to side and front to back. Within a few moments, she stood up, triumphant, key in hand.

Meanwhile, Nina pulled down the ladder by the propeller, straightened up, and hauled her dripping body into the boat, into air as wet as the lake, her injuries forgotten, feeling like a monster rising from the deep, larger and more powerful than the disheveled person facing her now.

In the fleeting seconds when they faced off, Nina could find not even a hint of the youth and charm and personality that was Genevieve. She faced a stranger.

“Genevieve, why?” she asked, rain running down her face, trying to give herself a moment to assess the situation so that she could decide what to do next to stall Genevieve and give Paul time to get Winston to safety. “The tension. You’re not well-”

“Remember that little private meeting we had way back when? She promised me three million dollars,” said Genevieve, twisting the boat key savagely.

“Who?” asked Nina, looking around for a weapon and discovering only one, the knife held fast in Genevieve’s free hand.

“Lindy.”

“Lindy bribed you to bug the jury room?”

“Of course not. She offered me a bonus if we won. That’s a perfectly legitimate incentive in the business world. Too bad I had to open my big mouth and go bragging to Winston about it before I knew Wright was going to cause me such trouble. Even then, Winston never would have figured out what I had done if you hadn’t found that damn bug.”

“Lindy knew about Wright?”

“She didn’t want details. She wanted to win. And she did, didn’t she? I won it for her and by God, I’m going to get my money out of the deal.” The engine started up. “You know I always thought I’d do like the other ants because that’s what I was raised to do. But I am my father’s daughter. I just couldn’t resist the opportunity when it came along.”

While Genevieve talked, Nina edged in closer. “What are you going to do now?”

“Take care of Paul and Winston first, then you.”

“I thought you cared about Winston. And even me, a little.”

“Stay back,” Genevieve commanded, stabbing the knife in the air toward Nina.

Nina backed up quickly.

“You’ve got to go, Nina. I was stupid, losing track of that microphone. But I can fix everything right here in the tragic boating accident that’s just about to happen. You accidentally run down your friends and take your own life. It’s feeble, but the only witness will add substantiating details.”

“The attack on Rachel Pembroke?”

“She was Mike Markov’s muse, and way too influential. Without her pushing him to fight hard against Lindy we’d have had a much better chance to win the trial. And of course, she was a crucial witness. I hid in the backseat of her car, thinking I’d get her alone and stage a suicide. But she spotted me and cracked up the car before I could do anything. Then Lindy showed up out of nowhere, so I never finished the job. So I decided to trust my usual research method, listening in on the jury. This was the first time I’ve had to intervene to such an extent. I really am very good at my job. No one could have predicted Wright’s change in attitude. It wasn’t my fault.”