Chapter 14
Officer Miller did not lower her weapon, but she stepped smoothly past Julian, keeping her eyes locked on Beatrice while moving toward the rear exit that led to the wooden dock. "Mr. Vance, stay here with your mother," the officer instructed crisply, before pushing open the side door and stepping out into the blinding rain.
The beam of the officer’s tactical flashlight cut sweeping arcs across the raging, swollen river, illuminating the foaming white water as it battered the wooden pilings of the dock.
Julian ignored the instruction, following Officer Miller out onto the slippery planks of the dock, with Arthur and Beatrice remaining inside the dim warmth of the boathouse. The freezing wind nearly knocked Julian off balance, the roar of the current deafening in his ears. He clutched the wooden railing, his knuckles turning white as he searched the darkness along the riverbank.
"Clara!" Julian shouted, his voice instantly swallowed by the storm. "Clara!"
Officer Miller swept her flashlight beam along the rocky shoreline downstream, where the dense brush hung low over the rushing water. For several seconds, nothing appeared except the churning white foam and the twisted branches of fallen trees. Then, caught against a cluster of exposed roots just twenty yards down the bank, a splash of bright red fabric emerged from the gloom.
"Over there!" Officer Miller yelled, breaking into a fast, cautious sprint along the narrow muddy path bordering the riverbank, her boots splashing through the puddles.
Julian scrambled after her, sliding down the wet embankment with reckless abandon. When they reached the spot, the beam of the flashlight revealed Clara lying half-submerged in the shallow, rushing edge of the current, her long red hair tangled in the dark roots, her cream-colored jacket soaked and heavy with mud.
Officer Miller dropped to her knees in the freezing water without hesitation, pressing two fingers against Clara’s neck to check for a pulse, while Julian knelt beside them, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
"She has a pulse," Officer Miller shouted over the roar of the river, her professional composure holding firm despite the grim circumstances. "She’s hypothermic and unconscious, but she’s breathing. Help me pull her up onto the bank before the current shifts."
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Working together with desperate strength, Julian and the officer hoisted Clara’s limp body out of the freezing water, dragging her up onto the muddy grass away from the immediate danger of the river. Julian pulled off his wet outer jacket, wrapping it tightly around Clara’s shivering shoulders, while Officer Miller keyed her radio to call for an emergency ambulance to meet them at the main gates.
As Julian looked down at Clara’s pale, bruised face, he realized the terrifying reality: the truth had nearly cost a human life, and the walls of the estate could no longer protect anyone from the consequences of what lay buried beneath them.
