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Holy shit. A boat was on fire out there on the lake.
Ten
Normally, Kendra wouldn’t be too crazy about being dumped on her butt on the pier. But she made an exception in this case. Jason swore as he scrambled to his feet.
“Call 9—”
“I got it,” she told him as she grabbed her phone.
He was already ripping off his jacket for the second time that day.
“You’re really going to swim all the way out there?”
“It’s not that far. There’s no boats tied up that I can commandeer. Anyway, I’m hoping the crew shows up and I can hitch a ride the rest of the way.”
“Then go. Or do you want me to push you off like we planned?”
Even though he laughed, he already had his game face on. She’d never seen him in firefighter mode, at least not in an emergency situation like this. Every hint of his usual lighthearted manner dropped away. He was all business now, focused, planning. He gave her one more nod and dove into the water. A moment later, he surfaced a short distance away and struck out across the lake.
The dispatcher finally answered. Kendra recognized the voice of Eileen Iverson, because she used to work as an auctioneer and still had that certain cadence to her voice. “Lake Bittersweet Dispatch, please state your name and emergency,” she said, fitting all the words into about half a second.
“This is Kendra Carter. There’s a boat on fire on the lake. I’m on the Blue Drake pier and it’s maybe two hundred yards away. I think they were heading this way. Jason Mosedale is on his way out there.”
“In a boat?”
“No, he’s swimming. Just getting a head start.”
But he was doing more than that, she saw as she gazed across the dark water. Someone tumbled off the boat and treaded water near the speedboat. That person was yelling at someone else, someone still onboard. The panic in his voice gave her chills. Jason stopped to see what was happening, called something to the man, then kept swimming. She couldn’t make out what any of them were saying, but she could guess. Jason was telling him to hang on, help was coming. Don’t panic, that sort of thing.
Should she join him out there? She was a pretty strong swimmer herself, but she had no rescue training. She might make matters worse if she got tired out there and someone had to rescue her.
There was something she could do, though. Back in her chambermaid days, they used to keep extra blankets in a cedar-lined storage shed near the head of the path. Gina oversaw that sort of thing now, but there was no reason why it would have changed.
She ran down the pier and jumped onto the packed-dirt pathway that connected all the cabins. The storage shed had a padlock fastened with a combination lock. Recalling the old numbers, she twirled the knob, and incredibly, it worked. Gina must have kept the same number for sentimental reasons.
Inside, she grabbed a pile of blankets, then ran back along the pathway. From here she got a different angle on the burning boat. The flames soared higher, dragon’s tongues licking the air. Had the other person onboard jumped off? Were there only two people onboard? After the concert, a few boats had set off from the pier, heading back to their homes on the other side of the lake. It was much quicker to boat across than to drive around. Maybe one of those people had run into engine trouble?
She dumped the blankets on the end of the pier, then thought of something else. Binoculars. Her father kept a pair in the kitchen of the Blue Drake for those oh-so-exciting bird sightings. Personally, she had no patience for birdwatching, but she’d take the binocs, thank you very much.
Another dash back up the pier, into the kitchen. She grabbed the binoculars and a DeWalt flashlight so she could see better. Back on the pier, she used the binoculars to scan the area for the arrival of a crew of firefighters, but saw no one. The fire department didn’t own a boat, but several of the volunteer firefighters had contracts with the department for use of their boats in emergencies.
There had to be better options for water emergencies. If she got the town manager job, she’d come up with a proposal.
Not that she had a chance now. The reminder of her stupid—and uncharacteristic—screwup made her stomach hurt. Betty could easily tank her application. And to be honest, her actions had been reckless and immature. Unbecoming of a town manager. Should she pay a visit to Betty and formally apologize? Maybe explain her very wrong-headed thinking and promise never to get anyone drunk and push them off the pier if she was town manager?
Unless Dominic himself came to town. Then all bets were off.
Out on the water, she saw Jason reach the first man who had jumped off the boat. And there, Kendra spotted another person. A woman, perhaps? Someone smaller. She raised the binoculars to her face. The second person grabbed onto Jason by the neck and hung on. He or she seemed to be sobbing. It was a young kid, she realized, but not anyone she recognized.
Behind them, the boat was beginning to founder. It was too late for the fire department to save it. The most they could do was rescue the people onboard, and Jason had already done that.
But how was he going to get them to shore? He must be tired himself, and that kid was about to drag him under. Was he supposed to transport both of them to shore by sheer force of will? She couldn’t just stand out here. She had to do something.
And then it hit her.
A rental kayak. The resort owned a few they offered up to guests. Why hadn’t she thought about them before? Those kisses must have really scrambled her brain. They were stored on a rack near the top of the pier, hidden in the shadows of the forest. She dashed to the rack and tugged free a two-person kayak, which clattered onto the ground. There was no way she could carry it alone, so she dragged it down the beach. Sorry, Carly! I know you’d understand.
When she reached the water, she kicked off her shoes, pushed the kayak into the water, waded in, then climbed onboard. She didn’t bother with a spray skirt, which were provided for choppier days. Paddling hard, she skimmed across the water, and in a few minutes drew close to the three swimmers.
