Free Snapper by Felicia Zekauskas, Peter Maloney Page A

nothing,” said Owen, looking his wife squarely in the eye. “And what I’m counting on is Isaac. His two hands and my one make three.”
    Up in his bedroom above the kitchen, Isaac knitted together the fingers of his two hands. He was praying that his parents would please stop arguing. Even with his door closed, he could still hear every word they said – or at least every word his mother said.
    Isaac turned his head to the side. That way his mattress could muffle one ear while his pillow could muffle the other. He gazed out the window. The Andersens’ house was set on a rise on the east side of town. From his bedroom, Isaac could see the moonlight gleaming on the domes and spires of Paterson. Just beyond loomed the dark black mass of Garrett Mountain, the first rise in a range of mountains that rippled and swelled from the Passaic River to the Pennsylvania border and beyond.
    Somewhere out there, in one of those moonlit valleys, was Turtleback Lake. In the woods on its western shore was the foundation of an unbuilt log cabin while in the lake itself an angry turtle patrolled the depths, swimming from side to side and end to end with the handle of an ax jutting out of its back.

Chapter 12
    TURTLEBACK LAKE JUNE 2006
    When the phone didn’t stop ringing, Deena was sure it was Judd. When she picked up the receiver, she was ready to tear his head off.
    But then the voice she heard wasn’t Judd’s.
    It was someone else – somebody she’d spoken to once before, but only once.
    It was, she knew, before he could even tell her, August Andersen.
    She had heard his voice only that one time on the phone – when she had made the arrangements to rent his cabin for the summer.
    “I’m sorry,” she said. “I thought you were someone else.”
    “Well, whoever that someone else is,” said August, “I wouldn’t want to be them.”
    “Oh, it’s nothing, really,” said Deena. “I just let myself get a little too worked up over nothing. But tell me, how are you?”
    “I’m fine, thanks,” said August. “And I hope what I’m about to ask won’t upset you. If it does, please just say no and I’ll completely understand. But what I was hoping to do was to stop by the cabin for a couple of hours to address a few maintenance issues.”
    There was something about August’s voice that Deena found instantly soothing and calming. Moments before she had been practically throttling the receiver. Now she relaxed her grip. Then she switched the receiver to her left ear because her right ear was still a little sensitive. Judd’s nibbles the afternoon before had gotten a little rough.
    “I hope it’s not anything that I need be concerned about?” said Deena.
    “No, not at all,” said August. “Just minor maintenance. But since I’m going to be in the area, I thought I should carpe diem .”
    Carpe diem , thought Deena. Clearly she was dealing with a learned man.
    “When were you thinking of coming?” asked Deena.
    “This weekend, actually. I’m going to be in New York for a conference and I was hoping to shoot out there for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon.”
    “That’d be fine,” said Deena.
    “Well, great,” said August. “So figure I’ll just show up, probably around one or two.”
    “Sure,” said Deena. But she didn’t want the conversation to end so quickly. She wanted to keep it going.
    “I remember the last time we spoke you mentioned you were a teacher,” she said. “If you don’t mind my asking, what do you teach?”
    “I started out in marine biology,” said August. “But now I specialize in the study of fresh water bodies.”
    “Sounds interesting,” said Deena.
    “Not everybody thinks so,” laughed August.
    “Well, I do.”
    “Well, maybe then we can trade notes on Saturday,” said August. “Didn’t you tell me you were renting the cabin so you could work on your dissertation?”
    “You’ve got a good memory,” said Deena. “Maybe if you’ve got a few extra minutes you