No Escape by Julie Moffett

 

Chapter Twenty-Seven

 

Lexi Carmichael

 

Tito slowly pulled Vittoria to the pool steps. When she was finally able to stand, I realized I’d been holding my breath for the last minute.

“Thanks, Tito,” Vittoria said. “That was closer than I’d like to admit. I’ve used floats in the water for many years, so I was confident I could ride one of the cans to the middle, but the shallow depth of the cans, the stiff sides, and my pregnant belly made them much harder to ride than I expected. Clearly, it didn’t work. We’ll need another approach.”

“No problem, Vittoria,” I said. “It’s just one more option we can eliminate, which is useful in determining the best course of action.” I pointed at the hot tub. “In the meantime, can you keep an eye on the water level and let us know when it’s getting close to full?”

“Of course,” she said, shaking the water from her hands and legs.

“Come on, Lexi.” Juliette tugged on my arm. “I’ll show you what we found.”

My in-laws and I walked along the side of the pool, away from the end with the siphon hose. Approximately eight feet from the center, Oscar stopped and put the skimmer into the water. It hit something solid.

I bent down at the edge of the pool, peering into the water. Now that I knew it was there, I could see it. “It’s a glass platform about a foot under the water. It looks like it’s about a half meter wide and curves upward toward the edges. I bet that makes it harder to slip off if someone was to walk on it. I’m not sure how far it goes out, but my guess is all the way to the center of the pool, directly above the float.”

To test my theory, Oscar pushed the skimmer as far out as it would go, and from that I was able to confirm the invisible shelf pointed on a diagonal toward the square in the center of the pool. Running the skimmer back toward the edge, the platform stopped about a foot from the edge of the pool.

“This glass or plastic walkway is our access to the float and eventually the disc,” Juliette said. “We just have to be careful with the first step.”

No kidding, I thought. We had a means to the middle, but what was the best way to test it out? If the walkway was a red herring solution—much like trying to float on the cans—and wouldn’t hold our weight, then we’d be sunk, literally. I was also troubled about the slippery walkway and not being able to see it while walking on it.

Still, it was a way forward.

“This is amazing deductive work by both of you,” I said to Oscar and Juliette. I felt ridiculously proud of my in-laws and couldn’t wait to tell Slash about their contributions. “Well done.”

Tito knelt beside me and reached out to touch the walkway. “Das ist clever. I’m confident the curved effect on the path will help keep us from slipping off.”

“The key will be to make sure we don’t accidentally step off the edge,” Stefan said.

The mere thought of standing on a glass walkway in the middle of a swimming pool caused me to shudder. I hoped no one noticed.

“Maybe we could first lay out the skimmer pole out along the walkway to help identify where it is,” Vittoria called out from near the hot tub.

“Great idea, Vittoria,” Juliette said. “Especially since it seems the path goes straight toward the middle. We could use that to orient our steps.”

“I’ll do it,” Tito said, giving me a grin. “Walk the glass pathway. I may be the heaviest, but I have wicked good balance and I’m pretty athletic.”

His confidence was infectious, and I decided that there wasn’t a better choice, especially since I really, really didn’t want to do it.

We all looked at each other, and when no one objected, Tito slid the skimmer into the pool and along the walkway as far as it would go.

Oscar and Stefan stood on either side of him, holding his hands as he gingerly stepped off the edge of the pool. He carefully placed one bare foot near the handle of the skimmer and paused. Convinced it would support his weight, he added the other foot and stilled again, standing on the walkway.

The pool area fell completely silent. I think we were afraid if someone spoke, Tito would fall off.

“Das ist the moment of truth,” Tito said. “Let go of my hands.”

Oscar released his hand first, followed by Stefan. Tito was now alone, balancing on the walkway. He waited a moment until he felt he was comfortably balanced. He took a tiny step forward, almost a shuffle, and then another. After he’d gone a few feet, he bent down and slid the skimmer the rest of the way until it hit something in the vicinity of the square. Confident the path went all the way to the middle, he started to walk more confidently out to the middle. When he reached the glass box, he knelt and felt around the area.

“It’s a box with an open top. As far as I can tell, it goes down pretty far, possibly to the bottom of the pool. It’s definitely centered over the float.” He stood, putting a partial amount of weight on the edges of the box, pushing down to see if it gave. “It doesn’t move, which means it probably goes all the way to the floor.”

“Use the hook on the skimmer to snag the float and see if you can pull it and the weight up,” I instructed.

Tito took the skimmer and slid it into the box toward the float. He jabbed at the float several times before giving up. “We’ve got a problem. The float is too tight against the sides of the box, so the hook can’t catch on anything. I can’t push the skimmer past it.”

“Any ideas how to proceed?” Stefan asked me.

Right now, I had nothing. I needed time to think, but we were running out of time. My brain was busy calculating a million things, and nothing made sense.

“Vittoria, how are we in terms of water in the hot tub?” I called out.

“More than halfway full,” she said. “And the water is still coming out.”

I estimated that at this point our makeshift siphon had drained at least an inch off the top of the pool. The result was that the top of the square box was now clearly visible, the sides protruding slightly above the water.

“I’m going to check the other side of the box,” Tito suddenly said. “Maybe there’s a latch or something that will set the float free.” He set the skimmer down and carefully lay across the square on his stomach, reaching his hands down the other side of the box, searching.

“I’ve got something,” he said excitedly. “I think it’s another walkway. This one connects to the other side of the box. Would someone go check the other side of the pool to see where it starts?”

Stefan and Oscar went to check it out, and within a minute, they confirmed the presence of a second diagonal walkway. At this point my brain had started to come up with a potential plan.

Unfortunately, that plan meant I needed to see the box at the center for myself. I had to force the words out of my mouth.

“I need to get a look at the box and the float for myself,” I said.

“Are you sure?” Tito asked, giving me a smile from the center of the pool. “Walking on a glass walkway requires confidence, balance, and coordination.”

“Very funny. Don’t worry, if I fall in, I’ll just tell Slash you pushed me.”

He laughed, and his teasing made me feel a little better, which maybe was the point, so I faced the walkway with determination. I took Oscar’s and Stefan’s hands to stabilize me on either side as I stepped onto the walkway, the water sloshing over my feet. My legs were shaking, which wasn’t a good sign, but I forced myself to be calm and let go of both of their hands.

This was a bad idea. A terrible, horrible idea.

I stood there for a good minute, letting my body and mind get used to the idea I was on the walkway and summoning my courage to move farther. Eventually, I began taking tiny steps forward toward Tito and the middle square. Before I knew it, I was almost there.

“You’ve got this,” he said encouragingly, stretching out a hand.

I made the mistake of looking at Tito’s hand instead of my feet, and my foot slipped.

“Noooooooo!” I shrieked, reaching toward him.