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Lights suddenly pushed away the darkness around the pool. Peering through the black shower, Lou saw Buddy by the switch panel at the rear of the house. Then the pool lights came on. Instead of the brilliant shimmering blue that Lou remembered from summer night parties, the water looked murky. Like used dishwater. Its surface, calm except for ruffles set in motion by Doug swimming toward the deep end, was spickled with tiny geysers spashed up by the raindrops. |
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Lou turned in a slow circle, scanning the depths. Though the water was cloudy with gray, he could see the bottom. At least at the shallow end. When he studied the other end, he realized he couldn't make out the drain at the deepest point. So the gloom obscured the very bottom. |
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Maureen couldn't be that far down, he thought. Not if she's alive. |
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And dead, wouldn't she float to the surface? |
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Doug stopped beneath the diving board, reached up and grabbed its edge. 'I don't think she's in here,' he called to Lou. |
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Buddy walked out to the end of the board and gazed down. |
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'You see her?' Doug asked. |
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Buddy shook his head. 'Dive on down and check the bottom.' |
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'You and the horse you rode in on. I went under a minute ago and it scared the shit out of me.' |
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