Chapter 2 - The Yellow VestCooper reached the bottom of the staircase at full speed.
By the time he burst through the patio door, Mia was no longer laughing.
The yellow vest around her chest had begun losing buoyancy.
One side sagged lower than the other.
Mia kicked instinctively, but she was only three.
“Grandma?”
Evelyn was gone.
Mia tried to move toward the steps.
Water reached her chin.
She coughed.
Cooper barked wildly.
He ran along the pool edge, following her.
Mia’s face dipped beneath the surface.
Cooper jumped.
The splash was enormous.
He paddled toward her, but a Golden Retriever could not safely lift a frightened toddler from deep water.
He did something simpler.
He stayed beside her.
Mia grabbed his fur.
Cooper turned toward the shallow end.
At that exact moment, a vehicle pulled into the circular driveway.
Grace Miller, the Brooks family’s housekeeper, had returned early because the pharmacy had closed.
She heard barking before she reached the kitchen.
“Cooper?”
The barking became frantic.
Grace dropped her grocery bag.
She ran.
When she saw the pool, she screamed.
“Mia!”
She jumped into the water fully dressed.
Within seconds she had one arm beneath Mia and another against the pool wall.
Cooper stayed beside them.
Grace pushed Mia onto the deck.
The little girl coughed violently.
“Come on, baby. Come on.”
Mia began crying.
Grace nearly collapsed with relief.
She grabbed her phone and called 911.
Then she looked around.
“Evelyn?”
No answer.
Grace’s gaze fell to Mia’s flotation vest.
It looked wrong.
Deflated.
Grace touched it.
Three tiny wet openings were visible along one seam.
She froze.
Cooper climbed from the pool and shook water from his coat.
He stared toward the mansion.
Then he barked again.
Grace understood something immediately.
“Daniel.”
She ran inside.
Upstairs, Daniel was still asleep.
“Daniel!”
He barely moved.
Grace shook him.
“Daniel, wake up!”
His eyes opened slowly.
“What happened?”
“Mia was in the pool.”
Daniel was instantly awake.
“What?”
“The vest failed.”
He stumbled from bed.
Sirens could already be heard in the distance.
Daniel ran downstairs barefoot.
When he reached the patio, Mia sat wrapped in a towel, crying against Grace.
Daniel dropped to his knees.
“Mia.”
“Daddy!”
She reached for him.
Daniel held her.
The paramedics arrived minutes later.
One examined Mia while another asked questions.
“Was she unconscious?”
“No,” Grace said. “But she went under.”
“How long?”
“Seconds. I think.”
The paramedic looked toward Daniel.
“Were you supervising her?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
“I was upstairs.”
Evelyn appeared through the garden door.
Her expression transformed instantly.
“Oh my God!”
She hurried toward Mia.
“What happened?”
Grace stared at her.
“You were with her.”
Evelyn stopped.
“I went inside for lemonade.”
“You left a three-year-old alone in the pool?”
“She had a flotation vest.”
Daniel looked down.
That was when he saw it.
The yellow vest lay on the stone beside Mia.
Partially collapsed.
Three tiny holes.
Daniel felt something cold move through him.
Evelyn saw his expression.
“Daniel, those weren’t there before.”
Cooper began growling.
Everyone turned.
The dog stood directly behind Evelyn.
His wet fur was plastered against his body.
His lips pulled slightly back.
“Cooper,” Daniel warned.
But Cooper did not look at him.
He looked only at Evelyn.
Evelyn slowly stepped away.
“He’s acting strange.”
Grace looked from the dog to Evelyn.
“No,” she said.
Everyone turned toward her.
Grace pointed toward Cooper.
“He’s acting like he knows exactly what happened.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
Only for a second.
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But Daniel saw it.
And for the first time since Alyssa’s funeral, he wondered whether the woman standing in front of him was someone he had never actually known.
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