Roses on the Water
Chapter 01 - Roses on the Water
The first scream cut through the music just as Daniel Mercer stepped onto the terrace.
One second earlier, the backyard had looked perfect. White linen tables surrounded the swimming pool, red rose petals floated across the blue water, and nearly fifty guests had gathered to celebrate Daniel and Laura's tenth wedding anniversary. Their eight-year-old daughter, Emma, stood near the shallow end in a white dress, clutching the silver bracelet her grandmother had given her.
Then Emma slipped.
Her small body struck the water hard. The rose petals scattered around her like drops of blood. For a terrible moment, nobody moved. Laura stood three feet away, one hand pressed to her mouth. Daniel's younger brother, Mark, was near the bar, staring as if he had forgotten how legs worked.
Daniel did not think. He ran.
He tore off his jacket, jumped over a chair, and dove into the pool. The water swallowed every sound. Beneath the surface, Emma's dress billowed around her while her arms moved weakly. Daniel caught her around the waist and kicked upward, his lungs burning.
When he lifted her onto the stone deck, she was pale and silent.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he begged, pressing his hands against her chest. “Come back to me.”
Laura dropped to her knees, crying. “It was an accident. She ran too close to the edge. I tried to stop her.”
Daniel barely heard. He gave Emma another breath.
She coughed suddenly, spilling water across his shirt. The crowd released one broken gasp. Daniel pulled her against him so tightly that she whimpered.
“Daddy,” Emma whispered, trembling. “I did what Mommy said.”
Daniel froze.
Laura's crying stopped for half a second—just long enough for him to notice.
Before he could ask what Emma meant, the paramedics rushed through the gate. They placed an oxygen mask over Emma's face and carried her toward the ambulance. Daniel followed, holding her hand.
May you like
Behind him, the rose petals drifted back together, hiding the place where his daughter had almost died. Daniel glanced back once from the ambulance doors. Mark was not watching Emma. He was watching Laura, and Laura was staring at the security camera above the terrace as though calculating what it had seen.
Then she quietly picked up something small and black from the wet stones beside the pool.
