"Search the lake."
I don't know why I said that.
Maybe because Richard wanted us to chase him.
Maybe because for twenty years every clue had led back here.
The lake.
Always the lake.
Lucas nodded first.
Then Ethan.
Even Vanessa agreed.
Richard disappeared into the forest.
But none of us followed.
Instead, we turned toward the dark water.
Toward the place where our lives had changed forever.
The sun was beginning to set.
Golden light stretched across the surface.
Making it look peaceful.
Beautiful.
A liar's beauty.
Because beneath that water...
Something had been hidden for twenty years.
I could feel it.
Lucas pointed toward the old dock.
"That's where it happened."
Slowly, we walked toward it.
The wood groaned beneath our feet.
Half-rotted by time.
Then Ethan stopped.
"Look."
Something was attached to one of the dock posts.
A metal chain.
Rusty.
Old.
Disappearing into the water.
My heart started racing.
Lucas saw it too.
And immediately jumped into the lake.
The splash echoed across the camp.
Seconds passed.
Then a minute.
Then two.
No Lucas.
No movement.
No sign of him.
Vanessa gripped my arm.
"Ethan..."
Before she could finish—
The water exploded.
Lucas surfaced.
Gasping.
Terrified.
Not excited.
Terrified.
"Get out!" he shouted.
"What happened?"
"GET OUT HERE!"
Ethan immediately pulled him toward the dock.
Lucas climbed out.
Shaking violently.
His face was completely white.
"What did you see?" I asked.
Lucas pointed at the chain.
His hand trembled.
"It's attached to something."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
For several seconds he couldn't answer.
Then finally—
"A car."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
A car.
At the bottom of the lake.
Hidden for twenty years.
Forgotten by everyone.
Or almost everyone.
Then Lucas whispered the words none of us wanted to hear.
"It's the journalist's car."
The world stopped.
A car meant evidence.
Evidence meant truth.
Truth meant someone had been lying for decades.
Then Ethan looked toward the camp buildings.
His eyes narrowed.
"How do you know it's his?"
Lucas froze.
Good question.
Too good.
Because he answered immediately.
Too soon.
The realization hit me.
And judging by Ethan's face...
It hit him too.
Lucas knew things he shouldn't know.
Details nobody had mentioned.
Details nobody had revealed.
The air suddenly felt different.
Dangerous.
Then Ethan stepped forward.
Very slowly.
"Lucas."
No answer.
"How do you know it's the journalist's car?"
Lucas looked away.
The worst thing he could have done.
Because guilty people look away.
The silence lasted only seconds.
But it felt like forever.
Then Lucas finally spoke.
His voice breaking.
"I was there."
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
"I saw everything."
The words hung in the air.
And suddenly...
The victim we'd spent twenty years feeling sorry for...
Was hiding something enormous.
Then Lucas looked directly at me.
Tears in his eyes.
And whispered:
"I didn't disappear because I was afraid of the killer."
My heart sank.
"Then why did you disappear?"
Lucas closed his eyes.
And when he opened them again...
The little boy we'd remembered was gone.
Only the truth remained.
"Because the last person to see the journalist alive..."
His voice cracked.
"...was me."

What do you think Lucas is hiding?
A. He witnessed the murder
B. He accidentally caused it
C. He knows who the real killer is
D. He's been lying from the beginning