The Witch in the Lake Read Online Free Page B

would be there, bending over him, consulting his notebooks for treatments. ‘No, no I’m fine,’ Leo waved his hand away.
    Marco straightened up. His face was set.
    He’s remembered, thought Leo.
    â€˜Did something happen tonight that made you so late?’ asked Marco. ‘Or were you just careless?’
    Look at him wanting me to say the second thing, thought Leo. He has to ask the first, but he doesn’t really want to know.
    Leo struggled. He imagined those little vessels of his heart wriggling around in confusion. ‘Something happened, Papà, down near the lake,’ he burst out.
    â€˜Oh, Madonna!’ cried Marco, stamping his foot. ‘How many times have I told you not to go there? A hundred, a thousand? Are you deaf, boy?’
    Leo jumped up in rage to face him. ‘But
why?
You’re always saying how stupid these superstitions are. You don’t believe them all anyway! Why should we obey these silly laws when it might be just another story—I’ve heard you say just that!’
    â€˜Yes, but the lake—’
    â€˜Like the crazy people who believe Massimo’s beads ward off the evil eye.’
    â€˜I know, and now everyone wants them. But the lake is different—’
    â€˜And even your Signor Butteri,’ Leo went on, ‘last week when his son was ill, he replaced all his furniture with red, because he was told that would cure his son!’
    Marco laughed. ‘You’re telling me—I had to go out and find all the new coverings!’
    â€˜You admire your Leonardo so much because he
didn’t
believe these fanciful ideas, don’t you? He did his own experiments. He wanted to discover what’s true, right?’
    â€˜â€œThose who only study old books and neglect Mother Nature will never find the truth they are seeking.”’ Marco brought out Leonardo da Vinci’s words in his serious, deep voice.
    Leo nodded. He began to pace around the room in his nightshirt. He felt flushed, excited, as if he were on the edge of a discovery. ‘So Leonardo relied on experience for his knowledge, yes? He even cut bodies open to see with his own eyes! He didn’t just believe what people say.’
    Marco frowned as his eyes moved around the room, watching his son. ‘Mm, but the lake is something else, Leo, and you know it. You won’t get around me like this.’
    â€˜What do I know about the lake? Only what people say. Why do
you
believe them?’
    Marco looked away. He stared at the wall, where a painting of his wife was hung.
    Leo waited, his heart pounding.
    â€˜I’ll only say this,’ Marco’s voice was loud in the still room. ‘You must never go near that lake again, my boy, and I hope you didn’t involve Merilee in this dangerous adventure of yours tonight—’
    â€˜Well, if you want to know—’
    â€˜I don’t.’ Marco waved his hand. ‘Heaven knows we’ve caused enough sorrow to that family. Just keep away—from the lake and Merilee.’
    Marco turned his back on Leo and moved towards the table.
    Leo let out a grunt of anger. ‘Are you still dwelling on that? Laura disappeared three whole years ago! It’s Meri’s aunt who’s responsible for all that mess! You tried to do everything you could!’
    Marco sat down heavily in his chair. ‘I did try, but it wasn’t good enough. And sometimes that’s worse than doing nothing at all.’
    Leo watched Marco pick up his notebook and begin to read. But he saw his father’s eyes hold still, staring off into the dark space of the room. He could only imagine what it must have been like to live through every second of that last hour. Because Leo hadn’t been there. No one had—only Marco, who had never said a word.

Chapter Three
    Leo and Merilee were nine years old when Laura fell ill. She’d just had her thirteenth birthday, and Leo remembered Merilee