Derek regained consciousness to find he was lying on the grassy edge of the shore with Brad hovering over him. He was soaking wet, and he discovered when he gingerly touched the side of his head, bleeding as well. He looked at Brad and managed a small smile. “It didn’t work. I still don’t remember anything.”
“Thank God,” Brad said, relief flooding his face. “Not about not remembering, but that you can joke about it.”
Even as Brad said that, police and an ambulance pulled up on the road above them. Moments later, two EMTs started checking Derek’s wound while the police officers talked to Brad. The smell of smoke drifted over from the canal and when he was able to, Derek looked and saw the remnants of the houseboat, the burned out hull barely afloat in the water.
The EMTs bandaged the cre
