‘Eric, I’m going to ask you this one time, okay, and I want an honest answer. Did you break Gibson’s radio?’
Pausing to contemplate, Eric’s face revealed nothing. ‘I didn’t break it,’ he muttered.
‘Eric...’
‘I said I didn’t break it.’ No hesitation this time.
‘But it’s in your lap,’ he pressed.
‘So? I didn’t break it.’
‘Then who did?’
Eric wiped his eyes. ‘I want to go back outside.’
‘First tell me who did this,’ James said firmly.
‘I don’t know.’
‘In that case the onus is on you, pal. I don’t know why you’d do something like this, but your mother’s going to be very disappointed.’
James pushed aside the blanket to leave, bright shafts of sunlight flashing through the tent.
‘Wait,’ the big man mumbled.
James glanced back.
‘I didn’t do it. Cross my heart.’
Sitting back down, James said, ‘You understand the importance of promises, Eric? If you make one, it’s vital you keep it.’
‘I do promise.’
‘Then who broke the transmitter?’
‘I swear I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Last night when Gibson Pilot had nearly finished making the radio, I was falling asleep. He didn’t need me no more, so I went to my tent. I was real tired, James.’
‘So how did it end up here?’
‘When I heard Gibson Pilot screaming before, I ran to him before anybody else. I didn’t have good dreams last night. I dreamt I was –’
‘Eric...’
‘…When I got there, the radio was lying next to him like this. I brought it in here to fix it, but I can’t make it work again.’
‘Shit,’ James murmured.
‘I promise, James, it wasn’t me. Do you think Gibson Pilot smashed it himself? Because if he did, he smashed it good.’
Nothing seemed coherent. There was no chance Gibson would’ve stayed up all night building the transmitter and then decide to smash the damn thing. That made no sense at all. Spite wasn’t in the pilot’s toolbox. He believed Eric too. The man just didn’t seem capable of something like this. So who?
He was interrupted by Oli poking his head inside the tent. ‘James, you’d better get out here.’
‘What is it?’
‘Just come take a look.’
‘Kind of have something going on in here, Oli, can’t it wait?’
‘Not really,’ said the student. ‘We think it’s Teri. You’d better come see.’
44
Jogging alongside Oli, flour-soft grains pushing between his toes, James’s wish for order seemed a million miles away. How naïve he’d been to assume they could simply set up camp and wait for the cavalry. That too seemed far away now, like the blistering shimmer on the horizon. Oli pointed out the others further up the beach. Sebastian and the girl were standing with Elaine around an unidentifiable spot.
‘What is this?’ James asked as he neared.
Nobody replied.
Stepping into the circle, he took a closer look.
‘Nobody’s seen Teri since last night,’ said Oli.
‘So?’ said James casually. ‘Wouldn’t be the first time she’s wandered off.’
Elaine placed a worried hand over her mouth. ‘I think this may be my fault. Goodness, I shouldn’t’ve hit her.’
‘This has nothing to do with you, Elaine.’
‘We assumed she’d gone wandering too,’ Oli explained. ‘Then we found this.’
Dropping to his haunches, James examined the disturbed sand, a thin trail of dark spots leading from fat to thin. ‘What is that?’
‘We think it’s blood,’ Oli confirmed.
‘Somebody cut themselves?’
‘No,’ he said, pointing out the path-like ditch heading to the tree line. It looked as if something had been dragged into the jungle.
‘Okay,’ he said firmly. ‘Here’s what we do. If we’re assuming the blood belongs to Teri, we also need to assume she’s nearby and injured. So we fan out and search. Sebastian, you go to the left, Oli to the right. About a hundred yards over, dip into the trees and head back this way. Elaine, find Abbey, get her over here.’
Elaine hurried away.
‘What about you?’ asked Oli.
‘I’ll head straight in from here. I’ll see you in there.’
Oli nodded to the girl. ‘And her?’
‘I don’t mind taking her,’ Sebastian offered.
James eyed the South African. ‘She comes with me.’
He expected the man to protest. Instead he simply walked away in the direction he’d been instructed.
For a moment, Oli burned a hole into the South African’s back. When he caught James watching him, he turned and headed sheepishly in the opposite direction.
James offered his hand to the girl who took it without uncertainty. Closer to the trees the ground was less disturbed, as if whatever had been dragged had then been picked up.
Hesitant to step further, the girl began dragging her heels.
‘What is it, sweetie?’ Images of the banana grove flooded his head. ‘You don’t need to worry, I’m right here.’
With little more coaxing the girl edged forwards, stepping into the shade of the fronds. ‘Atta-girl,’ he said, holding her hand tight.
No more than ten yards in, the tracks began to fade. In thirty, there were no signs at all that anybody had ever been there. At one-hundred yards the girl abruptly stopped for the second time, cautiously eying the surrounding foliage with big saucepan eyes. Her features softened dramatically when Oli’s voice floated to them from nearby. ‘James? Where you at?’
‘Over here.’
Through the tangle of greenery Oli stepped into sight. ‘Find anything?’
‘Nothing, you?’
‘Nope,’ said the student. ‘She’s got to be here somewhere. This is the same bay as the camp. If somebody’s out there preying on us, he’s got some balls snatching one of us this close.’
Sebastian appeared, stepping tactlessly between James and the girl. ‘Who’s talking about snatching people? You guys losing the plot, or what? We’re on a deserted island.’
‘Then who took Teri?’
‘Nobody took Teri,’ said Sebastian. ‘Do I have to remind you, we
