“It was just hard, you know?” They thought I was talking about losing her, about talking about it to the police. I let them keep thinking it.
“I know,” Natasha said, resting her head on my shoulder. “But it’s over now. The police will talk to Manu. They’ll figure out what’s going on and get us out of here safely.”
“At least now Emily can be laid to rest,” Jaren said, staring out at the ocean.
“And hopefully they’ll find Laura and Megan,” Brad said. He was fighting back tears, refusing to look at any of us, though I didn’t know why it mattered. We were all a blubbering mess anymore. “I saw them unloading the dogs off the boat earlier. They asked for pieces of Laura’s clothing and had the dogs walk around our hut to get a good feel for her scent.”
“Yeah, they asked for a piece of Megan’s clothing, too. I haven’t heard them bark yet,” Nick said. “That’s got to be a good thing, right?”
I sniffed, wiping my cheek on my shoulder. “I’m sure they’ll find them.”
“Do you think we’ll get to go home tonight?” Jaren asked. “I mean, when the police leave?”
“I don’t want to leave until I know what happened to Laura,” Brad said quickly.
“Me either,” Nick agreed. “I won’t leave until we know they’ve been found. Safe or…otherwise.” He ran a finger over his nose, shaking his head. “I can’t imagine going anywhere until we know the truth about what happened.”
I nodded because none of it mattered. By the time we left, they’d all know the truth about everything.
Like I already did.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Nick
The dogs were called out of the woods after dinner, their officers behind them. There were no signs of Laura or Megan, and I couldn’t decide if that was good or bad.
The overall feeling among the group had grown more grim, our hopeful tones at the arrival of the police shifting quickly. Nothing had been figured out. They were still missing. We had no answers.
As more time passed, the possibility of them no longer being on the island at all grew more and more worrisome and undeniable in my mind. Something was wrong.
More wrong than I’d realized.
Where were they?
The police showed no signs of leaving as the evening drug on, their boats still rising and falling with the tide near the pier. They’d had their meals inside in the dining room, while we ate under the pavilion in silence. I didn’t think it would take so long, if I were being honest. I thought they’d have us on the boats already, be moving us to safety, but it hadn’t happened.
In fact, aside from the questioning, the officers hadn’t spoken to us at all. Manu was treating them as if they were the guests, waiting on them hand and foot. The employees had practically forgotten we were still there. Our usual eight waiters had been reduced to two, and our stewards were nowhere in sight.
When night came, I half expected them to ask us to give up our huts for the officers, but I quickly remembered the extra huts past ours as the parade of men dressed all in black made their way down the shore. I could see them now, from where I was standing on the dark sand. Two officers had taken posts outside of the huts, walking across the sand with flashlights in hand.
I should’ve been sleeping, but it was no use. I wasn’t sure how long I’d been awake, but the idea of sleep was enough to send my stomach spinning. I needed to be awake in case someone else needed help. Every time I began to doze off, I’d hear Emily’s scream, hear the sounds of Laura tossing rocks at my window, and remember the far-off look in Megan’s eyes when I’d seen her last. It was enough to drive me crazy.
I’d been walking across the shore. Pacing. Running. Trying anything and everything to wear myself out. I needed to sleep. I needed to get some rest before I started hallucinating, but it just wasn’t an option.
As I moved across the sand, I looked up as a light flicked on in a hut up ahead. One of ours.
Who was awake at this time of night?
Relieved to have someone to talk to, I pushed forward. It was the second hut from the right. Andy’s.
I jogged up the incline, hoping everything was all right and it was just a case of not being able to sleep, but as I drew closer, I froze. The light flicked off just seconds after it had come on, but I knew what I’d seen.
No.
My heart leapt, my feet moving faster through the sand. Not fast enough. I couldn’t move fast enough. Sand dug in between my toes, my calves burning as I pushed, my lungs gasping for air, heart pounding in my chest.
It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t real. Could I be hallucinating after all?
I reached the stairs to his porch, grabbing the railing and hauling myself up. I grabbed the handle of the sliding glass door and stared inside, seeing the moonlit outline of what I thought I was seeing. What I, at the same time, hoped I was seeing and very much wished I wasn’t. Andy held Laura in a tight embrace, the moon’s glow casting a shadow across their faces.
She is alive.
She is a liar.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Laura
The sliding glass door slid open in an instant, and we broke apart. I gasped when I heard it, saw the shadow of a man in the doorway. We’d been caught. Andy would be furious with me. I wasn’t supposed to come. I wasn’t supposed to have left the safety of my hiding spot, and I certainly wasn’t supposed to turn on the lamp to give others a peek inside the hut.
“What the hell?” Nick asked, his voice way too loud. I couldn’t totally see him,
