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I’m off the bed, phone in hand, before I can let the guilt seep in, before I can acknowledge the reality of what I might be jeopardizing with Neil, everything I might be giving up.
I grab the keys to my motorbike from my bedside table, and I’m out the door instantly, with one goal in mind.
It’s time to figure out what else Cass is lying about.
20
CASS
I can’t keep lying.
If there’s one thing I take away from my conversation with Greta, it’s that I need to come clean to Logan. If the mystery person leaving me these threatening notes is true to their word, then I need to tell him the truth about my past before they do.
I leave Greta to prep for her next class, her words giving me a new sense of resolve. I’m going to tell Logan everything: what happened in that hotel room, the pills, the threats I’ve been getting. There will be no more secrets. Greta’s right. Logan will understand; he’ll love me no matter what. And then we’ll find the person behind this, as a team.
I rush to the parking area outside the studio, eager to get this over with, to put the lies behind us. Logan should be at the gym now with Doug. I’ll head there directly.
But just as I pull out the key to my motorbike, I hear a familiar voice from across the parking area.
“Miss Cass!”
I turn, trying to compose myself. With everything that’s happened this morning, I completely lost sight of my plan to confront Ariel.
“Good morning, Tamar,” I say as she and her husband walk toward me. Her pale skin is sun kissed, but the concern etched into her face indicates that her time on the island has not been the relaxing getaway she must have envisioned when they booked this trip. “Ariel.” I take him in. His face is as stoic and hard as ever, the vibrating tension hovering around him like an aura. His words from the other day strike at me.
It is not safe here.
I force my voice to sound pleasant, authoritative, the typical tone I use with guests. “I need to apologize again for the other day. I assure you, things are not usually like this.”
“We understand,” Tamar says in her quiet voice. “But we are very frightened. We heard what happened. First Lucy, now Daniel. Should we be concerned?”
I realize this is my chance to figure out whether Ariel is behind this.
“No, of course not,” I say carefully. “Have the police spoken with you?”
Tamar shakes her head, her eyes wide.
“That’s good. I thought they might disturb your holiday.” I think quickly. “Did you end up going to the Full Moon Party the other night?”
Tamar shakes her head again, her husband barely acknowledging my question. “We did not go. And we went to bed early yesterday. We did not learn anything about poor Daniel until this morning.Zikhrono livrakha.”
These questions aren’t getting me anywhere. I think of what Brooke would do, how she would get to the bottom of this.
“Ariel,” I say, turning to face him directly before I can think better of it. “I need to ask you about the other day. When you…saidthose things after class. About how there was something wrong on Koh Sang. How did you know?”
He hesitates for so long that for a moment, I think he’ll refuse to answer. “I do not know what you are talking about,” he says eventually, in that weird, gravelly voice.
My muscles clench, frustration growing.
“You said there was something wrong here,” I say more insistently. “That it wasn’t safe. ThatIwasn’t safe. What did you mean?”
He stares at me blankly before shaking his head, and frustration and defiance run through me.
“You said it. You did,” I demand in a voice I realize is much too loud. But this time, he doesn’t react at all.
“I can explain,” Tamar says.
But I ignore her, because suddenly I’m hit with a furious need for my suspicions to be true, for Ariel to be the killer. It would make it all so easy. He would be arrested, and everything would go back to normal. Koh Sang may receive some bad press for a time, but it would blow over. We could all stay here, as a family. With this realization and the stress from the deaths, the notes, the lies, all of it combining in a potent mixture, I explode.
