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“We called the American embassy,” I bluff. “We told them everything. If you kill us, they’ll know it was you.”
Greta’s laugh cuts the through the night, a crude bark. “The storm has knocked everything out. The phones have been down for hours. No one is coming for you.”
I pause for a moment, desperation making me change tactics.
“You don’t have to do this.” I say it to all of them, but the statement is directed to one person in particular. Neil.
Despite him standing in front of me now and all the evidence pointing to the contrary, something tells me he wasn’t involved in this. I can’t believe after the conversations we’ve had, the time we’ve spent together, the intimate kiss we shared just yesterday, that he would have helped kill Lucy or Jacinta or Daniel. And something about the way he’s standing now—shoulders hunched, eyes downcast, as if he’s ashamed or scared—makes me cling to that belief.
But I suppose Cass thought the same thing about Logan. She wouldn’t have promised her future to him if she really believed he was a murderer.
I will Neil to raise his head, to look me in the eyes, but he refuses, his neck steadfastly craned down.
“You really haven’t left us much choice,” Doug says. “You should have kept your pretty little nose out of things. If you’d just minded your own bloody business, I reckon you could’ve moved on, kept posting all your sweet titty pics for the world to see.”
“Stupid girls,” Greta says, a wisp of sadness in her voice. “You brought this on yourselves. We told you to stop, but you kept prodding. Including you.” She points dismissively toward Alani. “How the hell are you tied up in this?”
“Lucy was my best friend.” Alani’s voice is cold, with no hint of fear. A swell of pride rises in me.
“Lucy knew what she was getting into,” Doug says. “She came here to expose us. She knew the risks. And you should have too.”
“So that’s why Greta killed her?” I ask, forcing my voice to be stronger than I feel, although I already know the answer.
At this, Greta’s eyes dart to me. I feel a thrill thrum through my abdomen.
“Oh yeah, Greta. I know all about what you did. You met Lucy at the Full Moon Party and convinced her to take a walk down the beach with you. And when you tried to talk to her, to explain that Jacinta’s death was an accident, she didn’t buy it. She wasn’t going to stop asking questions, and you couldn’t have that. Because you all have something to hide, don’t you? So what’s your secret?”
Greta’s cold eyes stay on me, but she remains silent.
“Alice wasn’t in love with Greta. Greta was her teacher. Greta must have tricked her into coming here.”
I’m shocked to hear Cass’s voice rise up next to me. When I look over, she’s still on the ground. Her teeth are gritted, her hands clutching her leg.
I try to nod away my surprise. “So that’s it. Makes sense.”
Greta stares at me, her mouth contorted in spite, her eyes narrowed.
“And one of you killed Daniel too,” Alani says, only a slight waver in her voice.
None of them bothers to correct her, and I see Neil’s eyes flick to Doug.
“It was you, Doug. Wasn’t it?” I ask. “I saw you on Daniel’s video. Talking to Lucy, handing her a drink. Was that how she got the MDMA in her system?”
I notice a flush creep into Doug’s neck. “He tried to blackmail us, that dickhead. He tried to fleece us.”
“So you slit his throat. The only option, right?”
Doug’s face turns even redder, and I swallow back disgust.
“But why Jacinta?” I hear Alani ask, her tone pleading. “What could she have possibly done?”
“It was Logan.”
My head whips around to where Cass is seated, her skin painted in rain-streaked mud. Her voice sounds softer than the last time she spoke, and I notice with alarm that the bleeding from the cuts in her leg hasn’t slowed. But despite her broken limbs and battered skin, she looks stronger than I’ve ever seen her. There’s a fierce determination in her eyes.
“You thought I was so stupid that I wouldn’t put two and two together,” she continues, her gaze locked on him. “Did you kill her because of the affair, so she wouldn’t say anything? Or was it something else?”
I think of what Alani told me earlier. How Jacinta was planning to go out on a date with the handsome expat she’d been seeing before she died. I wonder how far Logan would have gone to stop Jacinta from telling Cass about their affair.
