‘Where are Lewis and Jasmine?’
Again, I pointed back, unable to speak. It was a good job I couldn’t, because if Holly had gone past me and left me alone, I might have died. I needed her to help me– and thankfully she realized it, too.
She snapped into practical mode. She led me to the mouth of the cave, said, ‘Wait here,’ then hurried down the path. She had come in Zack and Miranda’s Land Rover. I heard the boot open and close and then she was back, holding a toweland a blanket. I was hunched over, almost convulsing, hardly able to stand. My hands and feet were in agony, my breathing quick and shallow.
‘We need to get these wet clothes off you,’ Holly said.
I tried to unlace my boots, but my fingers were useless. Quickly and efficiently, Holly helped me with my sweater, then my boots and my jeans. She told me to take off my underwear, too.
I didn’t like this. Didn’t want to be so vulnerable in front of her, naked and shivering, my skin almost blue. But my need to be warm, to survive, overrode my masculine pride. I didn’t want to die like Samir had died, in this remote, rocky place.
Holly towelled me dry, then wrapped me in the big fleecy blanket she had found in the boot of Zack and Miranda’s car. Finally, she put a furry hat on my head, not unlike the one Jasmine had been wearing earlier, which she’d also found in the boot.
‘Let’s get you into the car,’ she said.
Leaving my wet clothes and coat behind, she led me barefoot down the path. I was dazed, my IQ temporarily as low as my body temperature. I couldn’t speak; I could barely form thoughts. I could only stare blankly at the sky as flakes of snow swirled around me, landing in my hair, stinging my face.
Holly opened the passenger door of the Land Rover and I got in while she sat behind the wheel, turned the engine on and cranked up the heating. Thankfully, the car warmed up quickly, my shivering abated and, finally, I was able to speak again.
‘You saved my life.’
She threw her arms around me, her cheek warm against mine. I was happier in that moment than I had been for a long time. I was alive. Holly had saved me. She loved me, and there could be nothing better in the world than the feel ofher warm body against mine, of her arms around me. Tears stung my closed eyes.
Slowly, she pulled away from me and said, ‘What happened? Where are Lewis and Jasmine?’
The moment of happiness slipped away.
‘I’m sorry. Lewis is dead. He’s… I don’t know what happened, but his body is in the pool inside the cavern. That’s why I was soaked.’
The tears came immediately.
‘I’m sorry, Holly.’
‘Are you 100 per cent sure?’
I nodded.
‘What about Jasmine?’
‘I don’t know. I couldn’t find her. Both their flashlights were there, but there’s no sign of her. What are you doing?’
‘I’m going to look.’ Holly reached for the door handle.
I tried to grab her arm. ‘Holly, no, it’s not safe. And you don’t… you really don’t want to see Lewis’s body, do you?’
She hesitated.
‘We need to call the police. I have Susan Williams’s number in my phone.’
She found it and called Susan, who answered straight away. Holly explained that she needed to come to the caves immediately and, thankfully, Susan was still on the peninsula.
Holly looked at me. ‘I think we should get you to the hospital, make sure you don’t have hypothermia.’
I knew the hospital was as far away as the police station.
‘I’m fine. I’m warming up now.’
The snow fell lightly, small flakes touching the car’s windows and vanishing instantly. I had stopped shivering but still felt cold, despite the heater that blew warm air on to me and the plush thickness of the blanket. I didn’t think I hadhypothermia. I was functioning. My thoughts were clear. No hallucinations. My teeth were no longer chattering.
