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“And Chef Octavia,” Talia said.
“Maybe.” Luke did not sound hopeful.
“Why would she stay behind?” Talia asked. “She was determined to get off this island.”
“She lived here for the past several months,” Luke said. “Gill may have decided that, like Keever and her husband, she knew too much.”
Talia shivered.
“Who’s Octavia?” Phoebe asked.
“The chef here at the lodge,” Talia said. “She and her husband, Clive, ran the Unplugged Experience operation that Nathan Gill used as a cover. Clive was found dead shortly before we went down below to look for you. We think he was murdered.”
Phoebe’s eyes widened. “By Nathan Gill?”
“Yes,” Talia said.
“Maybe,” Luke said.
Talia glanced at him, but he did not offer any explanation for the hesitancy to declare Gill the prime suspect.
Phoebe looked around uneasily. “Are you sure Gill left?”
“Yes,” Luke said. “The cabin cruiser is gone. By the time we get back to the mainland, he will have disappeared.”
He sounded certain, but Talia noticed he still had the pistol in his hand.
He went up the front steps and opened the door of the lobby. “Looks like they couldn’t wait to get away.”
Talia moved to stand behind him at the entrance. The interior was littered with carelessly discarded blankets, a few half-empty liquor bottles, plates holding the remains of sandwiches, and a partially completed jigsaw puzzle. There was no luggage. The fire was slowly dying on the big hearth.
Phoebe peered into the room. “How many people were here?”
“When we went looking for you, there were three other people besides Luke and myself who had booked the Unplugged Experience,” Talia said. “In addition, there was Nathan Gill and Chef Octavia. So five in all.”
“I’ll see if the phone is working,” Luke said.
He went down the hallway and disappeared into the office. It seemed to Talia that he was inside an inordinate length of time. When he returned he had a file in his hand. His eyes were hard.
“Please don’t tell me the landline is still out,” Talia said.
“The landline is not just temporarily out of commission,” Luke said. “The cord has been cut.”
Phoebe gasped.
“Gill sabotaged it, didn’t he?” Talia said. “He wanted to make sure we couldn’t call for help if we made it back to the surface.”
Phoebe groaned. “So we’re stuck here until the ferry makes its regular run tomorrow?”
“I don’t think we can count on the ferry,” Luke said.
Phoebe looked at him, alarmed. “What do you mean?”
“Excellent question,” Talia said. “Explain yourself, Rand.”
He held up the file he had brought with him out of the office. “This is a contract with the charter service that handles the private ferry. The agreement states that the service can be canceled at any time. If Gill went to the trouble of making sure the phone wouldn’t work, there’s a high probably that he terminated the regular ferry service. We should assume that the Unplugged Experience has been unplugged.”
Phoebe looked at Luke, her eyes stark with a new fear. “Does this mean there’s no way off this island?”
