Chapter 91

91

Elin whirls around, but then her eyes catch on a large branch, hanging down a few feet from the top of the window. It's moving in the wind, limp, at an awkward angle, as if it's been pulled down.

"Just a branch." Elin settles back on the bed, but she's still on high alert, eyes roaming around the room.

"You were saying," she prompts, "about the bag."

Farrah nods. "I think Caleb probably took it, discarded the rest." She winces again as she shifts position. "This morning, I was going to try to get back to the main island, to warn you, but he must have seen me... or maybe he knew I was there all along and was waiting for the right moment. I tried running again, but he caught up with me this time. I think he thought he'd done it. That I was..." Trailing off, she blinks back tears.

"And do you know why he came after you?" Elin says gently.

"Yes." Farrah drags her gaze up to meet hers. "I take it..." A pause. "That you know I was on the island when the Creacher murders happened."

Elin nods. "I've already spoken to Will. He explained it all."

Relief softens Farrah's features before her face darkens. "Caleb, or Chris, as we knew him then, was a camp leader at the time. A few months ago, he came to the retreat, with a friend. I recognized him immediately, but I thought I was imagining it, that it was someone who just looked similar. My head's not exactly been straight, with my ex. I didn't think about it until he appeared again, several weeks ago. When I heard his voice, it got me wondering, but still, I thought it's probably the guilt talking, that I was being paranoid." Farrah shakes her head. "But then I noticed him looking at me. He came up to the bar a few times, under the guise of getting a beer, but I could tell he was watching me. Not just idly, you know?"

"He recognized you too."

"Yeah, I think so. That's when I dug out the old newspaper clipping from the school trip. I couldn't be certain, but I was pretty sure." Farrah rubs her fingertips against her temple. "It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but then when Bea fell, and Seth was found dead, and I knew Caleb was with that group... I remembered that when he was camp leader, he kept banging on about the old school, Reaper's Rock, trying to scare us. He always came off as a bit strange, you know?"

"That's when you thought Caleb might have something to do with it?"

She nods. "I think he must have guessed I was suspicious, maybe realized that if he'd recognized me, that I'd done the same. I started wondering if those messages I'd been getting were from him, if he was trying to scare me off the island before he came this time."

"And he had no way to know that you'd thought it was your ex sending them."

"Yeah, and I suppose when I didn't leave like he'd hoped, he knew he had to do something else." She bites down on her lip. "I should have been on my guard."

Watching her, Elin's riddled with guilt, heat creeping into her cheeks. "Don't blame yourself. I didn't listen when you said you wanted to talk. I fobbed you off." She shakes her head. "I'm sorry. I should have taken it more seriously."

"No," Farrah replies, her expression fierce. "No apologies. Finding me like you did, it more than makes up for it. If I'd been out there much longer..." She reaches for Elin's hand, squeezes hard. Her eyes search Elin's face and as their eyes meet, something passes between them, just as it had outside the villa that first day.

A connection on a level she'd never thought possible.

Elin drops her gaze, a lump in her throat. She knows that in finding Farrah, she's been given a reprieve, not just from Will, but herself. Seeing Farrah motionless back then, on the sodden ground, she'd felt like she was teetering on the brink of something that would not just change Will forever, but her too. A shame and regret that would always haunt her.

Farrah's watching her. "Will you let Will know I'm okay?"

"Of course. He's been out of his mind." Elin tugs her phone from her pocket, realizing that she also needs to warn Steed about Caleb—that their suspicions were correct. "But before that, you need to be checked over. I'm going to try to get you some medical help."

Yet as she looks at the choppy water through the window, Elin feels a looming sense of foreboding. Even if the team is ready to come, will they really give the okay to sending a boat in these conditions? Farther out, the waves are huge, towering walls of water, yards high. Given the wind, a helicopter is looking even less likely.

About to dial, Elin stops, noticing the no-signal icon on her screen. "Signal's down." She tries to keep her voice steady.

"It isn't great here, not compared to the main island." Farrah gestures toward the bedside table. "Try the landline."

Elin stands, reaches for the phone. But all she gets is silence. "It's dead. Either the storm's taken it out or Caleb's cut the line." She bites down on her lip. "I don't want to leave you like this, but I'm going to have to go to the main island to call. I'll get one of the first-aiders over to you at the same time."

Farrah picks up on the hesitancy in her tone. "It's fine, really. You go."

Still reluctant to leave her, Elin mulls it over. With no idea of Caleb's whereabouts, it's a risk. But not going back to the main island is also risky.

"Go." Farrah squeezes her hand. "Honestly, I'm fine."

"Okay, but you need to lock the door behind me, from the inside."

Farrah nods. After giving her one last once-over, Elin lets herself out of the villa, the door slamming shut behind her.

Water, everywhere.

Pools formed in the dirty hollows, bigger streams carved out between the leaf litter.

Jumping between them, Elin finds the path, slips between the trees. She breaks into a jog, the saturated ground kicking up a mix of spray and dirt.

As she powers through the final thicket of trees, a gust catches her hair, sending it lashing around her face. It momentarily blinds her, and she skids to a stop.

Reaching up, Elin roughly tugs it away, but too late: a sudden movement at the edge of her vision.

A searing, sharp pain.

Everything goes hazy, a liquid blackness that seems to push up from the base of her skull, pouring over and through her like a wave. For a moment, it sounds like the rain is inside her skull, a soft pitter-patter.

Her vision seems to tunnel, an inky black surging from the outside in.

Then total darkness.