Poison Bay (20 page)

“I suppose it doesn’t make much sense.”

“We’d be foolish to dismiss any possibility, given everything that’s happened.” He thought a bit more. “The other problem would be: where did they get the gun? You can’t bring a gun through customs. So they’d have got it after we arrived in New Zealand. We all arrived on the same plane, except for you and Adam, and then got on the shuttle together, so there wasn’t really an opportunity to meet an accomplice.” He paused again. “Although, I guess we weren’t exactly watching each other every single moment. Who could have had a motive to kill both Adam and Sharon? They live in different states and haven’t even seen each other since high school.”

“That’s if the same person killed both of them.”

Jack visibly recoiled, and stared at her. “So there’s two homicidal maniacs on our trail? Are you nuts?”

Callie gave a lavish shrug. “This whole thing is preposterous from beginning to end. But I was thinking more that one of us could have killed Sharon—because that killer wanted to live, and Bryan or his goon could have killed Adam—because that killer wants us to die.”

“Oh.” He stared blankly, thinking. “They’re not the same sort of killing, are they? Different methods, and very different victims, tactically speaking—one an asset, and one a liability, putting it bluntly.” He sighed, and buried his head in his hands. “Argh! What a mess!”

“In any case, I think we’d be wise to keep in mind there might just possibly be a gun among us, and someone who isn’t afraid to use it.”

Jack nodded. “Watch out for furtive behavior with rucksacks. If there’s a motive we don’t know about, it could have been any of the other three—Kain could have come back from Neverland to do it, Erica actually admits to being nearest to Adam at the time, and even Rachel could have circled round past Erica in that useless visibility.”

Callie said, “The other three… there’s only five of us now, did you realize that? We started with eight.” She sighed deeply.

“Yeah. I keep hoping this is a nightmare and I’ll wake up back in Brisbane with the ceiling fan on and Rufus nudging my foot with his tennis ball.”

“It’s funny what we miss, isn’t it? I was hankering after my pottery coffee mug a minute ago, with a nice steaming latte inside it...”

Jack smiled. “We can still get through this, if we don’t give up. We really need to believe we’ll be home soon.”

“Yes, and try to support the others when we tell them what we know. Adrenalin from shock is dangerous for Rachel, especially when she’s so low on insulin.”

He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “Well, we can’t put it off any longer.”

***

Jack glanced up and saw the two women’s faces as he approached: Rachel teary and frightened, Erica… “watchful” seemed the best description. As they’d climbed, he’d been shooting up silent little arrow prayers in time with his footsteps:
God help me, God help me
. And he’d decided to fall back on what came naturally and take the direct approach.

Rachel was the one at immediate risk, so he started speaking straight to her as they drew level. “Rachel, don’t you have breathing or something you do to try to avoid an adrenalin rush?” She nodded. “Can you do it now? I know it’s hard to be calm with all this going on, but it’s worth a try.”
 

Her expression changed, became more determined. “I’ll give it a go.”

They moved into the denser forest, where a fairly solid tree canopy meant everyone could take their hoods down, making conversation easier.

Jack looked at Callie to see if she wanted to speak first, but she nodded encouragingly at him.

He spoke as gently as he could. “You’ve probably gathered from watching us down there, and the fact that we didn’t rush back, that we found Adam, and yes, unfortunately he has died.”
 

Rachel sighed and nodded. Erica stared at her hands lying in her lap, her fingers interlinked, rhythmically squeezing them together. He made a mental note to watch the reactions of both women. Rachel wasn’t the only one who could suffer ill-effects from shock. He’d already made that mistake with Sharon.

“We’ll need to work together to move him from there to somewhere he can be found later. But first of all we need to talk about what killed him.” His mind raced as he struggled to find a way to put it that wasn’t horrifying. “Adam didn’t die in the landslide, and you need to brace yourselves to hear this, but he was actually shot.”

Erica’s glance flicked up to his eyes and back to her hands, but her face blanched. Rachel exclaimed, “What!” and put her hands to her mouth, staring from Jack to Callie and back again. “Who could have shot him?” It was almost a whisper, hard to hear over the slapping of the rain on the leaves above.

“You okay, Erica?” asked Jack. Her glance skittered across his face and went back to her twitching hands, but she nodded.

Rachel spoke up. “So what do we think happened? A hunting accident? They hunt deer out here, don’t they? Only they call them something else… woppities or something. I remember Bryan saying that.” She seemed satisfied with her solution. “But that must mean there are other people out here, and maybe we can find them!”

Jack shot a glance at Callie; she looked back and nodded. He took it as indication he still had the ball.
Darn
. “No, we don’t think it was an accident, Rachel, unfortunately.”

Erica’s glance flew up to his face again, and this time it held, and her fingers stilled. “But how can you say that?” she challenged. “Surely a hunting accident is the most likely explanation. If they were shooting from a distance in these conditions, they probably wouldn’t even know they’d hit him.”

“I did a pathology course a few years ago for my work,” said Callie. “The kind of wound he had is the kind you get from being shot up close. From a small gun, not a rifle.”

Erica’s face was red now. “I don’t know how you can be so sure.” Her tone was aggressive. “You’re not a scientist.”

“I’m not absolutely certain, no. But I remember what I learned, and I know what I saw. Trust me, it wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping to see. It took me a while to accept it.”
 

Jack joined in. “Plus, it’s not hunting season. Bryan said so. I guess there might be illegal hunters out here. But it’s hard to imagine anyone hunting in the appalling visibility we had this morning. And it makes sense to me that a high-powered rifle… well, let’s just say I think it would have done more visible damage, that’s all.”

“You don’t really know anything do you? It’s just your opinion,” Erica retorted. She seemed angry.

He sighed, and leaned on his knees. “There’s more, actually. We haven’t told you everything yet.” He looked at Callie, and indicated with one hand, encouraging her to tell her story.

She took the conversational baton. “This one is about Sharon. Rachel, do you remember how she had those bruises on her face, when we were doing her hair?”
 

Rachel nodded slowly. Callie went on. “I think they were coming out gradually, over time, because I didn’t notice them in the tent when we woke up. Or maybe the light in the tent was a funny color and that made them harder to see. We could look at it on the video, but that’s probably more stressful than necessary. But there was a bruise either side of her nose, another one under her chin, and her eye sockets were kind of red.”

“Yes, I do remember it. It looked odd, but I thought it must be something to do with the cold.”

“So did I, at the time. But it kept bothering me, because I knew it reminded me of something, but I couldn’t think what. And then later that day it hit me.”

Rachel stared at her.
 

“Remember back when I did that pathology course, I told you how they showed us a body? That young girl?”

“Yes, I remember it. You couldn’t sleep afterwards.”

“Yes, that’s the one.” She turned to include Erica in the explanation. “This poor little girl had been murdered, suffocated by someone who held her nose and mouth closed.” Callie focused on Rachel again. “Well, she had the exact same marks on her face as Sharon, the bruises in the same place.”

“Are you saying…?” interjected Erica, but she couldn’t complete the sentence. “Do you think…?” Her anger had gone; she was pale again, and flustered. “But it can’t be.” Erica shook her head, and tucked her fidgety hands under her armpits, hunching onto her rock.

Callie continued. “Just think about the shape of those bruises, Rachel.” She stood from her log, and maneuvered herself next to Jack in the mud. “Imagine someone reaching in from the tent opening above her head, like so.” She placed her hands on Jack’s face, thumb and fingers of the right hand either side of his nose, left hand hooked under his chin. She looked at Rachel. “Would it match?”

Jack didn’t see Rachel’s reaction, because around the obstruction of Callie’s hand, he was watching Erica now. She was trembling, and tears were making a trail down her face. He couldn’t tell if the reaction was shock, or fear. Or something else. Guilt?

Rachel spoke, and he looked at her again. Her eyes were narrowed, thoughtful. “Yes, it would match. I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner.”

Callie unhanded Jack and moved back to her log. “Well, why would you think of it being that? I’d seen the exact same thing once before, and even I took hours to think of it.”

“Are you okay, Erica?” asked Jack.

Callie and Rachel both turned quickly to look at her; they’d been engrossed in their own discussion. “No, not really. I can’t believe I didn’t realize. I was the ‘medical professional’, you know? Everyone was relying on me to help Sharon. And I couldn’t believe she’d died after she was getting so much better. I should have twigged that something wasn’t right. I remember thinking the bruises were odd, when we were doing the funeral thing, and I was looking at her face from a bit of a distance. I didn’t know what they were. But I could see it when you put your hands on Jack’s face like that. That’s exactly the right shape.” She put her head in her hands and started to weep aloud.

“Oh Erica.” Rachel got up and moved nearer to Erica. “Shove over.” Erica glanced up from behind her hands, and slid to one side of her rock. Rachel perched beside her, and put her arms around the smaller woman. “Don’t worry, sweetie, it wasn’t your fault. We all thought nature was enough to contend with. We didn’t know there was some ‘bad guy’ out here with us as well.” She looked from Jack to Callie. “Because that is what we’re saying, isn’t it? That there’s someone out here following us around?”

Jack shot an inquiring glance at Callie, and she took on the explanation. “Well, we wondered if it could be someone Bryan hired, or even Bryan himself if he was organized with an aqualung or something back at Poison Bay.” She shrugged. “An odd idea, I realize.”

Rachel was silent and thoughtful, and Erica’s sobs gradually subsided. “I suppose it’s possible,” Rachel said. “Poor Bryan. He’d got so messed up. We should have been there for him, years ago, and maybe none of this would ever have happened.” She sighed.

Jack said, “There is one other possibility. We hope it’s not right, but we have to consider it.”

“What’s that?” Rachel said.

If it had been hard to say before, when it was only a discussion between him and Callie, it was even harder now that all but one of the remaining pool of suspects was gathered. He looked at Callie, but she dropped her eyes and chewed on her bottom lip. Clearly he’d be getting no help from that quarter. Jack sighed. There was no escape.

“We have to keep in mind that it could actually be one of us.”

Erica dropped her hands from her face and stared at him, her tears apparently forgotten. “Are you saying that after we all worked so hard to get Sharon warm and keep her alive, one of us waited till everyone was asleep, and then killed her? That’s crazy! Why would anyone do that to Sharon?” She shook her head in disbelief.

Rachel’s eyes clouded, and her gaze dropped. “Actually, Erica, I can see a reason. Sharon was slowing us down, the way she was. Someone could have wanted to get her out of the way. To increase our chances of surviving.”
 

Erica started to speak, and then stopped. She’d apparently thought of someone who might conceivably think that way. Someone she knew pretty well.

Rachel spoke again. “But it doesn’t really make sense why anyone would get rid of Adam.” She looked at Jack and then at Callie, puzzled. “Did you think about that?”

Callie was still busy chewing her bottom lip, so Jack replied. “Yes, we did. The two murders don’t match. So it’s possible…” he looked at Callie again for support, but she wasn’t looking at him. “It’s actually possible they were killed by different people.” Rachel inhaled sharply. Jack continued, “It’s also possible that Adam’s death was some kind of mistake, or he found out something about the killer.” He shrugged. “There’s lots of possibilities. But basically, we need to keep our minds and our eyes open, and be on our guard. That’s all.” He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, stretched his legs out straight in front of him, and stared at his mud-caked boots.

“Well, I personally think it’s lunacy,” Erica declared, her voice much stronger now. “To think there could be two crazy killers tromping around the mountains after us is just outrageous. It must be one of Bryan’s mates. What do any of us know about guns, anyway?” She looked at Callie. “Unless you’ve had some training in how to use them. For your work, like.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm, and Rachel withdrew her arm and moved back to her own rock.

“Come on Erica,” Jack said. “We’re all on the same team here.”

“No we’re not,” she spat. “You’ve just as good as accused me and Rachel and Kain of being murderers, because you obviously don’t think it’s your precious Callie that did it, or you wouldn’t have been having such important, grown-up conversations with her behind everybody’s back.”

“Don’t be childish, Erica, we didn’t accuse anyone.” Jack stood and moved back a few steps, withdrawing slightly from the circle. He was struggling to keep his anger in check.

“It wasn’t like that, Erica, really it wasn’t.” Callie’s tone was conciliatory. “I know it must look pretty weird that we didn’t say anything before now, but we’ve been agonizing over whether or not to tell everyone.”