Abigail stood and watched their goodbye, hoping Chip wouldn’t try to hug her, too. He didn’t, but he did extend a hand her way and she took it, surprised by the softness and warmth of his palm.
Like uncooked dough, she thought.
“Who’s coming?” she asked, even though she already knew that it had to be Eric Newman. He was following them, or maybe he was simply taking the opportunity of the plane’s arrival to escape this island as well.
“Scott Baumgart,” Chip said.
“She knows his real name,” Bruce said. “I told her all about him.”
“I’m sorry if he came here and bothered you, Abigail,” Chip said. “That sort of thing doesn’t happen at Quoddy. At least it shouldn’t. And I hope you won’t mind flying back to the mainland with him. It’s a short flight, as you know.”
“It’s fine,” Abigail said, although she wasn’t sure if it was. Still, it was far preferable to not getting on the plane.
Bruce looked at her, an expression on his face that she couldn’t read. “I can tell him not to come,” he said after a moment.
“It doesn’t matter.”
The pilot was hustling back from the hangar just as a jeep pulled up alongside Chip’s Land Rover. Abigail watched as Eric got out of the passenger side, slung a backpack over his shoulder, and made his way toward them. Even at a distance his face looked grim and determined. Abigail wasn’t happy to see him, worried that somehow his presence was going to stop her from getting on the plane, from getting off the island. He strode up just as the pilot arrived, and just as the jeep was making a U-turn and heading back to the lodge. “There’s one more for you,” Chip said to the pilot.
“No problemo,” the pilot said, while at the same time Eric said, “It’s actually just going to be Abigail and me,” his voice unnaturally loud. Then Eric turned to Bruce, pointing an index finger at him, and said, “You’re staying here.”
“We can all go,” Abigail said quickly. “It’s fine.”
Bruce laughed and said to Eric, “Uh, I can decide if I’m going or not.”
“You’re not going,” Eric said. He turned to Abigail. “He was going to throw you out of the plane.”
Bruce said, “What the fuck?”
Then Chip took a step toward Eric and said, “Whoa, whoa, what’s going on here?”
“It’s what they did to Jill Greenly,” Eric said directly to Abigail, now lowering his voice as though it were the two of them having a private conversation. “They told her she could leave and then they threw her out of the plane.”
The pilot laughed nervously. “Are you talking about the couple I took back yesterday afternoon? No one threw anyone out of my plane, trust me.”
Eric looked directly at Abigail. “I talked to the woman who works at the lodge, right after you and I talked. Mellie. She told me that’s what happened to Jill, that she was thrown out of the plane as a punishment.”
“Mellie told me they’re still on the island,” Abigail said. Her stomach was starting to hurt so bad it felt almost like a cramp.
“Stop. Everyone stop,” Chip said. “No one is throwing anyone out of a plane. I don’t know what Mellie told you, but anything she says you should take with an enormous grain of salt. Let’s just say that she is less than trustworthy.”
“She told me that Alec and Jill are still here on the island,”
Abigail said again, hoping to establish just one fact that they could all agree on.
“I hired Mellie as a personal favor for someone, but she is a bit of a fantasist, to put it mildly.” Chip turned to Abigail and said, “Alec and Jill Greenly are not on this island.” Then he turned to Eric and said, “And Jill Greenly was not thrown out of an airplane.
No one has been thrown out of an airplane. I promise that I will have a conversation with her and find out what exactly is going on.”
“I don’t care whether you have a conversation with her or not,”
Eric said. “I just know that I’m getting on this plane with Abigail, just the two of us.” He turned and looked at her and said, “I don’t care what you do when we land. I don’t care if you don’t talk to me again, but I need to see that you get safely off this island.”
Bruce smiled at Eric, creasing his forehead, and said, “There is no way I’m allowing you to leave with my wife. It’s not going to happen. So either shut the fuck up and we can all take this plane back together, or, if you say another word, then I’m not letting you on this plane. I think Chip will back me up on that.”