A sharp intake of breath. A sudden change in the air; it’s charged with emotion. The group’s eyes lock as a collective first on Steed’s face and then Elin’s, as if waiting for the punch line of a joke, but there’s none to give.
“It’s not possible,” Maya stutters. “She was with us not long ago. At the villa.” She turns to Hana. “You said she was packing, didn’t you?”
Hana’s face is ashen, tight. “Yes. I thought she was.” A note of hysteria creeps into her voice. “We knocked for her before we left, but there was no answer. We assumed she was making her way up here.” She lets out a low moan. “Who would do something like this? Why us?”
Caleb puts his arm around her shoulders. “What did I say?” he mutters. “This place, it’s not—”
“How?” Maya says desperately, cutting across him. “What happened?”
“We found her on the beach. It looks like someone attacked her there.”
Hana starts to cry, shoulders heaving. The emotions pull at Elin. Despite the fact that Caleb and Maya are next to her, she looks alone. Vulnerable.
Clearing his throat, Steed looks between them. “I’m sorry to have to ask this right now,” he says, voice soft, “but have you all been together these past few hours?”
“Yes, we’ve been in the villa, getting our stuff ready to come here.” Tears are welling in Maya’s eyes too. “I mean, not together every minute . . . We were in our rooms, but no one left, did they?”
“Wouldn’t go anywhere here on my own.” Caleb gives a small, bitter laugh, but it doesn’t detract from the wobble of his lip. A sob breaks loose and he turns away, embarrassed as another guest, on their right, looks their way.
“Nor me.” Hana shakes her head, tears now streaming down her face. “I can’t believe it. Jo as well . . .”
Maya bites down on her lip, but she can’t stop it from coming; she, too, starts audibly crying.
Steed leaves it a beat before speaking again. “Look, I’m sorry to keep bombarding you with questions, but it would be helpful if you can tell us exactly when you last saw Jo so we can get a clear picture of her movements.”
“That’s probably easiest for me to answer.” Caleb turns the AirPod case over in his hands. “I haven’t really seen her today, not since breakfast. I haven’t left the villa either, apart from getting some food, a few hours ago.”
Maya tries to compose herself, wiping at her eyes. “The last time I saw her was after breakfast.”
“And you?” Steed addresses Hana.
Drawing up her chest, Hana blows out through her cheeks. “I think I probably saw her last outside, by the pool. We . . . we argued. I grabbed her . . .” She stops, another sob breaking free. “I grabbed her and I . . .”
76
Beside her, Maya freezes, eyes wide with fear. For a moment it’s as if they’re all teetering on a knife-edge, none of them able to move or speak.
The silence thickens.
“I kept squeezing her wrist . . .” Hana says finally. Her words come out choky, strangulated. “Jo was crying, but it was like I couldn’t stop. I just kept doing it, squeezing and squeezing. I had this rage I’d never felt before, like something had snapped inside me. All I could think was that I wanted to hurt her more than she hurt me.” Elin’s heart lurches as she recalls the simmering tension they’d picked up on in the group. “For a moment . . .” Hana pauses, tears streaming messily down her cheeks. “God, for a moment . . .” She uses the back of her hand to wipe her cheeks. “But I couldn’t . . . I wanted to, but I let go.”
Elin exhales. “And what happened to Jo after that?”
“She went back inside.” Hana meets her gaze. “I assumed she’d just gone to her room.”
An uneasy silence settles, Maya and Caleb staring at Hana, as if they’re still struggling to process her words.
“Can I ask what the argument was about?” Steed says.
Hana blinks. “My boyfriend. He died last year. I only just found out that”—she takes a deep breath, her eyes shiny with both tears and emotion—“that he and Jo were having an affair, and that she was with him when he died. She’d kept it from me.” Her shoulders start trembling. “All this time.” She’s struggling to get the words out, fighting back tears. “She also admitted that she had Bea’s phone.”