“So why does it matter if they called him about her disappearance?” Snow asked. “If she has all of that evidence against him, doesn’t that mean that he doesn’t want to get involved?”
“That’s just the problem. I think he is absolutely involved. He’s been trying to get to her since just shortly after their divorce was final. He thinks that now that she got the divorce she should destroy the evidence, but she isn’t willing to do that. She told me that he’s been trying to get to her and she’s had a couple of run-ins with his hired men. They got to her on that cruise ship. I just know that they did. And since they called Virgil as her next of kin it means that none of us knew. They couldn’t release her name in the media.”
“And they wouldn’t even confirm it to Robin or the rest. He’s only making assumptions.”
“I think that it’s a pretty good assumption.”
“So, what do we do now?”
“We have to find them.”
“But how are we supposed to do that? They don’t have their phones, they don’t have anything.”
“Why Hunter?” Snow suddenly asked. “I don’t understand why they would disappear together.”
“They looked pretty chummy at the wedding,” I said. “Maybe they were spending time together on the cruise. Or maybe he saw something accidentally and they knew that they had to take him, too, or he would tell somebody and stop them before they could get Eleanor to Virgil.”
Tears had started to stream down Snow’s cheeks and I reached up to brush them away. I took hold of both of her wrists and looked into her eyes, doing everything that I could to stay calm so that she didn’t get any more upset than she already was.
“We are going to find them,” I told her. “Everything is going to be alright, I promise.”
“How?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “But we’re going to figure it out. We just need to find out where they took them.”
She nodded and I leaned forward to kiss her forehead, catching a glimpse of the resort beyond the balcony doors as I did.
This was not in the brochure.
Chapter Seventeen
Eleanor
We worked on the new shelter until the sun had gone far enough under the horizon that we couldn’t see well enough anymore and then walked out onto the beach together. Cool air was rushing in from the ocean, bathing us in its bracing saltiness, and I filled my lungs with it. Over the last two days I had gotten accustomed to being so close to the ocean 24 hours a day and would like to think that the sea monster and I had come to a mutual agreement. I agreed that it could remain imaginary if it agreed that it wouldn’t spit the remains of the boat at me while I was walking on the beach.
We had gone back to the cave and taken up the blankets and clothes that were left there, bringing them down to let them dry on the beach. The sun was so hot that they dried within an hour and I went to work shredding one of the most threadbare blankets so I could fashion some makeshift clothing for myself. After my encounter with Hunter on the beach I never wanted to put Gavin’s clothes on again. Instead, I wrapped a length of fabric around my hips to create a skirt and another around my breasts.
All the rage on this year’s runways from Paris to Milan – Jungle Boogie Chic.
“Do you think that they are looking for us?” I said as my eyes scanned the dark, unbroken line of the horizon in the distance. “Or do you think that they think that we just went overboard and there’s no point.”
I looked at Hunter and he reached his hand out to me.
“Come with me,” he said. “I want to show you something.”
I took his hand much more willingly than I had the first time that he guided me down the beach and followed him as he made his way toward the rocks at the far end of the sand. They were the ones that he had come down when Gavin and I were on the beach, after Hunter had disappeared after our conversation in the jungle. I hadn’t been onto those rocks, sticking primarily to the jungle and the water rather than exploring these frightening-looking jags. I followed him anyway, though, and let him lead me up the easiest path onto the top of the rocks. The bottoms of my feet had gotten tougher in the time that we had been on the island and I had even waved away Hunter’s offer for me to wear his shoes, feeling more comfortable staying the way that I had been since arriving on the island. I was used to it now and part of me worried that if I changed anything I would throw off the balance of my understanding with the beach and the jungle and put myself in more danger.
I was coming to a lot of understandings with inanimate objects and legendary creatures these days.
When we got to the top of the rocks Hunter led me all the way across a small plateau and up onto another ridge so that we got to a high point above the island. He sat down and I came with him, setting onto the rock with my legs hanging over. From that position, it looked as though we were soaring over the ground. Higher than most of the trees, this vantage point let us see far out into the ocean and across the jungle and concealed both the damage from the storm and the dangers that existed within the trees, illuminating the incredible beauty of the space around us.
“It’s gorgeous,” I whispered.
“I know,” Hunter said. “But that’s not what I wanted to show you.”
“What then?”
He smiled and pointed up. I followed his finger and gasped at the sight of a billion stars sprinkled across the deep blue sky like flour thrown across a marble cutting board. There were so many of them that in areas it looked as though they were blending together in pools and I had trouble identifying the constellations.
“Isn’t it amazing?” Hunter asked.
I nodded, not taking my eyes away from the stars.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I came up here after we talked. I needed some time to myself and when I saw the stars that first night, I couldn’t tear myself away from them. It let me think.”
“What did you think about?” I asked.
“You.”
I straightened my head and looked at Hunter. He was gazing back at me with more in his eyes than his words could have ever said.
We slid closer to each other until our bodies pressed to one another, thigh to thigh, and I leaned against him, allowing my head to tilt so that it tenderly rested against his for just a moment. When I straightened, he mirrored the movement, tilting his head against mine. I felt trembling in my belly as I looked up at him and our eyes met. There was so much electricity building in the ocean-scented air between us I felt as though I could feel the seconds disappearing around us. Finally, it felt as though something between us broke and Hunter smiled and leaned in to kiss me. I moved forward too, ready to feel the softness of his lips again, wanting to taste more of him and to discover what was waiting for me next, to show him more.