Blood on the Beach

by Sarah N. Harvey

  “We’re sorry to bother you,” I stammered. “Rahim needs his test kit. He’s due for a shot, and he’s got no insulin.”

  “What?” She put her hands to her face, pressing them against her cheeks like she was making sure she was still there or something. “He’s got no insulin? Why?”

  “The drug locker got broken into last night. Mandy’s meds were taken, and Rahim’s insulin is gone too.”

  Claire sighed and dropped her hands. A single tear rolled down her cheek. “I’ve been with Warren all night in our room. I didn’t hear anything. I’m afraid I’m not going to be much use to you. Warren’s death…” She leaned against the doorjamb, looking like she might faint. I stepped forward and helped her back into the cabin, easing her down onto one of the kitchen chairs. The doors to both the bedrooms were closed. I had no idea which one was Rahim’s. The last thing I wanted was to walk in on a dead guy.

  “Can you sit with me for a minute?” Claire asked, patting the chair next to her. Jason stayed standing in the doorway, his eyes moving around the room. Casing the joint.

  “Uh, sure. I guess.” I sat down and tried to think of something to say. All I could come up with was “I’m really sorry about Warren. He seemed like a good guy.”

  She sniffed, looking down at her lap. “Thank you for that, Caleb. He was a fine man. We were very happy together.” Her voice caught a bit. “I need to ask you a favor. You and Jason.”

  “Sure,” I said. “What is it?”

  “This is going to sound…Never mind.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “What is it?”

  Claire shook her head and started to cry. “I can’t.”

  “Can’t what?” I glanced at Jason. He gave me a bug-eyed look and gestured helplessly. I turned back to Claire, who was sobbing now, hands over her face, shoulders shaking. “Claire, if there’s anything we can do…”

  “It’s just…it’s only Wednesday…and we’re trapped here.” Her words came out between gasps. “And Warren’s dead.”

  “Jason and I are going to fix the…” I trailed off, realizing she didn’t even know about the sabotaged kayak yet. “We’ll do whatever we can to help you,” I finished.

  “Warren’s…he’s in my bed,” she whispered. “I can’t stay here with…a dead body. And by Saturday, he might… Won’t he…”

  Rot, I thought. Decompose. “Look, don’t think about that now,” I said quickly. How fast did a body start to decay, anyway? It was pretty warm in here. Would he start to smell? Or…worse? “We’ll figure something out,” I said. “Maybe we can move him to, uh…”

  “The freezer?” Jason said.

  “No,” Claire said. “It’s not big enough, and anyway…it seems wrong, you know?”

  I nodded. “I know. Whatever we do, we’ll…uh, treat him with dignity. Don’t worry about that. Maybe we could put him in the kayak and send him out to sea?”

  She shook her head. “I want to take him back to the mainland to be buried properly.” She wrapped her arms around herself, hugging herself tightly.

  I didn’t like Claire all that much, but right now I felt awfully sorry for her. I half wanted to give her a hug, but I thought that might be inappropriate. I touched her arm lightly instead. “Of course. I mean, that makes sense.”

  Claire grabbed my hand and gripped it hard. “I need you to bury him.”

  Whoa. I had not seen that coming. “Uh, here? On the island?”

  “You want us to dig a grave?” Jason said.

  This was totally surreal. Like something out of a horror movie.

  “Yes.” She squeezed my hand. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but I don’t know what else to do. I can’t stand the thought of him just lying somewhere. In a shed or…anywhere. I’ll wrap him up in blankets so you won’t have to look at him. I don’t want to add to your trauma.”

  I didn’t respond. I couldn’t think of anything to say.

  “When the boat comes on Saturday, I’ll get Del to dig him up and take him home for a proper funeral.” Her lower lip trembled, and she repeated, “I don’t know what else to do.”

  I pulled my hand away from hers. “I need to get Rahim’s test kit first,” I said. Though really, what was the point in testing his blood sugar if there was no insulin to treat it?

  “I’ll get it for you,” she said. “And then…tonight? Will you…?”

  I looked at Jason. He shrugged. I didn’t know what to say. I mean, obviously Claire wouldn’t want to sleep in the same bed as a dead body. I got that. But burying him? I didn’t even know if that was legal.

  “You’ll need to find somewhere in the forest where there’s enough soil,” Claire said. “There are shovels in the shed. And a wheelbarrow, I think. For the body. I’ll talk to everyone and suggest a group campfire session after dinner, and you two can sneak away.” She wiped her hand across her eyes. “I think it’s best if no one else knows, don’t you? It’s so upsetting to think about.”

  “Can’t we just cover him with a tarp and some branches?” Jason asked. “Burying him seems…I dunno—extreme. It’s only for a couple of days. And it’s not like there are bears or wolves on the island.”

  Claire shuddered. “I couldn’t bear for the crows to get him. Please, guys, I need you to do this. For me…”

  I nodded dumbly. Because what do you say to a hot young widow who asks you to dig a shallow grave for her husband’s body?

  NINETEEN

  Alice

  It was kind of crazy—maybe even literally crazy, under these circumstances—but I couldn’t stop thinking about Imogen. Specifically, about kissing Imogen. Whether it was going to happen. What it would be like. The thing was, though I’d told Nick I was bi or pan—and I was pretty sure I was—I’d never actually kissed a girl. There was only one out lesbian at my school. Her name was Kelly, and she wore ultra-political T-shirts and was intimidatingly confident. I’d never even spoken to Kelly, let alone ventured into any of the Rainbow Club meetings that she organized.

  So when it came to kissing girls, there hadn’t been much in the way of opportunity.

  We were sitting around the campfire, sparks shooting into the dark sky. Nick had told me earlier that he and Caleb had built a fire on the beach the night before, hoping someone would see the smoke and rescue us, but that seemed dumb to me now—it was obvious from the look of this fire pit that INTRO had fires on the island regularly. Even if someone did see smoke, I couldn’t see why they would care.

  There were eleven rough-cut log seats around the fire, but we were down to seven people. Tara was missing, Warren was dead, and Nick was back at the staff cabin, looking after Rahim, who was probably about to slip into a diabetic coma. People were dropping like flies all around us, but Imogen’s thigh was pressed against mine and it was kind of exciting to think about what might happen.

  I slipped my hand into Imogen’s and she squeezed it tightly, and my heart did a little flutter.

  God, since when was I so shallow?

  Though apparently I wasn’t the only one. Across the circle, I could see Chad making the moves on Mandy, sliding an arm around her waist. Caleb was staring into space like he was seeing something that no one else could see, and beside him Jason hunched forward, scuffing one heel aimlessly at the ground. I studied Caleb’s expression for a minute, wondering if he was thinking about Tara. Wondering about that note I’d found. Wondering if he had anything to do with her disappearance.

  We needed to confront him, I decided. Especially now that Warren was dead too. Someone had to get to the bottom of all this.

  Claire was sitting alone, empty log seats on either side of her where Rahim and Warren should have been. “Uh, so, I thought each of us could share something,” she said. “A quote, perhaps, that you find comforting or inspiring. A prayer or a meditation.”

  No one said anything, which I interpreted to mean God, that’s a horrible idea, but since your husband just died, we’ll go along with it.

  “I’m, uh, really sorry about Warren,�
�� Imogen said. “I mean, it’s awful. So awful.”

  Claire nodded and burst into tears. Mandy squirmed away from Chad and rushed over to Claire, then stopped a foot away and awkwardly patted her shoulder.

  “Sorry,” Claire said, sniffing and wiping her eyes. “I want to support you all, but I just…I just…I don’t think I can be here right now.” She got to her feet. “Maybe you could do a sharing circle. Whatever you want. Would you mind if I…?” She gestured in the direction of her cabin.

  “We’ll be fine,” Imogen said. “You should do whatever you need to do.”

  “Thank you,” Claire said. “You’re good kids. I…well, I appreciate it.” She backed away from our circle, and I could see the tears on her cheeks in the light of the flames. Then she turned and ran down the trail, her slight figure disappearing around a bend.

  “And then there were six,” Chad said, tossing a stick onto the fire.

  I shivered.

  “Cold?” Imogen asked me. “Want to share this?”

  She’d brought the gray INTRO blanket from her bunk and was spreading it across both of our laps. Under the blanket, she let one hand rest lightly on my thigh. I pretended not to notice.

  “Thanks.” I shifted closer. “This is nice. I mean, not this whole island thing. Obviously. But…”

  “Yeah.” Her fingers traced a pattern on my skin. “This.”

  I slid my hand over hers. Our faces were only inches apart, but no way was I going to kiss her with the others sitting right there. “How’s your arm?”

  “Achy, but okay.”

  “That should never have happened. Seriously, could you imagine three more incompetent counselors?” I lowered my voice, even though Caleb was a good twenty feet away, on the other side of the fire. “I mean, machetes? I mean, seriously?”

  Imogen laughed. “Alice, it was so totally my fault. I tripped and stumbled right in front of him.”

  “Still,” I said.

  “Seriously,” she said. “If you’d seen it…I practically walked into the blade. I’m a total klutz. If anyone shouldn’t be given a machete, it’s me.”

  “Hmm. Has he even apologized?”

  “Only, like, a hundred times.”

  “I don’t trust him,” I said. Imogen’s hand on my thigh was a major distraction, but I pushed on, leaning close and whispering, “The note I found in Tara’s bed? You have to admit, it’s totally suspicious.”

  “Leaving her a note doesn’t mean he killed her,” Imogen whispered, her lips brushing against my ear. “Maybe he helped her escape somehow. Or maybe they met and chatted for a bit, and then he went to bed and she took off in the kayak. You don’t know.”

  “Yeah, but…if he wasn’t hiding something, why wouldn’t he bring it up?”

  “That’s the suspicious part.” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  I glanced across the circle to look at Caleb, but he was gone. So was Jason. “Hey, Imogen. The guys…”

  She pointed into the woods. “They snuck off a few minutes ago, right after Claire left. See?”

  I squinted into the darkness and could see the bright point of a flashlight moving through the trees. I’d probably have seen them leave too if it wasn’t for Imogen’s hand on my thigh. “I wonder what they’re doing,” I said.

  “Smoking a doob,” Imogen suggested. “Anyway, who cares? I’m more interested in what we’re doing.”

  I fidgeted nervously, tugging at a stray thread in the cuff of my hoodie. I wasn’t sure what we were doing.

  “Hey.” Imogen touched my face. “Alice. I really like you, you know.”

  “Uh, I like you too.” When Imogen said she liked me, it sounded sexy as hell. When I said the same thing, I sounded like a third-grader.

  She leaned in, lips slightly parted.

  “Wait, wait.” I pulled back. “What about Chad and…”

  Chad and Mandy were horizontal in the dirt on the other side of the fire.

  “Relax,” Imogen said, laughing. “They’re busy.”

  Our eyes met. “Okay,” I said. “Okay.” I reached out, ran my fingers along the curve of her cheek and touched the silver ring that pierced her lower lip. Then I leaned in and kissed her, and she was kissing me back.

  I’d kissed guys before, but this was different. This was fierce.

  I slid my hand under her shirt, across the smooth warmth of her lower back, under the loose waistband of her cargo shorts to feel the soft curve of her hip.

  A low wolf whistle interrupted us, and we flew apart.

  Goddamn Chad.

  “You girls want to join us over here?” he called out.

  I could barely see him—just a shape in the darkness—but Imogen and I were close to the campfire, so I guessed he could see us clearly enough.

  “Piss off,” Imogen said.

  “Your loss!”

  I snorted. “Asshole.”

  “Yeah.” She looked back at me. “Where were we?”

  But the mood was wrecked, and besides, Chad was probably watching now, and I wasn’t going to make out with Imogen for his entertainment. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Back to the cabin?” She lifted an eyebrow, teasing.

  “No.” I shook my head. Imogen might have had plenty of other girlfriends, but I hadn’t, and I wasn’t sure I was quite ready for…well, for whatever might happen if we went back to the cabin. “Let’s go see what Jason and Caleb are up to in the woods.”

  She groaned. “Seriously?”

  “Don’t you think it’s suspicious? I mean, Claire left, so they could’ve smoked up right here. Or gone back to the guys’ cabin if they wanted to be alone. Why head off into the woods?” I stood up.

  “Fine,” Imogen said. She sounded grumpy, but she got to her feet, leaving the blanket in a heap on the ground. “Fine, Detective Inspector Alice—what is your last name anyway?”

  “Top secret,” I said. “It’ll cost you another kiss.” I shoved my hands in my hoodie pockets. I couldn’t believe I’d just said that.

  “Deal,” Imogen said.

  We headed into the trees together, walking in the direction of the flashlight we’d seen. The woods around us got darker and darker as we went, and the light of the campfire behind us slowly faded into the blackness. If it wasn’t for the half-moon, we wouldn’t have been able to see anything at all.

  “We’re going to get lost,” Imogen said after a minute.

  “No we’re not. We’re still on that trail we made.” A low-hanging branch scratched my cheek. “Ow. Well, sort of half made.”

  “Great. Scene of the machete incident. We’re probably standing in a pool of my blood.”

  I shuddered, thinking of the blood on the log. Tara’s blood. “Imo—”

  “Shh.” She grabbed my arm with one hand and whispered, “I think I heard something.”

  I looked in the direction she was pointing. “I don’t hear anything…oh. Yeah, you’re right. Come on. But let’s be really quiet. I want to see what they’re up to.”

  We walked as slowly and carefully as we could. It was hard to be silent, because we had to push branches aside and sticks kept breaking under our feet, but as we got closer, I stopped worrying. They weren’t going to hear us, because they were making a ton of noise.

  “What the hell?” Imogen whispered.

  I shook my head, and we moved closer, listening. No voices. Just a rhythmic scrape, thump, scrape, thump.

  Then the noise stopped, and I heard Caleb’s voice. “You think that’s deep enough?”

  “Probably not, but it’ll have to do,” Jason said. “I’m wrecked. I’m dying here.” He paused. “Sorry, man. Bad choice of words.”

  The flashlight turned on suddenly, and a pool of light spilled across the ground.

  “Holy crap,” Imogen whispered.

  I just stared.

  Jason and Caleb were standing over what looked like a newly dug grave.

  “Ready?” Caleb said.

  “As I’ll ever be.”


  They bent down, and when they straightened up again, they were each holding one end of something long and, judging from their grunts, heavy. Something that looked an awful lot like a sleeping bag with a body in it. I felt like there was a boa constrictor tightening around my chest—I could hardly breathe.

  “Tara,” Imogen hissed. “They killed Tara.” She turned to me, her voice barely audible. “Let’s get out of here before they see us.”

  I tried to think rationally. “Shouldn’t we…uh, confront them? Find out what’s going on?”

  Imogen gawked at me, eyes round as an owl’s. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “Yeah. I mean, no. You’re right.” I might have a black belt in karate, but I wasn’t about to take on two guys who were twice my size. I turned to leave—and stepped on what must’ve been the thickest, driest stick in the entire forest. It snapped with a CRACK, a gunshot in the cool night air.

  There was a loud thud—the guys dropping the body, I guessed—and then the flashlight beam swung toward us. We froze for a second, deer in the headlights, and Imogen let out a low whimper.

  “Run!” I yelled. “Imogen, RUN!”

  “Wait,” Caleb shouted, starting to move toward us, a shovel in one hand. “It’s not what it looks like.”

  I wasn’t planning to stick around to hear his explanation, but Imogen was standing there, still as a statue, her face white in the stark light. “They killed Tara,” she said again. “They killed Tara.”

  I grabbed her arm. “Come on. If they killed Tara, what do you think they’re going to do to us?”

  “It’s not Tara,” Jason said. “It’s Warren.”

  I turned and stared at them both. “What?”

  “Claire asked us to bury him,” Caleb said. He sounded exhausted. “She was worried that he’d…uh, decompose.”

  Imogen sank to her knees in the dirt. “I’m going to be sick.”

  “Claire asked you to bury him,” I repeated. My mind was struggling to keep up with its own thoughts. Not killers disposing of evidence. Just a nice little counselor-approved funeral in the woods. “That’s unbelievably messed up.”

  “Yeah, well…” Caleb stopped a few feet away from me, like he was scared I’d run if he got too close. “She’s not exactly firing on all cylinders right now. We had to sneak the body out of her bedroom in the staff cabin while Nick was in the other room with Rahim.”