Blood on the Beach

by Sarah N. Harvey

  “What did you do to her?” My voice cracked.

  “She was sitting on the log, waiting for me. Well—for you, I suppose.” She smiled up at me like this was somehow amusing. “And then I…snuck up behind her. I had a large rock. And I hit her with it. It was that easy.”

  I took a step backward, unable to bear her face being so close to mine. “Right. Easy. And the…her body…”

  “I told Warren there’d been an accident. I told him Tara met me on the beach to talk and that she slipped and hit her head. He was so upset. He actually cried. He wanted to report it right away.” She bit her bottom lip and looked off to one side, as if she was remembering it. “I couldn’t let him do that. We’d lose INTRO if a camper died in an accident—parents wouldn’t trust us to keep their kids safe. So I told him I was scared I’d be blamed for it. Since I was with her when it happened. Warren hated to see me cry; he always wanted to protect me. And since Tara was dead anyway, and me getting in trouble wouldn’t bring her back…” She brushed her hands together like a little kid signing all done. “He put her body in one kayak and pulled it out to sea with the other one.”

  I nodded, trying to keep my face blank, my expression neutral. I couldn’t believe she was telling me all this. Talking about it like it was all reasonable. Sensible. Like she’d had no other option. Did she really see it that way? “And then—what about Warren?” I asked. “What happened to him?”

  She sighed. “He had a crisis of conscience and wanted to call the police,” she said. “To report the accident. I smashed the radio and sliced up the other kayak to buy some time, to talk him around, to make him see reason…but he wouldn’t let it go.”

  “So you…what, dosed him with Xanax somehow and injected him with insulin once he passed out?” I shook my head. “Claire, you can’t honestly think you’re going to walk away from this. I mean, you’ve just confessed to two coldblooded murders.”

  “Who’s to say Warren didn’t inject himself? Or take a fatal overdose of Xanax? And you can claim I confessed if you want, but look at you. A teenager with a history of assault.” She raised her eyebrows. “And look at me. Who’s going to believe a bunch of drug-addled teenage criminals over a psychologist? Believe me, if you even try to pin this on me, you’ll be the one going down for murder.”

  “No way.” I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. “Not a chance.”

  “We’ll see.” She laughed. “Don’t forget Warren was a cop. He has lots of cop friends who will be only too happy to console his grieving widow. And I’ll have another bunch of morons out here next month. There’s no shortage of parents desperate to pay good money to rehabilitate their precious darlings. This camp is a gold mine. And my work is getting me a lot of attention. I wasn’t about to lose that.” She tossed her hoodie on to the bed behind her. “And I’m not going to let you tell your friends and take everything away from me either.”

  Claire lunged at me. God, where did that knife come from? It must’ve been in her hoodie pocket. She must have guessed we knew something.

  “She has a knife!” I yelled, dodging to one side.

  Claire came after me, lips pulled back from her teeth in a hideous grin. I was twice her size, but she was wild, and she was holding the knife in front of her. To get close, I’d have to risk getting cut.

  I could hear Jason outside the door, fumbling with the door handle. “Hurry!” I shouted, trying to catch Claire’s wrist. The knife sliced into the fleshy part of my hand, right below my thumb. “Shit! Guys…” I dodged again, backing away from her, backing myself into a corner—and then the door flew open, and Alice came flying through it.

  One perfectly aimed roundhouse kick was followed by a lightning-quick elbow strike. It was fast, it was precise and, man, was it effective. In a few seconds Claire was on the floor, writhing and moaning, with blood pouring out of her nose.

  “Jesus,” Jason said. He kicked the knife away and then picked it up gingerly, using his sleeve to avoid leaving fingerprints. “What was that?”

  “I told you I had a black belt in karate,” Alice said, her voice trembling slightly. She had her knee on Claire’s back. “Tie her hands,” she said.

  Jason picked up the coil of rope we’d retrieved from one of the sheds earlier. I hadn’t thought we’d need it—the idea of tying Claire up had seemed ludicrous. Melodramatic. Now it was unavoidable, and I was glad he’d insisted on bringing the rope despite my misgivings.

  Jason pulled Claire’s wrists behind her back and tied them together tightly. Then he got to work on her ankles. Chad stood watching, shaking his head like he couldn’t quite believe any of this was real.

  “That was awesome, Alice,” I said. “I’d hug you if we weren’t in the same room with a psycho killer. And if I wasn’t bleeding everywhere.” I pressed my hand against my side. Chad was going to be pissed when he noticed the mess I’d made of his Slayer shirt.

  She got to her feet, smiling slightly. “You wouldn’t be scared of getting kicked yourself?”

  I just shook my head. “That was pretty damn impressive.”

  Alice closed the window, and we slipped out the door, leaving Claire shouting and swearing on the floor behind us. Outside the cabin, Jason, Alice and Chad had assembled a pile of wood and tools, ready to nail a two-by-four across the door. We could hear Claire kicking frantically with her bound feet.

  “You okay, mate?” Jason asked as he hammered the nails into place. “You look like shit.”

  “Maybe it’s the T-shirt,” I said.

  “You did great in there. We could hear most of it. That was some crazy shit.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “I’ll stay here while you go change. Then someone should tell Mandy and Imogen—they’re still with Rahim. Nick’s out cold. Slept through all the excitement.” He hammered the last nail and brushed his hands together. “There. Claire’s not going anywhere. It’s all good.”

  “I’ll feel better once she’s in a real jail,” I said.

  But her words were still ringing in my head. If you even try to pin this on me, you’ll be the one going down for murder.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  Alice

  I stood at the beach, ankle deep in the waves, eyes on the horizon. It was midafternoon, the sun high in the hazy gray sky. Claire was tied up and locked in the guys’ cabin, and Chad was guarding her. Imogen and Mandy were still watching Rahim, who was unconscious, his heart racing and his breathing shallow.

  And Caleb and I were about to paddle out to sea in a badly repaired, leaking kayak. Jason and Nick had done their best with some duct tape they’d found in one of the outbuildings, but the kayak looked pretty shaky to me. There were several long slashes in the plastic, and in one place a large jagged hole had been cut. I knew duct tape was great stuff, but now we’d be betting our lives on its seaworthiness.

  “Be safe out there,” Jason said from the beach. “Don’t go too far. I don’t know how well the boat’ll hold up.”

  Wordlessly, Nick handed me the manual pump. He nodded, and I saw his Adam’s apple jump as he swallowed.

  “Ready?” Caleb said.

  “As I’m ever going to be,” I said, and I stepped into the kayak behind him.

  Here was the plan. Caleb was going to paddle. I was going to pump out any water that breached the duct tape. Some helpful boater was going to sail by, stop to say hello and call for help on the radio.

  It was crazy, but it was the only hope for Rahim.

  Nick and Jason helped push us off, the bottom of the boat briefly grinding against the rocks. Then they stood on the beach, watching silently as Caleb dipped the paddle into the water, and we were away, leaving the island behind us.

  Neither of us spoke much. I couldn’t stop replaying the moment when Caleb had yelled that Claire had a knife. Jason fumbling with the door handle in a panic, me flying into the room and taking her out. I’d never done anything like that before. Karate was a sport, and I was good at it. But for me, it had alw
ays been about learning katas and going to classes at the dojo and competing in tournaments. Actually hitting a person, with the intent to take them down? Not a chance.

  I shook for an hour.

  Now I pumped—amazingly, not much water was coming in. Yet. All good until the salt water unstuck the duct tape, I guessed.

  Caleb paddled, the blades dipping and curving through the water in a smooth figure eight.

  And we scanned the horizon. What the hell were we going to do if no boats showed up? I imagined paddling back, telling the others we’d been unsuccessful. Imagined watching Rahim die.

  We’d been out there for over two hours when I spotted the white triangle of a sail in the distance.

  Thank God.

  “Look! Caleb! Over there!”

  Caleb nodded grimly. His hand was bandaged, but blood was seeping through. He probably should’ve stayed and guarded Claire and let Chad or Jason paddle, but he’d insisted on doing this himself.

  I waved frantically and shouted until I was hoarse. The sailboat stayed within sight for half an hour maybe, teasing us with faint hope—and then sailed right on past and vanished. It never came anywhere near us.

  “We’re hard to spot,” Caleb said. He stopped paddling and turned to look at me. “A tiny kayak, flat against the water? We should have flares or something.”

  “Yeah, well, we don’t.” I pumped. Water was coming in steadily, but so far I could keep up with it. My running shoes were soaked, though, and my feet were frozen. “So keep going.”

  Caleb hesitated. “Alice.”

  I knew what he was going to say. “No,” I said. “We can’t give up. If we do, Rahim dies. It’s that simple.”

  “I don’t want to risk you dying too,” he said. “Or me, to be honest. I mean, at what point do we quit? When this piece-of-shit kayak sinks?”

  Our eyes met, and for a moment neither of us spoke. I couldn’t hold back a shiver. “Five more minutes,” I said. “Then we turn around.”

  Caleb nodded. “Five more minutes.”

  In the third minute, we heard the roar of an outboard engine.

  In the fourth minute, we saw the Zodiac.

  And in the fifth, Del was pulling up alongside, empty crab traps piled high in his boat. “Hey, it’s the goddamn delinquents! Are you kids trying to run away?” He pulled out his radio. “Can’t let you do that. I’m calling Warren.”

  “Warren’s dead,” I told him. And then—to my absolute shame and fury—I burst into tears.

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  Alice

  It wasn’t until we were back on the island, helping Del get the Zodiac secured to the dock, that I realized he hadn’t believed me.

  “Okay, where’s Warren?” he demanded.

  I stared at him.

  “Drop the act, will you? Where is he?” A cigarette dangled from his lip, and his eyes were shaded by a new-looking bright-green baseball cap. It said I’m not a doctor, but I’ll take a look.

  Charming.

  “Warren’s dead,” Caleb said. “Like she told you.”

  “Tara’s dead too. And Rahim’s really sick,” I put in. “Can you call the police? On your radio?”

  “Come on, sweetie.” He took his cigarette out of his mouth. “That’s not funny.”

  “I’m not kidding,” I said. “Claire killed him. You should call the paramedics too—get an ambulance to meet us. Rahim’s insulin disappeared a few days ago, and he’s in terrible shape. Come and see for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

  Caleb and I started to run up the path, gesturing for him to follow us.

  He didn’t move. “Listen, kids. I don’t have time for this.”

  I turned back to face him. “We’re not kidding. I wish we were kidding, okay? We’ve got all kinds of evidence. And Rahim is, like, in a coma or something…”

  Del dropped his cigarette butt and ground it out with his heel. “All right, all right. I’m coming.” He glared at me. “To talk to one of the adults.”

  Jason and Mandy came running down the path when they spotted us.

  “Chad’s guarding Claire,” Jason said. “Imogen and Nick are with Rahim.” He looked at Del. “Have you called the cops? Rahim needs to be in a hospital. Like, two days ago.”

  “Where are Claire and Warren?” Del asked. He hooked his thumb through a belt loop and stood there stubbornly.

  Jason looked at me. “Didn’t you tell him?”

  “I told him.”

  There was a brief silence, and then Jason said, “Oh, come on. You don’t believe us? Why would we make this up?”

  Del shrugged. “You’re all, uh, troubled teens, right? No offense.”

  Mandy folded her arms across her chest, looking decidedly offended.

  “Come take a look at Rahim first,” Jason said.

  * * *

  Nick and Imogen jumped up when we walked in.

  “You got help!” Imogen threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly. “I was so scared!”

  “How is he?” I asked.

  “Listen to his breathing,” Nick said. “It sounds awful.”

  It did. It was deep and gasping and kind of desperate-sounding.

  At any rate, it was enough to get Del jogging back down the hill to the Zodiac to make a call from his radio. When he returned, he was breathing hard—I had the feeling he wasn’t someone who made a habit of running. “Paramedics are gonna meet us at the dock on the mainland,” he said between huffs. “Get him to a hospital.”

  I hoped it wasn’t too late.

  “Now, where’s Claire?” Del asked. “I need to talk to her.”

  Jason’s eyes met mine. “Uh, she’s in the guys’ cabin,” I said. “Locked in.”

  Del bristled. “You locked her in? Well, I’m putting a stop to this right now. That poor girl.”

  Nick stayed with Rahim, and the rest of us headed over to the guys’ cabin.

  Chad waved at us as we approached. “Hey, Del. Man, are we ever glad to see you.”

  “He wants to talk to Claire,” I said.

  Chad grunted. “Well, we have to bring her out sometime, right? We’re all leaving here together.” He pried the board off the front door and pulled the door open. “Come on, Claire. Time to go.”

  * * *

  Naturally, Del was kind of primed to take Claire’s side.

  Her tight-fitting T-shirt probably didn’t hurt either. Nor did the fact that as soon as he had her untied, she threw her arms around him and said, “Oh, Del! Thank God you’re here.”

  Like he was her knight in shining armor.

  Del patted her back awkwardly. “It’ll be okay,” he said. “It’s all going to be okay. Hey…” He touched her cheekbone, which had turned a gruesome shade of puce. “What happened here? Did one of these boys hurt you?”

  Claire scowled and looked at me. “That girl attacked me.”

  “Because she was attacking Caleb!” I said. “With a knife! Not to mention that she’s killed two people—”

  Del took a step back and lit a cigarette. “The kids said that Warren was dead. They’re screwing with me, right?”

  Claire wiped away a tear. “I think it was food poisoning—or a heart attack. He wasn’t feeling well, and he went to lie down…and he never woke up.”

  “Oh man.” Del exhaled a cloud of smoke. “I mean, shit. That’s…I’m so sorry, Claire. Warren’s dead? Man.” He shook his head slowly. “He was good people.”

  Claire bit her bottom lip. “And a girl ran away, and they think—they accused me—”

  Caleb cut her off. “Look, Del. Just call the cops, okay? I don’t care whether you believe she’s a killer or that a bunch of delinquents attacked her and locked her in a cabin. Either way, you gotta call for help.”

  “And we have to leave—fast,” I said. “Because Rahim is dying.”

  Del looked at me, then at Caleb and then at Claire. None of us said anything. He scratched his stomach, adjusted the brim of his baseball cap. “Right,” he said. “You
three”—he nodded at Caleb, Chad and Jason—“go help that other boy carry Rahim down to the dock. You girls, get your little butts into the Zodiac. Pronto.”

  “What about our clothes and stuff?” Mandy asked.

  “Seriously, Mandy?” I said.

  The only thing we needed to bring was Claire’s purse and the evidence inside it—and that was still in the girls’ cabin. I didn’t want to mention it in front of Claire and Del. I ran a few steps after Caleb, who was already jogging toward the staff cabin. “Caleb!”

  “Pronto!” Del yelled. Claire hung on to his arm and murmured something.

  Caleb turned back toward me.

  “Get her purse,” I whispered.

  He nodded. “On it.”

  Del reached out to grab me. “Listen, little lady. If your pretty little backside isn’t in that Zodiac in sixty seconds flat, you’re going to be very sorry. Now move it.”

  I yanked my arm free. “Fine!” I was in as much of a hurry to get out of there as anyone, so I ran down to the Zodiac, Mandy and Imogen close on my heels.

  Del and Claire followed us, and a minute later the boys were making their way down the slope. Nick and Jason were carrying Rahim—Nick had his arms locked under Rahim’s, with Rahim’s back and head supported against his chest, and Jason was in front, holding up Rahim’s legs. Right behind them was Caleb. To my relief, he had a duffel bag slung over one shoulder.

  Del drove at top speed, the Zodiac pounding against the chop. I could hear him talking to the police dispatcher on the radio. Sounded like the cops would be meeting us at the dock as well as the paramedics. I just wasn’t sure who was going to be getting arrested.

  Rahim lay on a pile of blankets. He looked like he was already dead. He even smelled strange. He was still doing that weird breathing. It didn’t seem like a good sign to me, but it was better than not breathing at all. Nick was crouched down beside him, his jaw clenched. He looked scared, and that made me even more frightened. We were so close to getting medical help—but what if it was too late?

  Claire sat beside Del at the back of the boat. In snatches, I could hear her explaining it all away, shouting her lies over the noise of the engine and the wind like she could erase the truth with her bullshit stories. What I was hearing was enough to ratchet up my anxiety by a few more degrees.