Every Vow You Break(42)

“Okay, relax. They’ll take care of it.”

When they got to the main hall of the lodge, there was light coming from the balcony level, but Abigail just shouted into the dark cavernous space, “Anyone here?”

The chandelier, the one that looked as though it were made of real candles, suddenly lit up, and she heard racing steps on the stairwell, and then Paul, their own personal staff member, was coming across the hall to meet them. He moved quickly but his face was placid.

“There’s an emergency,” Abigail said.

“What can I do?” Paul replied, and Abigail told him quickly that she’d been awoken by a tapping on her window, and then she’d seen Jill with blood on her. She’d chased her into the woods. “You need to call the police,” Abigail said, and Paul nodded.

“Take a seat, both of you, by the fire. I’m going to go wake up Chip, but I’ll be right back. In the meantime, can I get either of you a warm drink?”

Abigail, being led to a seat, said, “You need to send out a search party. She was only wearing a nightgown, and it’s cold.”

“I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Jesus, should we just go look for her ourselves?” Abigail said to Bruce, as Paul raced back up the stairwell.

“Relax for a moment, okay?” Bruce said. “He’s going to get Chip, and he’ll take care of it. I promise.”

“But they need to call the police. Something was really wrong with her.”

“They will, but it’s only been about five minutes. Besides, maybe she just drank too much or something. Maybe it’s a personal matter.”

“She was bleeding, Bruce,” Abigail said. “All down her side.”

There were footsteps again. Paul was leading Chip Ramsay to them. She hadn’t seen him since they’d landed on the island three days earlier. The large red beard was unmistakable, combined with the carefully buzzed hair. He was wearing a green silk robe and had slippers on his feet.

“Tell me what you told Paul,” he said to Abigail as a greeting, perching on the edge of a free chair.

She took a deep breath and quickly recounted her story, ending by saying again that someone needed to go to Jill’s bunk and talk with Alec, the husband. Or they just simply needed to call the police. Bruce was quiet, watching Abigail while she spoke.

“Okay,” Chip said. “I do need to ask you a couple of questions first. Are you absolutely positive that the woman you saw was Jill Greenly?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know her last name, but it was Jill from the other honeymooning couple. Married to Alec.”

“That was their name. Alec and Jill Greenly. And you’re sure it was her?”

“Yes,” Abigail said, loudly.

Chip slowly nodded, frowning a little.

“I don’t understand,” Abigail said. “Do you not believe me?”

“So, the thing is,” Chip said, “Alec and Jill Greenly are no longer here with us.”

“What do you mean?” Bruce asked.

“They left this afternoon. Mrs. Greenly wasn’t feeling well, so a plane took them both back to the mainland.”

Abigail found she was shaking her head. “No, no,” she said.

“They didn’t, or at least Jill didn’t, because I saw her tonight.”

Bruce reached over and took Abigail’s hand, and without thinking she snatched it away from him.

“I took them to the plane myself,” Chip said. “I watched it take off, and I got confirmation when they were safe on the mainland. Is there any way that you might have seen someone else, or that, possibly, you were dreaming?”

“I wasn’t dreaming,” Abigail said at the same time that Bruce said, “She’s not making this up, Chip.”

“I know. I know. I’m not suggesting. I’m just looking for a logical solution, that’s all, and one possibility is that you had a very vivid dream.”

Abigail said, “I was not dreaming. I was outside and chased Jill across the lawn and she went into the woods. I came back and woke Bruce up. Bruce, you felt me. I was cold.”

“I didn’t notice, Abigail, sorry,” Bruce said. “But let’s be logical.

Abigail says she wasn’t dreaming, so she wasn’t dreaming. What if Jill came back to the island somehow? Maybe she forgot something, or maybe—”

“I know everyone who comes onto this island,” Chip interrupted.

He rubbed at the edge of his nose with a finger.

“Then there’s only one conclusion,” Bruce said, then turned to Abigail. “You saw someone else, who looked like Jill. How many women are on this island, Chip? We’ll have to check.”

“Okay, I’ll do it. There aren’t many. It shouldn’t take too long.”

“It was Jill,” Abigail said, but she said it quietly. In her mind she was going back over exactly what had happened, trying to figure out if she could have possibly been wrong.

Bruce stood, then crouched in front of her and said, “We’ll find out what happened, I promise. We’ll figure it out.” He stood and turned to Chip, who had just stood up himself.

Abigail stood, too, hit with a wave of exhaustion tinged with nausea. “Can I call Jill?” she said, the words coming out just as the thought occurred to her.