Before

Rebekah followed Johnny’s directions, but they still almost missed the entrance to Simmons Gully. His Plan B was to go to the dig site Karl Stelzik was working at.

The track down was full of potholes, sprinkled with frost, and almost entirely obscured by trees, but at the bottom, Rebekah swung the car in next to a dirt-spattered Chevy Traverse, and knew straight away that they’d found him. The rear seats had been folded down, and the cargo hold was full of tools and equipment. There was also a Museum of Natural History sticker on the front windshield with ‘STAFF’ on it.

‘Well, Plan B already looks better than Plan A,’ she said.

‘Let’s hope so,’ Johnny replied, and after Rebekah had locked the car, he led them into the trees. She’d worn an old pair of sneakers, and an older pair of denims, so it didn’t matter how muddy the path got, but as they trailed further into the woods, she could see that most of it was frozen hard anyway.

Fifteen minutes passed, then ten more, then another ten, and finally Rebekah asked, ‘Have you any idea where this dig site is?’

‘I don’t think it’s too far,’ Johnny said, but he sounded unconvinced.

A second later, his foot plunged into a puddle, disguised by the roots of a tree, the water coming all the way up to his ankle.

‘Oh, you gotta be kidding me,’ he muttered, stopping, his boot, his pants, both soaked.

‘You okay?’ Rebekah asked.

Her brother flushed with irritation.

‘This is frustrating,’ he said, typically underplaying it.

She guessed he wasn’t just annoyed about his wet foot or the search for Stelzik, but feeling guilty about accepting her invitation to drive him all the way out here. She wanted to reassure him but, in truth, she was starting to feel pissed off herself. This wasn’t sitting on the beach, listening to the sea. They hadn’t started the day in a quaint coffee shop with views of the ocean, nursing an elaborate pastry while a fire roared in the corner. She’d known the island would be basic, but not this basic. And she hadn’t thought they’d be doing a hike.

‘I’m sorry about this,’ Johnny said.

‘Why don’t you try giving him another call?’ Rebekah asked.

He showed her his cellphone. ‘No signal.’

Rebekah checked hers. It was the same.

‘I think we should go back,’ she said then.

Johnny eyed her.

‘We don’t know where the hell we’re going. We don’t know where the hell this guy is. We’re just following a vague path into the middle of nowhere.’

‘He said the dig site was down here.’

She looked past Johnny to where the path disappeared. ‘Down where? We’ve probably walked a mile and a half already. It’s almost the end of the season, and the hostel where he was supposed to be staying is totally dead. How do you know he’s even still here?’

‘If Stelzik has left already,’ Johnny said, ‘why’s his car back there?’

Rebekah just shrugged.

Johnny took a step towards her – and, as he did, his boot squelched comically underfoot. He broke into a smile. ‘Oh, come on, Bek. Are you saying we’re not having a great time?’

She couldn’t help smiling in return.

He rocked back and forth on his foot, the wet sound repeating. ‘How about we make a deal?’ he said to her, in the soft voice he’d always used when they were kids – when he was warning her not to rub Dad up the wrong way, when he used to talk about their mother. ‘Ten more minutes and, if he isn’t here, we turn ba–’

A noise erupted around them.

They looked at each other.

‘What the hell was that?’ Johnny said.

But he knew exactly what the sound was.

They both did.

It was someone screaming.