Darkness loves mischief, and forces out revelation. And as filming was temporarily halted because of the tunnel, and as the crew hung around, performing their time-filling acts, the darkness pounced on Jute and loosened her fear. Suddenly, she began to scream. And what she was screaming about seemed to have something to do with the peculiar message she had received at the beginning of the journey.
‘My death is so unimportant,’ she cried. ‘Who cares about anybody’s death anyway?’
Jim hurried over to her. She was chewing her handkerchief. Her cheekbones were accentuated by the alternating darkness and light of the tunnel.
‘What’s the matter?’ Jim asked.
‘I just saw Malasso, and he was trying to kill me.’
‘Have you seen him before?’
‘No.’
‘Then how do you know it was him?’
‘Just a feeling I had. A creepy, evil feeling.’
‘But it could have been anybody.’
‘It was him all right.’
‘How can you be so sure?’
‘I am. It was him. He looked evil, and he was trying to kill me.’
‘But why?’
‘Because I’ve got the map.’
‘What map?’
‘You’d like to know, wouldn’t you?’
‘Yes, what map?’
‘Can’t tell you, or he’ll try and kill you too.’
‘You’re making this up, Jute.’
‘Believe what you like, my death is so unimportant anyway.’
‘Stop saying that.’
‘It’s true though.’
‘No, it’s not, and you know it.’
‘It’s true,’ said Jute, softening.
‘Where did you see him?’
‘Who?’
‘The man you said was trying to kill you.’
‘Here, right in front of me, in the darkness.’
‘And how did he try to kill you?’
‘With a knife.’
‘A knife?’
‘Yes, a short knife.’
‘Did he say anything?’
‘Only what he’d said before.’
‘When?’
‘In the message.’
‘What message?’
‘The message I got, the red one.’
‘Oh, that one. What did it say? You never told us.’
‘Can’t tell you.’
‘Why not?’
‘All I can say is that it’s not terribly important if I die. Or you. Or you,’ she said, pointing at each one of us in turn with her long crooked vengeful finger.
Then she fell silent, as we thundered through the darkness of the tunnel…