We finish the starter of crab cakes on a bed of toasted seaweed with a dressing that is so delicious I would happily eat it every day. The wine is crisp and cold, and the bread rolls soft, and the way Nate strokes my leg and pays me attention, makes me feel like the luckiest girl alive. Chester and Madelaine are good company and tell me stories about previous guests and their strange habits. It’s difficult to imagine anything sinister going on here because this family appears honest and open.
I help Madelaine clear away the dishes and then look in awe at the main ones waiting on the side. Madelaine sighs with pleasure. “My favourite boeuf bourguignon. Joseph certainly knows how to cook his way to my heart.”
She winks and lowers her voice. “Back in the day, I quite fancied our irascible chef. All the girls love a bad boy, so they say, anyway, and I idolised him.” She giggles at the expression on my face. “We may have had a small fling once, but that was before I got with Chester. The feelings are still there though, not in a sexual way, just a pleasant memory that I dust off from time to time and revisit.”
Wondering what she means by that, I help carry the meals to the table and note the pleasure in the guy’s eyes. “This looks amazing. I’m so hungry.” Nate almost falls on the food and we start to eat and then, as soon as the first forkful enters my mouth, I’m shocked when Chester grabs his throat and then spits out his food.
Madelaine jumps up in alarm and her chair falls back and Nate cries out, “His EpiPen, quickly.”
I look around in confusion as they spring into action, and I watch in horror as Chester’s face swells up before my eyes and he grabs his throat and appears to be having trouble breathing.
“Quickly, Nate, we don’t have long. He’s having an anaphylactic shock.”
Madelaine’s in tears as they pull Chester from the room and Nate calls over his shoulder, “Wait here, Katrina, we need to get him to a hospital.”
“I’ll come too. Maybe I can help.”
Nate shouts, “Too much weight in the boat! We need it to go fast.”
I watch them leave the bungalow and wonder what I can do to help. It all happened so suddenly, and I’m worried about him. I look around helplessly and then hear a firm whisper, “Katrina, hurry, we don’t have long.”
“Adam!” I stare at him in disbelief as he rushes into the bungalow, closing the door firmly behind him. “Quick, take this phone and use it to record what we find.”
“But Chester…”
“Is on his way to the hospital.”
“But how, what happened?”
Adam grins wickedly. “As I said, there’s a reason Joseph prepares his food and it’s because of his nut allergy. I just replaced Joseph’s olive oil with peanut oil, and we have our opportunity. I knew they would all go with him, but we don’t have long. I’m guessing we have one hour before Nate returns, hopefully longer, but we will need to have finished our search and leave no evidence.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing but follow him to Chester’s office and feel my heart banging out of control. This is so wrong. Why am I helping him? Chester could die. All these thoughts are racing through my head as I look blindly around the organised office and see Adam opening drawers and cupboards like a special agent.
“Hurry, Katrina, help me look.” He says with an urgency to his voice that spurs me into action. Frantically, I take the other side of the room and as I look despairingly around a sudden thought hits me. “Check the art on the walls.” My voice is strained, and Adam looks up sharply, but does as I say and begins to move paintings to see what’s behind them and the third one reveals a safe buried into the wall.
“Bullseye.” Adam grins but I whisper frantically, “It’s locked. We can’t break into a safe.”
“Who said anything about breaking in?” Adam smirks as he enters a code and, as it opens, he rolls his eyes. “Matty was right. The guy’s an amateur.”
“What are you talking about?”
He whispers, “Matty once told me that if anyone ever broke into the resort, all they needed to know was Chester’s birthday. Apparently, he has a poor memory, and it’s the only code he can remember.”
“How does Matty know?” We could win prizes for whispering as we set about raiding Chester’s private property and Adam shrugs. “He’s the security guard, remember? He has access to information we don’t, and it’s only when he was drunk one night, he let this one slip.”
“What if he catches us?”
“It’s fine. I last saw him laughing with the guests. It’s the opposite direction to the beach, and I doubt he even knows they’ve left.”
“Some security guard he is.” I shake my head. “Does he have any help, or is he the whole security team?”
“There’s Grant, but he’s making out with Sonia at the retreat while everyone’s at the party.”
“Isn’t Sonia…”
“Scott’s partner.” He raises his eyes. “You would be amazed at what goes on behind the scenes here, Katrina.”
Something tells me I wouldn’t and as the door swings open, we stare inside and I blink twice before saying, “What the…”
Adam whistles softly, “Would you look at that?”
There are stacks of dollar bills, neatly arranged in piles inside the huge safe on the wall, sitting on top of some files and a small leather pouch.
Adam reaches in and starts stuffing his pockets with cash and I say in alarm, “What are you doing?”
“We need this.”
“No, we don’t, Adam, put it back.”
He hisses, “Katrina, we don’t have long. Get the file and the pouch before they catch us.”
“But why? This could be nothing. Why are you risking everything?”
He sighs and thrusts the folder at me. “Look in there?”
My fingers tremble as I open the file and the papers in there don’t mean much to me at all, but three words stand out like a gigantic red flag and change everything in an instant.
Green Valley Foundation.
“Adam.” My voice shakes and he says quickly, “Now do you understand? We need to run, Katrina, if we’re to stand any chance of bringing this organisation down. The money is ours anyway, the guests leave our tips with Chester and he ‘keeps it safe’ for us.”
“But how do you know this?”
He thrusts wads of dollar bills at me and says through gritted teeth, “We don’t have time for explanations. Stuff this in your bag. We need to get going.”
I watch as he closes the now empty safe and enters the security code. Then he carefully places the art back on the wall and looks around him. “Make sure everything is exactly as we found it. I don’t want to give them cause to check the safe until we’re far away from here.”
I look around, not really registering anything but the fact that Chester is somehow connected to the foundation who now owns my inheritance.
My head is buzzing as Adam says urgently, “Come on.”
“Where?” I feel my heart go into freefall as I whisper, “There’s no way off the island.”
“You’re wrong. There’s a boat.”
“That’s on the mainland. How can we escape?”
Adam grabs my hand and, pulling me along with him, says in a loud whisper, “Have you ever ridden a jet ski, Katrina?”
“Are you mad, I’m not going on that?”
“Trust me, it will be fine.”
“But we can’t just leave. What about our passports? We have nothing and they’ll find us.”
“We have money, that’s all we need. Now hurry, we really don’t have time for discussion.”
I’m not sure why I’ve agreed to this, and the only thing pushing me along with him is the folder. The answer to everything lies in there, I know it does and knowledge is what I need right now because I am so close to discovering the secrets of this private island and even though it won’t bring my parents back, it will make me understand the connection they have to it.