Page 56 of The Weekend Getaway

Slowing her pace, Mia glanced at him. “Are you serious?”

“I wish I wasn’t ...”

“If Sarah was telling the truth, then where's the speedboat with Grace's severed head in it?” Mia asked, wincing at her choice of words, as though saying Grace’s severed head might manifest it, make it a reality when that could not possibly be true.

“I don’t know what happened to the boat,” Chris said. “Maybe the killer took it.”

“The killer?” asked Mia, though she wished she hadn't. Shedidn’t want to legitimatize Chris's paranoia, which had quickly and steadily grown. With each step through the jungle, he seemed to be becoming more feral and frantic, less rational, less grounded in fact. As the best lawyer at the firm, even better than Alex, she expected his factual, cool-headed logic and pragmatism but he was giving her spook and conspiracy.

“Phil,” Chris said as they reached the end of the path and headed into the backyard of the villa. “He’s the killer. He killed Grace. And Alex too.”

“Alex isn't dead,” Mia said, skirting the pool, shielding her eyes from the harsh afternoon sun glinting on the water. “And Phil isn't a psycho.”

“But Phil said he wanted to destroy us,” Chris said. “He wants us dead because of what we did to him.”

Mia struggled to contain her fury. “I already told you that Alex took Phil to the mainland.”

“How do you know that for sure?”

“Are you calling me a liar?” Mia stopped, pivoting to face Chris, forcing him to stumble back or risk barreling into her.

Exhaling, rubbing his hands along his sweaty, blotchy cheeks, Chris said, “I’m just saying … did you see Alex leave with Phil?”

“Alex told me he was taking Phil to the mainland,” Mia insisted.

“But did you see Alex leave with Phil?” Chris demanded, stepping closer to her. “Do you know that they actually went to the mainland?”

Mia swallowed, trying not to think about Alex's phone,and why he’d left it beneath the bed table, even though she was sure there was a logical explanation for it.

“Because I don’t think that’s what happened,” Chris said. “I think Phil made up that story about needing to go to the mainland. And I think he convinced Alex to take him, but they didn’t make it to the mainland because?—”

“Shut up!” Mia told him. “I don’t care what you think. That’s not what happened. Alex isn’t dead. And neither is Grace.”

“Then where are they?” Chris asked. “I’ve been calling and texting Grace, but she hasn’t texted me back or returned my calls.”

“That’s probably because the cell reception is bad on this island,” Mia said.

“Have you tried calling Alex?”

Ignoring the memory of Alex’s phone, Mia said, “I don’t think we can make calls on this island. We’re too far from any cell towers.”

“Did you find the speed boat?”

Jolted by the sound of Sarah’s voice behind her, Mia turned.

“No … “ Chris said. “And I don’t think we’re going to. I think Phil hid it somewhere. He doesn’t want us to find it because he doesn’t want us to get off this island before he kills all of us.”

“Where’s Jason?” Mia took Sarah’s arm, forcing her to walk away from Chris’s rampant paranoia, which she worried might infect Sarah. Although, Sarah might have already lost her mind, seeing as how she believed Grace was dead.

“Up in his room, I think,” said Sarah.

Catching the slur in Sarah’s words and glassy eyes, Mia wondered if she was drunk, but asked, “You think? I thought the two of you came back to the villa together?”

“We did, but …”

“But?” Mia probed.

Sarah looked at her, then glanced away. “We argued.”

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