Page 20 of A Game of Lies

Dario laughed. ‘You’ve only been in two days.’

‘It feels like an eternity.’ The smile disappeared. ‘I don’t know how much more I can take. I reckon Ryan had the right idea, doing a bunk.’

‘I’ll help you.’ She was so perfect, and so … sohelpless, trapped behind the wire like that.

‘Will you? I’m so scared of the confession pod, I just know they’ll fill it with spiders, and I hate spiders so much, I’m bound to give in, and then my mum will never speak to me again.’ She started to cry.

Dario felt panicked. His offer of help had been reckless; he’d just thought perhaps he could slip Aliyah some extra rations, or—

‘Could you find out what the others’ secrets are?’ Aliyah put a hand through the wire and pressed it against his chest; stepped close enough he could feel her breath on his neck. ‘If I expose them, I’ll win immunity. Maybe even win the money.’ She wasn’t crying now. She raised herself up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear. ‘I’ll make it worth your while.’

Now, Dario watches Aliyah hand each contestant their personalised card, each bearing a truth or a lie. The secrets are in the box on the plinth by the fire pit, but how can he get to it, without being seen on camera?

‘Um …’ On screen, the Reverend Lucas blinks rapidly as he reads his card aloud. ‘I’m a qualified yoga instructor.’ There’s a burst of laughter, and Lucas tries to look affronted. ‘It’s true!’

‘Show us your downward dog, then,’ Henry says.

‘Downward dog collar, more like,’ Pam says wryly. ‘Definitely a lie.’ Dario can picture the head teacher in her office, ticking off some poor kid for telling fibs.

‘You lot are too good.’ Lucas spins his card around to show the word LIE, printed in fat black letters.

Dario feels another spike of resentment towards Miles. He would have been brilliant at this game. His poker face regularly wins him card games, gets the police off his back and convinces women he’s serious about them. He despairs at this shower on telly, who couldn’t lie straight in bed. Henry does the classic ‘rubbing the nose’ when he tells them he’s never ridden a bicycle, and Jason can’t keep a straight face for more than a second after announcing his ambition of going into politics.

Aliyah reads from her card. ‘I can hold my breath for four minutes.’ Her eyes flick to the right, and postwoman Ceri points and says ‘Ha! Gotcha!’ but Dario isn’t fooled. Not by the eyes, not by the way Aliyah’s shifting position and wrapping her arms around herself. She’s bluffing.

‘Lie!’ Ceri says. She looks around the tent for agreement.

‘Are you sure?’ Aliyah says.

‘Hundred per cent.’

Aliyah grins and flips the card. TRUTH. Dario gives a satisfied sigh. It takes a liar to catch a liar.

With no eviction tonight, thanks to Ryan going AWOL, Dario doesn’t bother to watch the rest. He pulls on his boots and steps out of the caravan, trying to figure out how to get into that box of secrets. As Dario takes a slow walk around the camp perimeter, all he can think about are Aliyah’s words.

I’ll make it worth your while.

SEVEN

WEDNESDAY | FFION

‘What the hell did you think you were doing?’ Ffion stands in the courtyard at Carreg Plas and stares incredulously at Miles. ‘We’ve got every spare resource searching Pen y Ddraig for Ryan Francis, and you tell the world he’s perfectly fine, just chilling at home “for personal reasons”.’ Her air quotes could dislocate a knuckle.

‘I had to! That bloody YouTube woman was sabotaging everything. Issuing an announcement meant it became a non-story. Even the media have backed off.’

‘But it isn’t true – we’ve got no idea where Ryan is!’

Miles’s gaze keeps flicking back to the monitor on his desk, reluctant to miss a second of precious footage. Above them, the search-and-rescue helicopter takes a slow turn over the trees surrounding Carreg Plas, the sound a pulse in Ffion’s ears.

‘It’s obstruction,’ Ffion says.

‘It’s a potentially award-winning television series, officer, and I’m not alone in thinking it.’ Miles picks up an iPad from his desk and thrusts a headline at her.Indecent Exposure … or just damn good telly?‘Or how about this one?’ He swipes at the screen, then reads from an article inEntertainment Weekly. ‘Miles Young is hot property after his pioneering reality TV series gets everyone talking.’ On Miles’s desk, a frozen clip of the Reverend Lucas in prayer waits for whatever Miles plans to splice it to. He brings up another headline, but Ffion’s gaze remains firmly on Miles.

Slowly, he puts down the iPad on the desk. When he looks up, he’s more subdued, his brow furrowed as he pleads with Ffion. ‘Just a few more hours. Please.’

‘This is a missing person investigation.’

‘Let me at least get tonight’s episode in the can. This is the biggest moment of my career. Roxy’s too,’ Miles adds quickly, when he sees Ffion’s incredulous face. ‘All I’m asking for is a bit more time before you issue a statement.’

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