Paradise Island: Complete Edition (14 page)

The more the phone kept ringing, the more hopeless I got, until it finally went to voicemail. “Please Jack, help me. I’m by the boathouse. I don’t know if I can stay alive any longer.” It was quick and to the point. I closed the cell and put it in my pocket. I decided to give the dirt road another shot. I walked like a zombie, hoping to get more bars on the phone before trying again. Then I felt a strange sensation in my pocket. It was vibrating. I didn’t even know the damn thing was set to vibrate, but that made a sick sort of sense. If you were a serial killer in the process of kidnapping women, wouldn’t you want your phone to be on vibrate so as not to alarm the prey that the beast was coming?

I quickly fished the phone out of my pocket until it almost slipped through my fingers. I caught it just in time and answered the damn thing after seeing my name on the screen.

“Hello?” I said uncertainly into the phone, not sure what would come out the other end.

“Sophie! Wait there, I’m on my way. Are you safe?” Jack’s voice, his beautiful strong comforting voice was on the other line. I closed my eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sophie? Are you there?” I heard him ask frantically on the other end.

“Yes, I’m fine, just please come for me.”

“I’ll be there soon!” And now I could hear the engine of the bike in the background. Jack was coming for me. He was really going to help get me out of the middle of nowhere.

I sat down by the road and waited until I could hear his bike in the distance. I immediately got up, dirt all over my clothes and hands and waited for the bike to appear before me. It didn’t take long for Jack to appear, riding that noisy bike that I hated so much, except that in this moment it was one of my favorite things, only second to the man who was driving it.

After he’d parked the bike, I waited for him to come to me and he did. His strong arms held me up as I collapsed from exhaustion.

“Oh my God, Sophie, what has he done to you?” Jack whispered in my ear as he held me close, afraid to let go it seemed. I would have hugged him back but I didn’t have the strength. I was finally safe, and that feeling was enough. The warmth of his body was just an added bonus.

“Believe me Jack, you should be asking what I did to him.”

The rest of the trip was a blur. I knew Jack helped me on to the bike, making sure my arms were wrapped tight around his waist. He had given me his leather jacket and he put a helmet on my mostly wet hair, which helped with the cold wind. I lost myself in the movement of the bike and his body, and I let everything that had happened go. I trusted Jack to take me to where I needed to go, and I let him do the rest.

I
awoke in a warm bed, feeling safe and comfortable. I was covered in so many blankets that it took a bit of time to get from underneath all of them. I looked up and saw Jack dozing off with a cup of tea by his side and a book in his hands. I didn’t want to wake him, but as I made my way slowly out of bed, he woke up anyway.

“You have to rest, Sophie. Do you want me to get you something to eat?” He stood over me now, ready to listen to any demand.

He was sweet, but I’d had enough rest. I needed to take a long hot shower and tell Jack exactly what had happened. Which reminded me of a question I had for him.

“Lucy? What happened to Lucy?” I asked, hoping that the answer would be that she was safe and sound.

“I haven’t seen her since the explosion at the boathouse. I went back and looked but there was no trace of her. Are you sure she was ever there at all? Maybe he kept her somewhere else, or maybe he never had her?”

I thought about it, and I definitely remembered seeing Lucy all tied up to an old boat. “No, she was definitely there before the explosion. I’m sure of it.” What the hell was going on here? Where was she if she had not perished in the fire? My head was starting to hurt just thinking about it.

“What did you do after the explosion?” I asked Jack, genuinely curious. I knew that Henry had said that he’d kill me if Jack went to the cops, and now that I’d killed the guy myself, I certainly hoped Jack had listened. I waited with bated breath for his answer.

Jack paced around the room. “I called a guy I know back in Hollywood. He’s a private investigator and I had him look into anything he could find out about Henry. While you were sleeping, he called me with a location for a cottage deep in the woods that used to belong to his grandparents. Is that where he took you, Sophie?”

I nodded.

“I thought about calling the cops, but I knew that’d do more harm than good. The minute they got close, who knows what this psycho would have done. I didn’t want you to get hurt. That’s why I called the guy, and if you hadn’t called me, I would have come down there myself and rescued you.”

I breathed in relief, thankful that the cops didn’t get involved so far. Unless Lucy had gone to them, but judging by all the comments she had made about the local law enforcement, it didn’t seem like they were very good at their jobs. Sure, they could help you get your cat out of a tree, but anything more than that was beyond them. Lucy’s words, not mine.

“You would have come for me? Risked your life to rescue me?” I don’t know why that shocked me, but it did, and in the best way.

Jack kneeled down by the bed and put his arm on my shoulder. “Of course. I would do anything for you. You should know that by now. But, it seems like you didn’t need me at all. Tell me what happened, Sophie. Do we still have to worry about Henry coming after you?”

I shook my head. “No, Jack, he won’t be doing much of anything anymore. He’s dead.”

“What happened?” Jack was suddenly very interested, the concern and worry clear on his face. I wasn’t sure if I was doing the right thing, but I couldn’t keep what had happened in that cottage all to myself. I told Jack about everything. The room he locked me in, how I used the knife he had given me. I toned down the rage part; he didn’t need to know all the grisly details. All he needed to know was that I had killed Henry in self-defense. And then I torched his body and his sick little cottage to get rid of any evidence pointing to my involvement.

“Shit, Sophie, this isn’t good. We need to go back and get rid of that boat, too. It’ll look suspicious if it’s found all by itself by the burned out boat house.”

“What about the boat house? Didn’t anyone hear the explosion? See the fire?” It seemed a bit strange that such an event would go unnoticed on the island, no matter how far away people lived from each other.

“Oh, yeah, the locals were on the scene pretty soon after. That’s what I heard from the diner owner, anyway. I was there to see if Lucy had shown up for work. Anyway, he said that the locals blamed it on troubled youth and left it at that. As soon as the fire was put out, they took a quick look around the place and left. They haven’t been back there since.”

“Wow, Lucy was right. These guys are totally useless. But I’m glad they are, because it will make covering up Henry’s disappearance that much more easier.”

“Unless somebody already spotted the fire,” Jack said.

I thought about the location of the cottage and how far away it was from anything. It was practically on the other side of the island. “I doubt anyone noticed too much, except some smoke. It’s daylight and it’s far enough away. I think it won’t be found for awhile yet. I have a feeling that Henry liked that place because no one could accidentally stumble upon it.” I thought about the pictures, the dark room, the mattress, and wanted to gag. I was glad that place was up in flames. It had no reason to exist in this world.

“That’s good,” Jack said. “You’ll need to take me to the cottage. We’ll take the boat, with my bike in tow, and leave it over there. Maybe it’ll be ruled an accidental fire if we’re lucky.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, but did not believe my own words. What transpired in that cottage would haunt me for the rest of my life. “I need a hot, long shower first, then we can go and get the boat, okay?”

Jack nodded. “Are you sure you’re well enough to be out and about just yet?”

“Yeah, though I am ravenously hungry. Once I take a shower and eat, I think I’ll be good to go.”

“Good to know. I’ll go see what I can whip up in the kitchen.” Jack got up to go.

“Jack, how did you get to be so amazing?” I couldn’t believe the words that had come out of my mouth, but they were true, that much I knew. Jack truly was an amazing man.

“If you knew me before the island, I don’t think you’d be asking the same question.” He smiled, and even though I could see something deeper, something else beneath it, I could not figure out what it was. He left me in my room. I picked out the clothes to wear and made my way to the bathroom, passing him by as he looked around the cupboards in the kitchenette.

I took a long hot shower, rinsing my body with soap more than a few times, until I was certain I had made myself as clean as I could. I let the water wash away the evidence until my skin was starting to wrinkle. I got out and dried myself with the big fluffy towel I had chosen and then I slowly got dressed in fresh, clean clothes. I could almost believe that I was my old self again, until I looked into the mirror. The girl in the mirror had a haunted look in her eyes that told me that she’d never be okay again, no matter how hard she tried. I hoped I was wrong in my assessment.

I sat down across from Jack in the kitchenette and we ate in silence, me much more ravenously than he. I was glad he didn’t ask any more questions about what went on in that cottage and how Henry had really met his end. I already felt like a monster because of it, and I did not need anyone else reminding me of the horrible act that took place there.

It was midday outside, and we needed to get rid of the boat before night came. I quickly finished my eggs and took a long sip of my tea and I was ready to go.

“The clothes I had on today?”

“I put them in the washroom. Haven’t had a chance to do the laundry yet.”

“Good,” I said. “I want to burn them. And the knife? It was in my jeans.”

“I put it aside. I’m guessing we need to get rid of it as well?”

I nodded.

It was strange that Jack and I were having this conversation so casually. I had just killed a man, and we were covering up the crime.

I packed the clothes and knife in a bag and we took it with us. We got on Jack’s bike, and were on our way back to the boathouse.

It didn’t take long for us to reach our destination. The boat was thankfully where I left it. It didn’t drift off too far from shore. Jack had some experience riding boats, so he knew his way around this one. He parked it nice and good by the dock area. And then he worked on getting the bike on the boat. It took a bit of time, and we had to fashion a wooden beam going from the dock to the boat, but we finally managed to get the bike on the boat. I was already tired from the effort, but Jack seemed as strong as ever. I was awed by his strength, both mental and physical. A lot of people would run as fast as they could from the situation I had found myself in, but here was Jack, helping me while also reassuring me that everything was going to be okay.

Once the bike was safely on the boat, as well as the wooden beam we used to get it there, we were ready to go. I told Jack what I could remember of the path. It took a bit of looking, but eventually I spotted the derelict dock where Henry’s cottage was. The smoke rising up in the air was also a good indicator of where we were headed. I just hoped we were the first ones there. The last thing I needed was somebody trying to play hero.

Jack parked the boat much better than I did and I helped him wheel the bike out. We had to be fast because the dock didn’t look like it could hold that much weight for long. Once the bike was safely parked on the ground I looked up at my handiwork. I didn’t know whether to be impressed or horrified, but I was surprised at what happened in just a few hours. I guessed the whole cottage was mostly dry wood because most of it was burned to the ground. I came closer and looked at the mess. Some fire still burned in a few corners, but most of it had already burnt out, with nothing to keep it going. I walked carefully around the property until I spotted it. At first I wasn’t sure, but when I came closer I was: Henry’s body was burned to the bone and the little flesh that was left was charred and black. I quickly looked away from the mess I had made of him. Jack was by my side in no time, his strong arms around me. I held onto him for dear life.

“You did what had to be done,” was all he said, and it was enough.

“Do you think we should get rid of the body?” I asked, not really sure what we were supposed to do now.

“I don’t know. Yeah, probably. But where would we bury it?”

I looked around at the dense woods ahead of us. In our haste to get to the boat, we did not bring any shovels, not that Jack had any at the house, but still.

“I think we should leave it. Most of it is burnt anyway. It’ll probably be ruled an accident, unless they decide to take a closer look.”

So we made our decision. After wiping clean the boat a couple of times, including where I had been kept, we were ready to leave. I got on the bike behind Jack and heard the loud roar of the engine not soon after.

“Wait,” I said. “The bike will leave tracks, won’t it?”

“Yeah, most likely. Good thinking, Sophie.”

“I think you should drive a little ways away, and I’ll clear the tracks and then I’ll come and join you.”

“I can just park it and help you out as well.”

So that’s what we did for a little bit, covering up the bike tracks as well as our footprints in the dirt. We were careful not to leave any behind as we climbed on the bike again. I put on the helmet and so did Jack. If somebody saw us, it would be better that they did not see our faces. I took one last look at the spot where the cottage used to be. There was no more smoke rising up into the sky, for we had stopped the few spots where it rose and the fire still burned. As for the body, it was mostly unidentifiable, and I hoped that the wild animal population would do the rest.

As we rode out of there I hoped that everything that had happened with Henry would never come back to haunt me. I knew it was always going to be with me. His blood was always going to be on my hands, but as long as me and Jack were the only ones who knew, I think I could live with it.