Page 25 of Kiss Heaven Goodbye

‘Nothing?’ asked Grace incredulously.

‘Nothing,’ repeated Miles. ‘We should just stay calm and let someone else find it.’

Alex couldn’t believe his ears. ‘We have to call a doctor. The police.’

‘A doctor?’ scoffed Miles. ‘He’s dead. And even if he wasn’t, no one will be able to get here for at least half an hour. And the nearest coppers are in George Town.’

Alex pointed to the ground. ‘Miles, our footprints are all over this beach. We can’t pretend we weren’t here.’

‘This is our island, Doyle. And let’s just say my father has a way of making these things go away.’

‘Hang on,’ said Sasha quickly, looking up towards the sandbank above them. ‘We’re assuming this is some sort of attack or something. Maybe it was an accident. I mean, maybe he fell. It looks like he rolled down this bank.’

Miles shook his head. ‘Either way, we should still leave him. Think about it: every one of us is going to look suspicious, running around the island in the dark. None of us can prove where we were every minute of the night, can we? The fact is, he’s dead. The police are going to want to point the finger at someone. Who better than the four pissed-up kids who found the body?’

‘Come on, Miles. That’s a bit paranoid,’ said Grace, but her voice lacked confidence.

‘Listen, Alex and I had a bit of a pop at him earlier,’ said Miles angrily. ‘The guy was being a prick, wasn’t he, Alex? That’s not going to look too good for either of us. I mean, we had nothing to do with this’ – he

gestured towards the body – ‘but who would you believe?’

Alex stared at Miles, his eyes wide. He didn’t know when he’d felt more angry and hurt. Was Miles trying to implicate him? He’d always known his friend was arrogant and volatile, but this . . . this was cold.

‘I’m going to get someone,’ said Alex, beginning to walk away.

‘I’m coming with you,’ said Grace.

Miles strode after him and grabbed his arm. ‘Stop.’

Alex whirled around, challenging him. ‘Why?’

‘I can’t afford to get mixed up in something I had nothing to do with. Can you?’

‘I’ve got nothing to hide,’ said Alex with more bluster than he felt.

‘And you want to take a chance on the police believing that?’ Miles didn’t flinch, holding Alex’s gaze, his eyes boring into him.

He turned to Grace. ‘You know Father has important clients coming to Angel tomorrow. How is it going to look if there’s a police investigation going on? Especially when his son and daughter are right in the middle of it.’

For a few moments no one spoke as the cold chill of Miles’ words sank in.

When he spoke again, his voice had an eerie calmness. ‘OK, it’s five fifteen. Let’s get back to the house as quietly as possible. Some of the staff should be getting up any time. Let one of them find the body. They can tell my father and he can sort this out. Agreed?’

He looked at them one by one and slowly, reluctantly, one by one they all nodded.

‘Bradley’s dead,’ said Miles as they began to walk away from the body. ‘We can’t help him. But we can help ourselves.’

10

It had started to rain as soon as she had got back to her bedroom. Fat, sweet-smelling, tropical rain that lashed against the window and seemed to make the whole house shake. Grace glanced at her watch again; it had been barely an hour since they had been at the beach, but time seemed to be passing horribly slowly.

Down at the beach, Miles’ selfish ‘let’s help ourselves’ speech had had a certain perverse logic, but now she’d had time to think, letting someone else find the body seemed wrong on every level. Not that any of them had anything to do with that poor man’s death, of course, but to just leave him there ... It was immoral, heartless, corrupt.

Should I go to see Alex? she wondered. He had been the only one who seemed to have a problem with leaving the body. But his room was next to Miles’ and the last thing she wanted to do was alert her brother to what she was thinking of doing. No, Grace knew she had to do this alone. The downpour started to ease. Steeling herself, she slipped on her flip-flops and was just heading for the door when she heard a gentle, almost inaudible knock.

It was Alex, his face grim. ‘Can I come in?’

She nodded, glancing up and down the corridor before she closed the door gently behind him.