Page 18

Oh my God, Hannah. Poor, poor Hannah.

But he didn’t care how he looked; he wasn’t the only one bowled over by the shock. For the past few moments, the sound of the group’s grief had been as loud as the calls and cries of the rainforest. They were all in the grip of this; he was not alone.

‘That’s the thing.’ Naya’s voice drifted to his ears, the fear in it making him turn away from Hannah’s body for a moment and look towards her.

Flecks of dried mud were still splayed down the side of her face, her neck, her arms. Her hair had escaped its tie and tight curls were now flying in all directions, some framing her cheeks, some sticking upright.

She would look ferocious – if it weren’t for the complicated mixture of terror and bafflement etched into her expression. ‘To me, it looks—’

Come on, Naya, just say it. He needed to know; they all did.

‘Well – Naya, what? You were going to say something – it looks like what?’ Carly said.

Naya pursed her lips; shook her head slightly. She seemed desperate not to have to talk. She shifted her weight, one foot to the other, pushed one of the escaped curls away from her face. But then, finally, she said it: ‘It looks like she’s been dead for around a day.’

Dead for an entire day ?

But there’s no way... she can’t have been.

The group stood in silence as the impossibility of Naya’s words sank in.

‘But she hasn’t been dead for a day – nothing close to it,’ said Ben, voicing Scott’s thoughts.

‘We literally just heard from her this morning – a few hours ago! Five, six hours, right? I mean, she messaged us, she sent us a picture, we saw her face, for God’s sake – and she was most definitely alive then! ’

‘Exactly,’ said Carly, her already pale cheeks now ashen. ‘She was alive and well a few hours ago, and miles away. Either this is not actually Hannah, or she somehow got out here really quickly, and whatever happened to her – it must have happened in the past couple of hours...’

She stopped talking, swayed on the spot, reached a hand out to Scott’s shoulders from where he was crouching in front of her to steady herself.

He gripped onto her. Please don’t faint – that’s the last thing we need.

But she seemed to calm down, took a breath, then carried on.

‘What about... could it be the climate out here – the humidity, making it look like she’s been – ah, gone – longer than she has? That can happen, right?’

Naya shrugged, her mouth a tight line. ‘I suppose so – but that would be very unusual, for the decomposition of a corpse to be that rapid...’

Rapid decomposition. A corpse.

This was all wrong. They were talking about a person – about Hannah , for God’s sake. Hannah, the real flesh and blood human being that he’d admired for so long. The woman who had helped him so much; who was an inspiration for millions of people all around the world.

How can this be real? That the same woman was lying dead on the floor of the rainforest. Either she’d had a terrible accident, or worse – unthinkably worse – someone had killed her, and left her here to rot. Who would do something so evil – and why?

Scott felt hot, acidic bile rise to the back of his throat.

The air around them was rancid. He needed to move now; he was desperate to get away from the stench and the awful, relentless buzzing.

But they couldn’t just leave her here, could they?

How would they even make sure the police could find her?

Imagine if they don’t. Would she just slowly decompose out here, devoured by insects and vultures, until her bones sank into the mulchy earth of the rainforest?

This is unbearable.

He didn’t mean to speak – he wasn’t ready to, really – but the words surged out anyway.

‘ None of this makes any bloody sense. If someone killed her, why? Why the fuck would anyone want to hurt Hannah?’ The effort of those few words left him winded, almost gasping for breath – it felt like when he’d finished a half marathon back home last year, raising money for Dementia Support.

The difference then was that he could control it – he could slow his breathing down. Now that felt impossible.

‘We have to find out who did this to her,’ said Ben, his voice shaking.

‘You know, Costa Rica isn’t as safe as it used to be.

I’ve heard some things recently. Drug cartels, gangs, shootings, stuff like that.

’ He moved a trembling hand to his forehead now, wiped away the line of sweat that had settled above his brow.

‘The number of homicides happening here because of cocaine gangs has gone wild recently... it’s been all over the news back home these past few months.

What if... could she have gotten mixed up in something like that? ’

Impossible . Hannah involved in drugs? Never.

Ben was still talking. ‘Especially all the way out here, this far from her house... maybe she wandered somewhere she shouldn’t have – got into some kind of territory she shouldn’t have been in?’

‘That’s a good point,’ agreed Naya. ‘Ending up in such a remote area, I mean. What would she have been doing off the main track, all the way out here in this tiny clearing – not even near a proper trail?’

‘But isn’t this all Hannah’s land? She owns these few hundred acres, right?’ asked Scott.

‘Maybe she got lost, then,’ said Ben. ‘Walked to a part of her rainforest she didn’t know so well.’

This is ridiculous. ‘Lost, in her own property?’ said Scott. ‘She made her own map of the place! I’m sorry – I just don’t buy it. And this is really clutching at straws – speculating about her being involved in drugs... it doesn’t sit right with me, not at all.’

‘Jesus, I don’t know then,’ said Ben, the emotion thick in his throat. ‘I’m just trying to come up with some kind of explanation for something so... inexplicable!’

Scott rubbed his face with his palms. ‘I know, I know,’ he said, softening. ‘I’m sorry – I’m in shock, I guess. The truth is, we don’t know what happened to her, or how. Which is why we have to get back and phone the police.’

Ben nodded, as if to say, I get it ; Scott knew he understood. They were all in shock.

As he watched, Ben bent down next to Hannah’s body, started to reach forward for a moment, looking as if he were going to lay a hand on her.

Scott was about to call out to him, remind him not to touch anything, to leave things exactly as they were for the police to investigate – but there was no need.

Abruptly, Ben seemed to change his mind, stuffed his hand away in his pocket.

There was a long silence, before Naya cleared her throat and started to speak.

‘Look, I know we all want to work out what happened to Hannah, how she got here – how she ended up like this...’ Her voice caught in her throat.

‘And there will be time for all of those questions. But right now, it’s well into the afternoon, it’ll be getting dark soon – we’re shocked and exhausted and running out of water and Mira’s still recovering.

We need to get out of here and call for help.

That’s the best thing we can do for her now. ’

She broke off, and dissolved into silent tears.

Scott reached an arm out; he wanted to touch her, to hold her – for them to give each other some comfort.

But he wasn’t sure if she’d even want that right now; he moved his arm back to his side.

Naya was right, of course. They had to keep going; they couldn’t stay here.

But Scott could feel himself resisting; wanting to protest, to tell them they just needed to stay a few more minutes.

He didn’t feel ready to leave Hannah yet; he didn’t think he could do it.

He wasn’t sure he could face hours more trekking through the rainforest either. Especially if they didn’t know where they were going.

‘Listen, everyone,’ he said. ‘We need to get really clear on our strategy for navigating our way back. Let’s—’

‘I’m sorry,’ Carly interrupted him, shaking her head. She looked stricken. ‘I’m so sorry, everyone. I should never have taken charge – I was so stubborn, insisting I knew the way.’ She broke off with a sob. ‘But I’ve just got us all more lost, and led us to something so... so awful.’

‘It’s not your fault,’ said Ben. ‘And besides, it’s better that we’ve found her, isn’t it? Imagine if we hadn’t – she could have been lying here for days – weeks, even.’

‘I know,’ said Carly sadly. ‘It’s just – I’m always like that, thinking I have to be the one in control. We should have listened to you, Scott, when you said you thought we were going the wrong way.’

Yes, you should have . But it wasn’t all on her – he should have tried harder to convince them.

Perhaps now was the time for him to take charge.

‘It’s OK – don’t beat yourself up,’ he said.

‘We just have to keep trying to make our way back now, before it gets dark. Like I was about to say, let’s look at the map again – Carly, can you hand it over?

Let’s see if we can get any idea of where we are. ’

They studied the map for a moment; Scott thought the best course of action was to head back to the path where they’d first heard the buzzing noise. From there, he had an idea of how to use the sun as a guide to point them in the direction of The Hideaway.

He confirmed the first part of his plan with the others, folded the map, put it in his back pocket, felt a few dull stirrings of hope; he could give the route a half-decent shot.

He looked back at Hannah, felt a hot squeeze around his heart at the sight of her lifeless body.

She was still there; still motionless. The insects and vultures had returned to circling her – even more gathering now that the group had stepped away.

His instinct was to pick her up, carry her with him out of the jungle and bring her back home.

The idea of leaving her here, to rot, be pecked at – it wounded him; it felt utterly inhumane.

As if looking for strength from something heavenward, Scott glanced up at the sky; then he squinted.

Everything above and around them looked hazy – for a second, he wondered if the shock of finding Hannah had affected his vision somehow.

But then he saw the haze moving slightly, and realized that now the rain had eased off, the damp and the humidity seemed to have come together to create a fine mist that was gathering around the tops of the trees.

It made everything look mystical, otherworldly.

It was also going to make it harder to see their way back through the jungle.

Taking Hannah with us is impossible .

It could be a long hike back, and he had to preserve some of his energy – Mira needed help to walk; it was only right to save his remaining strength for the living.

Not for the dead.

He felt eyes on him then; he turned to see Carly staring at him.

‘I know it’s awful, but we have to leave Hannah here,’ she said, as if reading his thoughts.

‘There’s nothing we can do for her now.’ She swallowed.

‘We’ve got to think about ourselves – especially this late in the day, and without a working phone.

We really don’t want to end up stuck out here overnight. ’

‘Yes, and Scott, you can mark some trees as we go again – to help the police find Hannah once we’ve called them,’ said Naya.

Scott nodded, amazed by Naya’s confidence, her calmness, in the face of the tragedy they’d just witnessed.

How is she keeping it all together like this?

Perhaps it came from being a nurse – or a parent of young children; and autistic too.

That must take some patience, some tolerance.

Perhaps her poise came from all of those things.

Maybe if me and Justine had worked out, if I’d become a dad – maybe I’d be calmer, more confident too. The thought brought with it a fresh wave of grief, a new round of tears.

He gave Naya a small nod of agreement, and they began to move, Scott tailing behind under the pretence of digging the white spray paint out of his bag, but in truth, needing to take one last look at Hannah’s broken body on the ground.

He forced his eyes away from her, focused on the path in front of him.

He watched the others thin into a line as they went; Ben had taken the knife back from Scott now, and was at the front, using it to cut through vines and thick leaves.

Scott caught up with him to help with the navigation – behind him, Naya was supporting Mira, and Carly walked at the rear.

He followed Ben, his mind in overdrive as he walked.

Not only was this a horror beyond his wildest imaginings, but nothing about it made sense.

A cold, creeping feeling had started to form; a doubt, a suspicion, and it was slowly making its way from his brain to trickle down his body vertebra by vertebra.

He had the awful sense that something larger could be at play here.

Because if they’d received messages from Hannah that morning, when she’d clearly already been dead for a while – then, had this all been some kind of set-up? By someone pretending to be Hannah, to fool them into believing she was alive and well this morning when they’d left for the waterfall?

But who would do something like that?

Another thought occurred to him then, and with it he felt a hot rush of panic rise up in his chest, making him breathless. What if it was one of the people he was here with – one of the people he was in the middle of a rainforest with at this very minute?

What if one of them is a murderer?

He dismissed the thought as quickly as it came. It was impossible – the timings wouldn’t work. They’d all arrived here yesterday evening, around the same time, hadn’t they? About six o’clock. And Naya seemed to think that Hannah was already dead by then.

He blew out a breath. Steady on, mate. You’re getting way ahead of yourself. There was no reason to think it was one of his companions; that was way too much of a stretch. They were all here, like him, because they loved Hannah.

Weren’t they?

Scott stumbled on a small rock, almost went crashing forward; he caught himself on the trunk of a palm tree.

Away from the cleared paths, the vegetation was dense; they couldn’t see more than a metre or two in front of them.

The trees on either side had grown so close that their leaves and vines had fused together at hundreds of junctures, creating a thick, sprawling green carpet; a barrier.

It feels like the jungle is trying to keep us trapped here.

This wasn’t a track; it wasn’t a pathway. This was pure, untouched jungle. Every direction looked the same. Whoever had left Hannah in this patch of land knew it would be damn unlikely she’d ever be found.

No one belonged here, this deep in the wilderness.

The rainforest doesn’t want us here.

And maybe that’s why Hannah has ended up dead.