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We can’t stay here.” Jo stands up from the sofa. “First Bea, now Seth.” The muscles in her arms are taut with tension as she paces the room.

On the second lap, she brushes past the cheese plant in the corner with such force that the leaves shudder violently, the pot rocking from side to side on its stand.

Catching Hana’s eye, Maya smooths a dark curl away from her face with a panicky gesture, as if willing her to say something, but Hana doesn’t know what. Jo’s right.

This is surreal. No other way to describe it.

“It’s an awful thing to happen,” Maya says quietly, “but it’s a horrible coincidence, that’s all. Accidents.”

“You really think so?” Jo swivels, face brimming with emotion. “I thought you were being paranoid, Han, with what you were saying about Bea’s fall, but now I think you’re right, there is more to it.”

“But we know Bea fell, and Seth, the detective said his scuba equipment—” Caleb says from the corner of the room. He rubs at his eyes, exhausted from it all, Hana can tell.

Jo’s eyes are bright, glittering. “No,” she interjects. “She didn’t say that explicitly. It was obvious from her questions that she doesn’t think it was accidental. Something’s not right... not just the money, but the fact that he went diving on his own, without telling anyone.”

“I know what you mean,” Hana says slowly. “That is strange, especially when you don’t know a place well. A massive risk.”

An odd expression flickers across Jo’s face. Embarrassment?

“What is it?” Hana asks.

Jo drags her eyes up to meet Hana’s. “I was going to tell you anyway. Seth does know the island. It wasn’t his first time here. His father... he owns it.”

“We know. The detective told us,” Caleb mutters.

“Oh.” Jo nods, a strange expression on her face. As she leans back against the wall, the movement reveals her scar from the fire. The one vulnerability of her strong body.

“So why didn’t you tell us before? Some big reveal for Instagram?”

“No, actually,” she says quietly. “Like I said—”

Hana cuts her off. “Stop lying.” She shakes her head, incredulous. “Even now, with Seth dead, you’re lying, Jo, and if I’m being honest, I’m struggling to believe anything that comes out of your mouth.” As she says the words she experiences a liberating sense of release—in not caring anymore what people think of her, not having to conceal how she really feels. Maybe she should have done it before, she thinks, slightly drunk on the sensation.

Jo’s eyes widen, taken aback, but she quickly rallies. “If I’m a liar, then I’m not the only one.”

Her voice gives Hana a chill, the cold precision in her diction. “I don’t get it,” she says, faltering. “Who else is lying?”

“That’s what I want to know. Seth’s been getting anonymous emails the past few months. Nasty stuff. Threats. Accusations about him, his father. Seems pretty strange that he gets those, and now this happens.” Jo’s gaze shifts to Maya, and it’s then Hana realizes what the last few minutes have been building up to—something Jo has been trying to say ever since she started pacing around the room.

“And?” Maya’s voice is hard. “What’s that got to do with us?” Her hand comes up to the necklace nestled in the hollow at the base of her neck.

“Well, I’d say it’s got more to do with you, Maya.”

“Me?” Shrinking backward, her dark eyes are liquid, unreadable.

“Yes.” Jo nods, a sudden sharpness to her features; an animal, going in for the kill: “How pissed off you were with Seth, after the whole job thing.”

Maya hesitates. “I was,” she says slowly, “but that doesn’t make me a liar. You more or less promised me the job and then Seth reneged on it. Of course I was pissed off.”

“But it’s not just that, is it? I know what you did.”

“Know what?” Maya’s voice wavers.

Jo tips her head slightly. “I know it was you, Maya, the rumors about his business doing the rounds on social media.”

Maya stiffens beside Hana. Silence. All she can hear is the faint whir of the air conditioner.

A visible swallow. “But...” She stutters. “How did you find out?”

“Your ex. Sol bumped into Seth one night, spilled his guts.”

“ Sol told him?”

“Yes. All the grubby little details.” Jo gives a small, bitter laugh. “I have to say, I’d never have thought it: you, a keyboard warrior. I didn’t tell the detective, but it’s making me wonder. If you’d do something like that, then exactly what else are you capable of?”

Maya seems to get smaller as Jo speaks, her shoulders drawing together as if her body is contracting in on itself at the core. Hana realizes that this is the perfect example of what Jo does—makes people feel small in order to make herself feel big.

Even cornered, she’s capable, and Hana knows why she’s doing it now; Jo’s deflecting. It’s her who’s lied—about Bea, Seth’s link to the island, and so much more besides—yet she’s picking up on something Maya’s done to shift the focus from her.

Hana stands, turns to face Jo. “Before you start accusing Maya, I think you’ve got some explaining to do. Talk about deceiving people—the day we arrived, a note fell out of your bag on the jetty. You’d started writing to me, apologizing for something—I still haven’t heard what that is.”

A beat of silence. “Oh, that... ,” Jo says quickly. “I wrote it a few months ago. Like I said, I was feeling bad about not being there for you after Liam died. I thought about writing to you, but then we arranged this holiday. I was going to talk to you about it here, a proper conversation, face-to-face.”

Hana listens as Jo continues, her expression contrite. While she’s saying all the right words, laced with all the right emotion—she is somehow not quite hitting the right note.

She’s lying again. She’s just found out her boyfriend’s dead and she’s lying.