CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 20
I KNOW THIS IS HARD TO TAKE IN,” NESS SAID THROUGH CHATTERINGteeth.
She shivered on the balcony as the last rays of sunlight disappeared. She wanted a hot shower, a giant fluffy towel, and three days of sleep. Her island compatriots, however, wanted to know how she’d lost their escape vessel. Again.
For the moment, Bradley and his still-missing status were forgotten.
So she ran through it, with Hayes at her side adding details like “None of this is Ness’s fault” and “Can we take a moment to think about the fact that someone seems to have sabotaged us?”
Libby, certainly, did not wish to take that moment.
“I don’t need to think about it, Hayes. I know who’s responsible.” She stood, leaning against the balcony rail. Daisy had brought out a few of the fat black candles in hurricane lanterns and set them on the tables. Insects were now dive-bombing the area with increasing intensity. Ness considered walking inside and going to bed.
“Let’s look at the facts,” Libby continued. “Ness brought us here.”
Ness sputtered at the dramatic about-face from their earlier peacemaking conversation.
Libby continued. “Ness picked where we docked the boat.”
“Do you remember when we got here?” Ness asked, not believing what she was hearing. “No one chose anything.”
“Ness has taken control of our food stores and rations our power supply.” She was really on a roll now. “Most critically, Ness found the cameras.” She made air quotes around “found.”
Ness’s mouth opened and shut uselessly. She looked at the rest of the group, hoping to see skepticism all over the faces around her. But as she glanced from person to person, those hopes crashed and burned.
Ian was stroking his chin and nodding, glassy eyes narrowed in consideration. Daisy sat quietly on a lounger, deep in thought. Coco was examining her fingernails and chewing on her lower lip the way she’d always done when she was worried.
“And now,” Libby went on, “Ness has found”—more air quotes—“and conveniently lost our means of escape.”
She spread her arms in a “What more do I need to say?” gesture.
A voice piped up from beside what might once have been a potted palm. Tyler had a bedsheet draped over the top of his head and wrapped around his body. He’d been moaning that his clothes were chafing against his sensitive, bite-ridden skin. He looked like the ghost of someone’s slightly off-kilter gran.
“Um, Ms. Kim?” he said hesitantly, rearranging the sheet so more of his face was protected from bugs. “What about Mr. Beaumont?”
“What about him?”
Hayes looked affronted, like, “Yeah, what about me?”
“It’s just, well . . .” He looked beseechingly at Hayes. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, Mr. Beaumont.”
Hayes was definitely already taking it poorly, whatever it was. Ness wasn’t sure anyone had doubted his character in . . . ever.
Tyler tucked himself a bit farther behind the plant pot before continuing.
“It’s only that . . .”
Libby rolled her eyes. “Spit it out, Casper.”
Tyler cleared his throat. “I don’t think we can ignore the fact that in all the instances you’ve listed, Ness wasn’t alone.”
In the back of her mind, Ness couldn’t help but wonder why everyone else was “Ms. Kim” and “Mr. Beaumont” and “Lord Hoity-toity” while she was still plain ol’ “Ness.”
“That’s a great point, Tyler,” she chimed in quickly. “It’s not like I’ve been skulking all over the island by myself.” She shot pointed looks at Ian and Libby. “I’ve been with someone else nearly the whole time.”
Tyler shook his head. “It would be awfully tricky to hide a boat in the way you described on your own . . .”
Hayes’s mouth hung open. “You think we’re, what, co-conspirators?”
Ness could see how they’d implicate her, but Hayes? They were entering fever dream territory.
“I didn’t say that.” Tyler’s face scrunched up in a way that suggested he was, in fact, saying that.
“And then there’s the snake,” Libby added.
Ness’s eyes narrowed. “You’re saying me saving you from a human-eating snake was . . .” She struggled to find the right word. “. . . manufactured?”
Ian got up from his seat and relocated to the cool floor of the balcony, staring up at the sky, hands clasped on his stomach. Ness watched them rise and fall with his breath, trying to take in more air herself.
Libby brushed her commentary aside. “What better way for you to ingratiate yourself with the public? God, I’m so stupid. You probably let that thing in yourself. It was all a setup, wasn’t it?”
Ness’s eyes were nearly bugging out of her head. “Libby, think through the logistics of that—”
“And like Tyler pointed out,” Libby continued, ignoring Ness’s attempt to bring some rationality into the conversation, “most of the time you’re claiming to have been supervised you’ve been with Hayes. And no offense, Hayes, but you’ve got a serious blind spot where Ness is concerned.”
Ah,Ness thought. Of course. I’m not in cahoots with Hayes, friend to all. I’ve bamboozled him.
Hayes stood, glowering. “No offense? Of course I’m offended, Libby! This is bananas.”
Daisy spoke from her seat, quietly. “But why would Ness, or anyone, do this?” She sat off to the side by herself, looking deeply uncomfortable, like she’d intended to go to someone’s birthday party and ended up at their divorce proceedings. “Money. Power. Revenge.” Libby could have been doing a voice-over for a legal thriller movie trailer.
“Or cannibalism,” offered Ian. He shrugged at their horrified looks. “What? I’ve seen the movies. I’ve read the books. People hunting people? It’s a thing.”
Coco looked at Ness, eyebrow cocked. “Are you planning to herd us off a cliff like sheep and consume our remains?”
Ness just stared back. Libby looked as though she was waiting for an answer, which was concerning. As if there needed to be more concern.
Hayes loomed imposingly, hands whoa-ing them. “You all need to take a step back and think this through again. Ness nearly died today.”
Had she?Ness wondered, replaying the afternoon. Huh, maybe. She felt as though she were watching the conversation from afar, listening to them discuss someone else entirely.
“I don’t think we have enough facts to be making these types of accusations,” Ian said, cutting Libby off before she could launch into an extended anti-Ness tirade. “But,” he shot Ness an apologetic look, “there are some things that don’t make a lot of sense, and maybe Ness could, ah, help clear those up. Because, looking at the information we do have, there are some, shall we say, inconsistencies between what Ness is telling us and what we’re seeing.”
She waited for indignant outrage to bubble up from somewhere deep inside of her . . . and kept waiting. Instead, she realized, she was disappointed. Sad to learn that so little had changed, and the relationships she’d been attempting to nurture into something real and healthy were apparently meaningless. These people would throw someone under the proverbial bus if that was the easiest solution to whatever issue they faced that day. They loved making a mess but would always peace out before cleanup.
Ness braced herself and waded back in. “Have you all forgotten that Bradley is completely unaccounted for here?”
“She’s right,” Libby said, stunning Ness back into silence. “It is awfully strange that after you tried to steal Bradley’s personal belongings from under his nose, physically assaulting him in the process, then actually stole his personal belongings, then spied on and possibly even recorded private conversations, likely for profit . . .” Her voice had grown louder with the force of her accusations, but hitched here. She took a steadying breath and continued, more quietly, but with venom. “I heard Bradley warn you off, Ness. What happened? Did he get too close to the truth?”
“Oh my god,” Tyler gasped, sheet held up over his mouth. “Did you. . . do away with him?” “You’ve got to be kidding,” Hayes rumbled, walking the length of the balcony, back and forth.
They kept arguing among themselves. Ness figured they were split: Libby and Tyler were convinced Ness was out to get them; Coco, Daisy, and Ian were sitting on an uncomfortable fence. Hayes, at least, was sticking with her. For now.
Then Coco waded into the fray.
Daisy had French-braided her hair for her earlier that evening and she looked more put together than most of them, despite the dark circles under her eyes and the jittering of her knee whenever she tried to sit still. When she spoke, her raspy voice was tinged with impatience, as though she had so many better things to be doing right now than listening to this ridiculous squabbling.
“Listen,” she said. “Ness has done some shitty things in the past.”
Not the stellar defense Ness had hoped for.
“But she wouldn’t maroon us on an island for profit. Or consumption.” She shot Ian a look, crossing her legs and resting her forearms on her knees. “No one here is perfect. Not one of you can say you haven’t done some shady shit to get ahead.”
A chorus of protests.
“Fine. You want me to list stuff ?” She paused, eyebrow cocked as if to say You did this to yourselves. “There was that time Ian paid the bouncer to punch that guy in the face so he’d look like garbage for the casting call for that dumb superhero show.”
“Worth it,” Ian said, nodding. “I was the better Captain Strongarm.”
Coco sighed and shook her head.
“Libby, you stole clothes from set like it was your personal shopping mall. I bet you still do.”
“They’re already tailored to my body! They’re useless to anyone else.”
Coco rolled her eyes and continued. “Hayes . . . actually, you might be the annoyingly good one, but I’m sure you’ve done some shit you’re bummed about.”
Coco went on. “Think I’m going to skip over myself? Wrong. I banged the director for Utopia in a janitor’s closet to get that part. Twice.” She shuddered.
“Ness had a crisis and handled it poorly,” she said. “She fucked up. She was mean and sad and made horrible choices. I mean, why else would she have fucked Ian, of all people, when she could have been back with Hayes?” She glanced at Ian, who looked distinctly uncomfortable. “And then she ghosted us. But we can . . .”
Coco’s face went pale in the dim light. She stopped talking. Her eyes darted from Hayes to Ness.
“Was that a secret? Shit.” Her shoulders slumped and her chin dropped to her chest. Ness watched her take a deep breath before looking back to the group.
“In summary,” she finished weakly, “we all suck pretty equally and should shut the hell up and go to bed.” She stood fluidly and walked inside, pausing on her way past Ness to give her shoulder a quick squeeze and whisper, “It was a long time ago, Ness. No one cares anymore.”
But judging by the look on Hayes’s face, he did.
Memorials have been erected along the beach of the Bleu on the Sands Hotel, where the missing cast and crew of the Good Things Network’s upcoming show Ocean Views: Turning Tides participated in their first—and potentially last—table read last week.
Heartbroken fans have gathered here, and around the world, to express their love to the actors, including movie star Hayes Beaumont, who have brought them so much joy over the years. While there is still hope that those missing will be found alive and well, the chance of a rescue decreases with each passing day.
“As you can imagine, this has been a horrendous experience,” says Robert Larkin, father of actress Agnes “Ness” Larkin, who tearfully addressed the media earlier today. “Agnes and I have had our differences, but she will always be my little girl.”
The U.S. Coast Guard is now working with the Royal Bahamas Defence Force to expand the search area, but the authorities are asking private citizens to report anything unusual and keep their eyes open for signs of these missing individuals.