Page 72 of The Summer Island Swap
I remembered now. He’d come into my room when we got back. I’d shown him the new photo on the website. With the men laughing loudly outside and splashing in the pool, even though it was late, I’d taken Rick once more through the process of treating the cacao beans. We decided that the fermentation stage to remove the slime off the beans would definitely take too long for some short-stay guests to be able to use beans they’d actually picked. Therefore, in the optimistic spirit of preparing for bookings, we would harvest a starter batch of pods ourselves and get a supply of beans ready for roasting and grinding. Margot had already emailed to say she’d been in touch with her restaurant friend on Tortola and heard back with details of a reliable company that could supply us with a proofer and sous vide. We could take delivery of the equipment as early as next week if we got our order in on Monday morning.
‘The volunteers will help us,’ I’d said.
‘I feel guilty asking,’ Rick had replied. ‘They aren’t here to pick beans. And they’ve really rallied around this week, keeping the beach tidy and covering your, Jonas and Benedikt’s duties. They’re a great bunch of people.’
‘That’s because they respect you so much.’
‘I’m not sure about that,’ he’d muttered.
‘It’s true.’ I’d punched his arm. ‘Somehow the camp has got wind of Crocker & Crowley’s financial problems. They want to help. And apart from their fondness for you, none of them want to see Seagrass Conservation close.’
Rick snuffled, rubbed his eyes and I moved backwards as he woke up. He’d never know that we’d been cuddling.
‘Morning,’ I said and sat up.
He yawned. Looked around. ‘We’re making a habit of crashing out in each other’s company.’
‘Do you think that’s because we’re both crashing bores?’
‘Speak for yourself,’ he said haughtily and we laughed. ‘I didn’t sleep well. I’ve a nasty feeling Jason and his friends went exploring. I woke up in the middle of the night and heard laughter that faded away, and then distant shouts. I was too tired to get up and just hoped they wouldn’t get far without torches. I woke up again later. It was still dark. More laughter and then silence.’
‘I must have slept through. They could have used the torch app on their phones. I wonder what they were doing.’
‘I’ll have to have a word with them. The forest is a dangerous place at night, with hidden tree stumps to fall over and creatures like scorpions and snakes that might act in defence if they feel they are being attacked by clumsy feet.’
I got out of bed and stretched. ‘I’ll fetch two juices then I need to head over to the shacks, shower and get some fresh clothes – I’ve used all the ones I brought here.’
Rick grinned.
‘What?’
‘You’ve come a long way. The Sarah who first arrived here would have jumped at the chance of washing at the house. Now it doesn’t bother you. You’re choosing bath time with tarantulas over our brand-new guest en-suite.’
Borrowing Amy’s habit, I stuck my tongue out at him and left the room. Urgent voices sounded from downstairs. Surely the guests weren’t already up after their late night?
‘Rick!’ called a voice.
It was Jackie. Amy was there too. The door behind me creaked open. We both hurried downstairs.
‘What’s the matter?’ he said.
Jackie wrung her hands together. ‘I don’t know how this has happened, but Chatty isn’t in his enclosure this morning.’
‘What?’ Rick’s face paled.
I felt sick.
‘I’m sure I locked it last night, after putting him to bed,’ said Amy. ‘It’s the first time Jackie’s asked me to do that on my own. This is my fault.’
‘No. I trust you completely,’ said Jackie, firmly. ‘There must be another explanation.’
‘Perhaps he somehow opened the unlocked gate and escaped,’ I said.
‘I’ve just been so busy this last week. As his main carer I should have made sure I freed up more time to spend with him. What if he managed to somehow get out and went looking for me…?’ Rick’s voice wavered. ‘I’ve let the little fella down big time.’
‘Nonsense,’ I said, even though the well of nausea inside me was growing. ‘I’m sure there will be a rational reason. Now let’s think. What time did you put him in there, Amy?’
What if he’d got injured? He must be feeling so lonely, feeling his way in darkness.
