Blooming in the Wild Page 0,59

have been?” Bella asked.

“Must have been early this morning,” Joel said. “Or the rain would’ve washed these prints away. You hear anyone?”

“I heard someone stumble outside,” Frank said. “Woke me up about three dis morning. But they just walked to the latrine and back—I could tell the direction of their footsteps.”

“But everyone slept in the cave,” Bella said. “So if they’d gone down to the boats, they would have had to come right past you.”

Frank and Joel looked at each other. “Everyone except the photographers. From that cave, they could have walked around the trees the other way, climbed across the rocks.”

Bella was shocked. Camille was so…so elegant, so friendly. Although she had seemed to relish planting fear in the minds of anyone she could. But surely she couldn’t be involved in anything as ugly as this.

“I bet I know who it was.” She hugged her arms around herself. “Li.”

Joel moved closer, his arm around her waist, pulling her against the heat of his hard body.

“Why, Nani?” Frank asked.

She shrugged, her bare shoulder sliding against Joel’s warm chest. “I don’t know. Something about that guy—he looks at us like he hates us. It could’ve been him—must have been.”

“Hey,” Joel said, snapping his fingers. “Gum.”

Bella and Frank looked at him blankly.

“I had gum on my shoe yesterday,” he explained. “Noticed it right after we came out of the tunnel.”

“He always has a piece in his mouth,” Bella added.

“I’ll search his bags,” Frank said.

Joel nodded. “I’m with you.”

“We’ll have to time it right. We go in there, and he has a gun, he’ll grab it.”

“But how did that automatic weapon get into the cave?” Bella asked. “Is that his too?”

“He could have had it broken down in his bag,” Frank said. “These new ones come all apart, make it easier to carry without anyone knowing.”

“Should we go back in?” Bella whispered nervously, eyeing the cave opening. “Maybe he’s waiting for us.”

“I’ll go up first,” Joel said. “If I don’t come right back out and nod, don’t come in. Head up into the forest and hide.”

Bella looked at Frank, who nodded slowly. Joel’s hand tightened on Bella’s hip, and he pinned her with a stern look. “You do exactly what Frank tells you.”

Before she could open her mouth to protest, he turned away, striding back up to the cave.

“Come on, let’s move up toward the trees,” Frank said. Bella followed him up the beach and across the lava shelf where their camp had been. A turquoise plastic bowl from their camp set lay canted on the rock, full of rainwater, and the models’ tent still rested in the branches of a cluster of figs, like some kind of haphazard tree house.

Bella’s empty stomach clenched ominously, but a moment later, Joel appeared between the cave mouth and the fig trees and nodded casually, then turned back into the cave. With a deep breath, Bella followed Frank across the camp.

Chapter Eleven

To Do: In a crisis, the tour director assumes charge of the situation, making sure everyone follows instructions to remain safe and calm

Inside, Joel scanned the main cave. In the rear, the models were stirring in their sleeping bags like colorful caterpillars.

“We want everything to look normal,” Frank breathed at his shoulder. “Gotta draw those other two in here.”

“Morning,” Joel said in a carrying voice. “Who’s making the coffee?” He gave Bella a nudge toward the food table.

“You,” she answered drily, already moving away. “I don’t know how to work the stove. I’ll get some juice and muffins.”

Joel’s stomach rumbled, reminding him that it had been a long time since dinner. He wasn’t interested in food right now, but some juice would be good. He crossed the cave to pour water from a jug into the small coffeepot.

“Make that coffee strong,” Tanah grumbled in a sleep-husky voice, poking her head out of her sleeping bag. “I’d like to complain about these hotel beds. They’re hard as rock.”

Joel managed a smile for her humor. “Maybe you can get a refund.”

She sat up and combed her tumbled hair back with her fingers. “I was thinking more of hardship pay. Think DelRay will cough it up, Bella?”

“What? Oh, I’ll ask them for you.”

“Good,” said the redhead as she flipped her bare legs out of her sleeping bag and knelt upon it, clad only in a tiny tank and panties. She gave Joel a pointed look as she reached up to twist her hair up on her head. “Because this trip has been a bust from start to finish,