so I didn’t drop it. Trembling. Five fingers apiece.
“Who was that anonymous caller?” Kate demanded.
“How on earth do I know? Maybe my mother? I need to call my poor mum, she’ll be worried.”
“If it was her calling, why would she hang up?”
“She’s impatient. It would bug her I wasn’t answering, and I never let her know you lot were moving in. She must’ve been confused. She calls every weekend.” The second I’d said those words about Mum not knowing they lived here, I regretted it.
Kate crossed her arms. “The calls were from yesterday, too. And the day before. We could even hear breathing.”
“Mr. Donner? He must be wondering why I haven’t showed up for work.”
“Nope. We called him. Let him know you were sick.”
“Mrs. Reed?”
“We called her, too. Told her to take some time off.”
My heart sank. They had alienated me. “Pippa, maybe?” I said hopefully.
“Pippa’s on a long vacation. She called to let you know.”
Bullshit. Tears welled in my eyes. I was all alone, at their mercy. I downed the last drops of Dr Pepper, the fizz burning my nostrils and the back of my sandpaper throat, but my thirst was unquenchable. “Just a cold caller selling something, I guess.”
If Kate was lying, she deserved an Oscar. Maybe the drone operator was back.
Thirty-Three
The have-I-left-the-iron-on doubt—when you know you haven’t left the iron on—made me question myself. Had I gone on a bender? Got so drunk I’d passed out? Had nightmares about being locked in the laundry room? No! The triplets were gaslighting me! Trying to make me doubt my own sanity.
I wasn’t crazy. They were lying. But why? Did they have a reason for locking me up? Did they know something they weren’t letting on? Hearing their footsteps outside my room, I kept waiting for one of them to come in and confront me. I rewound Dan’s words: The body must be somewhere. And my guess is? It isn’t at the bottom of Ragged Point. If only I had gone with my first instincts and got rid of them when I’d had the bloody chance! Now it was too late. My only possibility was to summon outside help. Rain slashed the windows. I longed to go down to the site, to see if the triplets had found anything. Limp my way along the coast and then hitchhike to safety. Get away from them. Damn, why hadn’t I bought a gun? It was true what they said about my Land Rover. I couldn’t drive the thing in the condition I was in; my ankle felt like a matchstick that could snap any moment.
Jen slipped in silently to my room, with a tray. Soup and dry toast. I needed to eat. Get my strength back so I could get the hell out of here.
“Jen. I need you to tell me the truth about what happened. Please.”
“Like we said. You went on, like, a wild drinking binge, mixing vodka and wine. You were totally out of control, a danger to yourself. Maybe even us.”
“A danger? So you’re admitting you shut me up then?”
“No! You’re imagining things. What happened was that you were prowling around for more champagne and snuck downstairs to the drinks fridge. Somehow you ended up in the laundry room.”
Was it possible? The laundry room was right by the fridge. But I knew my way around this house blindfold. Even if I had been that drunk, I would’ve found the champagne. “But I was shut in there, Jen. The door was locked.”
“We did find you in there, sprawled out on the floor, but there’s no way anyone locked the door on you. There’s no key in the lock! You want to check? You’re imagining stuff, sweetie. You passed out, is all.” Her voice was soft. Her honey hair and gentle eyes told me she was an angel, but I knew what lurked beneath.
“Why was my mattress there then? My comforter?”
She laid her pretty hand on mine. “You’re imagining things. You had alcohol poisoning real bad.”
My mind was doing somersaults. I’d been there for days, hadn’t I? No wonder I’d lost so much weight and my ribs were sticking out. I can’t have eaten a thing. Jen blew on a spoonful of soup and aimed it at my mouth. I opened up, swallowed it down and remembered how starving I was. My stomach gurgled with recognition. Food at last.
I pressed my fingers on my eyes. The cool of them felt good. “My head hurts like hell still. Would you bring me