From the helicopter, Sarita had thought she’d spotted a road disappearing into the jungle in the direction of the little house, but if that’s where they were, apparently it didn’t go all the way to it. They’d double-checked before setting out and hadn’t found even so much as a dirt path to walk on.
Movement out of the corner of her eye drew Sarita’s head quickly around, but she relaxed when she spotted Domitian jogging toward her. Her first reaction was relief, until she noted the vexed expression on his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as he stopped and simply gathered the ends of first one towel and then the other.
Domitian didn’t really answer her question. He merely slung both Santa sacks over his shoulder as he straightened. Turning back the way he’d come, he then said, “Come with me,” and started walking at a quick clip.
Sarita frowned and hurried after him, but his legs were longer, allowing him to take larger strides. The shifting sand underfoot didn’t help either. It had made walking difficult even when they’d been moving at the slower pace they’d settled into on leaving the house, which was why they’d moved down to walk in the wet and more solid surf despite the risk of being spotted by an approaching boat. Domitian had matched his stride to hers then so as not to leave her behind, but he wasn’t now. He seemed to be in the grip of some strong emotion and eager to get to where he was taking her, so Sarita bit back her protest at his speed and tried to move a little more quickly.
With her focus on Domitian and keeping up with him, Sarita didn’t notice the dock at first when it appeared before them. Or anything else really, until he stopped and turned back to peer at her.
Slowing, Sarita took in his inscrutable expression and finally glanced around at their surroundings. Her heart stuttered with anxiety when she spotted the dock a little ahead on their left, and her head quickly jerked to the right even as her feet stopped moving altogether, but then she just gaped at the house above the beach.
Sarita didn’t know what she was expecting to see. The dock was much smaller than the one in front of Dr. Dressler’s house. Still, the last thing she expected was to find herself peering at the same house she’d woken up in that morning, and which they’d left behind a little more than an hour ago.
“But—” She glanced back the way they’d come, briefly wondering if they’d somehow got turned around and come back the way they’d left, but even as she did it, she knew that wasn’t what had happened. She had been wrong. This wasn’t Dr. Dressler’s island. At least not the one where the houses and labs were. It was a different, much smaller island . . . and they’d just walked all the way around it and right back to the house they’d been trying to escape.
Eight
Sarita surfaced in the pool and ran her hands over her hair, pushing the water back along the soaking strands and away from her face. Letting her hands drop into the water, she then peered toward the waterfall with a little sigh. It was as beautiful at night as it had been during the day. There were lights in the pool as well as along the edges of the waterfall. They were also on the house, brightening the terrace. So, even at night it was a truly beautiful spot, a little bit of paradise in the middle of the ocean.
Too bad it was like that Eagles’ song, Sarita thought, you could never leave. At least, that’s how it seemed to her, because as far as she could tell, they were stuck there.
Sighing again, she leaned back to float in the water and stared up at the night sky overhead. By her guess, perhaps half an hour had passed since Domitian had led her to the beach in front of the house. After getting over her shock at finding herself there again and realizing the ramifications, Sarita had glanced at Domitian. He’d noted her expression and then had turned silently and led her back into the house.
They hadn’t said a word to each other since. Domitian had simply set down the bags on the floor in the entry and then had disappeared into the office. Sarita had briefly considered unpacking the bags and putting everything away, but then had thought, Why bother?
She’d headed for the bedroom and the bathroom beyond. Their excursion, short as it had been, had left her hot and sweaty and covered with sand; a shower had seemed a good idea. But once she’d got there, she’d simply stood in the bathroom and looked around at the opulent setting, her stomach churning. It was part of a prison. A pretty prison, but a prison just the same and Sarita suddenly couldn’t bear even being inside.
Turning, she’d retraced her steps and made her way back out to the living room where the pool had caught her eye. The cool water had seemed to be calling out to her, offering to soothe her stressed body. The next thing Sarita knew she was moving to the doors. By the time she’d reached them, she had undone the two pins fastening the towel to her bathing suit top. She’d opened the door and stepped out to walk to the edge of the pool, undoing the last pin, the one that kept the towel closed, as she went. Then she’d simply let the pins and towel drop and made a shallow dive into the pool.
Now she lay in the cooling water, surrounded by the soothing sounds of nature. The whisper of the breeze through the trees of the jungle surrounding the pool. The twitter of night birds. The splash of water traveling over the rock waterfall at one end of the pool . . .
It should have been a little slice of heaven—instead, it was a kind of hell.
“Sarita?”
Straightening in the water, she turned toward the house, spotting Domitian at once. He’d come out of the dining room and was moving through the living room toward the door to the bedroom as he searched for her. She called out to him and he paused at once and glanced her way.
Spotting her through the glass doors, Domitian used the one she’d left open and slipped outside to stand by the pool. He then just stared at her.
Sarita stared back, wondering why he’d gone to the office.
“Are you okay?” he asked finally.
“As okay as a cockroach in a Roach Motel,” she said sarcastically. When confusion covered his face, she realized he wouldn’t understand the reference and explained, “They are cockroach traps. The cockroach goes in, but is caught and can’t get back out.”
Domitian didn’t smile at her poor joke. Expression serious he said, “We are not trapped, Sarita. I promise I will get you off this island and take you somewhere safe.”
“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I can keep it,” he assured her.
“You’re forgetting that Dr. Dressler could be back at any moment. He could be pulling up to the dock in a boat right now,” she pointed out.
“He will not come here so soon,” Domitian assured her.
“You can’t know that,” she said.
“His letter said he had this house renovated and updated for just this eventuality,” he reminded her and pointed out, “He would hardly go to that trouble and expense for one day’s use.”
“True,” Sarita said thoughtfully. She’d forgotten about that part of the letter. “But why did he do it? What the hell does he want from us?” she asked, and heard the frustration in her own voice.
“I do not know,” Domitian admitted, and then announced, “I made us a meal.”
Sarita almost snapped that she wasn’t hungry, but she actually was, and taking out her temper on him would not get her the answers she wanted. Shaking her head, she moved to the stairs and walked out of the pool.
Domitian was waiting with a towel held open.
“Thank you,” Sarita murmured, when he wrapped it around her shoulders. Clutching the ends under her chin, she moved past him, saying, “I’ll just go change. I’ll be quick.”
If he responded, she didn’t hear it as she hurried back inside.
Two minutes later, Sarita had removed the damp towel Domitian had wrapped around her and was glancing from it to the somewhat lacking wardrobe that was available to her. She briefly considered pulling on a dry swimsuit and pinning a fresh towel to it, one that wasn’t damp, but really all the remaining swimsuits had thong bottoms that were just plain uncomfortable. She wasn’t eager to wear any of them. Besides, the towel she’d worn as a toga that day was a dirty heap by the pool, the one she’d just removed was damp and would be uncomfortable, and between their using them after showers and swimming, and her raiding them to carry their items, the stack of towels was shrinking quickly. They’d soon be out of clean towels if she kept using them as clothing.