‘Well – Naya, what? You were going to say something – it looks like what?’ Carly said.
Naya pursed her lips; shook her head slightly. She seemed desperate not to have to talk. She shifted her weight, one foot to the other, pushed one of the escaped curls away from her face. But then, finally, she said it: ‘It looks like she’s been dead for around a day.’
Dead for an entire day?
But there’s no way... she can’t have been.
The group stood in silence as the impossibility of Naya’s words sank in.
‘But shehasn’tbeen dead for a day – nothing close to it,’ said Ben, voicing Scott’s thoughts. ‘We literally just heard from her this morning – a few hours ago! Five, six hours, right? I mean, she messaged us, she sent us a picture, we saw her face, for God’s sake – and she was most definitely alive then!’
‘Exactly,’ said Carly, her already pale cheeks now ashen. ‘She was alive and well a few hours ago, and miles away. Either this isnotactually Hannah, or she somehow got out here really quickly, and whatever happened to her – it must have happened in the past couple of hours...’
She stopped talking, swayed on the spot, reached a hand out to Scott’s shoulders from where he was crouching in front of her to steady herself. He gripped onto her.Please don’t faint – that’s the last thing we need.But she seemed to calm down, took a breath, then carried on. ‘What about... could it be the climate out here – the humidity, making it look like she’s been – ah, gone – longer than she has? That can happen, right?’
Naya shrugged, her mouth a tight line. ‘I suppose so – but that would be very unusual, for the decomposition of a corpse to be that rapid...’
Rapid decomposition. A corpse.
This was all wrong. They were talking about a person – aboutHannah, for God’s sake. Hannah, the real flesh and blood human being that he’d admired for so long. The woman who had helped him so much; who was an inspiration for millions of people all around the world.
How can this be real?That the same woman was lying dead on the floor of the rainforest. Either she’d had a terrible accident, or worse – unthinkably worse – someone had killed her, and left her here to rot. Who would do something so evil – and why?
Scott felt hot, acidic bile rise to the back of his throat. The air around them was rancid. He needed to move now; he was desperate to get away from the stench and the awful, relentless buzzing. But they couldn’t just leave her here, could they? How would they even make sure the police could find her?
Imagine if they don’t.Would she just slowly decomposeout here, devoured by insects and vultures, until her bones sank into the mulchy earth of the rainforest?
This is unbearable.
He didn’t mean to speak – he wasn’t ready to, really – but the words surged out anyway. ‘Noneof this makes any bloody sense. If someone killed her, why? Why thefuckwould anyone want to hurt Hannah?’ The effort of those few words left him winded, almost gasping for breath – it felt like when he’d finished a half marathon back home last year, raising money for Dementia Support. The difference then was that he could control it – he could slow his breathing down. Now that felt impossible.
‘We have to find out who did this to her,’ said Ben, his voice shaking. ‘You know, Costa Rica isn’t as safe as it used to be. I’ve heard some things recently. Drug cartels, gangs, shootings, stuff like that.’ He moved a trembling hand to his forehead now, wiped away the line of sweat that had settled above his brow. ‘The number of homicides happening here because of cocaine gangs has gone wild recently... it’s been all over the news back home these past few months. What if... could she have gotten mixed up in something like that?’
Impossible.Hannah involved in drugs? Never.
Ben was still talking. ‘Especially all the way out here, this far from her house... maybe she wandered somewhere she shouldn’t have – got into some kind of territory she shouldn’t have been in?’
‘That’s a good point,’ agreed Naya. ‘Ending up in such a remote area, I mean. What would she have been doing off the main track, all the way out here in this tiny clearing – not even near a proper trail?’
‘But isn’t this all Hannah’s land? She owns these few hundred acres, right?’ asked Scott.
‘Maybe she got lost, then,’ said Ben. ‘Walked to a part of her rainforest she didn’t know so well.’
This is ridiculous.‘Lost, in her own property?’ said Scott. ‘She made her own map of the place! I’m sorry – I just don’t buy it. And this is really clutching at straws – speculating about her being involved in drugs... it doesn’t sit right with me, not at all.’
‘Jesus, I don’t know then,’ said Ben, the emotion thick in his throat. ‘I’m just trying to come up with some kind of explanation for something so... inexplicable!’
Scott rubbed his face with his palms. ‘I know, I know,’ he said, softening. ‘I’m sorry – I’m in shock, I guess. The truth is, we don’t know what happened to her, or how. Which is why we have to get back and phone the police.’
Ben nodded, as if to say,I get it; Scott knew he understood. They were all in shock.
As he watched, Ben bent down next to Hannah’s body, started to reach forward for a moment, looking as if he were going to lay a hand on her. Scott was about to call out to him, remind him not to touch anything, to leave things exactly as they were for the police to investigate – but there was no need. Abruptly, Ben seemed to change his mind, stuffed his hand away in his pocket.
There was a long silence, before Naya cleared her throat and started to speak.
‘Look, I know we all want to work out what happened to Hannah, how she got here – how she ended up like this...’ Her voice caught in her throat. ‘And there will be time for allof those questions. But right now, it’s well into the afternoon, it’ll be getting dark soon – we’re shocked and exhausted and running out of water and Mira’s still recovering. We need to get out of here and call for help. That’s the best thing we can do for her now.’
She broke off, and dissolved into silent tears. Scott reached an arm out; he wanted to touch her, to hold her – for them to give each other some comfort. But he wasn’t sure if she’d even want that right now; he moved his arm back to his side. Naya was right, of course. They had to keep going; they couldn’t stay here. But Scott could feel himself resisting; wanting to protest, to tell them they just needed to stay a few more minutes. He didn’t feel ready to leave Hannah yet; he didn’t think he could do it.
