But all I can think about is what I saw in those trees.
“Hey,” I call out, my voice barely loud enough to hear over the wind. When Noa checks on me, her face concerned, I swallow hard. “In the trees,” I tell her. “I think… I think I saw a dead body.”
Noa’s mouth falls open, her eyes widening with fear. She quickly turns to Tech and Shawn, the three of them silent with the horror of something unspoken. Noa falls back into a sitting position, as if in shock, her lips pulling downward.
“Was it a guy?” she asks me.
Although I could see the outline of a body, I have no way to know who was lying there. It was human shaped—that’s about all I could say for sure. When I tell her that I don’t know, she shakes her head as if my answer isn’t good enough.
“What did he look like?” she demands.
She exchanges another look with Shawn, and then she gets up to move to the bench, her friend comforting her. I know what she’s thinking—that it’s her brother out there. That it’s Ellis. And I want to comfort her, show up for her this time. But honestly, I think I’m bleeding out.
And with that, the world around me goes dark.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
—NOA
My heart is racing aswe approach the dock of the Surf Shack. The sun glints off the water, bright and blinding, but I can’t feel its warmth. I’m in shock. Jamie has passed out, blood everywhere, and there’s a possibility that my brother’s dead body is in the marsh near the Starline Hotel.
Of course that’s what I’m thinking. Who else could it be?
The ache in my chest—it all rushes back, crashing over me like a tidal wave. Is Ellis really out there? We can’t even go back to Rum Runner to check, even if we wanted to take our chances with the men with guns. Right now, Jamie needs to get to a hospital.
As we approach the dock, an ambulance waits, red-and-blue lights flashing across the sand. Paramedics hurry toward us as Sheriff Castillo appears, striding down the dock as we drift in, his face set like stone. Shawn had been the one to call my uncle, letting him know we’d need both an ambulance and his help.
She didn’t tell him about the body. I need to do that in person.
As Shawn grabs the rope, ready to toss it to the sheriff, Jamie stirs awake. He blinks up at the sky, his eyes bloodshot. I’m not sure if he knows where he is anymore. He smiles lazily when he sees me, and it gives me back a little bit of warmth.
I brush his hair off his forehead, his skin sweaty and clammy at thesame time. A little sunburned from earlier on the beach. His black eye is more pronounced now that he’s paled, a deep bruise spreading across his cheekbone.
“It’s okay,” I assure him. “The ambulance is here.”
“I don’t need to go to the hospital,” he says, his voice scratchy.
“Listen,” I say. “We’ve done our best to stop the bleeding, but you need stitches. Quite a few, by the looks of it.”
He watches me, vulnerable and bloody. Then he clears his throat, as if trying to come back to his senses. He squeezes my hand—tight, urgent. “Don’t tell my father,” he says. “Please, he’ll kill me.”
I press my lips together, confirming that I won’t tell his dad. But I can see just how deep his fear of his father goes. And it’s messed up. It’s completely wrong that he has to be more worried about his father’s reaction than the fact that he’s bleeding to death. Jamie deserves better than that. He deserves better than him. His eyes slip closed again.
My stomach is in knots again when I turn back toward the dock. Although we agreed to tell the sheriff about the hotel—the fact that it’s still standing—we know it won’t matter. Not if what Jamie saw was real. Not if that body was…
Please don’t let it be him.
My nerves are shredded, my chest tight and suffocating, and I can barely hold myself together as Tech brings the boat in. The engine sputters as we coast toward the dock, and when the hull smacks against the wood, the jolt makes me flinch harder than it should.
Sheriff Castillo catches the rope, tying us down with quick, practiced movements. Over his shoulder, I search the dock, instinctively looking for my father. Afraid to find him. And I’m glad when he’s not there, flooded with relief, fast and guilty. I can’t tell him those words.
Ellis is dead.
I’m startled as Tech moves past me, bumping my shoulder as hehelps Jamie to his feet. I’m in a haze of grief, confusion. Sounds are muted like my ears are filled with water. I reach out a trembling hand as Jamie passes, briefly touching him.
Once he steps off the boat, the paramedics are there to gather him up, easing him onto a gurney. They lay him back and his head rolls to the side, eyes half closed. Blood has soaked though the towel on his arm, bright red, and the sight of it brings the world flashing back into focus.
“Jamie,” I call to him. He doesn’t respond, and I’m suddenly frantic. I don’t know how bad this is. “Jamie!”
