“Where is he?”I ask Beth at breakfast, watching as she cuts up a mango for me.I still feel an occasional twinge of discomfort when I move, a reminder of my captor’s more exotic proclivities.
“A work emergency,” she says, her hands moving with a graceful efficiency that I can’t help but admire.“He should be back in a couple of days.”
“What kind of work emergency?”
Beth shrugs.“I don’t know.You can ask Julian that when he returns.”
I look at her, trying to understand what motivates her… and Julian.“You said I’m the first girl he brought here, to this island,” I say, keeping my tone casual.“So what did he do with the others?”
“There were no others.”She’s done with the mango, and she’s placing the plate in front of me before sitting down to eat her own breakfast.
“So why is he doing this to me?I know he’s got peculiar tastes, but surely there are women who are into that—”
Beth grins at me, showing even white teeth.“Of course.But he wants you.”
“Why?What’s so special about me?”
“You’ll have to ask Julian that.”
Again that non-answer.Her evasiveness makes me want to scream.I spear a piece of mango with my fork and chew it slowly, thinking this over.
“Is it because of Maria?”I’m not sure what makes me ask this, except that I can’t get that name out of my head.
It’s apparently the right question, though, because it stops Beth in her tracks.“Julian told you about Maria?”She sounds shocked.
“He mentioned her.”It’s not really a lie.Her name did come up, even though Julian doesn’t know it.“Why does that surprise you?”
She shrugs again, no longer looking so shocked.“I guess it doesn’t, now that I think about it.If he’s going to tell anyone, it would probably be you.”
Me?Why?I’m burning with curiosity, but I try to keep my expression impassive, like none of this is news to me.“Of course,” I say calmly, eating my mango.
“Then you understand, Nora,” she says, looking at me.“You have to understand at least a little bit.Your resemblance to her is uncanny.I saw the photo, and she could’ve been your younger sister.”
“That similar?”I struggle to keep the shock out of my voice.My heart is pounding in my chest.This is so much more than I could’ve hoped for, and Beth just handed me this information on a silver platter.
She frowns.“He didn’t tell you that?”
“No,” I say.“He didn’t tell me much.Just a little bit.”Just her name, uttered in the throes of a nightmare.
Beth’s eyes widen as she realizes that she probably revealed more than she should have.She looks unhappy for a moment, but then her expression smooths out.“Oh well,” she says.“I guess now you know.I’ll have to tell Julian about this, of course.”
I swallow, and the piece of mango slides down my throat like a rock.I don’t want her to tell Julian anything.I don’t know what he’ll do to me when he finds out that I know about Maria—that I saw him when he was at his most vulnerable.
My stupid curiosity.
“Why?”I say, trying not to sound anxious.“You’re the one he’s going to be upset with, not me.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that, Nora,” Beth says, giving me a slightly malicious smile.“And besides, I don’t ever keep secrets from Julian.He’s very good at prying them out of people.”
And getting up, she starts washing the dishes.
I spendthe next two days alternating between speculating about Maria and worrying about Julian’s return.
Who is she?Someone who looks a lot like me, apparently.So similar that she could be my younger sister, Beth said.How old is this girl?Who is she to Julian?The questions gnaw at me, interfering with my sleep.He took me because of my resemblance to her—that much is obvious to me.But why?What happened to her?Why is she in his nightmares?
I want to know, I want to understand, yet I’m afraid of Julian’s reaction when he returns and finds out that I snooped.I could try to explain that I learned all of this accidentally, that I didn’t mean to invade his privacy, but I strongly suspect my captor is not the understanding type.
Beth doesn’t tell me anything else about Maria.In fact, she doesn’t talk to me much at all.She’s one of those rare individuals who seems happy being by herself.If I were her, I would go crazy being stuck here on this island, doing nothing but cooking, cleaning, and looking after Julian’s sex toy, but she seems perfectly fine with it.
