“She’s facing up to everything she was afraid of,” Augustus murmurs. “Yesterday she asked me to show her the spot where Rebecca went off the cliff.”
“Really?” Ruth whispers, eyebrows raised. “Has she already been to the orchid forest as well?” Natalie shakes her head.
“No, I don’t think so. It was Cassius’ plan to show it to her, but now I don’t know.” Ruth lowers her head so nobody notices the flicker of hope in her eyes. Until now Livia has thwarted all her plans, but there’s obviously going to be one last chance.
Chapter 41
There’s a knock on the door and I jump when Ruth enters Cassius’ and my room. I’m still not comfortable around her. “What do you want?” I ask rudely.
“I think the two of us need to talk,” she replies coolly. I raise my eyebrows questioningly.
“What about? In my opinion there’s nothing to talk about, our deal is clear.” Ruth smirks at me, shaking her loose blonde hair over her shoulders.
“Don’t think you can call the shots, your secret is much worse than mine.” Privately I think so too, but she doesn’t have to know that, does she?
“Right, we could try that out, couldn’t we?” I’m trying to bluff my way out. I’d rather die than do it and for one second I’m afraid she’ll agree to the challenge. But then she lowers her eyes, shrugging.
“No, I’m keeping my promise. But the day after tomorrow we’ll be leaving for Scotland and I think I should show you something before we go. It concerns Rebecca.” Now she certainly has my attention.
“What do you want to show me?” I ask suspiciously. Could it be that Ruth knows about Rebecca and Randolph and will try to blackmail me with this knowledge?
“Let’s go and I’ll tell you. I’ll be waiting for you in the Jeep.” Smiling she leaves the room before I can decline.
We’ve been driving for quite some time now, through eucalyptus woods, baobabs and palm trees. “Where are we going?” I ask her rather tersely, already regretting coming along.
“We’re going to the Ile Sainte Marie,” Ruth explains without looking at me. “There we’ll follow the holy path through the Ambodena forest.”
“Holy path?” I repeat. Ruth doesn’t strike me as a religious person.
“You’ll soon see, we’re nearly there.” Without further explanation she drives the car down a narrow path leading to the sea.
“Get out!” she commands when we reach a bay with lots of small white boats at anchor. Ruth wades through the shallow water to one of these boats and fires up the engine. “That’s Sainte Marie over there,” she explains, pointing to an island not too far away.
We don’t talk during the short crossing, it’s evident that she would refuse to answer any questions before we reach whatever she wants to show me. The urge to call Cassius and tell him where I am is suddenly overwhelming. I feel for my phone in the pocket of my shorts, then realise that I left it at the house.
When we reach Sainte Marie I forget the queasy feeling in my stomach for a moment. The island is breathtakingly beautiful, with white sandy bays, palm trees and a wild rocky landscape behind. Ruth leads me to another Jeep in a parking space by a big hotel and we head northeast. “Where are we going?” My courage is deserting me, leaving my voice high and squeaky.
“Into a forest,” Ruth replies, grinning smugly. “We’ll go by car as far as the Andranomainty lake, then we’ll continue on foot.” Surely Cassius has noticed my absence by now.
“And what’s so special about this forest?” I’m very sorry now that I went with her. How stupid can you get? And nobody has any idea where I am. Ruth’s eyes are glittering with amusement now.
“It’s very remote, so it’s in pristine condition. It’s home to some species you don’t find anywhere else, frogs, reptiles and birds,” she explains, sounding like a tour guide. Then a horrible thought hits me. Could our trip have something to do with the orchid forest? Is she luring me there? “The holy path crosses the first part of the forest, then a bridge connects it with a second forest,” she continues. “This second forest is rather eerie, it’s inhabited by the ghosts of the ancestors and some animals and plants that modern science can’t even begin to understand.” Her voice is very low now, like a storyteller’s reaching the scary part. I hope she’s just having me on, but knowing her, I doubt it. Despite the heat I feel shivers running down my spine.
“Ruth, I’d rather not go.” I know this is weak and cowardly, but I can’t help myself, the words are out before I can stop them. To enter this forest in Ruth’s company is about the last thing I want to do. Ruth frowns at me.
“It’s rather late now, after all the trouble I’ve taken to bring you here.” She sounds seriously cross. “And presumably you do want to know the truth about Rebecca, don’t you?” What a bitch, she’s relishing my discomfort. But it’s my own fault really, I could be lying on the beach with Natalie, sipping a cold drink, had I not been so gullible and thoughtless. For a second I contemplate jumping out of the speeding car, but we’re in the middle of nowhere, no houses or people in sight. Suddenly she stops and motions me to get out. “We’re there.”
While I glance around looking for an escape route, she takes my hand and drags me under the leafy canopy of the forest. “You are one scaredy-cat, aren’t you?” she scolds me. “If Cassius could see you now! They think you’ve changed but you’re still the coward you always were.” I struggle against her vicelike grip, but to no avail. The farther we go into the forest the thicker it becomes, the leaves creating a narrow alley for us to walk through. I have trouble breathing, the green walls are closing in on me. “Oh, get a grip!” Ruth hisses impatiently when I stumble. “There aren’t any flowers here, just leaves.” She keeps pulling me along the path.
The outside world doesn’t exist anymore, it’s just the two of us in here, Ruth and me. Nobody knows where I am, I’m entirely at her mercy. We’re moving in a green bubble, in half-darkness, the sunlight unable to penetrate the leaves. The trees are huge now and the silence is only broken by strange sounds. Here and there an animal rustles in the leaves. It would have been amazingly peaceful and magical if Ruth hadn’t been there.
Suddenly I hear the sound of water and Ruth comes to a halt. There’s a small river, crossed by a narrow wooden bridge. “Now we cross the river into the second forest. It’s the only way into this part of the Ambodena forest,” she whispers. “There I’ll tell you the truth about Rebecca. Are you ready?” Do I have a choice? I shrink away from her noticing the blue lights in her eyes but I have to know what she wants to tell me. Maybe Randolph has not told me the whole truth after all.
Ruth leads me across the narrow bridge and I notice she’s smiling. When we reach the other side she takes a handkerchief out of her pocket. “Close your eyes,” she commands. Instinctively I take a step back.
“What do you have in mind?” I whisper. No way will I let her blindfold me. Ruth raises her eyebrows mockingly.