“Poor thing. What do you think happened to it?”
Using a thick twig, Adam gently lifted the cat’s head. Marla held a hand to mouth in horror. The cat’s eyes were gone from their sockets and half the creature’s cranium was open like a pumpkin with half the flesh scooped out. It looked as if something had taken a hungry bite out of its skull.
“Predator of some kind,” said Adam. “Big, hungry and pissed off, whatever it was.”
“Did the cat… belong to somebody?”
Adam stood up and turned to face Marla. She was glad; she’d much rather look at his features than the cat’s.
“Don’t think so,” he replied, looking a little bemused by her stare. “The owners don’t keep pets as far as I know. Still, I’d better report it to Fowler—maybe he knows something about it.”
“Maybe it’s his cat?”
Adam raised an eyebrow at her.
“No, I suppose he doesn’t seem like an animal-lover, does he?” she joked.
“Doesn’t seem like an anything-lover,” laughed Adam. “So, where are you off to?”
“Oh, just out for a stroll. Actually, I wanted to drop by and see Jessie—thank her for showing me the ropes yesterday. Do you know her?”
“The American girl? Yeah, sure.”
“Good. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind showing me where she lives?”
“Course not. It’s not that far. Follow me.”
Marla followed him through the trees.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw that flies had begun to buzz and swarm around the cat’s ruined face.
Chapter Eleven
They found Jessie sitting cross-legged on the lawn, with an upturned lawnmower in front of her. She was busy trying to dislodge something that had become tangled up in the blades.
“Hey!”
Marla got the distinct impression the greeting was only meant for her, as Jessie avoided looking at Adam. She really hates authority figures, thought Marla as she walked over to give Jessie a hand with the mower.
“Need a hand there?” asked Adam.
“No thanks,” replied Jessie, still not looking at him. She launched into an awful rendition of “Sisters are Doing it for Themselves”. If the cat Adam had found was still alive, it would have been screeching at the sound of Jessie’s song.
Marla laughed. Jessie’s goofiness was infectious. She glanced over her shoulder at Adam, “Cheers for showing me the way.”
“Anytime.”
As he disappeared into the trees, Jessie guffawed. “You don’t wait long do you?”
Marla’s cheeks turned beetroot red. “I don’t know what you mean…”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Smoochin’ in the woods with Mister Security. And it’s only your second day.”
She watched as Marla’s embarrassment became laughter.
“Come on,” said Jessie. “Let’s go inside.”
“But…what about the mower?”
“Oh, screw the mower. Let me fix you a mow-jito instead.”
Jessie had not only been good to her word, but had mixed the best mojito Marla had ever tasted. The summerhouse was messier than Marla’s, with that lived-in feeling. Perhaps her own digs would look more like Jessie’s after she’d spent a few months living there. Jessie drained her glass, made an appreciative smacking sound with her lips and refilled it.
“Drink up.” She waved the jug full of mojito teasingly at Marla.
Marla smiled and knocked back the rest of her drink, then held the glass out to Jessie. She’d decided she liked Jessie very much.
“Thank you bartender,” she giggled.
Jessie giggled too and filled her glass. They both took noisy sips, enjoying the sharpness of the limejuice and the alcohol-laden ice. Like the weed from the night before, the booze packed quite a punch. Marla found herself wondering how Jessie got this stuff onto the island without being caught. She suddenly felt very green, like the new kid at school joining in with an illicit cigarette out of sight of the teachers. Then she chuckled, imagining Chief of Security Fowler dressed up in academic robes and a mortarboard.
“What’s funny?” asked Jessie, smiling.
“I don’t know… I guess I’m still just a little bit amazed by this place. By you and your incredible stash of illicit substances. I mean how do you sneak this stuff in?”
“Like I said, I could tell you but I’d have to kill you.”
“Promise I won’t say a word to anyone.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t. You’re one of the good people, Marla, I can see that. But if I don’t tell you, then you don’t know, and if Fowler and his cronies ever pick you up and put the thumbscrews on you… Well, you won’t be able to tell them a damn thing.”
Marla gulped. Jessie’s expression was deadly serious, her eyes never leaving Marla’s as she took a sip of her drink. Then Jessie cracked up, almost spluttering her drink everywhere.
“You had me going there,” sighed Marla. “I’m so bloody naïve. But they’re not really that bad are they? Fowler and his boys?”
“Now that I won’t joke about,” replied Jessie. “The guy who walked you here…”
“Adam?”
“Adam. Now he seems okay, I must admit. But I’m sure the rest of them are mostly just bored and itching for a way to get back at that bastard Fowler. Boredom and rebellion, it’s a pretty volatile combination, but one that has its advantages.”
Jessie winked as she topped up her mojito glass again. Marla nodded. So that’s how she gets her supplies, she thought, admiring Jessie all the more.
“He’s cute, but be real careful.” Jessie’s tone had turned to one of wise-old-oracle. “If you get caught doing the nasty with Adam in the Garden of Eden, Fowler will have you deported before you can put your panties back on.”
Marla blushed furiously and buried her face in her drink.
“Relax, I’m just kidding. Kinda,” teased Jessie. “Have to take your pleasure where you can get it here. No games consoles round here, no movies or fast food joints. And no bars. Well, not of the licensed kind anyhow.”
Marla put her drink down on the little glass coffee table clumsily. She was finding it hard to think clearly through the alcohol now.
“How many Lamplighters are there?”
“Just three of us, including you. Pietro totally loves himself and he can be a bit of a bastard sometimes. But he’s a smoker too, so that’s cool.”
“When will I meet him?”
“That’s the hard part, see? The ‘two-person rule’ makes it hard for us to hang out. Took me a few days to figure it out, do the rounds. Hey, where there’s a will there’s a way, I’m workin’ on it. But hey, none of exactly came here to make friends did we?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, think about it. Anyone who’s gonna sign up for this gig only has one thing on their mind right? The money. That and the so-called ‘millionaire lifestyle’, which ain’t all that it’s cracked up to be, let me tell you.”
“Seems okay to me.”
“Like I said before, I don’t wanna piss on your parade. But remember it’s only your second day. After a couple of weeks, the monotony starts to set in, and when the weeks turn into months… Let’s just say the shine gets taken off it, okay?”
“And then what happens?”
“Oh, nothing much. Personally, I just find little ways of dealing. But even the joints and the alcohol get a bit tired sometimes. Hell I’m sorry Marla, I don’t want to bring you down. It’s the booze talking,” she raised her glass in a toast, “So here’s to more booze!”
“I’ll drink to that.” Marla clinked her glass against Jessie’s.
They had almost drained the jug completely. “Looks like it’s gonna be a good night my dear,” said Jessie drunkenly before swaggering off to the kitchen to fill it up again.