Milo’s lips part in protest but he swallows the words back.
‘It began with you,’ Danny says, looking at him. ‘I don’t know how she dug the pit, or even if she did, but she made sure there was a snake in there before she lured you towards it.’
‘Snake?’ Jeffers says. ‘I didn’t see a snake.’
I hold up a hand. ‘Just let him continue.’
For once he shrugs and lets it drop.
‘The spiders were next,’ Danny says. ‘Meg covered Honor with them and took off Anuman’s boots to make prints in the sand. She wanted us to believe that Jefferson was responsible.’
Meg catches my eye and lightly shakes her head. I don’t want Danny to think we’re colluding against him so instead of shooting her a sympathetic look I glance away.
‘I don’t know why she lured Jefferson off the cliff next, instead of leaving him until last, but she did. Then she set light to Jessie’s blanket and tried to burn her alive.’
‘Bullshit!’ Milo says, disguising it as a cough. If Danny notices he doesn’t let on. He’s caught up in his tale, his eyes darting manically from left to right, as though he’s expecting someone else to come leaping out from the jungle.
‘Then she left me a message in the sand.’
‘What message?’ Honor asks. She’s backed herself all the way to Jefferson’s feet, frantically picking at the tape that binds her ankles whenever Danny’s eyes are averted.
‘One of you will die. She meant you, babe.’
Jefferson leans closer to me. ‘What’s wrong with him?’ he hisses in my ear.
‘Meg left her own phobia for last,’ Danny continues, ‘which was stupid but she thought she’d got away with it by then. The way she smiled when she opened her bag… who does that? A psychopath, that’s who.’
Milo stiffens. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘Show him, Jessie,’ Danny says. ‘You’ve got the bag.’
‘This bag?’ I unhook Meg’s day pack from my arm and hold it out towards him.
‘Yeah. Tip it out.’
I invert the bag and shake the contents onto the dusty jungle floor. An empty bottle of water falls out along with some suntan lotion, a half pack of chewing gum, some fishing twine and half a dozen pretty shells.
‘Where is it?’ he asks. ‘Where’s the monkey head?’
Meg’s jaw drops. ‘The what?’
Danny points at the day pack. ‘How’d you get the blood out?’
There are water stains along the base, the embroidery is unravelling and there’s a dirty footprint near one of the handles but there isn’t a drop of blood on the bag. There’s never been any. I thought I knew where this conversation was going but Danny’s completely thrown me. I don’t know what this means. I feel completely out of my depth. I want to help him but I don’t know how.
‘Danny, I’m not sure what you’re talking ab—’
‘You swapped it!’ He tightens his grip around Meg’s throat, making her squeal in shock. ‘She must have two,’ he says to us.
‘Danny, stop!’ I say. ‘You’re cutting off her air supply. Danny! You promised me you wouldn’t hurt her.’
‘But she’s tricked me. She’s tricked all of us.’
‘It’s Meg’s bag. I promise! Look, there’s the rip from when she caught it on a thorn, there’s the stain at the bottom from where her pen leaked while we were on the boat. This is her bag, Danny. There isn’t another one.’
‘But you were all there. You saw her open it.’ There’s so much anguish on his face I can barely bring myself to look at him.
A memory flashes up in my brain, of Danny screaming as he sped into the jungle after Meg opened her bag. And just like that the final piece of the jigsaw slots into place.
‘Meg’s phobia,’ I say. ‘It’s blood.’
‘Yes.’ He nods wildly. ‘But she set it up. She killed the monkey. She put its head in her bag. We all saw it.’ He’s breathing quickly now, his chest rising and falling.
‘You saw it,’ I say carefully. ‘Just like you saw the other phobias come true.’
‘Yes,’ he says again. ‘Yes, yes.’
‘Only…’ I try to swallow but my mouth is so dry I can’t.
‘Only what?’ Jefferson asks. ‘What is it, Jessie?’
‘Danny… you were the only one who saw the phobias come true.’
‘That’s not true.’
I unwrap the blanket from around my neck and hold it out to him, running it through my fingers to show him the edges. ‘Look, it’s not burnt.’ I take a step towards him. ‘Look at the blanket, Danny. It’s not singed or blackened. It wasn’t on fire. Neither was I.’
His eyes, clouded with confusion, flick from the blanket to my legs and feet. ‘I saw the flames, Jessie. I swear. I definitely saw them. You must have… you must have put something on your skin, something to heal it and the blanket… you must have… you must have…’ The words fall away and he shakes his head. ‘I know what I saw.’
‘You saw a snake too, didn’t you? In the pit with Milo. But Milo didn’t see it. Neither did Jeffers. And the spiders, the ones that crawled all over Honor…’ I glance down at her. ‘Danny said they were crawling all over you. Did you see them? Feel them?’
She shakes her head, not daring to look at him. ‘I… I was having a nightmare and then… then all of a sudden I was awake and Danny was slapping me and shouting and I heard the word spiders and I freaked out.’
‘Did you see them?’ I ask again. ‘Any of them? Did you see a single spider?’
She shakes her head. ‘I… no… I didn’t. I thought he was telling the truth.’
‘I was telling the truth,’ Danny shouts, making her jump. ‘I was, babe. They’re lying. They’re all lying. Meg’s got to them. She’s turned them against me. But I didn’t imagine anything. Jefferson fell off the cliff. I wasn’t the only person who saw him fall, Jessie did too.’
‘Yes, Danny,’ I say. ‘I did. But no one pushed him. It was dark. He didn’t have his glasses on, he couldn’t see where he was going. It was an accident.’
‘There was someone in the bushes.’
‘No one was in the bushes.’
‘It was Meg.’
‘It wasn’t,’ Honor says. She pushes her hands through her hair but they only travel a few inches until they catch in the tangled, dirty mess at the roots. ‘She was lying right next to me the whole time. She was still there when Jessie screamed.’
‘But… but…’ Danny says desperately. ‘What about Anuman? Someone took of his boots.’
‘Anuman’s boots are still on his feet,’ I say. ‘I saw them earlier. They’re poking out from the tarpaulin, just like they have been every day since he died.’
‘Jessie’s right,’ Milo says and Jeffers and Honor both nod.
‘But… but…’ Danny presses a hand to the side of his head. He screws up his eyes and roars as though something is slicing through his brain.