The Secret Path by Karen Swan (summer beach reads TXT) 📕

be able to get back until the morning.’ Jed looked concerned by this.

‘That’s fine – as long as there’s somewhere I could sleep for the night?’

He thought for a moment. ‘There is a bed I know of. Our neighbour’s son went to San José for work.’

She nodded, not exactly relishing the idea of sleeping in a complete stranger’s house. ‘Uh-huh. Well, if you’re sure your neighbour wouldn’t mind, just for the night . . .’

Jed looked back at her. ‘Of course not. If you really think it will help?’

‘I do, Jed,’ she nodded. ‘I really do.’

The sun was beginning to sink when they finally made their way back. The original plan for a quick excursion to the waterfalls had led to an all-afternoon escape as they took it in turns napping, sunbathing and swimming with Jimmy. At one point, Jed took the boy off to see some rarely sighted grey-crowned squirrel monkeys which he spotted nearby.

Now, with dusk falling, the forest was becoming even louder – emerald cicadas scratched, sending a deafening hum into the sky, monkeys shrieked, parakeets flapped and cawed, tapirs shuffled heavily through the undergrowth. Everything could be heard, but almost nothing was seen; life teemed and pulsed just out of reach – a flash of colour here, a slow blink in the leaves there.

They walked in a line behind Jed, below the giant ceiba trees, watching – as per his instructions – where they put their feet. If there was beauty here there was also peril – coral snakes, Brazilian wandering spiders; although not much was as nasty, according to Jed, as the red caterpillars that would get them if they sunbathed in the shade of almond trees.

It was a long walk back towards the road, where they’d left the Jeep – there was no car park, of course, just a break in the trees where the locals knew to stop – but Tara could tell something was wrong just by the shift in Jed’s shoulders. He stopped, still a way from the road, hidden by the trees. Instinctively everyone else stopped too, watching him as he stared at the seemingly innocuous scene. The car was where they had left it. It was not on fire. There wasn’t a jaguar sitting on the roof. And yet something had caught his attention.

Slowly, he began walking forwards again, emerging from the tree cover and going to stand by the front wheel arch.

That was when Tara saw it too. The tyre was flat, the car now sitting at an angle different to when they’d left it. Only by a few degrees, but still – Jed had clocked it immediately.

‘What’s happened?’ Jimmy asked curiously, as Jed crouched down on his heels to examine it more closely.

Jed looked up at him. ‘Nothing serious,’ he smiled after a moment. ‘We must have hit a rock on the way over here. Some of them are pretty sharp. They’re not like them smooth roads you got back home.’

Holly guffawed. ‘Oh trust me, you’ve clearly not seen the state of our roads lately! There are potholes you could bathe your granny in!’

Jed chuckled at the idea. ‘Not to worry. We got a spare. We’ll get it changed and be heading back in no time.’ He looked across at Jimmy. ‘You want to help me, big man? I could use your muscles.’

‘Yeah!’ Jimmy said excitedly, as though this was every bit as exciting as shooting down waterfalls.

Tara watched as Jed sprang up. She knew for sure now that he was hiding something from them, something that had been going on since they’d landed here – that incident on the road last night, the contempt in that man’s stare as they had driven by . . . even those trucks all parked around their Jeep at the clinic – was that really innocent, or another warning too?

Jed patted Jimmy on the shoulder. ‘Good boy. This way, then. We’re going to need to get it out of the back and there’s a nut that can be stiff. I hope you’ve got some strength left.’

Jimmy pulled a muscle pose.

‘That should do it!’

They went round to the back of the car; Holly was getting Dev to hold the rucksack while she refolded the wet towels. Tara crouched down by the tyre, examining it closely herself. She put a finger to the hole. It was small and neat, precise almost. This hadn’t been done by a sharp stone. This was no accident. As a surgeon, she knew exactly what a cut by a knife looked like.

This wasn’t just talk, and it was more than a threat.

This was a statement of intent.

Chapter Fifteen

‘Where have you been?’

Rory sat up on the bed. He was wearing just a pair of shorts, a bottle of beer on the side table. His face was flushed, though she didn’t know if it was from the beer, the sun or even his earlier bike ride.

‘Sorry.’ She shut the door behind her with a sigh. ‘Turned out to be a bigger afternoon than we expected.’

‘And you couldn’t text? Let me know where you were?’

Tara was amused. ‘We’re in the rainforest, Ror! How good do you think phone signal is around here?’ She went and sat on the end of the bed, falling back with a groan. The mosquito net was knotted above the bed and tucked behind the headboard. The ceiling fan whirred, pushing the hot air around the room, but creating a breeze at least. She closed her eyes, feeling the heat of the day still in her bones.

‘. . . So?’

She twisted to look back at him. ‘Huh?’

‘Where were you?’

‘Oh. We went to the clinic to drop off the supplies, ended up helping out a bit, and then took Jimmy to the waterfalls. It was only supposed to be a quick thing – but he was having so much fun. Jed took him off to see some rare monkeys and we had a picnic. It was really amazing actually.’ She reached for his leg, rubbed it affectionately. ‘I wish you’d been there.’

‘Ha! So do I.’