"It's okay. It's okay," Sawyer said, grasping the back of my T-shirt to hold me up.
171
"She did it. She tried to kill me," I said, glancing over my shoulder at Mrs. Ryan. "She set the whole thing up."
"I know. I heard everything," Sawyer said, pullingback so he could look me in the eye. "It's going to be all right." He shrugged out of his tuxedo jacket and slung it over my shoulders. The warmth was like nirvana.
I sniffled and nodded, still weak as could be. "What're you doing here?"
"Everyone's here," he said. "I was just the first one inside. Come on. Let's go downstairs and we'll call the police,"
My eyes widened in terror.
"No. Not the police," he said quickly. "We'll call my dad. He'll know what to do."
"Okay," I said, clinging to him a
s we walked out to the hall. "And can we get something to eat? Something that's not poison?" I said, glancing at the tray on the table by the door.
Sawyer appeared confused, but nodded. "Absolutely. I think something that's not poison would definitely be a good idea."
172
FOOD
There was a lot of commotion. I could hear it from inside the airy kitchen with its bright aqua accents and gleaming silver appliances. I was eating a hunk of crusty bread with Sawyer and Noelle at my sides. Everyone else was out in the great hall at the front of the house, watching as Mrs. Ryan was hauled away in handcuffs. Mr. Lange had called the police after all. There was some shouting. A few slamming car doors. But I heard it all from inside a vacuum. It was over. It was finally over.
And I was finally eating.
"I don't believe this. This is actually beyond the scope of the believable," Noelle said.
She had brought me a black Calvin Klein sweat suit and didn't even care that I hadn't taken a bath before I put it on. Thanks to that and a pair of comfy white socks, plus the food and water, I had finally stopped shivering.
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"Believe it, baby," I said, then snorted a laugh, my head jerking back slightly.
Noelle leaned toward me. Her black satin gown swished whenever she moved, and her heavy evening eye makeup seemed ridiculous to me in my haggard state. "You're delirious, aren't you? Doesn't she seem delirious?" she asked Sawyer.
"She was alone on an island for six days with nothing to eat and no one to talk to," Sawyer pointed out matter-of-factly.
"Point taken," Noelle said.
I wasn't delirious. I was just done. I couldn't wrap my brain around another near-death experience. Couldn't really feel it. Once I had stopped crying all over Sawyer and he'd found me something to eat, all the emotions had just sort of. . . stopped. Now all I could feel was the weakness, the exhaustion, the hunger, and the pain. Maybe once I solved all those issues, the emotions would crash in on me again, but for now, there was nothing.
"Is there more of this bread?" I asked, lifting the crusty bit I had left.
Noelle got up to cut me some more and brought back a cluster of grapes and a few slices of cheese with it. Someone had decided that bland was the way to go, but I would have pretty much killed for a chili cheeseburger. Or a pepperoni pizza. Or a huge pile of jelly donuts.
"So all this time it was Mrs. Ryan?" Noelle said as she placed the food in front of me on the glass-topped table and sat down again. "Why? Was she doing it for Paige?"
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Sawyer and I looked at one another. If Noelle thought Mrs. Ryan's guilt was unbelievable, she was never going to be able to swallow her motive. I opened my mouth to respond, but a loud shout stopped me short.
"What the hell is going on here? Where's my father? You can't just drag her away like this! No! Get the hell off of me!"
It was Daniel Ryan. In one of his rages, it seemed. I heard scuffling footsteps. A crash. The clack of high heels. Suddenly Daniel and Paige came barreling into the kitchen, followed by Dash and Kiran. Daniel's otherwise handsome face was red with rage, his tuxedo tie still knotted tightly around his neck. Paige's auburn hair had come loose from its updo. The tail of her light green gown swished behind her as they stormed into the room.