The Opportunist by Elyse Friedman

Author:Elyse Friedman [Friedman, Elyse]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Published: 2022-10-21T00:00:00+00:00

11

All the fancy food and drink that Alana had consumed on the Andiamo exploded from her guts into the toilet. She’d barely made it to the bathroom in time. With shaking hands, she wadded up some toilet paper and wiped her mouth. She stood there for a couple minutes, trying to compose herself, trying to breathe. She didn’t want to leave the stall in case someone came into the bathroom. She couldn’t face anyone. Not yet.

After several minutes of deep breathing, Alana steeled herself and went to wash up, rinsing out her mouth and splashing hot water on her face. She felt sick and dazed. She wanted to go back in time and not be a part of any of this madness. How was she supposed to go out there now? She wasn’t a fucking actor. She would have to go hide in her cabin. Yes.

But when she left the bathroom, Martin was waiting for her.

“Can you believe this?” he hissed in a low voice. “I swear to god, Alana, I’m going to strangle that bitch.”

“What? Who?”

“Kelly. I think she did something to Teddy.”

“What are you talking about? Dad was just on the phone with him.”

“No, that was Kelly on the phone. She called from Teddy’s phone. She left her phone here. Teddy is somewhere in the water.”

“What?” It took a long moment for the words to register. Finally, a sob escaped from deep in Alana’s chest, followed by a spasm of tears.

Martin put a tentative, clumsy arm around her quaking shoulders. “I know,” he said. “It’s fucked.”

When the torrent subsided, Alana exhaled deeply. “I need a Kleenex.” She ducked back into the bathroom and blew her nose loudly before returning. “Oh my god, I can’t handle this,” she said.

“I know. It’s nuts. I knew she was corrupt, but I didn’t think she was a psycho. Do you think we should say something?”

“I don’t know,” said Alana.

“Well, we need to figure it out.”

Alana took a deep breath. “I don’t fucking know, Martin.”

“Well, let’s think about it because we’ll be there in a few minutes and we have to figure it out. I mean, do we say they were together and plotting? I mean, maybe she planned this whole thing—leaving the drugs behind so she’d have to go back. If she got rid of Teddy, it’s because she wants it all to herself, right? Maybe we can get her arrested.”

“Arrested for what? You said Teddy was in the water. He might be out by now for all we know. Dad said they had an accident. What if they did? I mean, Teddy was driving.”

“Yeah.”

“We have no idea what happened.”

“I guess,” said Martin.

“If we rat them out or spout some crazy conspiracy theory, and then Teddy turns up, we’re screwed.”

“Yeah . . .”

Alana sighed. “Let’s just get there and see what happened. It’s not like the authorities are going to disappear.”

“But they might ask why we didn’t say something right away.”

“Because we didn’t want to upset Dad. He was upset enough by the accident.

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