Sacrifice Island by Kristin Dearborn Read Free Book Online Page A

cleanliness did not apply here…half-stray dogs and cats sauntered through restaurants, flies landed where they pleased.
    The small, bustling city of El Nido only comprised a few blocks, but it was vibrant and full of life and color. Myriad smells permeated the air—all the seafood one could imagine, pork adobo, curries, scents from a bakery. Underneath it all floated an undertone of less appetizing scents—sewage, unwashed bodies, gasoline.
    Alex led them to a cozy bar and grill that specialized in seafood. Their table sat on the beach, plastic legs dug into the sand, and it looked out over lots of little boats like Baby Roxanne .
    “It’s called a Bangka ,” Jemma said.
    “What?” Alex asked.
    “Those canoes. They’re called Bangkas .”
    They ate in silence for a bit. Alex ordered a pizza, which didn’t taste at all like pizza in New York. Jemma ordered fish kinilaw , a ceviche-type salad.
    “Should we go back?” he asked.
    “Yes, once we finish.”
    “No, I mean back to New York. Have we bitten off more than we can chew?”
    As it grew dark, she’d taken her sunglasses off, and now studied him from across the table. “We don’t even know what we’re dealing with here yet.”
    “We’re dealing with something someone is willing to kill over.”
    “We weren’t going to die on the island.”
    “I’m not talking about that. Some sicko sacrificed an animal and nailed its carcass to your door.”
    “Are you afraid?” she asked him. He found it hard to answer. He didn’t see things or feel things the way she did, but he knew they’d had their worst day of ghost hunting yet. This had always been something of a game to him. Fun. He’d read a meter and make extrapolations. They’d revealed a decades-old murder in England, and talked to girls who’d killed themselves because of a lecherous pedophiliac headmaster in Connecticut. He didn’t see ghosts, hear voices, feel chills.
    “I want to be sure you’re safe.”
    “So far so good.” Her weak smile didn’t convince him. She chewed on her lip a bit. “I’m not sure what we’re dealing with is even a ghost.”
    “What else could it be?”
    “A demon? I don’t know. I’d like to set up my instruments tomorrow, let them run overnight, analyze the readings, and then we should plan on an overnight.”
    “And you think that’s a good idea?”
    “How else will we know?”
    A brash waitress cleared their plates while shouting something in Tagalog to a friend of hers down the beach. They paid the check. Alex chuckled at how fucking cheap everything here was.
    “Let’s hit a bar.”
    “Must we?”
    “What better way to get a feel for the place?”
    “Perhaps you should go…I can go back and work on the diary, the power’s on so I can do some more research online.”
    “It would be fun…a drink? Loosen up?”
    “No, not tonight.”
    “You want me to take you back?”
    “I’m all right. I’m not a child.”
    He wanted to open his mouth, remind her of the dead bearcat nailed to her door. But she was right. She wasn’t a child. He offered, she declined.
    “Are you going to go back to your cabin?” Alex asked. He didn’t like the idea of her being there alone.
    He studied her. He never knew how far to push or when to let her go. Would her strange attire make her more or less of a target? He walked her to a trike, paid her way, told the driver where to take her. He wondered if he’d done the right thing as he went back to the bar. Wondered if he’d ever see her again…
    Alex ordered a frozen piña colada and wandered over. He wondered for a split second about the ice, but figured the alcohol would kill whatever might be in it. He took his drink and went to watch the lights reflecting off the water.
    “Excuse me?” An American voice, and not a vapid-sounding one.
    Alex turned. The woman’s short, no-nonsense brown hair framed her face in a way that might be adorable, he couldn’t tell yet. Her eyes were big and brown, and she