26
Jasmine crumbled. Everything that had happened the day before crowded in on her. The fear over what Ellis might do to Bintang. The shock when he’d told her he intended to join the communists. The sudden unexpected joy of the kiss they had shared. And above all, her overwhelming conviction that she loved him, but that she was the one to blame for what had happened to him.
Mary moved around the table and put an arm round Jasmine’s shoulder. ‘You have to trust me. If you know where Bintang has gone you need to tell me. Do you think he’s been arrested?’
‘No,’ Jasmine wailed. ‘He hasn’t been arrested. Not if his things have gone.’ She swiped the back of her hand across her eyes to brush away the tears.
‘Then why has he left? Where has he gone?’
‘I think he’s gone to the jungle.’
‘The j
