Page 117 of Strangers She Knows

She gave a small moan, caught her breath and said, “Sorry. Sorry. I didn’t mean to. So melodramatic. I couldn’t help it. We need to go to the house and—”

“Lady, we’ve got to get you to the hospitalnow.” As the Coastie stuck a needle in her arm, he introduced himself, “I’m Bill Stevens, medic.”

“No.” Kellen had to convince them. “We’ve got to tell her—”

“She’s hallucinating,” Bill said.

Max and the Coastie lifted her in.

They shut the doors.

The drugs took effect. The pain receded and so did the world, until all of a sudden they were in a hospital emergency room and doctors and nurses were working on her hand and her burns at the same time. She came to complete consciousness, hovering on the edge of agony.

“Give her more pain relief,” someone said.

“Not yet. Max. I have to speak to Max.”

Right away, he was there, leaning close to her face. “She’s still there,” Kellen told him.

His brown eyes were anxious. “Relax, honey. You killed her. Remember? Mara is dead.”

“Ruby Morgade is not.” Kellen respected Max’s intelligence above all things, and she trusted him to put the pieces together, but before she could say another word, the darkness took her under.

50

“As soon as Kellen told me Ruby Morgade was living here, alone, I sent a medical team to assess her. I also sent a cook and a housekeeping team, and a team to assess the damage to the house.” Max piloted the helicopter, the recently repaired Di Luca Robinson R44 Raven II, off the coast of California, across the Pacific and toward Isla Paraíso.

From the back seat, Rae asked, “How did you know, Mommy?”

“That Ruby was alive?” Kellen turned to Rae and Verona in the back seat. “She saved my life.”

“I knew it.” Rae sounded fiercely proud, as if Ruby was her own personal champion to exalt. “So I was right. Someone did come into my room and stroke my forehead. Luna knew her!”

“That’s right. That’s why Luna didn’t bark.” Kellen’s voice broke a little.

It had been only four days since Kellen had arrived at the mainland hospital, and those days had been busy, filled with doctors, medications and her reunion with Rae, and in that time, they hadn’t told Rae about Luna’s death. Kellen knew the time was rapidly approaching. But how to tell a child that her beloved dog had died a hero?

Max gave Kellen a sideways look, and continued, “The nurse is Tichi Barlow. She’s impressed with Ruby’s mental and physical health. Ruby’s appetite is good, and she’s been speaking to the construction team about what needs to be done to the house.”

“She sounds like a remarkable woman.” As soon as Max sent word, Verona had returned from Italy, and she said, “If Miss Morgade’s in such good shape, why did we have to come so quickly? Kellen’s barely healed.”

Max glanced back at his mother, then at Kellen.

“I had a gut feeling we should come as soon as possible.” Kellen wasn’t trying to be dramatic, just truthful.

“All right. Yes. That’s a good reason,” Verona acknowledged.

Kellen inclined her head, and glanced down at her hands, one wrapped and taped, the other in need of physical therapy. She sighed. As soon as she got back to Yearning Sands Resort, she would be practicing the piano again…but without Luna and her complaints.

Her eyes filled with tears, but she forced them back and swallowed.

As Max made his first pass over the island, Rae chatted at Verona. “This is it, Grandma. Isla Paraíso. Isn’t it neat? Don’t you love it?”

“It’s very pretty. So isolated. Who could imagine such a thing off the California coast?” Verona craned her neck to see what was below.

As did Kellen. She strained to get a sense of the violence that had occurred here. Instead she saw the serene beauty of the island: the sandy beaches and crashing waves, the mighty oaks and grazing deer. The evidence of the truck’s explosion had been obliterated by the grasses that, with the rain, had turned a brilliant green and grown gloriously tall. “Mara Philippi left no mark,” she muttered.

“None on the island,” Max answered. He meant thatshe, Kellen, had been marked.

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