Page 58 of Strangers She Knows

“Sure, you’d better hurry. What are you doing tonight?”

“Mama and I are reading more of Ruby Morgade’s diary. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Mara watched Rae ride away, peddling hard up the hill, and smiled. She’d been hoping to catch the kid and have a little talk, gather some information and sow some dissension. That couldn’t have gone any better.

Now if only sweet little Rae could keep her mouth shut…

Probably not, so Mara had to work quickly.

21

That evening, Rae was affectionate and Kellen was apologetic. The breach was healed and, except for the F-100, all was once again right with the world.

Then, after breakfast the next morning, Olympia followed Max out of the dining room and into his office.

Max was cheerful when he asked, “What’s up?”

“I’m leaving.”

Max blinked at her in surprise. He knew she wasn’t happy here but—he didn’t think she was happy anywhere. “You signed a contract.” Stupid response, not helpful, because of course he couldn’t trap her on the island. “The contract stated that if you leave before September and while we still require your services, you lose all the bonus promised at the end, and that is a considerable amount.”

Kellen had followed Olympia to the library, but stopped in the doorway.

Olympia stood in the middle of the carpet in the middle of the office, straight and stiff, and he realized she no longer looked like the Olympia Paolergio he’d hired. She was… disheveled. But she sounded like herself—flat, firm and unemotional. “I’m quitting.”

Max met his wife’s gaze.

She grimaced and gestured at him to continue.

He leaned forward, set his elbows on the table, put a warm understanding in his voice and in his eyes. “Olympia, please sit down.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, shutting him out. “I don’t want to sit down. I want to leave.”

So warmth and understanding weren’t going to work. “I did warn you about the isolation and the difficulties in living here. You said you could handle them.”

“I’m quitting.” When Max would have made another objection, Olympia slashed the air with her hand. “You didn’t tell me I’d be receiving my cooking supplies from an alcoholic drug addict. You didn’t say there would be winds sweeping across the island that make the house creak, or the walls would sing in languages I don’t recognize.” She whispered, “The Frog God. All my life, I’ve heard of the Frog God. The Native Americans talk about him, about his powers. He crushed Kateri Kwinault and brought her back to life, and now—” Olympia’s voice rose “—I’ve heard him in the waves thrashing against the sand.”

Kellen put her hand over her eyes. Olympia Paolergio had slipped a gear.

Max almost stammered as he tried to think what to say. “The Frog God is pretty much a Native American icon from the coast up around—”

Olympia focused on him once again. “You didn’t say that a woman down the hill hates everyone so much she won’t even speak to me except to complain that you’re rebuilding a truck. A truck! Like that matters to me!”

So Jamie had complained to Olympia about the F-100. At least she was consistent.

Olympia was almost spitting out her complaints now. “You didn’t tell me your family would spend all your time outside, running and biking and—” For a long moment, Olympia appeared to have trouble speaking. Then the words caught up with her. “And leaving me in the house to battle rats who…who steal food from the pantry and scurry away into corners and disappear.”

Obviously, Olympia had to go. But Max stalled for time. “Will you give us notice? A week? Two?”

“You didn’t tell me ghosts from the old times would dance in the moonlight in the ballroom.”

Kellen took her hands away from her eyes and mouthed,Wow, to Max.

Olympia’s eyes drifted, unfocused. “Do you hear the music at night? Do you find the vinyl records spinning out the old songs and wonder what could have set the needle on them for a last time?”

Max rose. “I have not heard that.”

“Underneath I hear the growl of men’s voices, soldiers who took the island and then left it—and died. They all came back here, you know. They’re alive here.” Olympia was rambling. “All those poor boys. Dead and yet tied here. Not gone. Not yet.”

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