Page 8 of Strangers She Knows

“At one time, she considered me a friend.” Once, when Kellen had received a threatening gift, Mara had been kind. She had offered help. “She thinks she knows me.”

“She’s a serial killer with issues we can’t imagine.”

Kellen could imagine a few of them. “When she was handcuffed, and we were waiting for law enforcement to pick her up, she said, ‘I chose you as my opponent because I thought we were alike, that you were worthy.’”

“Alike in strength, she meant, and worthy of a good fight. She still sees you as her opponent.”

“And as a false friend. You know what else she said? She said, ‘You think I’m done? I’ll never be done.’” Kellen balled her hands into fists, then stretched them as far as she was able. “She’ll never quit.”

“She’s insane.”

“Absolutely psycho. We have to tell Rae.”

“What? No. Rae is a child!” Max could not have been more appalled.

“She’s ten, and she’s a brave, savvy child. Remember when she went with me into the Olympic Mountains?” If he didn’t recall, Kellen did, and all too well. “Killers on our trail, bullets flying, and that kid—she was seven, Max—kept up, bandaged my wounds, found help when I would have died.”

“I know. She was wonderful!” Max’s eyes went dark with old terrors. “And I was petrified. No, Kellen, we can protect Rae. Let her be a kid along for the ride.”

“She’s not going to forgive us when she finds out we pulled the wool over her eyes.”

“If we play this right, she’ll never know.”

He was just so hopeful, so scared, so concerned about his baby girl, Kellen had to yield. “All right, but we’ll revisit this decision as needed.”

He obviously didn’t mean it, but he said, “Sure. Sure.”

Kellen wanted to ask if there were any leads, but without warning, her words had vanished and she was mute, her throat constricting with terror and the desperate need to take the world back to where it had been five minutes ago, before she knew Mara had returned to deal death once more.

She had exercises for this. Breathing exercises. Relaxation exercises. She fought panic to get that first, long breath.

Max didn’t recognize Kellen’s struggle. “Taking Rae out of school a week early isn’t going to affect her in terms of what she learns. Even my mother lets the kids enjoy the last week of school with the minimum of work.”

Kellen breathed slowly, deliberately, the way her therapist advised.

Max continued, “All they do is have pool parties, cupcake parties, field trips. I haven’t spoken to my mother yet, but—”

From the door a furious voice said, “You want to take me out of school for the last week? Why? Why would you do that to me?” Rae stood there, her cheeks bright red, her eyes blazing.

Max jumped guiltily, and turned to face their daughter. “Honey, it’s no big deal—”

No, Max. Wrong answer, Max. It’s a big deal to her.But even as Kellen fought to speak, the constriction in her chest and throat grew, strangling her.

Breathe!

Rae’s voice rose. “No big deal? For you! What about me? You want to take me away from Chloe? And from Maverick and Rayleigh? We’re in class together. We play Dragon Spit together. We go everywhere together. They’re mybest friends.”

“I know, sweetheart.” Max probably thought he was being conciliatory. But he was doing it wrong. “This is an emergency—”

“Emergency!” Rae’s voice calmed. “What kind of emergency?”

Good. Max was going to explain the situation to Rae.

“We have to go to Italy to visit the relatives and this is the only time they can all get together.” He sounded patient.

Kellen stared in surprise at Max. He had not only lied, he’d thought out his lie ahead of time. He was serious about not letting anyone know where they were going. But he hadn’t thought out how to handle their daughter… Or maybe he had, in his own ham-handed way.

“I don’t care about relatives! I want to stay here and go to camp! Girl Scout camp. Weather camp. Robotics camp.” Rae’s voice hit a high note that had Max viewing her in alarm. “I want to stay here and have fun. With my friends!”

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