Page 7 of Strangers She Knows

“Oh, no.”

“She had the coffin placed in the chapel. Last night, the undertaker, Arthur Earthman, found her there, with the coffin open. She murdered him, and almost killed his wife, Cynthia. The widow escaped ahead of the sheriff, and she left her calling card.”

Kellen knew. She knew what Max was going to say. “She cut off Mitch’s hands.”

“And took them.” Max looked up at her, his brown eyes wretched with fear. “Mara Philippi is back. And she’s here.”

4

Kellen felt the same terror that shone in Max’s eyes.

Mara Philippi. My God. That nightmare had been put away once. All the terror, all the horror that was Mara Philippi had been in federal prison in solitary confinement. “I knew I’d seen her. At our wedding, talking to Rae.”

“Yes.”

“Tell me again how she escaped the prison?”

“She is a master at manipulating people, giving them what they want and getting a favor in return. You know how her people feel about her.”

“Fanatical dedication. Until she kills them and takes their hands for her grisly souvenirs.”

“You killed Mitch. She never got his hands.”

“Until now.” Kellen took a few breaths, gave herself some time to ease that feeling of claustrophobic fear, before replying. “You think if we went to this island, we would be safe.”

“I would like to hope so. If we went quietly, quickly, without fuss.”

“How soon?”

“Right away.”

“Who’s going to catch Mara?”

“Not you, my darling. You are still recovering.” He cupped her atrophied hand again.

“I’ve been recovering for more than two years!”

“Recovering from having a bullet removed from your brain!” Max could be forceful when he wished. “You’re not going to track Mara down. We’ve got every kind of law enforcement on the case. Local police, state police, Coast Guard, FBI, Interpol. Law enforcement hates when civilians try to handle crimes by themselves, mostly because people end up dead.”

“I know.”

“Plus they want Mara back behind bars. Do you know how foolish they look that she escaped and they didn’t even know it?”

“I suspect. But we live at Yearning Sands Resort.” Kellen waved a hand around at their luxurious manager quarters. “We’re protected by a great security team.”

“We are. But Mara worked here. She knows this place far too well for comfort, so let’s not put our people in the line of fire.”

“Of course, you’re right. But we can’t leave right away. Rae has a week of school left.”

“She’s homeschooled. By my mother. With five other children. I’ve already hired extra protection for the children. It won’t be hard to convince the parents to be careful. Cape Charade is abuzz with horror since last night’s murder. Killing the undertaker…cutting off the hands of a corpse…” Max looked pale and sweaty. “Do you know why Cynthia Earthman is alive? Because Mara gave her a message for you.”

“For me? Not you?”

“For you,” he repeated. “She told Cynthia, ‘Tell Kellen I’ll take everything from her, the way she took everything from me. I’ll make her sorry she betrayed me.’”

“I didn’t betray her!” Silly to care, but a knee-jerk reaction.

“And you’re not the one who brought her down. I did.” Max had tackled Mara before she fired a fatal shot into Kellen. “But the message was specifically for you.”

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