Page 91 of Strangers She Knows

“But she…she came to warn me.”

“Warn you about what?”

“About Dylan. She told me he was dangerous. She warned me the storm was coming in. She said we had to evacuate, and invited me into your helicopter. She wasniceto me.” Mara sounded as if such a thing had never happened before.

Kellen supposed it hadn’t. So Rae had saved her own life by being Rae, kind and interested. “You had met Rae a few days before, and—” oh, she understood now “—you made her promise not to tell us. You didn’t threaten her, because she liked you.”

“She did, didn’t she?” Mara sounded sloppily sentimental.

Which made Kellen want to slap her. “After you gave her that drug, she rambled. She said she liked you. She said she was worried about you. So who did you tell her you were?”

“The intern from UC San Diego.” As if bored, Mara wandered back to the overstuffed chair and reseated herself.

“The biologist.”

“Botanist. Multitasker. Whatever science was required. Don’t worry. I’ve been doing the work!” Mara assured her.

“You’ve been doing the work,” Kellen repeated. “Like that matters!”

“It does matter!” Mara’s eyes narrowed. “Was Jamie right? Don’t you care about the environment?”

Kellen had fallen down the rabbit hole, and soon Mara would be shouting,Off with her head!“I deeply care about the environment—” not right now, but in general “—and so does Rae, so of course she admired you, and came to warn you. You gave her drugs—”

“Only a half dose.”

Kellen lost her temper and shouted, “What difference does it make, half dose or full dose? If my husband and my child are lost at sea, it’s because you sent them out.”

“They won’t be lost.” Mara was blithely certain, like a three-year-old who was playing with fire. “Two days ago, I watched them from the cliff edge, sailing away, laughing. They love to sail.”

“In good weather.” Kellen flung her arm toward the window where the wind slid its sly fingers under the aged sill and rain slashed at the glass. “Have you even looked beyond the tip of your conceited little nose at what’s happening out there? This storm is the remnant of a typhoon. No intelligent person sails in this weather! What did you think, that you, the mighty Mara, could command the elements to let Max handle a tiny vessel in seventy-mile-an-hour winds? In seas so violent the boat disappeared three times beneath the surf and the last sight I had of them, Max was bailing? Not managing the boat, the motor, the rudder—but bailing?” Kellen closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, realized she was dizzy, ready to fall over. She opened her eyes, swayed, fought to stay on her feet—and noticed her rain gear was gone. Mara had stripped away her plastic poncho, and Kellen was damp. Damp all over, damp all the way down to her underwear.

Damn Mara Philippi.

Kellen plucked a hair off her long-sleeved T-shirt. And another. And another. And realized—all down the front of her clothes, she had a fine coating of red-and-blond dog hair.

Luna. Since Olympia had left, no one vacuumed, and Luna’s hair was everywhere, on every floor, every surface. Now Kellen wore it… When Max and Kellen took Rae to the beach, they had locked the dog in the house.

Where was Luna? Had Mara killed their dog?

What did you do with her?The question hovered on the tip of Kellen’s tongue.

At that moment, from the depths of the house, Luna barked.

Kellen jumped.

Mara jumped harder. She got to her feet, looked around fearfully. “Did you hear that?”

Was she kidding? Acting? If she was, she was doing a good job of it—she wassweating.

Mara’s questions gave Kellen time to think, to consider her accusation. Was Luna in hiding?

The dog barked again.

“You heard that, didn’t you?” Mara took a step closer to Kellen, not as a threat, but as if seeking protection.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Kellen said glibly.

“It was a dog. There’s a dog in the house.”

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