Author: Christina Dodd
Category: Thriller
Go to read content：https://onlinereadfreenovel.com/christina-dodd/page,13,485077-strangers_she_knows.html
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“But what if—?”
“What if what? What if Mara is here? No! While we’re safe here, she’s gone on a wild goose chase, seeking us all over the world.”
“And maybe looking up her former murderous colleagues?”
“According to the report I got from Diana…before she disappeared…there’s nothing to indicate that. You know Mara better than anyone. Would she do that? When she’s at the bottom and has nothing to offer?”
Kellen didn’t take offense at his assumption she knew Mara better than anyone. The friendship between them had been fraught with rivalry, and in the end Mara had been willing and eager to kill her. But when Kellen looked back on the time she’d spent with Mara, when she added in all the facts that had surfaced, Kellen had come to know more about her twisted, devious mind, and understand the way she had fooled everyone so completely. “Mara has to be in charge. Mara has to be on top. She loves a challenge, but only as a chance to sharpen her teeth in the battle to win again. And—” Kellen was thinking out loud “—when she focuses on one single problem, she focuses completely. If she’s after us, after me, and we’re sure she is, right?”
“According to all reports.”
“She won’t look left or right. In a way that’s an advantage. If she managed to bring in any of her old criminal network, that could cause us real trouble. But she wants to bring me down by herself. That’s important, that she does it alone.” Kellen leaned back, satisfied with her analysis of the situation. “That’s it. But that doesn’t fix anything. It doesn’t make our conundrum better. How did she escape from a top security prison? How could she be so smart she outwits us and the authorities?” Kellen was asking for reassurance, for him to tell her everything would be all right.
Max was patient with her, and he obliged. “This island is isolated. Most people don’t even know Isla Paraíso is here, or that the Di Lucas have anything to do with it. And you heard Juan Deung. He was surprised to see us and understood the need for silence. If Mara figures out she lost us, how could she pick up our track and follow us here?”
“That woman—”
“—is wildly intelligent in a horrible twisted way. I agree.” He took Kellen’s damaged hand and massaged it. “But if she could find us, how would she arrive? The island doesn’t have a harbor. It’s darned hard to get any kind of vessel even close. We’d notice an aircraft.”
“Yes.” They would.
“If she figured out a way onto Isla Paraíso, how will she hide herself? Unless she’s planning a quick slaughter, and you know that’s not how our girl works, to scope out our circumstances would take time. She’d have to bring all her food and water, and sooner or later—probably sooner—the Conkles will see her, or we will, and then we have her in our grasp.” He showed Kellen his other hand, then clenched his fist.
Kellen watched Rae disappear over the horizon. “All that’s true, but if she somehow found Rae here, she could do terrible things to her.”
“We both agree it’s you Mara wants.”
I’ll take everything from her, the way she took everything from me. I’ll make her sorry she betrayed me.
“Mara sneaked into our wedding. She could have confiscated a butcher knife, used the turmoil to stab me to death. She disappeared after I lost consciousness, and only reappeared when I was healthy again. The incident in Cape Charade at the funeral home…that was a warning. A horrible, gruesome omen she crafted to frighten us. It worked.” Kellen turned away from the window and gripped the back of the chair so tightly the wooden finials bruised her palms. “I’m frightened, because I know Mara doesn’t merely want me dead—she wants me to suffer.”
“Rae’s a pretty smart kid. She’s not going to talk to a stranger.”
“No? No. It’s just that she’s so…”
“Friendly? Outgoing?”
“Mad at me.”
Max looked toward the kitchen, noted the trail of water, realized what he hadn’t realized before—Rae hadn’t expressed concern about her mother’s fall. Sweet little Rae had been exasperated and angered. “Why you in particular?”
“Because I’m her mother. Because she’s ten years old. Her world is upside down. Her hormones have started on their rampage. She needs all the attention and all the love.”
He got it. “And you just got all the attention.”
“Because somehow she suspects it’s my fault that we’re here.”
“Now, that’s impossible. I told her it was my fault.”
“You’re her daddy. You’ve always been there for her. It can’t be your fault.” She turned and looked out the window again. “Mothers and daughters—we’re either best angel friends or hell’s demons incarnate, and there’s nothing in between.”
“As my mother always says, ‘Craziness is inherited—you get it from your children.’”
“We need to tell Rae.”
“No. Right now, Rae’s just so volatile. So vulnerable. She’s having so much fun here!”
“Max…”
“Kellen, let’s give it a little more time.” He leaned in, all big brown eyes and warm persuasion. “Let’s wait until we get a report that Mara’s coming for us.”
“What if we don’t get the report in time?”
“We have to trust that Diana will surface to send us a warning. We have to trust law enforcement. They have a lot at stake.”
“Not as much as we do!”
“Just a few more days,” Max pleaded. “Let Rae be an innocent a little longer.”
Kellen surrendered, not to the logic, but to the appeal. “When she finds out, she is going to be angry.”
“If everything goes as planned, she will never find out.”
20
Rae rode her bike as hard and as fast as she could, away from her father and mother and that creepy house where it was all boring with nothing to do and weird music played and a white lady came into her bedroom and no one believed her, and she had to escape like a prisoner whenever she wanted to go somewhere. Like there was even somewhere to go.
She pointed the bike at the Conkles’ house. It was five miles downhill all the way, so that was easy riding, and she conveniently forgot she’d have to ride uphill all the way back.
In this distance, Jamie Conkle’s greenhouse glinted in the sun, and as Rae got closer, she could see swathes of plants inside. The Di Lucas had installed a greenhouse at Yearning Sands Resort, but the gardener was strict about humidity and grow lights, and she wasn’t allowed inside. This place was unguarded, and the Di Lucas owned the island. They owned everything on the island, so surely she could go into the greenhouse. She parked her bike, set the kickstand. It fell over. She left it and opened the glass door, and tip-toed inside.
It was warm, sunny, really warm, really sunny. Long rows of raised beds boasted feathery carrot fronds and tall tomato plants loaded with red and yellow fruit. The greenhouse smelled of rose and thyme, basil and parsley. Rae loved plants. She loved vegetables. She loved this place. She crept along the rows, brushing her hands over the—the cucumber plants had prickly leaves. “Ow!”
“What are you doing in here?”
Rae jumped and spun.
Jamie Conkle advanced down the aisle toward Rae. She was tall and full-bosomed, with dark eyes and dark hair, and she glared like a witch on Halloween. She seemed not to care that Rae was a Di Luca and the Di Lucas owned the island. Jamie was mad, and she acted like she owned everything. “You can’t be in here.”
“I wanted to see… I like the plants and…”
“I don’t care. I don’t care! This is my place. My island. I keep it. I protect it. I made my man come here. I made him live here. He complains. He wants to go back to the life on the mainland, with those Californians and the bacon-eaters and the, the people who eat apples that have been sprayed with—” Jamie acted
as if Rae’s life in Washington made her a pariah, some creature who carried disease to infect the greenhouse and the island.
Rae turned and ran. Up one aisle, down another aisle. She found a door, opened it and ran out into the fresh air. She was crying. She didn’t want to be crying. Everyone liked her. Why didn’t this lady?
She glanced back. Jamie was still after her, moving swiftly.
With seconds to spare, Rae grabbed her bike, mounted and rode as fast as she could down the road. Toward the beach. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Jamie come out of the greenhouse and stare balefully after her.
She hated today. She hated everything about it. As soon as she was out of sight, she slowed down. Through that pile of boulders was a path down to a beach, and that’s where she wanted to be. There she could throw herself down, and cry and scream, and no one would care. Not like anyone cared anyway… She dropped her bike onto its side in the grass and ran through the boulders, down the cliff and onto the hot white sands. She stared at the waves.
Her life sucked.
She was stuck on this island with her parents.
She had no friends.
She missed her grandma.
She had pimples on her nose.
She needed a bra.
She hated everyone.
“Hello.”
Rae jumped and turned to see a woman who was about her mom’s size, medium-tall, black hair and blue eyes, dressed in knee-length khaki shorts, sleeveless shirt and hiking boots. She looked fit: bare arms and legs tanned and well muscled. She held a clipboard and had a pencil behind her ear.
“Wh…who?” Rae stammered. “Who are you?”
“I’m Miranda Phillips, the botanist assigned to Isla Paraíso for the summer.” Miranda gestured widely. “Did you know a botanist is here every summer?”
“Yes, but I didn’t know there was one this summer.” Embarrassed by her tears, Rae wiped at her face.
“Who are you?” Miranda asked.
“I’m Rae Di Luca.” This woman, whoever she was, looked familiar. “My parents own this island.”
“Oh. Oh! Hey.” The botanist stuck out her hand. “Didn’t we meet a couple of years ago at your parents’ wedding?”
Rae immediately felt relieved. “Yes! I knew I remembered you!” She wiped her palm on her shorts and shook hands.
“Nice wedding. I enjoyed it. Your mom’s dress—wow! Italian designer, of course, but still—wow! If only she hadn’t collapsed. That was a tragedy.”
Everything Miranda said assured Rae she had really been there.
Miranda’s bright smile lost a few watts. “I don’t think your mom was happy to see me, though. We used to work together. We were friends. Things went bad… When I went, I was hoping to get things back to normal between us. But she wouldn’t even talk to me.”
Rae immediately felt an empathy with this woman. “She makes me so mad.”
“You, too?” Miranda offered a fist bump.
Rae bumped, and admired the way Miranda moved and talked, without any glitches. She didn’t have a crippled hand. She didn’t freeze up and stop talking, like something was choking her. She wasn’t feeble…
No. Rae’s innate sense of fairness stopped her before she went too far—and that made her mad, too. She wanted to be mean. She felt mean. But she knew her mom wasn’t feeble. She was merely damaged, and fighting back. Rae knew she should cheer about that. But she was tired of being the cheerleader for her mother.
When was someone going to be the cheerleader for her?
Miranda was still talking. “I like your dad, but he’s all hers, so maybe don’t tell that it’s me who’s doing the botany study this year? In fact, maybe don’t tell them you met me at all.”
Rae’s inherent caution and good sense took possession of her. “I… I don’t know. I usually—”
Miranda smiled and made a gesture that meant, Pass. “No problem. I completely understand. I mean, your dad did give the okay about me being here, but you don’t want to keep things from your parents. You’re to be commended. I just thought—” she glanced around the solitude “—I might get lonely while I was here, and it would be nice to talk to someone.”
No pressure. Miranda had her reasons for wanting to avoid Rae’s mother, and they made sense. “I know. Me, too! I mean, there’s no one here, and no Wi-Fi or phone. Just the wind and the waves and the grass and the trees. It’s so boring. No TV! Just DVDs and my parents. And Dylan Conkle, who is some kind of space case, and Jamie Conkle, who acts like I have a disease.”
Miranda sat down in the sand. “I thought it was just me. When I went up to the house to check in, Jamie treated me like I was some kind of mass murderer. I mean, me! I was assigned to this island to do the annual survey, and you’d think she owned it and I was stomping on the coral reef.”
“There no coral reef here. The water’s too deep.”
“It’s a figurative coral reef.”
“Oh.” Rae felt stupid. “I knew that.” She sat, too. “My dad knows you’re here? On the island? He okayed it?”
“Huh.” Miranda scratched her head. “I thought it was him, but maybe it was a different Di Luca. Somebody did, though.”
“He never said anything, so maybe it was him and he doesn’t want my mom to know.” For a moment, the idea made Rae brighten. Then she sighed, because at rock bottom, she liked having her folks behave like they enjoyed being married, and keeping secrets didn’t fit. “Where are you staying?”
“My equipment’s up there in the rocks.” Miranda pointed toward the top of the cliff.
“I came through there. I didn’t see anything.”
“I keep it all stashed pretty tightly under the overhang. If I don’t, the wind kicks up off the ocean and my stuff goes flying!” Miranda bent her leg and rested her arm on her knee.
Her shorts slid up, and on her thigh, Rae saw a scar. It looked like the bite of a big dog. She wanted to ask what had happened.
But Miranda saw her looking, pulled her shorts over it, and kept talking. “Which is okay if it’s just a pan or something, but—” she showed Rae the clipboard “—all this data has to be recorded on a certain time and in a certain place, and that’s work I can’t redo.”
“Do you like being a botanist?” Rae was really curious. The island was so different from the Washington coast; same ocean, but the plants, the sea birds, the predators, the field mice and the marine life entertained and amazed her.
“You know, I do. I didn’t know if I would, but it’s pretty jazz.” Miranda sounded reflective, then she straightened. “You should go now. If we see each other, we’ll wave from a distance.”
Rae didn’t want to leave. “You know, if my dad okayed you being here, I don’t know what difference it makes if I talk to you.”
“Your mother—”
“She’s such a drama queen!”
Miranda gave a surprised laugh. “She is, isn’t she? What’s she done now?”
“Her brain surgery was two years ago. At least. Today she pretended to black out. Then she pretended she couldn’t speak. All to make me stay inside and to get my dad’s attention.” Rae knew she was wrong. She didn’t care. “I am so tired of her being first!” She felt surprised that had burst from her. Then she realized—it was true.
“Brain surgery is a big deal.” Sensible adult reasoning.
“I know. But the doctor says she’s fine. That’s why we came here, now that she’s better. For bonding time.”
“You need to bond with your parents?” Mara asked, clearly incredulous.
“No! I mean, no! And what about me? What about my friends?”
“It’s almost like they don’t want you to have friends.”
“Right!” Loneliness caught at Rae’s throat, and she gave a quick, hiccupping sob.
“It’s not fair. Like you said—dra
ma queen.”
After her outburst, Rae felt better, and she really felt better knowing she wasn’t the only one who thought her mother was faking it. With that, her decision was made. “What exactly are you doing? What are you putting on the paper?” Because if she was going to keep this friendship a secret, she should at least learn something. It would keep her from feeling the teeny, tiniest bit guilty. Although she would have to work on not imagining what her grandmother would say.
“I’m finding the particular tidal pools that were studied before and counting the anemones and other living creatures in the pool. See?” She showed Rae the charts. “The state of California wants to know how rising water levels are affecting the plants and animals on the island. I’m counting birds, too, taking notes of the species and the number of nests.”
“I thought you said that you’re a botanist.”
“So?”
“Botanists study plants.”
Miranda’s bright blue eyes narrowed and got a hot spark that made Rae draw back.
Then Miranda smiled, that warm, interested, sympathetic smile. “Aren’t you a smarty? The Di Lucas only allow one scientist on the island every year, so it has to be someone who knows a little bit about all the ’ologies.” She twinkled her fingers. “Botany, marine biology, zoology, ornithology… I even know a little archeology in case I come on the ruins of a prehistoric human settlement.”
“Oh. That makes sense. Except—why do we only allow one scientist a year?”
“You know how it is with rich people.”
“I’ll talk to my father, explain we need to allow more scientists to—”
“No! No, it’s okay. The island is so pristine, we don’t want a bunch of people tramping around ruining the, um, grasses.”
“But if we allowed people who specialized in one science, isn’t there a better chance they’ll discover something wonderful?” That made sense to Rae.
“Yes, and there’s a chance they’ll accidently stomp on something else they don’t recognize. Really, don’t ask your father. This job is important to me. Promise you won’t tell.”