Page 84 of Strangers She Knows

Now Rae didn’t like drugs, either.

That made the kid seem even more like…like her own kid.

“It’s not a drug. It’s a pill so you won’t be worried about telling your folks that I’m here.” Mara was making it up on the fly.

“So I can tell them?” Rae asked eagerly.

“After you take the pill.”

“No, thank you. I don’t take drugs.”

The kid was polite, Mara had that to say about her.

“How about you take half and I take half?” Mara simply wouldn’t swallow her half. “That way you know it’s safe.”

“No, thank you.” Rae edged toward the path that led up the cliffs. She didn’t look so trusting now.

Mara didn’t want to jump her and shove it down her throat. She would, but she didn’t want to. “There has to be something of mine you’d like before you go.”

“You don’t have to give me anything. I… I like you anyway.”

Mara thought hard. “I know. I’ll go up the cliff with you. At my campsite, I’ve got this cupcake I’ve been saving. It’s special. Would you like that?”

Rae surrendered. “Okay, but hurry. I’m late!” Now she ran up the path, all gangly legs and arms.

Mara ran after her, not awkward like the kid but not as fit, either. She was panting when she hit the top of the cliff. That irked her, returned her to her initial surly reaction to Rae’s appearance. “Come on.” She grabbed Rae’s arm and dragged her toward the rocky overhang where she kept her equipment. “The cupcake is here.” Mara found the paper bag with the cupcakes she’d rescued from the Conkles’ cottage. “It’s really good, and there’s candy on top.” Quickly, Mara smashed the pill between two stones, scooped up the shards and sprinkled them on the cinnamon sugar cupcake top. She thrust the cupcake at Rae. “Here. It’s good. Eat it!”

Rae looked at the cupcake as if she’d seen it before, looked at Mara, looked at the cupcake, looked at Mara. “I’ll take it with me.”

“Eat it now.” Mara stepped closer to Rae, making Rae feel the difference in their heights, subtly threatening the kid.

“Does it have blood on it?” Rae blurted.

“No. It was in the oven.” Mara answered before she thought—hey, the kid has been in the Conkles’ house. She has seen the cupcakes before!

“I’ll take a bite.” Rae tore off a piece of cupcake, crammed it into her mouth, chewed, then ran for her bike. “Come to the house if you want to go in the helicopter,” she said with her mouth full. “I’ve got to go. I’m late!” She crumpled the remains of the cupcake as she ran, and as she rode away, Mara thought she spit out the rest.

But that pill was powerful, and Rae was a child. Whatever Rae had ingested…would have an effect.

Rae rode like a maniac, and Mara didn’t even try to chase her. She simply gathered her weapons: the rifle she’d confiscated from the yacht, her sidearm and her hunting knife in their holsters. She screwed her silencer on her automatic handgun. She contemplated the Taser she’d brought along in the hopes she’d get to use it on someone. Not Rae, because those bastards really hurt, but man, how she’d like to dig it into Max’s ribs and watch him fall!

She grinned at the thought, and strapped it on, too. Then followed Rae’s path through the grass, followed until the bike tracks started wobbling. They straightened up again, then once again they staggered, went in circles—and Mara stumbled over Rae’s bike, sideways in the grass.

Right. Good. Really good.

Mara tracked Rae north toward the big house. The kid was going the right way. She hoped Rae made it. She really did.

Abruptly she abandoned the trail. She didn’t want to encounter Max or Kellen. Not yet.

Plus—she needed to take care of the helicopter.

The Di Lucas were not leaving tonight.

35

“Where’s Rae? It’s been thirty minutes. This is no time to make us stew.” Max was irate, irrationally so, the way a father is when he’s worried and hovering on the verge of panic.

Kellen tried to soothe him. “She doesn’twantto make us worry. She probably went too far and is headed back right now.” But her mind leaped to Rae as she had been once before, hurt from the jump, limping toward the house and crying.

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