Page 94 of The Summer Guests

Declan’s Volvo was like a royal barge, with a ride so smooth it felt like they were gliding on water, not blacktop. She was used to driving her farm truck, which had shock absorbers that were so stiff she felt every bump on the road, so she appreciated the chance to drive a well-appointed sedan for a change, even if she was too focused on the vehicle ahead of them to really savor the experience. They’d been following Ethan and his mother since they left the Purity police station, discreetly keeping two vehicles between them, although Maggie doubted there was a need for such precautions when tailing a civilian driver like Ethan. It was Elizabeth who concerned her, Elizabeth who’d probably retained a few tricks of the trade to avoid being followed. But in this fading light, even she would have trouble noticing that a blue Volvo was tailing them.

“Interesting,” said Declan. “They’re not going home.”

Indeed, Ethan’s car had driven past the turnoff that would take them to Maiden Pond. Instead, it stayed on Route 1 and continued across the town line, heading north.

Maggie’s phone rang. She put the caller on speakerphone.

“You were right about one thing,” said Jo Thibodeau.

“Only one thing?”

“Theywerehere for Project MKUltra. But that skeleton—you were wrong about that. It has nothing to do with them.”

“Is that what she told you?”

“It’s what the crime lab says. The analysis of Jane Doe’s dental amalgam dates her death to sometimeafterthe mideighties. That’s years after MKUltra ended.”

Maggie glanced at Declan and saw by his raised eyebrow that he was just as surprised as she was about this new information.

“And now I’m in one giant lobster pot of hot water,” said Jo. “Alfond’s pissed off at me, and Elizabeth’s threatening to send her attack lawyers. I have no choice. I’ve got to back off. So do you.”

Maggie drove for a moment, thinking about what this meant. Was their theory about the motive behind Zoe’s attack built on a house of cards? Had they outsmarted themselves, fashioning an elegant plot, when this was just a sad and all-too-common case of a predator and a girl in the wrong place, at the wrong time?

“Hey, are you still listening?” said Jo.

“We are.”

“Then tell your friends to leave the Conovers alone. Go back to your book club, drink a few martinis. Enjoy retirement.”

“Thisishow we enjoy retirement.” She peered at the road ahead and spotted Ethan’s car turning off toward the hospital.

“Just stay away from them. Got it?”

“Got it,” Maggie said, and followed Ethan and Elizabeth down the hospital driveway.

She pulled into a parking stall and watched as Ethan drove up to the hospital’s main entrance. Elizabeth stepped out and walked into the building.

Maggie watched Ethan drive away. “What is she doing here?”

“Visiting her granddaughter?”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” She pulled out her phone and called Ben. “Heads up. Elizabeth’s just entered the building.”

There was a pause, then Ben answered: “Just got her on visual, stepping off the elevator. Moving past the nurses’ station.”

“She’s headed to Zoe’s room. I’m on my way. Keep an eye on her.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” said Ben.

Maggie unbuckled her seat belt. “Wait here,” she told Declan.

He sighed. “So much for staying away from the Conovers.”

Maggie followed Elizabeth into the hospital and took the stairs to the second floor. It was eight o’clock, visiting hours for the general ward had just ended, and there was no one else in sight—the perfect time for a would-be killer to slip in unnoticed. But in this corridor, nothing tonight would go unnoticed because Ben had been hard at work. Maggie spotted one of his cameras mounted over a doorframe, and another one positioned across the hall from Room 242. Zoe’s room.

She walked past 242 and stepped instead into Room 243.

In the darkened room, Ben’s face was lit by the glow from his computer monitor, where the feed from six cameras was on display, two of them focused on the hospital bed where Zoe Conover now lay asleep. Maggie leaned in to watch the video feed over Ben’s shoulder.

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