Hunting Eve

Heading toward her.

Kendra called out. “Who’s there?”

The footsteps drew closer.

Kendra stooped and picked up a large, wooden dowel. “Stop, or I’ll blow you away.”

The footsteps stopped. But the quiet, shallow breathing was even clearer now.

Kendra’s hand tightened on the dowel. “What are you doing here? Who in the hell are you?”

A woman’s soft voice. “Kendra?”

Kendra went still. That voice … She’d heard it before.

“Kendra Michaels?”

Kendra lowered the dowel. She hesitated for a moment, then abruptly switched on her phone and thrust it forward.

The first thing she saw was that luminous smile.

“Oh, for God’s sake, Margaret Douglas?”

Margaret nodded.

Kendra was trying to get her breath as she shook her head in disbelief as she pulled her phone back. “How on Earth … Why?”

“The same reason you’re here. I promised Jane that I’d try to take her place while she was vegetating in that hospital.” Margaret giggled. “Did you really think you were going to blow me away with that dowel?”

“I thought a bluff might send an intruder ru

“It could have worked, I guess.” Her smile widened. “I wish you could see your face. I got the impression you didn’t surprise easily. I guess I was wrong about that.”

“No, actually you’re right. Which should give you some idea about how shocked I am to see you.”

“Which, I suppose, makes you more suspicious of me than ever.” Margaret moved back toward the rear corner of the toolshed. “Aim that phone this way, okay? There’s a light switch back here.”

Kendra held up the phone and lit the way for Margaret to reach a long workbench, where she flipped a switch and turned on a fluorescent hanging fixture.

Margaret spun around to face her. “Much better, don’t you agree? I had this light on until I heard you coming. I thought you might be a policeman or an FBI agent.”

“I’m still not sure how you knew where Doane’s car was in that lake, but I’ve seen no evidence to indicate you’ve been lying about who you are and where you come from.” She added dryly, “At least, in the short term. However, no one seems to know much about you before you showed up on Summer Island, where you ran into Jane. So the jury is still out. But Joe Qui

“Good.” Margaret nodded. “Tentative trust is better than no trust.”

“You have Qui

“That’s okay, we’ll work through it.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Well, we both have the same objective. I don’t care if you trust me or not. I’ve been through all that before. I respect your fine logical intellect that tells you I’m full of bullshit. I can’t expect the same respect from you until I earn it.” She gri

“And so I should. This animal-communication business is completely ridiculous and probably bogus.” She paused. “Why did you turn up here? Did your animal friends point the way again as they did to find Doane’s car?”

“Don’t be silly. Do you really think an animal could give me a street address?”

“You tell me.”

“I could get a mental picture, but all creatures see things differently, and there are always memories, but they’re tinted by a creature’s experiences. It took me a long time to learn to be able to sort through either one. And an animal wouldn’t pay any attention to a number on a house, so the address thing is out of the question.”

Margaret was so straightforward and down-to-earth that Kendra found herself half believing her. Sincerity, gentleness, and that i

Good heavens, what a con.

Or was it a con? Was Margaret just a little wacky?

Margaret’s gaze was narrowed on her face. “Now you’re in stage two. Not sure I’m a crook, but maybe a nutcase?”

“What’s stage three?”

“Uncertainty, then toleration.” She beamed at her. “Because you like me. And because together we’ll make a good balance.”

“We won’t make anything together.” She tilted her head as she had a sudden thought. “Wait, you’re not Qui

“Bodyguard? Me?” Margaret laughed. “I’ve never been mistaken for that before.”

“Qui

“Why would he?”

“He had some weird idea I shouldn’t be alone.”

“Well, he certainly didn’t choose me to keep you company. Nobody knows I’m here. Except you.”

“And why are you here?”

“I told you, I want to help Jane find Eve. I was with her on the island when all this began, and I could see how worried she was about Eve. It’s a way I can pay her back for taking that bullet for me. There was nothing I could do for her in Georgia, so I decided to come here.”

“Just like that.”

Margaret nodded.

“It was an expensive trip to take on such short notice.”

She was silent a moment. “Well, I really didn’t think Jane would mind.”

“Mind what?”

“You’re not going to like this.”

“Mind what?”

“I kind of borrowed her ID and a credit card from her bedside table when I visited her in the hospital. I knew she wouldn’t need them in there.”

“You stole from her?”

“I borrowed it. I’ll give it back the next time I see her. I just didn’t have time to finesse a way to get out here. If I’d asked Jane, then she’d have had a reason to not let me go.” She added simply, “And I had to go for her. She was going to worry all the time she was in the hospital if nothing was getting done.”

“How did you get on the plane? You don’t look anything like Jane.”

“Her ID wasn’t that good, and my hair looks darker when it’s pulled back. And I chatted to the security agent all the while she was looking at it. I’m good at distracting people.”

“I imagine that’s true. Did you steal money, too?”

“Of course not. I have a little money. I always manage to find a way to get money wherever I am. I just needed a way out here.”

Kendra knew that she should have been appalled, but she couldn’t help but be strangely charmed by Margaret. She moved through life with a dancer’s agility and grace, with a fluidity that suggested a total ease in her skin and the world around her.

Not only charmed but also feeling a crazy protectiveness toward Margaret Douglas, Kendra realized. “And were you pla

“No, of course not, I’m essentially very honest. It’s just that sometimes you have to balance one thing against another. Besides, there are all kinds of ways to earn money. I always manage. I’m very talented.”

“I can hardly wait for you to tell me how you intend to find a way to do that in a strange town and—”

“I don’t need money now. I’ll worry about that later.”

Kendra shook her head. Forget about worrying how the girl was going to survive. It wasn’t her concern. “When did you leave Atlanta?”

“I was on the first flight out this morning. I’ve been here for a couple hours. I figured the police officer wouldn’t let me in the house, so I’ve been spending time in the yard and in here.”

“And has your time been productive?”

“I think so.” She looked around the toolshed. “There may be something here. I know that Doane lived here alone, and he was an angry and intense man. He hid it very well when he was with the neighbors, but the anger was always there. He was calmer after he worked out here on his furniture pieces. He never had guests except for the kid next door. But there was usually someone watching him and his house from the small road on the hill.”

“Someone must have told you that.” As soon as the words came out of Kendra’s mouth, she realized it was exactly the same thing that people had always said to her when they didn’t understand how she’d made a deduction.