The Mysterious Stranger (The Confidence Game 3)

The cookie baking took longer. Shavonne had opened the kitchen window and the sugary smell was fantastic. Zeke would’ve been all over it. Rory had a bad feeling about what he knew that she didn’t.

Meanwhile, on the porch, Daniel the brute was restless, out of his chair and shifting foot to foot while inside a tray of butter cookies was cooling and the kettle was boiling.

“These are ready,” Shavonne said after a nibble. “Take one.”

Rory shook her head, focused on the provisions she was shoving in her backpack, and said quietly so it wouldn’t carry, “After we do this, go back to the nursery. Be around other people. When they ask you what happened, tell them I forced you to help me.”

“You mean don’t tell anyone I masterminded your escape.” Shavonne slapped her hands on her hips and eye-rolled.

Rory grinned. Shavonne was nobody’s fool. She’d do fine back in the world, but the re-entry would be brutal. “Plate ’em up, mastermind.”

Shavonne plated the cookies, and when she opened the door and offered them to Dan the brute and he leaned the shotgun on the wall to get at the baked goodness, Rory struck. She grabbed the gun by the barrel and swung it up hard, connecting with his chin and down he went with a spit spray of blood, out cold.

“Damn, Jessica,” Shavonne said, taking a sip of the coffee. “Is he dead?”

Rory toed what looked like a bloody tooth. Brute would have a new charm to his smile. “He might wish he was.”

She set the gun down—armed, she might provoke an attack—and took off towards Zeke’s cabin. She’d need a strategy to disarm his guard, but if she could get close enough without detection, she could create a diversion and Zeke would do the rest.

But it wasn’t an issue, no guard. She stomped up the steps and bashed on the door. If Zeke was singing Foo Fighters just to be amusing, she’d make him wish he was dead too.

Cadence answered. “Hi. He’s not here.”

Not here? Was he on his way to her? How did they miss each other? Oh God I want my phone. “How long ago did he leave?” She pushed past Cadence and moved inside. Did she knock the brute out for no good reason, other than a little house arrest between friends?

“Not here. Not been here, except for after the bonding ceremony.”

She pulled the door closed and leaned against it. “You’re sure?” Where would they have taken him? Hundreds of cabins, he could be anywhere. He knew every Foo Fighters song there was, why choose that one?

Cadence made a sound of annoyance. “Jeez, I’m sure. He hasn’t been here for nearly a month. It’s been great. What’s with the inquisition?”

Run. Zeke wanted her to Run. Stick together. The unease she’d felt since they parted turned into liquid fear and flooded her body, making her shiver. She knew with every breath he’d never run without her. “Zeke is in trouble.”

“Who’s Zeke?”

Oh shit. “Zack, I mean Zack.”

“Why did you call him Zeke?”

She put her hands to her still shower wet hair and smoothed it back. “Look, what if I told you 31,000 men lost $4.5 million on a scheme that promised they could retire to a paradise tended by nude angels?”

Cadence palmed her forehead. “How did you get drugs in here?”

Think, think, where would they take him? “I’m not on drugs. It’s true, it happened in 1987. If you had internet you could look it up. We haven’t gotten any smarter since then. Lonely, isolated people do desperate things. Every year there are millions lost in love scams.”

“You’re making no sense. I’ve heard gossip that they have DMT here. It’s scary stuff. Makes you see things. They say it can make you experience your own death. Not a fun trip.”

“Listen to me. It’s not like what they’re telling you outside. Hawaii is still there. There’s no global epidemic of Ebola.”

“New people say that. It’s why we give you time to adjust.”

“Cadence.” The urge to shake the woman, to make her see the truth so she could help find Zeke was overwhelming. “Abundance is a nude angel scheme. Zack and I screwed up and now I think he’s in trouble, I have to find him.”

“You’re scaring me. You should go.”

She shook her head. Cadence couldn’t help, and she didn’t deserve to be frightened because Rory was climbing out of her own skin. “If he comes home, tell him, tell him...”

“You’re really scaring me.”