Heroes Are My Weakness(24)

Annie left town with a stack of paperbacks and Lisa’s disapproval. She was halfway to the cottage when a crater of a pothole loomed in front of her. “Shit.” She barely tapped the brakes, but the Kia began to slide, and she was off the road again.

She tried to rock her way free and was no more successful this time than she’d been the last time. She got out to look. She wasn’t dug in as deeply as before, but she was deep enough that she needed help. And did she have a way of getting help? Did she have an emergency kit packed away or a couple of bags of sand stashed in the trunk like any sensible islander? Not her. She was completely ill-equipped to live in a place that depended on self-sufficiency.

Loser, Leo whispered.

Peter, her hero, stayed silent.

She gazed down the road. The wind that never seemed to stop blowing lashed her. “I hate this place!” she yelled, which only made her cough.

She started to walk. The day was overcast as usual. Did the sun ever shine on this godforsaken island? She shoved her gloved hands in her pockets and hunched her shoulders, trying not to think about her warm, red knit cap lying on her bed at the cottage. Theo was probably staring at it right now through his telescope.

Her head shot up as she heard branches snap followed by the pounding that could only come from the hooves of a very large animal. It was a sound that didn’t belong on an island with nothing larger than a cat or dog. And a midnight-black horse.





Chapter Six


HORSE AND RIDER EMERGED FROM a patch of old-growth spruce. Theo reined in as he saw her. She tasted cold metal in the back of her throat. She was alone on a lawless island at the end of a deserted road with a man who had once tried to kill her.

And just might have it on his mind again.

Eeek! Eeek! Crumpet’s silent shrieks matched the rhythm of Annie’s heartbeat.

Don’t you dare wimp out, Scamp ordered as Theo came toward her.

Annie wasn’t generally afraid of horses, but this one was huge, and she thought she detected a crazy look in his eyes. She felt as if she were revisiting an old nightmare, and despite Scamp’s orders, she took a few steps back.

Wimp, Scamp taunted.

“Going someplace special?” He wasn’t dressed as he should be for such cold weather. Only a black suede jacket and gloves. No hat. No warm muffler wrapped around his neck. But at least everything was comfortably twenty-first century. She still didn’t understand what she’d seen that first night.

Marie’s words at the Bunco game came back. “All I’m saying is that Regan Harp was as good a sailor as her brother. And I’m not the only one who thinks it’s strange that she took that boat out with a squall blowing in.”

She beat back her trepidation by channeling her favorite puppet. “I’m heading for a soiree with my many island friends. And if I don’t show up, they’ll come looking for me.”

He cocked his head.

She hurried on. “Unfortunately, my car’s in a ditch, and I could use some help getting it out.” Being forced to ask him for help was worse than her worst coughing fit, and she couldn’t leave it like that. “Or maybe I need to find someone with a little more muscle?”

He had more than enough muscle, and it was foolish of her to goad him.

He gazed along the road toward her car, then peered down at her. “I don’t think I like your attitude.”

“You’re not the first.”

His eyelids flickered in one of those facial tics she imagined psychopaths developed over time. “You have a strange way of asking for help.”

“We all have our quirks. How about a push?” Turning her back on him gave her the willies, but she did it anyway.

Dancer’s hooves struck the gravel as Theo trotted alongside her toward the car. She wondered if he’d started to believe Harp House was haunted. She hoped so. Ticktock goes the clock.

“Let’s put it this way,” he said. “I’ll help you if you help me.”

“I’d be glad to, except I have trouble cutting up dead bodies. All that bone.” Damn it! This was what happened when she spent too much time alone with her puppets. Their personalities took over.

Our personalities come from you, Dilly pointed out.

Theo pretended to look mystified. “What are you talking about?”

She backtracked. “What kind of help do you need?” Other than psychiatric?

“I want to rent the cottage from you.”

She came to a dead stop. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this. “And where am I supposed to stay?”

“Go back to New York. You don’t belong here. I’ll make it worth your while.”

Did he really think she was that stupid? She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets. “Do you really think I’m that stupid?”

“I’ve never thought you were stupid.”

She picked up her steps, but kept her distance. “Why would I leave before my sixty days are over?”

He looked down at her, at first pretending to be puzzled and then acting upset, as though he’d finally remembered. “I forgot about that.”

“Sure you did.” She stopped walking. “Why do you want to rent the cottage? You already have more rooms than you know what to do with.”

He sneered just like Leo. “To get away from it all.”