Stephanie raised a hand and dropped it back onto the sofa, like a shrug without the energy to climb as high as her shoulder. “I don’t know what to tell you. She appeared in my hallway like the Ghost of Lousy Moms Past.”
“And before you called me, you called the police?”
Stephanie stood and slipped a phone out of her pajama pocket. “Hell no. Did you forget people don’t fare well after crossing my mother?”
“She has a point,” said Charlotte.
“And excuse me for trying to save your life before I do anything else.”
This comment piqued Charlotte’s interest. “Wait. Did she say she was coming to kill us?”
Stephanie laughed. “Did she have to? It’s your fault she’s in prison and here is the first place she came after getting out. You do the math.”
Charlotte swallowed hard.
Stephanie’s full of good points today.
Stephanie held up a finger asking them to wait as she dialed. Declan glanced at Charlotte.
“I think we need to wait to find out if we’re about to be slaughtered,” he explained.
“Uh huh. I see that. But to be fair, it’s our fault for annoying her with our questions in your home where she doesn’t live.”
Stephanie wandered away from them. “Hello? Hi. Yes, I’m wondering if you could help me...” She let herself out the back slider doors and closed them behind her.
“This isn’t good,” said Charlotte.
Declan slipped his hands in his pockets, looking grim. “No. This is extraordinarily bad if it’s true.”
“Could she be so crazy she’s imagining her mother?”
He made a snapping noise with the corner of his mouth. “I don’t know. She’s never been delusional before.”
“So thinking it’s okay to murder people isn’t delusional?”
Declan shrugged. “Not strictly speaking.”
They stood in silence, watching Stephanie talk outside. Charlotte tried to think of other reasons why Jamie might come to town, but kept returning to the same conclusion as Declan’s crazy ex. “She wouldn’t come here except to kill us.”
“Probably not.”
“Until we figure this out, we’re going to have to assume everything is booby-trapped.”
Declan looked at her. “You think she’ll kill us with one of her traps?”
His childlike excitement made her giggle. “If she does, would it make you feel more special?”
Declan chuckled. “A little bit, I think.”
Stephanie let herself back in the house.
“I called the prison. They say she’s there.”
Charlotte released a long sigh, unaware she’d been holding her breath. “So you were wrong.”
Stephanie shook her head. “No. I had a conversation with my mother this morning. I know it was her. I could smell the sulfur.”
Declan scowled. “But they said she’s there?”
“They’re lying.”
“Why would they lie?”
“That’s the million dollar question.”
Charlotte held up an index finger. “Or they think she’s there. Could she have switched with someone?”
“That’s nuts. Who would agree to serve life for someone?” asked Declan.
Stephanie sighed. “You’d be surprised. You might be on to something there. A swap sounds like Mom. She has the resources to make it happen. Turns out contract-killing is really lucrative.”
Declan scratched his head, looking frustrated. “How could the prison not be able to tell it isn’t her?”
“Plastic surgery? Someone on the inside to help sell it?” suggested Charlotte.
Declan pointed at Stephanie. “Call them back. Tell them to check her fingerprints.”
Charlotte nodded. “Or, if the twin’s fingerprints have been removed, they can check her DNA. You can’t mess with DNA.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened. “You think they burned some woman’s fingerprints off? You’re sicker than I thought, Cinderella.” She paused and then added, “That would work, if someone was willing to do the test.”
“What does that mean?” asked Charlotte.
“They forwarded my phone call directly to the warden.”
“So?”
“That means he’s in on it. There’s no reason I should have been booted that far up the food chain with one call.”
Declan grimaced. “So we found our guy on the inside. The warden himself. We need to contact someone even further up. F.B.I.?”
Stephanie’s phone rang and she answered it.
“Hello? Oh. Hello, Sidney... Yep. I figured. Okay. Got it.”
She hung up. “We’re not calling the F.B.I.”
“Why not?” asked Declan.
“That was Mom’s lawyer. The warden told him I called and he called me to tell me to stop poking around or else.”
“Or else? Your mother’s already after us. Why does it matter?” asked Charlotte.
Stephanie slipped her phone back into her pocket. “Oh, it could get worse. For example, and I’m just throwing this out, she could kill all your friends before you.”
Charlotte frowned. “Why do thoughts like that come to you so quickly?”
Stephanie ignored her and focused on Declan. “This might be partially my fault.”
“How?”
“She asked me to leave town with her and I said no, but she doesn’t take no for an answer. She doesn’t want me to have any reason to stay here.”
A silence fell over the room.
Awkward.
Charlotte voiced what they were thinking. “She thinks you’re here for Declan. No Declan, no reason to stay.”
A breath of air ran out of Stephanie as if she’d sprung a leak. “She thinks he’s my lifeline to normality.” She hung her head and then looked up at him. “Which is true.”
Declan frowned. “If you could not tell her that I’d appreciate it.”
“If you could not tell me that, I’d appreciate it,” muttered Charlotte.
The awkward silence fell again.
“So what do we do?” asked Charlotte when she couldn’t stand it any longer.
Stephanie shrugged. “I’ll try to find her. Keep track of her. In the meantime, grow eyes on the back of your head.”
Charlotte’s mind drifted back to the dead man at the foot of his ladder. “Wouldn’t it be suspicious if we both
