“Eight years ago,” Ellen said.
“We didn’t see this man at the cabin,” Luke said. “Do you think he has a place on the lake?”
Maggie looked down the road toward the cabin. “I have no idea,” she said in a half whisper.
Luke noticed she released her grip on him but was still trembling, if less so. “Was there anything particular about him that set you off?” he asked.
“Not about him,” she said in a near mumble. “About me.”
“We can talk more at the cabin,” Ellen said. “My mosquito radar is going off. I’m sensing a cloud of mosquitoes making its way toward us.”
“I don’t know if mosquitoes congregate in clouds like that, not that they have to.” Maggie shuddered. “I had one buzzing around my head the whole time I was in hiding, but I didn’t dare move to brush it away. I don’t know if it bit me.” She stood still, continuing to stare down the road. “I was so excited about being here. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? I can’t believe I let myself get freaked out by a man who was probably out for an afternoon walk and being neighborly.”
“He didn’t try to follow you?” Ellen asked.
“I don’t think so. I’m not sure he heard me leave. He could think I went on a walk. He might have no idea he scared me.”
They started down the road, Luke on one side of Maggie and Ellen on the other. He asked Maggie to describe the man she’d seen. “I’m not that good with descriptions, that sort of thing,” she said. “I’d guess he was in his thirties. Medium in height and build, meaning his size didn’t stand out to me—he wasn’t noticeably thin, overweight, tall or short. He wasn’t clean-shaven but he didn’t have a full beard. A few days’ growth, maybe?”
“What was he wearing?” Luke asked.
“Baseball cap, jeans, safari-type jacket—tan. Running shoes.”
For someone who thought she wasn’t good with descriptions, she’d provided a lot of details. “Did you see what kind of baseball cap?” Luke asked.
“It was black. That’s all I remember. I wouldn’t know if it had a sports team logo.”
When they arrived at the cabin, Luke produced Hugh Parker’s photo on his phone and showed it to Maggie. “Do you recognize this man?” he asked.
She took the phone and stared at the image a few seconds, then nodded, her face noticeably paler. “That’s the strange man I told you about the other day, but I don’t think—” She stopped, took in a breath. “I can’t say for sure he was or wasn’t the man at the dock just now. I’m not that great with faces, and he was at a distance.” She handed the phone back to Luke. “Who is he?”
“His name’s Hugh Parker,” Ellen said. “He and I have a history. Supposedly he’s staying with a friend in the area.”
“Well, he was in Austin two days ago.” Maggie grimaced. “What did he do?”
“He blames me because his brother is in prison. We couldn’t bring charges against Hugh. We didn’t have the evidence.” Ellen gave Maggie a wry smile. “He’s not grateful.”
“I wasn’t crazy to run, then,” Maggie said half to herself. “Even if the man I saw isn’t this Hugh Parker. The gift of fear, they call it. Sometimes in your gut you know when you’re not safe. I thought it was because of my post-trauma issues.”
“It could be both,” Luke said.
Maggie looked lighter, happier. “Well, you know what the good news in all this is?”
Ellen frowned. “What, Maggie?”
“Neither of you has to call Dad and Uncle Sam to tell them a search party is out looking for me.”
***
Maggie splashed lukewarm water on her face in the cabin’s only bathroom. She was embarrassed by the fuss she’d made, but at least she’d identified Hugh Parker as the strange man who’d approached her in Austin. Ellen and Luke seemed relieved she was all right and content to spend the night at the cabin with her. They were heating up minestrone soup the owners had left in the refrigerator for her retreat. It smelled like good soup. That was something, wasn’t it? Good soup, a picturesque setting, a charming cabin—it wasn’t so awful she’d sneaked up here and run for no good reason, was it?
Could the man at the dock have been Hugh Parker?
Maggie had no idea, but if she had stayed in Saratoga instead of coming up here for this retreat—being so mysterious about it—she’d never have seen him.
She noticed a red bump on her neck.
A mosquito had bitten her.
She returned to the main room. Ellen was setting the table while Luke took a call out on the deck. She mouthed Sam just as Luke came inside, his phone in one hand. “Looks like Hugh Parker is back in Austin, getting ready to move to Seattle to make a fresh start.”
“Has anyone talked to him yet?” Ellen asked.
“Sam talked to Hugh’s brother,” Luke said. “He wants to talk to Hugh himself.”
Maggie set out cloth napkins. “Sam’s looking for him now?”
“Yes.”