“For a second I thought it was Lily,” Harper says, frowning at the woman. “I wondered when Lily had the time to dye her hair.”
The woman goes absolutely still, her eyes blazing at Harper in a way I don’t like. I’m about to step between them when the woman says, “Lily? Lily Brooks?”
There’s something in her voice, almost a crack.
“That’s not Lily’s last name,” is all Harper says, obviously protecting Lily’s identity.
Jake and I exchange a look. I can see he’s thinking the same thing I am, and when he takes out his phone and taps in a brief message, I know who it’s to.
Minutes later the front door opens. I hear Mason’s tread coming toward the kitchen and the lighter one following that indicates he’s not alone. He enters, Lily right behind him.
Our questions are all answered when Lily gasps, her hand pressed to her mouth, her eyes wide and filling with tears. “Mandy?”
The woman at the table—Lily’s sister, Mandy, presumed dead—goes completely still. Her controlled expression cracks, just for a second, and I see something raw and devastating flash across her face. "Lily."
Lily pushes past Mason, stumbling into the kitchen, her arms open.
Mandy stands, catching her sister, her arms wrapping around Lily's back. For a moment, they just hold each other, clutching each other like they’re never going to let go.
The only sound in the kitchen is Lily sobbing into her older sister's shoulder.
I lower my weapon slowly, but I don't holster it, because Mandy was supposed to be dead, and from everything I know of her story, she should be broken and terrified.
The woman standing in our kitchen isn't terrified.
She's lethal.
63
LUKE
After a long moment, Lily pulls back, her hands gripping Mandy's arms like she's afraid she'll disappear. "How—how are you here? I thought you were dead. They told me you were dead."
"I thoughtyouwere dead." For a stone-cold killer, there’s a lot of emotion in Mandy’s voice. "They told me you died trying to escape that night."
"Oh my God.” Lily's face crumples. “Mandy?—"
"It's not your fault." Mandy pulls her sister close again, her jaw tight.
I exchange a look with Jake and Mason. They’re thinking the same thing I am: This woman bypassed our security.
"What brought you here?" Jake asks, moving to Emma’s side, putting himself between his wife and Lily’s sister.
Mandy looks at him over Lily's shoulder, her expression unreadable. "Hendricks. He led me here."
"You followed Hendricks," Mason says slowly. "Without him noticing."
She shrugs. "As if it was hard.”
I laugh—I can’t help myself. If I had my phone, I’d text him right now to give him shit. "So he's been tailing you, and you were tracking him, and he was tracking you back."
"Yes."
"Why?" Harper asks, her cop instincts firing.
“Because he knows something about this.” She pulls her sleeve up to reveal a bar code tattoo, the same one Turner has branded on the women he steals.
Jake leans against the counter, arms crossed. "What do you know about the operation?"