I nudged the papers toward her. “Are they for real?”

“Better be. Paid enough for them.”

“You’re going to use them, then?” Maybe this was how she did her coming and going. But there’d been no return tix.

“Soon as. You have the other item . . . ?” She opened and closed her palms. Clean and smooth, I noted, but with close-cropped nails.

The book. Oddly, this was harder. Among other things, it had brought me to Daniel. I pulled it out and laid it carefully beside the packet but rested my hand on it. “Is it from some ancestor of yours?”

That throaty laugh, tinged with mockery. “Nah. Dan gave it to me a while back. A metaphor for our lives, he said. At mercy of the winds and waters.”

No question Daniel had acted like he’d never seen the book before. Or, I’d presumed, and he’d let me believe. Lying by omission. Now I was feeling used. On the other hand, why take what she said at face value, when she was so busy laying out her low opinion of me. If she just wanted her stuff back, she’d do better being nice about it.

I fingered the stained leather binding. “Didn’t finish reading it yet.”

“So?”

“Like to find out what happens.”

A touch of surprise amid the scorn. “What do you care?”

“Stories should have endings.”

“But it’s not your story.”

“Not yours either. You just said.”

She brushed at that insistent fall of hair again. She was done with me. “I’m not a lending library. That’s Dan’s territory.”

I left the book where it was and sat back.

She did the same, letting her gaze roam the darker corners of the cabin. “I must say, from his description of you, I expected more of a pitched battle. At least the last one was a fighter. For all the good it did her . . .”

Did she mean Sara? A hard case, this woman. “Yeah, I’m a real pushover. Truth is, I’m tired of carrying it around, worrying about it.”

She watched me, considering, then let the spark of contention fade in her eyes. Not worth the effort, now that she had her documents back. She palmed the packet, tucking it away in a tabbed pocket of her overall, taking care that the flap was fastened. She slid the book back in my direction. “Keep it. Pass it to Dan when you’re done. But make it quick.”

So he can be done with me, too? She wanted me to think so. I took the book anyway. “Where will they take you? The papers.”

“Well, that’s a bit of a mystery. Far from here.”

Meaning she didn’t know where ‘Arcadia’ was, either? “For good?”

She shrugged languidly. “No profit in hanging around here any longer. For any of us.”