Mike regarded her sadly. She had not admitted that she missed Hoagie, but he knew damn well she did.

Carla had seen her on the beach with Thea, rebuilding the sand castle, shading her eyes to look at passing aircraft.

"Like the ladies on the widows' walks in pictures of old Cape Cod," she had said. "It's heartbreaking."

The hell with it. He had to tell her why.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Michael?"

He caught her gentle eyes in the mirror. His heart moved. She had done so much for all of them, and what had they done for her?

"You're thinking about Hoagie."

She lifted her shoulders and let them fall. "Well, I kind of wondered why I hadn't seen him. Has he got a lady friend?" She smiled in the mirror. "I could change my brand of perfume."

"He has plenty of lady friends, but he's a lonely man. And he probably likes your perfume. He likes you."

"I'd survive, Michael, if he didn't."

"You'd survive anything, but he does."

"Anyway, I hardly know the guy."

"I know him." He got up and went to the window. "Mom, it's my fault he hasn't been around."

She put down her curling iron and turned to face him. "Are you telling me you ran him off again?"

"There's somebody out to get him, dammit!"

"We still don't have to treat him like a leper!"

She was even more shaken than he'd expected. "But, Mom, he won't level with me. And he won't tell the cops." He moved to her and touched her cheek with his hand. "And Mom?"

His hand on her cheek felt like Brody's. She swallowed. He really cared. But he was fooling with her life: She wasn't a child, and she wasn't a little old lady to be sheltered, not just yet.

"Yes?"

"Next time somebody takes a shot at him, I don't want you in the way."

"That's very protective, Mike. But I'm your mother, fully grown."

"Mom?"

"Yes?" Her lips were trembling.

"He agreed he shouldn't see you anymore," he said softly.

She felt her eyes filling with tears. "I'm sure he did. He doesn't seem like the kind of man you'd scare off if he didn't want to go. The question is, why did he, if he likes me so damn much?"

Mike took a deep breath. "There's cocaine on this island, Mom. There never was before. It's getting to be another Spanish Galleon Cay."

She knew the answer but had to ask. "What's that got to do with Hoagie?"

"I think he's dropping it. So does everybody else."

"So, good riddance?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I guess so."

"That's right," she said, flaring. "You don't know. So you guess!" She got up angrily. "Your father never guessed! Do you remember when I said you bunged the fender on the station wagon?"

He did remember dimly, but it didn't matter now. "Come on, Mom—"