“Maddie.” It was hard to miss the warning in Ben’s tone.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

What she said sounded pretty creepy. The way she said it didn’t. Connor wasn’t sure what to think.

Daria’s dark eyes didn’t blink. “Ned was killed in prison.”

Maddie nodded. “I know.”

“Of course you do.” Daria broke eye contact with Maddie and looked at Ben again. “You had questions?”

It was a gutsy call to come out swinging. Connor admired the courage but doubted the strategy would work for her. Every person in the room, except for maybe Jenna, had run through their patience and now wanted answers, not games.

“What are you doing on Whitaker?” Ben asked.

She barely let him finish the question before she shot back an answer. “Is it illegal to come here?”

It was going to be one of those conversations. This woman might make Dom look easy to crack. Connor didn’t envy Ben but the person he felt most for was Maddie. Having her past burst through the door couldn’t have been easy.

“It is if you came here to hurt someone.”

Daria waved off Ben’s comment. “Just a tourist.”

“You’re saying it’s a coincidence that you ended up on the same island as Maddie.”

Daria shrugged. “It happens.”

Which brought up the issue of where she was staying. Connor was about to ask when he saw Ben move. His chest lifted and fell on a heavy exhale. “Maybe it would help if I let you know we found Owen Pritchard.”

“The man who was murdered on the island. I read about that in the island newspaper.” She continued to pretend, putting distance between her and the PI.

“The man you hired,” Ben answered without missing a beat.

Her strategy was transparent. They knew too much of the background. Connor wondered how long it would take Daria to realize that. Because tough-guy acts tended to get exhausting very fast.

“You’ve done your homework.” Daria looked at Maddie. “Did you fill them in on everything?”

Maddie stared back with a blank expression on her face. “Why did you hire a PI to follow me?”

“I needed answers.”

Maddie shook her head. “To what?”

“What really happened that night.”

“What are you talking about?”

Daria’s gaze lingered on Maddie for a few seconds before traveling around the room. “Do they know about the fraud and the bribery? About the rumors and your deal with the prosecutors?”

“Yes.”