Page 45 of The Wrong Monster

Very dangerous.

I look around the table.

"Our window to stabilize this situation just became considerably smaller."

Outside, sunlight dances across the lake, peaceful enough to fool anyone driving past into believing Deep Waters is exactly what the brochures promise.

Inside, every person in the room understands the truth: The cracks are beginning to spread.

Art is the first to break the silence.

"That's a problem."

"It's a catastrophe," one of the captains mutters.

Ariadna is already writing. "How long?" she asks brusquely.

I know exactly what she means, but Timur asks, “How long what?”

"How long is the friend staying?"

"I don't know,” I admit. “Matilda didn’t get a text back last night or this morning. But she indicated that this friend is stubborn. And worried about her.”

"When is she arriving?"

"We don’t know that either. But Matilda was sure that she wouldn’t be able to come up immediately—not with her job. So we likely have a few days."

Ariadna closes her notebook with a sharp snap. "I don't like unknowns."

"No one does."

She rises from her chair and begins pacing.

"The original plan never required Matilda to prove anything. She simply had to disappear for a week or so without raising suspicion. Now we're introducing another variable." She looks directly at me. "A civilian."

"A civilian who knows Matilda well," Art adds. "Close friends notice things."

"They notice bruises," another captain says.

I glare at the man—Deacon, who has been overseeing one of the teams handling evidence disposal for the last eight years. “She does not have bruises on her.”

He doesn’t look convinced at first. But then… that nonplussed expression turns to concern.

"They notice fear,” Ariadna cuts in. "And lies."

I raise a hand, then ball it into a fist, trying to convince myself as much as my team that I’m not pissed or unbalanced by their distrust. That I’m still in control.

“Matilda Pierce hasn’t shown herself to be the kind of woman who is afraid of much. Though that may be a mistake, it works for us in this scenario.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then Art leans forward. "If she sees this friend, she'll need a security detail."

"She'll have one. Don’t make it obvious.”

"I won’t."

"We'll have to protect Matilda without the friend realizing she's being protected."

He rubs a hand across his jaw. "That's difficult."