Page 97 of Guess Again

Lake Morikawa, Wisconsin Tuesday, August 5, 2025

“WHERE’S YOUR CABIN?”

MADDIE ASKED.

“ETHAN—THAT’S MY boyfriend, he owns this place—says there are only a few on the lake.”

“Just around the bend,”

Harriett said.

“On the northeast side.

It belongs to my aunt and uncle.

They offered the cabin for the week.”

She smiled.

“I thought it would be a relaxing getaway until the storm hit.”

Harriett used the towel Maddie had given her to wipe her face.

The Minnesota Twins ball cap still covered her head.

“Can I get you a change of clothes?”

Maddie asked.

“Oh, I don’t want to be a problem.

I’m already imposing.”

“Stop.

It’s no problem at all.”

Maddie pointed outside.

“It’s going to be a while before the storm breaks.”

“Are you sure?”

Harriett asked.

“Absolutely.

All I have are shorts and T-shirts.

But they’re dry.”

“Thank you.”

Maddie ran upstairs and rooted through her duffle bag.

She grabbed a pair of jean shorts and the least ratty T-shirt she had packed.

She headed down the stairs and handed them to Harriett.

“Bathroom is around the corner.”

Harriett disappeared into the bathroom and Maddie removed two waters from the fridge.

She checked her phone.

There was still just a single bar of service and three missed calls from Ethan.

She tried his number, but the call went straight to voicemail.

Maddie heard the bathroom door open.

She put her phone back onto the table and grabbed a bottle of water for Harriett, but when the woman walked out of the bathroom Maddie’s breath caught in her throat.

The woman had changed out of her wet jeans and into the shorts Maddie had given her, revealing a spiraling black python tattoo on her right leg that started at her calf and twisted up her thigh, disappearing under the jean shorts.

And the Minnesota Twins ball cap was gone, allowing the woman’s long blond hair to corkscrew down her back.

“Is that for me?”

Harriett asked, pointing at the water bottle in Maddie’s hand.

Maddie’s mind flashed to the still image Pete Kramer had shown her and Ethan from the dash cam of the transport van—the tall woman with blond hair and the snake tattoo who had helped Francis escape was standing in front of her.

Maddie smiled.

“Yeah.

Here you go.”

She handed over the water bottle, swallowing hard in the process.

She had left her Glock on the counter by the back door.

Maddie gave nothing away as she slowly turned and walked through the kitchen toward the back entrance.

But when she made it to the door, the gun was gone.