"Not again," Stranahan muttered, kicking at a fallen coconut.

He sat down at the picnic table with a cup of coffee, Strom settling at his feet. Joey wasn't the first woman to take off with Stranahan's skiff, but she was the first he hadn't already slept with, lived with and then driven away in a state of exasperation. When they made up their minds to go, melodrama seemed mandatory.

The last one to try the same stunt had been a successful patent attorney named Susan. She had professed to adore the isolation of the island, but in fact she was going batty because she couldn't uplink her BlackBerry-whatever the hell that meant-due to unspecified atmospheric anomalies. Possibly other factors contributed to her restlessness, as well, Stranahan had concluded afterward.

One evening at sunset, Susan snapped. After lacing Stranahan's rum-and-Coke with Ambien, she packed her bags, boosted his boat and promptly piled into the submerged rocks off the Ragged Keys. She cracked not only her collarbone but the shaft on the Evinrude, which set Stranahan back eighteen hundred bucks.

"For God's sake, why didn't you just ask me to give you a lift?" he'd said to her later in the emergency room.

"Because I didn't want to upset you," she'd replied. "I know how you are."

That's what they all said-Iknow how you are-and usually they were mistaken. They didn't really know him at all. But since Stranahan wasn't much good at revealing his sensitive inner self, the women who took an interest couldn't be blamed for misreading the signs. The Susan incident had cast him into a mood of frank introspection, but in the meantime he'd taken steps to protect his humble vessel from future hijackings by disgruntled companions.

With a hunting scope he easily located Joey Perrone, adrift less than two miles from the island. "Wanna come along?" he asked Strom, who declined in favor of licking his privates.

Stranahan dragged the yellow ocean kayak from the shed and pushed it into the water. He stripped off his shirt, kicked away his flip-flops and climbed in. He paddled through the light chop with short, hard strokes, and the burn in his shoulders felt good. With the wind behind him, he reached the disabled skiff in twenty minutes.

Joey sat on the bow with her legs dangling. She said, "Twice in three days. How lame is that?"

Stranahan pulled himself aboard and secured the kayak to a cleat on the stern. "This one definitely doesn't count as a rescue," he said. "This is purely a fuckup."

"Mick, I wasn't stealing the boat. Honest."

He opened one of the front hatches and with some effort inserted his head and arms inside.

"I was going to leave it tied up at Dinner Key," Joey insisted. "Look, I didn't mean to break the darn thing. I'll pay for the damage, okay?"

From below he said, "What makes you think it's broken?"

"No?"

"Actually, it's working perfectly." He got up, wiped his palms on his khakis and stepped back to the console. The instant he turned the key, the engine rumbled to life.

Peevishly, Joey asked, "How'd you do that?"

"I've got a manual valve on the fuel line, near the tank. Last night I shut it off," he said. "Force of habit, I guess."

"A cutoff valve."

"Exactly. Whatever gas was left in the hose, that's all you had to run on this morning," he explained, "and that's why the engine crapped out."

"Clever." Joey was working her lower jaw.

"See, I've had my boat swiped before."

"That doesn't surprise me."

Stranahan motioned her away from the bow. She moved to the ice cooler and assumed a slump-shouldered pose, watching him as he spun the steering wheel.

He said, "I can't blame you for being disappointed. You were expecting the pale rider and all you got was me."

Joey rolled her eyes.

Stranahan took it easy on the trip back to the island, the kayak bouncing lightly in the backwash of the skiff. Leaning sideways, he said, "I would've gladly taken you to the mainland myself. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking you're probably going to call the Coast Guard or the police, regardless, and that's not what I want."

"Where were you going?"

"To surprise my husband. To enjoy the look on his face when he saw I was still alive."

"And then what-let him try to murder you again?"

"So maybe it wasn't the smartest idea I've ever had," Joey said. "I'm just so damn furious-I was going to wait 'til he was taking a shower and then sneak in the bathroom and yank open the curtain. I thought maybe I could give him a heart attack."

"Great scene," Stranahan said, "but not a great plan."

"I thought of a better one. Want to hear it?"

"Nope," he said.

"It came to me all of a sudden while I was floating around out here in your boat," she said. "I think you'll approve."

"Doubtful," said Stranahan. "And for what it's worth, I keep my promises. There was no need to run away-I wasn't going to call the cops until you were ready."

Joey tugged the rubber band out of her ponytail. "What if I'm never ready?"

"That's the new plan? You want everybody to keep on thinking you're dead?"

"Mainly my homicidal shithird of a husband."

Stranahan played along. "And this is so you can disappear to someplace far away, right? Take a new name. Start a new life."

"Oh no," Joey said, "this is so I can ruin his."

"Ah, sweet revenge."

"Justice is a better word for it."

"Please." Stranahan laughed. She was a fireball, this one.

"Joey, what about your folks and your family? Your friends? You really want to put them through that sort of agony?"

She informed him that her parents were dead and that her only brother lived on the other side of the world. "Him, I'll tell," she said. "He'll be cool with it."

"And your boss? The people you work with?"

"I quit my job when I got married," she said. "Also, you might as well know I've got money, a ridiculous amount-more than enough to do what I have in mind for Chaz."

"Christ, you're serious."

"Of course. I'm surprised you can't understand." Joey turned away, raising an arm to shield her eyes from the sun.

When they pulled up to the dock, Strom wet himself in exuberance. Stranahan tied off the skiff, stowed the kayak and went inside to make omelettes. Joey changed into somebody's yellow sundress and an oversized straw hat.

Breakfast, which included fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, was served on the deck under partly cloudy skies. Stranahan waited until they were done before finishing his lecture.

"Listen to me, please. You can't kill your husband and get away with it," he said, "just because everybody thinks you're dead. That kind of nonsense only happens in the movies."

She peered from under the brim of the immense hat, her expression one of broad amusement. "Mick, I don't want to kill Chaz Per-rone. I just want to screw with him until he screws himself. Can't you see the possibilities?"

Stranahan was alarmed to find himself intrigued by the idea. He hoped Joey wouldn't notice.

She sat forward intently. "Has anyone seriously tried to murder you? Tell the truth."

"Yes, as a matter of fact."

"And what'd you do about it?"

"That was different, Joey. I was in law enforcement."

Triumphantly she banged her hands flat on the table. "I knew it! I frigging knew it!"

"Was," Stranahan said. "Long, long time ago."

"Answer the question, Mick. What did you do to the guy who tried to murder you?"

He took a slow breath before answering. "I killed them."

She sat back as forcefully as if she'd been shoved. "Wow," she said.

"Want a papaya?"

"Them? You're talking dead guys plural?"

"I was in the military, too," Stranahan said. "Be right back."