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Back Deception Cove
Chapters (78)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraph
  6. Prologue
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Sixty-Six
  73. Sixty-Seven
  74. Sixty-Eight
  75. Acknowledgments
  76. Discover More
  77. About the Author
  78. Also by Owen Laukkanen

Mason hated to do it. He knew he was only giving life to his sister’s worst fears, her no-good brother come to leech as much as he could from the family before he did another bad thing and got himself locked up again.

But Mason had done more than just lift weights up in the Chippewa pen. He’d read a fair bit too, whatever he could find. Trying to prepare for the moment he stepped out from inside the prison walls and found himself a free man again; for the years that lay ahead of him; for what meager atonement he could seek for the damage he’d caused.

He hadn’t found answers; what he’d found were first steps. And though he wished he didn’t have to start the journey begging for a favor, he couldn’t see any other way to set about getting started, not as fast as he needed to go. He could only hope that his sister would see that this path of his was a true one, unlike so many of the paths she’d seen him walk before.

When the girls were gone, Maggie’s husband cleared his throat. Glen, a decent guy, kind of boring. He’d always been decent, always been boring, from what little Mason could remember, a clipped-beard, pleated-khakis kind of guy. But then, boring seemed to be Maggie’s type; she seemed happy, anyway.

“How much money are we talking, Mason?” Glen asked. Even the tone of his voice had a decency to it.

“However much you can spare,” Mason said. “There’s something I have to take care of, now that I’m out.”

“We’re giving you room and board,” Maggie said quietly. Eyes down at her plate. “A room to sleep in and hot meals. That isn’t enough?”

“I know I’m putting you out, Mags, and I’m grateful for all of it. But you don’t want me hanging around here forever. Sooner I can get my life together, the better for everyone.”

“So how much?” Glen said. “How much are you thinking you’d need to make a start, Mason?”

“A couple grand ought to do it, I figure.”

“A couple grand?” Maggie was looking at him now, half laughing, incredulous. “Where do you think you are, Mase? Trump Tower?”

“I’ll pay you back,” Mason told her. “I swear, I’ll be good for it.”

Maggie and Glen looked at each other again. For a long while nobody said anything.

Deception Cove, Washington. That’s where Lucy had gone.

Linda Petrie had given every inmate a photograph of “his” dog, taken by the new owner somewhere out in the real world. Mason had kept his close; the edges were rough worn now, and there was a crease down the middle, but there wasn’t any way in the world he would ever part with it.