Sweeney let that sit for a beat. “So what are you suggesting I do?”

“I’m suggesting you stop trying to kill me,” she said. “I’m going to take a look around and try to figure out what happened to Burke and your buddies, and if it all goes to plan, I’ll make sure the Feds know you’re not completely bad, if we ever get off of this island.”

“What about Kirby? Dale?”

“Kirby’s swimming home. And I don’t know about Dale, but I’d assume the worst. I don’t feel quite so charitable toward any Whitmers.”

Sweeney stared up at the trees some more. Then he reached out with his arm and shoved the rifle away. “I’ll probably bleed out before you get back anyway.”

“You’re not going to bleed out, you pansy,” she scoffed. “I’ve seen guys walk miles on wounds worse than that one. You just stay comfortable, and I’ll let you know when we’re leaving.”

“Shit,” Sweeney said. “All right.”

“All right.” She picked up the rifle and slung it over her shoulder. Started off down the hill toward the isthmus. Then stopped. “Hey, where the hell’s Bryce?”

Sweeney met her eyes, and his expression was flat. “Bryce is dead,” he replied. “Joy blew his brains out.”

“And who’s Joy again?”

“Joy’s the guy with the grenade launcher who fucked up your boat. He killed Bryce in his own goddamn kitchen about five minutes after he’d introduced himself to us. Said he’d help us get the package back, but one of us had to pay.”

Jess thought about this. Wondered if maybe she was jumping the gun a little bit, expecting Burke to have handled Joy by himself. “Shit.”

“Yeah, well,” Sweeney said. “I never really did like Bryce anyway.”

She left the deputy there and continued down through the forest, feeling every step and every time the rifle swung around and nudged her, wondered if she’d broken a rib or she was just getting soft. There was no sign of Burke or Dale Whitmer or Joy, and no sign of Lucy, either, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to call out for any of them. She continued, her pistol ready, and tried to stay quiet as she descended through the trees.

She found Dale’s body next. The deputy was lying just off the trail between Dixie Lagoon and the beach, still wearing that orange slicker he’d pulled from Kirby’s boat, though Jess could see there were a fair sight more holes in it now than when he’d found it.

There was a pistol lying on the ground near Dale, and she kicked it away, but Dale had been shot more than a few times, and in bad places besides. He’d fired his last round.