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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

“Don’t you get cute now,” he said, steering Mason toward the waiting bus. “This is a one-time gesture of goodwill. I see you again, I won’t be so kindhearted.”

He walked Mason to the door of the bus. Handed him the ticket, and leaned in and spoke to the driver.

“I want this man on the bus all the way to Seattle,” he said. “He tries anything stupid, you call the law and have them call back to Deception Cove. We’ll send someone down to get him.”

The driver was a middle-aged guy, beefy, sleeves rolled up and tattoos. He gave Mason the once-over, nodded.

Sweeney nudged Mason toward the door. “Been a pleasure, Burke,” he said. “Bon voyage.”

The bus ride to Seattle took five hours. Mason sat in the back and stared out the window and thought about Jess Winslow, thought about Lucy. Eventually the bus stopped at a ferry terminal and drove onto a ship for the ride across Puget Sound, and Mason waited and looked out at the water, watched the Seattle skyline come into view on the other side.

The ferry docked, and the bus drove into the city and found the intercity Greyhound station, and Mason filed off with the rest of the passengers, winked at the driver, who glared back in response. He walked inside the bus terminal and straight to the ticket counter, waited in line some more until a clerk called him forward.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

“I need a ticket to Deception Cove,” Mason told the clerk, reaching for his cash. “One way.”

Fifteen

Fifteen

It was just after midnight when the bus dropped Mason off in front of the gas station in Deception Cove. He was the only passenger to disembark; there was nobody waiting at the gas station, no sheriff’s deputies or anyone else. The rain continued, ceaseless. Mason was tired and cold and hungry, his busted lip sore, his hair matted with dried blood.

He walked up the highway to Hank Moss’s motel. The light was off in the lobby, the VACANCY sign burning bright red in the dark of the night. There were no cars in the parking lot, no other rooms occupied. As Mason dug into his pocket for his room key, he could have been the only person left alive in the world.

He slid his key into the lock, turned it. Before he could push the door open, though, he sensed movement behind him, and he spun, ready to fight, expecting to see Sweeney or Harwood materialize in the empty lot.

Instead it was Jess Winslow who emerged from the shadows.