Chapters (78)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Acknowledgments
- Discover More
- About the Author
- Also by Owen Laukkanen
“Davis? Sure,” Moss said. “I don’t know what he—”
“Give him a call, would you please, Hank?” Jess said. “Tell him we’ll come by first thing in the morning. Tell him we’re bringing cash.”
A pause. “Yeah, okay,” Moss said at last. “Okay, Jess.”
“Thanks, Hank.”
“You be careful, all right? You have Burke with you?”
She glanced toward the bathroom, the door closed but for a crack, steam pouring out. “Yeah, he’s here.”
“All right,” Moss said.
“Do you think I can trust him, Hank? I mean, am I going to be safe?”
Moss sucked his teeth. “That boy looked me in the eye and told me his story straight,” he replied. “And I can’t see as he gave me any reason not to trust him.”
“He told you his story? Like, why he went to jail?”
“I didn’t ask for specifics,” Moss said. “But I believe if you wanted to know, he’d tell you the truth.”
Jess didn’t answer. She wasn’t sure what to say to that. But the shower shut off before she could pursue it any further anyhow. “Shit, Hank, I gotta go.”
“I’ll call my cousin,” Moss promised. “You be careful.”
“I will.”
“The both of you, Jess.”
“Yes, sir,” Jess said. “We will.”
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Three
Jess had a funny look on her face when Mason came out of the bathroom, fresh scrubbed and changed into clean clothes, applying a Band-Aid to the cut on his palm. Lucy lay curled up on the bed beside her; the dog didn’t look up when Mason entered the room, but her tail thump-thump-thumped on the blanket Jess had laid down for her, giving the game away.
Mason chuckled. “What a little shit,” he said. “Pretends she don’t care to see you, but as soon as you look her way, that tail just fires up, doesn’t it?”
He scratched the top of the dog’s head and she closed her eyes and sighed, long and low. Jess smiled a little bit, but not much.
“I got a lead on a car,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Hank Moss at the motel? His cousin runs a body shop over on the reservation. Hank’s going to set something up for us for first thing tomorrow.”
She still had that look on her face, studying him like she didn’t quite know what to make of what she saw, like when you come across an animal in the wild and you’re not sure it isn’t dangerous. Mason figured he knew the reason why.
“You talked to Hank just now,” he said.
She nodded.
“He tell you about me? What I did?”
“He told me I could trust you,” she said. “And he told me if I asked you, you’d probably tell me yourself.”
“You want to know?”