BooksBarbecue
Back Deception Cove Save as PDF
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

Lucy licked his face again. He nudged her toward the bed, and she turned around, looked back at him once, seemed to get it. She jumped onto the bed and lay down close to Jess.

Good.

Mason laid his head back on the pillow. Stared over at the door and tried to get some rest before morning came.

Twenty-Four

Twenty-Four

Burke was already awake by the time Jess woke up. There was light coming through the shades, so it must have been morning, but damned if she felt at all rested. Lucy was sacked out beside her, drooling on the pillow and hogging the blanket. Burke was doing push-ups on the floor.

“Morning,” Jess said, and Burke banged off a couple more push-ups before he stood, reaching for a bottle of water.

“Morning,” he said. “I was just about to head out, pick up the new wheels. You said it’s a body shop I should look for?”

“I didn’t say you should look for anything,” Jess said, swinging her legs out from under the blanket. “Give me a minute. I’ll go.”

“It’s no problem,” Burke said. “You hang back here with Lucy, get things ready to go. Soon as I get back, we’ll hit the road.”

She stood. “That’s sweet of you, but no,” she said, walking around him to the bathroom. “I know you’ve been in jail awhile, but they let women do things for themselves now.”

She stopped and looked back at him. He was staring at her, openmouthed, like he didn’t quite know how to answer.

She softened her tone. “Burke, you’ve never been in this town in your life. You don’t know where you’re going or who you’re supposed to talk to. Tell me how it doesn’t make sense that I handle this one.”

He scratched his head. Looked down at the floor and chuckled a little bit, and it was kind of endearing.

“Yeah, all right,” he said. “You’ll take the shotgun with you?”

“What, some woman walking around at the crack of dawn with her twelve gauge isn’t going to raise any eyebrows? You hold on to the shotgun. Keep Lucy company. I’ll get us the wheels and we’ll go.”

She turned and walked into the bathroom before he could argue. Closed the door firm and locked it.

The rain hadn’t come back when she slipped out to the parking lot, the remainder of Burke’s cash tucked into her jeans pocket. There was even a hint of sky overhead, somewhere above all those clouds. Maybe they’d get some sun today, dry out a little bit. It had been raining so long, Jess had almost forgotten what sunshine looked like.