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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

He had a point, as much as it pissed her off to admit it. So she climbed into the back seat after Lucy, shoved the dog’s big butt to the side to clear a space to sit, and pulled the front seat back into position again. Waited as Burke circled around to the driver’s side, adjusted his seat, and put the Blazer in gear.

“Nice ride,” he told her, pulling out of the lot. “Heck, you did better than I would have done.”

“That’s for sure.” She pulled out the money he’d given her, reached in between the front seats, and laid it on the center console.

Burke glanced down at it, and she watched his eyes go wide in the rearview mirror. “Now, how did you—”

“I told you,” she said, sitting back in her seat. “It’s better if I do the talking.”

*  *  *

Jess gave Mason directions, and pretty soon they were on the highway again, headed back east toward Deception Cove.

The rain had let up, and there were patches of blue sky; Mason figured it was as close as the region got to a beautiful day. The highway wound along the shoreline, and Mason could see the views he’d missed last night: a long, rocky coast, whitecaps on the water, the trees growing almost to the water’s edge in many places. There wasn’t a soul for miles, and apart from the highway and the ships out in the channel, Mason imagined this was probably exactly how this land had looked for centuries.

He studied the ships as he navigated the Blazer along the highway’s sinuous curves. There were three headed inbound toward Seattle, another two pointed west to the open ocean. He wondered what it would be like on those ships, the solitude, hard work, nobody giving a damn about your history. See the world, get a tan, make an honest living. It didn’t sound so bad.

In the back seat, Lucy whined a little, and Jess leaned forward between the two seats. “You take her out this morning?”

“No, ma’am,” Mason said.

“You have to take her out. Unless you want her to pee in this truck.”

“I expected they’d be looking for a dog matching her description in town.” He glanced past her in the rearview, saw nobody behind. No one ahead, either; they were alone on this road. “Next pullout, we’ll let her go.”

“So what are we going to do?”

He’d pulled them off the highway at a picnic spot overlooking the water. Got out, stretched his legs, enjoyed the cool breeze off the ocean and the fresh air. Lucy peed near the picnic table and disappeared into the brush. Mason went to follow, but Jess stopped him with her question.