The Lost Bones (Widow's Island #8)(26)

Once Rich was off the island, Cate was getting Ashlee on the plane.

No one will stop me.

She would use her weapon if needed.

The husbands didn’t need to know that part of the plan. Michelle and Selina were to tell them that Rich needed to be out of the way so Leigh could receive a simple exam.

Cate joined Henry as he examined the man with the swollen leg.

“He needs IV antibiotics,” muttered Henry to Cate. “I’ve given him an oral loading dose, but he needs a more aggressive treatment.”

Cate looked away from the red swollen calf. It looked like it’d burst if touched with something sharp.

“I can go tomorrow,” the injured man said. “Jim said he’d loan me his boat.”

“We can take you back with us today,” said Cate.

“I’m not getting on that itty-bitty plane.” The infected man shuddered. “Hell no. Tomorrow is good enough.”

Cate glanced over her shoulder and saw Selina and Michelle deep in conversation with two men. Selina’s husband was emphatically shaking his head, but Michelle’s appeared to be listening. Cate tugged Henry on the arm and led him a few steps away.

“I found her,” she whispered. “But she’s hugely pregnant and having contractions.”

Henry’s eyes narrowed. “Will she leave?”

“Rich was there,” said Cate. “He swears she’s fine and that he can handle a birth. Henry, she’s complaining of a massive headache and her back hurting. Is that normal?”

“The back pain could be from simply carrying a baby, but it could also be a sign of labor. I don’t like the headache. Did she say how long it’s been going on?”

“No.”

“Swollen hands or feet?”

Cate pictured Ashlee’s hands as she had reached for the package. “I think so. Hard to say.”

Henry touched the stethoscope shoved in his shirt pocket. “I need to take her blood pressure. Could be preeclampsia.”

Cate’s heart skipped a beat. She knew the condition could be deadly to both mom and baby. “Rich isn’t going to let you anywhere near her. Selina and Michelle are trying to convince their husbands to take him fishing, telling them that Ashlee desperately needs an exam. If he leaves, we need to get her off the island today.”

“Definitely.” Henry looked around at the group. The men were trading among themselves with the supplies Henry had given them. “I’ve done what I can here. Let’s head back toward the plane, make them think we’re finished.”

Cate caught Michelle’s gaze. The woman and her husband were leaving, taking the path toward Rich’s tent. Michelle flashed her a subtle thumbs-up.

“Looks like one of the men has agreed to get Rich out of the way,” she told Henry.

Henry reaffirmed that the man with the swollen calf would come for medical care, and then he and Cate headed out the way they’d come. Their two previous escorts ignored them, still intent on bartering with the new supplies.

“I hope the people who need it get the right stuff,” said Henry. “I didn’t mean to create a new form of currency.”

“Bringing what we did was the right thing,” said Cate. “Even if we had an ulterior motive.”

“They need better access to care,” he said firmly.

Cate put her hand on his shoulder, amused at the furrow between his brows. Henry was a doctor through and through. “They have access. You. It’s just a bit of a long boat ride.”

“Trent told me he thought I’d turn him away if he’d come to town with that leg infection.”

“Well, now he knows you won’t. And he’ll convince the rest to ask for help when they need it.”

“Hope so.”

Several minutes later they emerged onto the rocky beach near the old dock and their plane. The strong smell of marijuana swamped them.

“Dammit!” Cate spun around, looking for their pilot, and found him sitting under a tree thirty feet away, a joint in his hand. “Adam! What the hell?”

The young man jumped to his feet and put out his joint. “I thought you were going to be a lot longer. I haven’t had much.”

“He’s had enough to stink up the entire beach,” said Henry.

“I’m not flying with a stoned pilot,” said Cate.

“I’m fine,” said Adam as he approached. His eyes were bloodshot.

Cate was furious. “What if we’d had to get off the island fast? You saw the guys with rifles. We didn’t know what we were walking into.”

Adam shrugged. “You’re armed. You could have handled it.”

“Idiot.” Henry looked livid. “Do you always smoke pot when you’re working?”

“Of course not.”

Cate pressed her lips together and walked away, pulling out the satellite phone Tessa had issued her. She called the deputy, who answered immediately.

“We found Ashlee and Rich,” Cate told Tessa. “But our pilot is now stoned. We’re not going anywhere for a while.” She updated Tessa on their plan to get Rich away from Ashlee and get her off the island.

“We finished on Elias Island a bit ago,” said Tessa. “We’ll head your way instead of to the other survivor island. Give us about a half hour. Don’t let him fly.”