Bred in the Bone (Widow's Island #4)(11)

“What would you have done if I accidentally caused someone’s death like Travis did?” Cate asked her grandmother. “Would you hand me over to the police?”

Emotions warred on Jane’s face, and Henry pitied her. “I don’t know.”

Henry wasn’t certain of his answer either.

“It’s a hard decision to consider—I know I struggle when I think about what she hid from everyone. But it’s never wrong to be kind,” Cate said.

“What about the bookstore?” Edith asked. “Widow’s Island needs that store. And someone needs to take in Ghost.”

“It should be easy to find Ghost a home,” Henry said. “That’s a friendly cat. But the bookstore is a full-time job.”

“I don’t know about that,” said Jane. “It seems like Rosa mainly sat and read.” She looked thoughtfully at Edith. “And Edith here is ready to finish at the bakery. We’ll be seeing a lot of change in North Sound.”

“No more bakery?” The loss slammed painfully into Henry’s chest. The Black Tail Bakery was Widow’s Island.

“Her niece is thinking about taking over,” Jane said. “That’ll be much better than a stranger. We don’t need more Seattleites moving here for six months and then bailing on their fledgling business.”

“What about the ice cream store owners?” Cate suggested. “Maybe they’re ready to expand and take on the bakery.”

“I’ll bring it up at the next meeting,” said Jane. “And we’ll figure out the best way to handle Rosa.”

Henry had no doubts the women would make a caring decision.

Cate’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She glanced at the screen and stepped away from the group as Henry listened to Jane and Edith discuss whether rum drinks had been appropriate to serve that day. Jane thought they implied tropical vacations, but Edith argued there was nothing wrong with that on a sad day like today. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cate straighten as she spoke into the phone, gesturing for Tessa to join her. A tip of her head included Henry.

She ended her phone call as they approached. “They’ve arranged for a team of deputies to visit Travis Underwood’s home with a warrant for his arrest on the mainland tomorrow morning. It’s just outside the city of Blaine. I want to be there.”

Henry froze. “You want to watch them arrest him?” Cate’s eyes were on fire, projecting her need to see Travis Underwood in custody.

“Will they let us?” Tessa breathed. The heat in her eyes matched Cate’s.

“If we can get there in time. My boss will smooth the way.”

“There are no more ferries until noon tomorrow,” said Henry.

“We can find someone to take us,” said Tessa. “I’ll ask around.” She gave Cate a fierce look. “Are we doing this?”

“Absolutely. I want to see Travis Underwood go down.”

“You’re not the only one,” agreed Tessa. “I’m going to look him in the eye and grill him about Samantha.”

“You’re not leaving me out of this,” Henry said, catching their excitement.

Cate grinned and squeezed his hand.





5


“I didn’t know Adam had a plane,” Cate mumbled to herself for the third time the next morning.

No one could hear her. It was too noisy inside the small floatplane. Henry sat beside Adam Jacobs while she and Tessa took the two seats directly behind them. Adam’s father had operated an unofficial boat taxi on Widow’s for decades, and Adam was in the process of taking over. To Cate’s surprise, Adam had expanded the boat taxi business to include a floatplane.

Cate hadn’t been thrilled when Tessa had told her who would fly them.

She watched the pilot with an eagle eye. Adam had made a poor impression when she first returned to Widow’s, but he had mostly redeemed himself when he’d bailed on an appointed boat fare to transport her to an emergency without asking questions. He might leer at women and occasionally get stoned, but he seemed to aptly handle the plane.

They were currently in the air, having left Harlot Harbor as soon as the sun rose that morning. Adam had told her it would take less than forty-five minutes to get to Blaine Harbor. Cate steadily breathed in and out, not liking how her stomach had complained since the moment they took off and headed north.

The northern boundary of the city of Blaine was the Canadian border. The small city had less than five thousand people, and one was a murderer—that Cate was aware of. She and Tessa had discussed whether Travis had killed Samantha and lied to his mother or if it had truly been an accident as he said. “Either way, he left. He ran and hid like a coward, leaving her family destroyed,” Tessa stated. “Right now, I don’t care which happened.”

Cate hoped Travis was still in the US, because he could have easily slipped to the Canadian side at some point, but his mother had said Travis refused to live in Canada because he believed it was a socialist country. He might like to stay off the grid and avoid taxes in the US, but he was emotionally attached to his idea of a democratic nation.

Cate didn’t try to understand his standards.

She simply wanted him caught. And to pay for the rest of his life for hurting Sam.

Am I obsessed with retribution?