Below the Bones (Widow's Island #5) - Kendra Elliot

1

Jerry Hooper scratched his gray beard as he pushed a fir branch out of his path. The morning May air was cool in the deep forest of Bishop State Park, and he had decided a hike on the island would clear the fuzzy cobwebs from his brain. He always sampled new marijuana from his distributers. As a longtime connoisseur of pot, he found it important to share his personal opinion of each variety with his buyers. He took pride in Buzz’s Pot Shop’s wares, but last night’s sample had created a miserable morning.

“I won’t be carrying this garbage in the store,” he muttered. “Can’t think at all today.”

He stopped in a clearing, appreciating the sight of the dense mist that hovered over the tall grass.

“Rocky! Here, boy!” he shouted, wondering where the dog had wandered. Rocky’s hearing wasn’t too sharp, and he usually stuck close.

Jerry checked the time. Nine fifteen. The sign on his store’s door stated he opened at nine, so it was nearly time for him to head back to North Sound to set up shop for the day. To him the opening time was an estimate, not a definite. As summer came closer, the tourists had started to crowd the streets and stores of Widow’s Island in the Salish Sea off the coast of the state of Washington. The out-of-staters loved to browse in his store, giggling at the jars of weed they couldn’t legally buy back home and slyly hinting they wanted a sample.

As if he’d never been asked that before.

The tourists annoyed the hell out of him. Lots of lookers. Few buyers. Especially when they learned he was a cash-only business. The island residents respected his business; mainlanders treated it like a freak show. Almost made him miss the days before marijuana was legalized in Washington and he sold only pot paraphernalia.

And a little homegrown marijuana on the side.

He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Rocky!”

The tall grass on the far side of the clearing shuddered, and he watched the wiggling of the stems move toward him. “Good boy.”

The dog burst out of the grass, happiness and pride in his dark eyes, a new bone between his teeth.

Rocky sat at Jerry’s feet and dropped his prize. Jerry stared at the bone, blinking several times, his brain still slightly fogged.

“No way,” he mumbled. “No fucking way.” He crouched to get a closer look and got a sloppy kiss from Rocky. He rubbed the dog’s head, dread growing in his stomach.

A life-size plastic skeleton had hung in the corner of his store for twenty years. The educational type found in a high school science room. Many shoppers had wanted to buy it, but Jerry wouldn’t part with Mr. Bones.

Jerry sucked in a deep breath. He’d dusted the skeleton enough times to be pretty confident that Rocky had found a human femur.

2

Cate Wilde sat on a gigantic flat rock as she watched deputies Tessa Black and Bruce Taylor excavate the skeleton along with Dr. Henry Powers. She and her boyfriend, Henry, had been drinking coffee at her bakery when Tessa had called the doctor to report that Jerry Hooper believed he’d found a human femur. Henry had unknowingly inherited the job of coroner when he’d bought the island’s sole medical practice a year ago.

Jerry had led the four of them deep into Bishop State Park. Cate didn’t think even she had been this far into the forest in all her years of exploring the island while growing up. Jerry had brought them to a clearing, and at the small meadow’s edge, rough dirt had indicated where his dog had dug up the bone. Jerry had previously poked around in the dirt a little until he’d seen more leg bones. Then he’d hiked to a spot where he got cell service and called Tessa.

It hadn’t taken long to expose the entire skeleton. A female.

They carefully continued to excavate and document each bone.

“Gonna be a nice day,” Deputy Bruce Taylor said as he approached Cate’s rock. He twisted the top off a water bottle and stretched his back. Bending over the shallow grave was backbreaking work, and Cate was frustrated that Tessa had refused her help. Cate was no longer in law enforcement. She’d left the FBI last winter and moved back to the island, her childhood home. Now she owned a bakery and a bookstore.

A much quieter, less stressful life.

But sometimes a little dull.

“Tessa told me your mother is coming for a visit,” Cate said, studying the young deputy. He’d