Bred in the Bone (Widow's Island #4) - Kendra Elliot Page 0,3
always knew he’d come to a bad end.” He slowly shook his head, his gaze on the ground. “Had demons, you know? Tried to get clean a few times, but it never stuck.”
“I’m very sorry, Jon.” Tessa touched his arm. “Let’s go back inside.”
They took their original seats.
“When was the last time you saw him?” asked Tessa.
Jon scratched his chin, his face screwed up in thought. “Must be close to a month. Ran into him at the Black Tail. He mouthed off, and I left without getting my coffee. He was stoned, of course.”
“You knew he lost his license.”
“Yep.”
“Do you know where he was going a couple of hours ago on Samuel’s Road?” asked Tessa.
“Nope.” He tipped his head and eagle eyed Cate. “Why are you here? You wanted something last week—you couldn’t have known this was going to happen.” He paused, alarm crossing his face. “Or did you? Was Brad mixed up in something bad?”
“I didn’t know anything about Brad last week, Mr. Gill. I was calling about a different matter.”
“Oh. What was it?”
Cate and Tessa exchanged a look. “I don’t think this is the appropriate—”
He grunted. “You two told me the son who I considered dead ten years ago has actually died. Don’t try to tiptoe around my feelings. My heart scabbed over decades ago. What’d you want to ask me about?”
She believed him. “It’s about the orchard property you used to own.”
“It’s a cursed piece of land. I heard that fancy developer who was building a hotel on the land was arrested for murder. No good comes to anyone associated with it.”
“You ran it successfully for decades,” Cate pointed out.
“Until I didn’t. Had to walk away fifteen years ago. Bank took it.” He looked broken. “Got nothing to show for decades of work.”
“I’m sorry,” Cate said, his words about a curse echoing in her head. “Can you tell me who worked for you or had access to the property twenty years ago?”
“You’re going to have to be more precise about the date than that.”
She told him the month and year of Sam’s disappearance. “I know this is out of the blue, but maybe you have employment records—”
“I know exactly who was working for me back then. My son and Arlie Babcock. I don’t hire seasonal labor until later in the year.”
Arlie Babcock’s name was faintly familiar. Cate raised a brow at Tessa.
“Arlie lives with his mother just outside of North Sound,” Tessa supplied. “He’s probably in his fifties now. His mother keeps to herself.”
Translation: not part of the knitting and activist circle like many of the older women on the island.
“Why do you ask?” Jon questioned.
“The date I asked about was when Samantha Bishop disappeared,” said Cate. “Last week some of her jewelry was found in the old pump house by the orchard.”
Jon looked stunned. “The pump house? How do you know the jewelry was hers?”
“Trust us on that one. It’s been verified by two reputable sources.” Tessa and me. “Would both Brad and Arlie have had access to the pump house?”
“Of course. Wasn’t like I locked it up.”
“Could it have been locked?” asked Cate. The pump house door had shown no evidence of a lock.
“Sure. There was always a chain with a lock on the outside. We never locked it because there was no point.”
“So anyone could have access to the inside?”
“I guess.” His thick eyebrows came together. “Are you saying that girl was locked in there? She was never found, right? I remember the big to-do when she went missing.”
“It’s a possibility. We’re not sure how else her jewelry could have ended up there unless she had been inside at one point.”
Embarrassment crossed his face. “I know teenagers sometimes used it for . . . well, you know.”
Sex? Drugs? Drinking?
“I didn’t care that much. Occasionally cleaned out a few beer bottles. No one ever caused any damage. I remember what it was like to need a place to get out from under your parent’s eye.”
“She could have partied there, is what you’re saying,” Tessa said.
He shrugged. “It’s possible.”
She would have dragged us along or at least told us if she partied there.
Tessa looked at Cate, her eyes reflecting the same thought.
If Samantha had gone to the farm without them, it wouldn’t have been willingly.
“Did Brad party with high school girls?” Cate asked bluntly. “He would have been around twenty at the time.”
Jon lifted his hands. “I have no idea. He came home to sleep. Sometimes not even for that. Was irresponsible in showing up to