Page 101 of Knox

Colton approached, and Nash offered his hand. “Stay out of trouble, Marine.”

“Yes, sir.” Colton grinned, but his eyes drifted past Nash to where Maggie stood on the porch steps.

I cleared my throat. “My offer still stands. Both of you. When your enlistments are up, come back here. Help me get my mom’s shop running again. Or just figure out what comes next. You’ve got a place to stay and work if you want it.”

“Might take you up on that,” Archer said. “The island’s growing on me.”

“Same.” Colton’s gaze hadn’t left Maggie. “Definitely growing on me.”

Nash stiffened beside me, finally seeming to see the problem right before our eyes.

I stepped between them and Colton’s line of sight. Probably saving my brother one more time. “We’ll talk before you make any decisions.”

Colton met my eyes, understanding passing between us. “Roger that.”

“Before you go,” Nash said, pulling out his phone. “Got news this morning. Thought you’d all want to hear.”

Sloane moved down from the porch, standing close to my side. I wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her against me.

“They found her,” Nash said. “The woman Walter Junior took. She was in an abandoned fish house near Wanchese. Dehydrated, hypothermic from the cold nights, but alive.”

“Thank God.” Sloane sagged against me.

“She’s in critical condition at the mainland hospital, but doctors say she’ll recover.” Nash pocketed his phone. “Junior’s lawyer confirmed the plea deal. Life without parole. He’ll never see daylight again.”

Relief washed through the group. Tangible and heavy.

“All those women,” Archer said quietly. “At least their families have answers now.”

“And one woman has her life back.” Maggie wiped her eyes.

Sloane pressed her face against my shoulder.

“What about the VW bus we were all chasing?” Archer asked.

Nash shook his head. “Registered to Junior. Right now it’s at the impound lot. It was processed by the crime scene team after we located it on an access road in the national park. He drove it all the way out here from Oregon. Makes me wonder if we need to check missing women along whatever route he took. It’s a long way across this country.”

I shivered.

“And Deputy Lennox?” I asked.

“Full recovery. Junior got the jump on him, Lennox never even saw him coming.”

We’d all thought the killer was in custody.

“All right.” Colton clapped his hands. “We better hit the road before this gets too emotional.”

“Too late,” Maggie said.

I embraced Colton, then Archer. “Call when you get there.”

“Will do.” Archer climbed into the passenger seat.

Colton paused at the driver’s door. “Take care of each other. All of you.”

“That’s the plan.”

The truck engine rumbled to life. Gravel crunched beneath tires as they rolled down the driveway.