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“Could someone on the island be keeping these as pets? Illegally?”
“Highly unlikely. None of my patients, at least. And I don’t know of a market that smuggles these. But I can’t profess to know everything that happens on this island.”
“It’s possible to get endangered or illegal animals on the black market?”
“Oh yes,” Dr. Taylor nodded his head. “Unfortunately, if you have money, you have access to a plethora of animals on the black market. Maybe someone bought it, and it got away or was released. It happens.”
Or someone purposefully released it into that basement, Matt thought to himself. The fire hadn’t succeeded; perhaps the snake was meant to finish the job.
“I’d like to keep this for evidence,” Matt said, re-wrapping the specimen. “I may need your testimony about the species identification.”
“Of course,” Taylor agreed. “And Matt? If someone placed that snake, they knew exactly what they were doing. They would have had to transport it and release it without being bitten themselves. That takes knowledge, equipment, and a certain disregard for consequences.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Matt replied. “Thanks for your time, Doc.”
Outside, the early October night had fully claimed the island. Stars punctured the dark canopy overhead, their cold light illuminating the road back toward town.
Chapter 12
Morning fog clung to the water, wreathing Widow’s Point Island in a spectral shroud as the ferry pulled away from the dock. Kaitlin leaned against the railing, watching the mansion’s silhouette fade into the mist. Its dark windows tracked her departure with silent reproach.
She hadn’t told Matt about this trip. The decision to consult an adoption attorney had come to her the other night while she was unable to sleep. A necessary step if she wanted to understand what might have happened at the mansion.
What might have happened to her mother.
To her.
It was frustrating to be so close, yet so without answers. Taking action on her own felt as though she was doing something.
The ferry’s engines thrummed beneath her feet, a steady vibration that matched her restless pulse. A month on the island had yielded tantalizing fragments but no cohesive answers. Perhaps Portland, with its official records and experts unburdened by island loyalties, would provide what Widow’s Point could not.
“Kaitlin?”
She turned at the familiar voice, surprise registering on her face before she could mask it. Matt stood a few feet away, hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket, eyebrows raised in a mirror of her own astonishment.
“Matt. I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“Could say the same.” He joined her at the railing, keeping a careful distance that nonetheless felt like an intrusion into her solitary mission. “Business in Portland?”
Kaitlin hesitated, weighing how much to reveal. The sheriff had become an ally in her investigation, but this particular angle felt too personal, too connected to the suspicions she wasn’t yet ready to voice without revealing her true reasons for being on the island.
“Research,” she replied, settling for partial truth. “There are some legal questions I want to clarify. You?”
“Meeting with Samira and Agent Cook at the medical examiner’s office.” Matt kept his voice low, though the nearest passengers were well out of earshot, huddled in the ferry’s enclosed cabin against the October chill.
“Have they identified the victims?” The question emerged more urgently than Kaitlin intended.
Matt shook his head. “Preliminary report only. Age, gender, approximate time of death. They’re still working on DNA, dental records, possible matches to missing persons reports from that era. Nothing conclusive. They’re even using the commercial databases to help.”
The island behind them dissolved into the fog like a half-remembered dream. Kaitlin found herself wondering how many women had made this same journey in reverse, young, frightened, seeking the sanctuary Widow’s Point Mansion had promised.
“They must have been so desperate,” she murmured, the thought escaping aloud before she could contain it. “Coming to an island in the middle of nowhere, hiding away from everyone who knew them.”
Matt followed her gaze toward the vanishing shoreline. “The mansion offered discretion, medical care, and a solution.” His eyes darkened. “At least, that’s what they advertised.”
“Safety,” Kaitlin added softly. “The chance to have their babies in peace, give them up for adoption if they chose to, and return to their lives with no one the wiser.” She turned to face him fully. “But something went wrong, didn’t it? For those women.”
Matt’s eyes met hers, troubled and searching, before turning back to the view and nodding his head. They stayed in comfortable silence, watching the island fade into the distance.
