Minerva dismissed her protests with an impatient wave. "After you left yesterday, I kept thinking about how much you'd changed lately, about how Jack and even the girls had changed, and I wanted to help. Long after everyone else had gone to bed, I lay awake, tossing and turning. I kept thinking I knew something, something important, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I'd just about given up when it came to me.
"I remembered that the boys had loaned a gun to Joe and Kie Nuanna. For some reason that stuck with me. I kept thinking, the gun, the gun. I got up and put on my robe and wandered through the dark house. Before I knew it, I was in the barn, looking for that darn gun. When I found it?and saw the blotches on the stock?everything slipped into place, and I remembered the missing shot pouch."
Minerva sidled past Tess and took a seat at the kitchen table. Ed and Jim followed. Then they all stared up at her as if waiting for her reaction to the startling bit of information that a shot pouch was missing.
Minerva set the gun on the table, then looked up at Tess. "I can tell you're trying to figure out why we're here, babbling about a lost pouch. It took me awhile to make sense of all the pieces, too. But just bear with me, okay? I want you to really understand everything."
Tess nodded. "Okay."
"Joe and Kie had borrowed our gun before; it was nothing particularly noteworthy. That's why I didn't think of it before. Once or twice they'd even brought us back some game. They knew I'd made that pouch for the boys for Christmas. The more I thought about it, the stranger it seemed that they didn't apologize for losing it. Then I figured out the reason." She gave Tess a meaningful look.
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"They didn't want to admit they'd lost it, because they knew where they'd lost it. The minute I realized that, I sent for Ed, and sure enough, he said I was onto something. Especially after he saw the gun."
Tess looked at the gun again, only this time she really looked. Ugly blackish splotches covered the wooden stock. A tingling thread of anticipation crept through her body.
"It's blood," Jim said quietly. "The only way you'd get blood on the stock is if you used the gun as a ... club."
Suddenly it all made sense. Tess's heart lurched against her ribcage and pounded. She lowered herself slowly onto a chair. In her lap, her hands started to shake with excitement. "When did the boys borrow the gun?"
Minerva looked steadily into her eyes. "Wednesday. The day the Dwyers were killed."
"Oh my God."
Ed scooted closer to the table. His elbows thumped on the tabletop. "I can't tell if it's human blood on the gun, but I'll bet it is. I'll have to send it over to a chemist in Victoria."
Tess understood instantly why the missing shot pouch was so important. She looked up into Ed's earnest eyes and asked quietly, "Did you find the pouch?"
"I can't comment on the evidence in an ongoing investigation." A shadow of a smile moved across his face. "But I will say I found some mighty interesting things in the Dwyers' root cellar."
Tess sagged with relief. "Will you let Jack go now?"
Ed gave her an apologetic smile. "It isn't that easy, Miz Rafferty. He doesn't want to get out. He thinks he did it, and he's scared to death he's gonna hurt someone else."
"He didn't do it."
Ed laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. "That's a stubborn man you married. He isn't going anywhere until he's damn certain he isn't a murderer."
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"So what do we do?" Tess asked. Ed frowned. "Well, I'll run on down to the Kanaka camp and see if Joe and Kie are around. If they are, I'll arrest them. Maybe that'll snap Jack out of it."
"Why would the boys kill them folks?" Jim aske
d. "Was it just a robbery that got out of hand?"
"That's the saddest part of all," Ed said solemnly. "The things stolen didn't add up to spit moneywise. Somebody killed those good people for a pocketwatch that Henry would have given away without a second thought." "What can we do?" Tess asked. "Well, another meeting wouldn't hurt. Now we can give folks something specific to go on. Maybe someone saw Joe or Kie on Wednesday and didn't think a thing about it."
"I could talk to the townspeople," Tess said. "Make a personal appeal for help from one neighbor to another."
A pained expression crossed Ed's face. "That might not be such a good idea. The islanders don't trust him ... or you." He winced, as if every word was painful. "They may not be too eager to help you get Jack out of jail."
Tess frowned. Ed was right, of course. Joe and Kie were more trusted on the island than Jack Rafferty. But she'd be damned if she'd let small town prejudices stop her. She looked right at Ed. "I'll convince them to help us."
Ed gave her a slow, grudging smile. "Why do I get the feeling the islanders don't have a chance?"
Tess grinned for the first time since Jack left. God, it felt good to do something besides sit around and wait. "Because they don't."