“What will happen now?”
“The federal prosecutor is in the process of securing an indictment to charge Alfred Eaton with trafficking illegal drugs and with murder.”
“Do you think he’ll be found guilty of those charges?”
“I don’t think the murder charge will stick. It’s more of a bargaining tool to convince him to plead to the drug charges. In any event, this will end his political career.”
I sighed. “At least now we know why Jack Justin was murdered. I wonder if he was in on the blackmail scheme with his father.”
“If he didn’t know about it before his parents died, Eaton’s friends made him aware of it soon after.”
“No wonder he was terrified and frantic to find that briefcase.”
Several seconds of silence followed while I waited for Morgan to say something. “Thanks for calling,” I said. “I’ll be able to sleep easier now.”
“Jane,” Morgan said. His voice was low and husky.
“Have a nice Thanksgiving, Nick,” I said. “Goodbye.”
Afterword
Kodiak Island lies 250 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. The island is 3,588 square miles in area, making it the second largest island in the United States. The city of Kodiak is located at the northeastern tip of the island, and most of the roughly 13,500 inhabitants of the island live in or near the city. Much of the rest of the island is part of the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, and since there are no roads on the refuge, the only way to access it is by floatplane or boat. Kodiak is breathtakingly beautiful and rugged, but it also can be inhospitable and dangerous.
I have attempted to portray Kodiak as honestly as possible, and some of the locations I have used in this book are real, while others are fictional. The Kodiak Braxton Marine Biology and Fisheries Research Center where Jane works is entirely fictional. It is located near and is somewhat similar in appearance to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Kodiak Seafood and Marine Science Center, but that is where the similarities end. The staff and students at the marine center where Jane works are figments of my imagination and are in no way based on the staff and students at the UAF Seafood and Marine Science Center. This is also true for the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge employees. My characters are not based on actual refuge employees, who are much nicer and more efficient than some of my characters.
Kodiak has several fine air-charter services, but Kodiak Flight Services does not exist. Many air charter services now put tracking devices on their airplanes, so the dispatcher always knows where the planes are at any moment. In my novel, Kodiak Air Services did not have that system. Again, none of the pilots in this book are based on actual Kodiak pilots.
The Baranov Inn does not exist in Kodiak, but Henry’s Great Alaskan Restaurant does, and it has great food. Check it out if you get to Kodiak. The Kodiak Daily Mirror is our newspaper, and the publishers, editors, and writers there do an amazing job publishing five newspapers a week to keep us informed of what is happening on our island.
All characters in this book are imaginary and not based on anyone I know, and any mistakes in this manuscript are mine.
I want to thank Alison at First Editing for her guidance and suggestions on preparing my manuscript, and I want to thank Evan Swensen and everyone at Publication Consultants for their fantastic cover design and hard work preparing this manuscript for publication. Finally, I want to thank my husband, Mike, for the support and encouragement he offered while I was writing this novel. Writing is a lonely endeavor, and it helps a great deal to have someone in your corner cheering for you.
Murder over Kodiak Page 28