Total pages in book: 185
Estimated words: 180510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 903(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 602(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180510 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 903(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 602(@300wpm)
“We were neighbors, inseparable until I left her to go into the Marines. I was messed up because my dad was an asshole. Things didn’t end well with Josie. I don’t see or hear from her for seventeen years, then boom! I run into her at a restaurant while she’s on a date, then I see her at work. What are the chances, right?”
Rains nods slowly, brow pinched tightly.
“She hated me, still kind of hates me, but I think she loves me more. Just like I think we’re getting married because I vomited some half-ass proposal to her out of nowhere. Then the shooting at the pier. Then these memories from her near-death experience. The next thing I knew, we were on a plane to Tennessee to dig up dead bodies all because she’s had visions related to a serial killer who was executed over a century ago. I mean …” I shake my head. “I couldn’t make up this shit if I wanted to. Everything we told the Nashville police was true. Well, it was Josie’s truth. Fuck if I know what’s true right now because I don’t have a better explanation for how she knew about those bodies, yet … I can’t quite swallow the idea that she was one of the victims in another life.”
Rains twists his lips. “That’s …”
“Fucked-up. One hundred percent.” I lean back in my chair and scrub my hands over my face. “I appreciate all your help getting the chief to dig my ass out of trouble in Nashville.”
“You’re lucky you still have your badge.”
I nod.
“Do you believe her?”
I ask myself this question every day. “I don’t know, man. I just don’t know.”
“She’s the most intelligent, laser-focused person I know,” Rains says. “She’s methodical and a perfectionist when it comes to details. But even the most put-together people can lose a piece of their mind after something like what happened at the pier.”
“Still doesn’t explain how she knew about the bodies.” I’m not trying to be argumentative with him, but there is no explanation for her knowledge of those bodies, and my mind keeps circling around to that one very important detail.
Rains nods slowly. “Sure doesn’t.” He inspects me with an unreadable expression. “So … when were you going to tell me that you’ve been screwing the ME?”
I have no humor inside of me at the moment, yet his question pulls a chuckle from me anyway. “I’m not sure. Maybe a few days before the wedding. Josie and I have never had a normal relationship. I’m not sure why I think we can have one now. Clearly, we’re off to a great start.”
Rains smirks.
“She’s never wanted to get married. Never wanted to have children. She’s never been in the range of normal.”
“So why ask her to marry you?”
Again, I chuckle, glancing at my phone, waiting for her to contact me. “I don’t know. I think I want her to be with me, like really, officially be with me. And I want to tell the world that she’s mine and I’m hers. God … I sound like a pussy, but I’ve loved her since … hell, I don’t know. Before I really knew what I felt had a name.”
“And now she sees dead people. And she doesn’t want kids, but you have a daughter.”
“And she’s in California supposedly visiting some expert on near-death experiences, but she won’t answer my calls or my texts.”
“Do you follow her location?”
I shake my head.
“I’m not sure she’s really going to marry you if she won’t let you track her location.”
“I haven’t asked her.”
“Why?”
I shrug a shoulder.
“You’re afraid of her.”
“Pfft … I’m not afraid of her.”
“She dissects dead people all day, and at night, she sees more dead people. She knows where lost bodies were buried. Fuck, man … not gonna lie … I’m a little afraid of her.”
“You don’t know her like I know her.”
“Then you know she’s okay. And you trust that she’ll check in when she’s ready. She disarmed a guy with a single shot to his leg, and she didn’t take a day to even second-guess it. Did that surprise you?”
I watch the cleaning crew shuffle into the office area with their roller carts of supplies.
“Maybe she’s not the same Josie you remember.”
Just as I consider the truth to his words, my phone chimes.
Josie: Sorry. Busy day. I’m home.
Me: You’re home? Thought you were coming home tomorrow?
Josie: I need you.
I scoot back in my chair. “I’m going home.”
“That her?”
I nod while grabbing my suit jacket from the back of the chair.
“Tell her hi.”
I don’t answer him with more than a mumbled “okay” before taking the stairs to the exit.
I try to call her on the drive to her house, but she doesn’t answer. I nearly forget to lock my car before running to her front door. It’s unlocked, and I frown at her carelessness while opening the door and flipping the deadbolt behind me.