Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
“An occupational hazard?”
“My personal fucking business is just that. The details about this woman’s and my life that have nothin’ to do with the scope of what you need, are off limits, unless I make them your business. Do you hear me?” The detective raised both hands as if in surrender, backing off. “I don’t have the right to blame ’er. Her feelings were reasonable,” he tossed up his hands and paced, “but I still hate that she did it. She had to have known I’d come after her eventually… that I couldn’t just let her go.” And kill any man sniffin’ around her, a boyfriend or a new husband trying to take what was rightfully mine. If I found out that someone else besides me had even eaten her pussy, let alone been inside of her, I’d cut their fucking tongue out. I told her as much.”
He looked down at the grimy floor of the barn. His black cowboy boots with silver detailing were dull with the dirt now, too. In fact, specs of dark soil and soot dotted his gray shirt and jeans, flecks of muck and filth. He was indecent and unclean. Not just on the outside, but on the inside, too. He had to have been, for that’s what caused his better half to pack her bags and leave him standing there with nothing but a broken heart, a half empty bottle of her favorite perfume she’d left on her vanity, and a present he’d given her on her birthday. An expensive shawl. Returned to sender.
He looked towards the wide-open doors of the barn once more.
Somewhere out there was freedom. Like the wild horses who’d needed tamed. Or maybe the soil was tainted and trapped with the spirits of bad men who’d done bad things? Imprisoned by their horrid deeds? The faint scent of burning leaves wafted nearby. It, too, evoked painful memories.
“I’m now the proud new owner of this land, John.” He looked around that big shed again, this time recalling how he and Tina had snuck into the premises, and in that far right corner, he’d slid her against the wall, and they’d made love on top of a stack of fresh hay. His eyes sheened with love lost but not forgotten. Sweet and clammy remembrances dripping from his memory bank. The way her eyes rolled back when he’d thrust deep inside of her warm, tight, honeyed pussy, or how her full, soft lips pressed against his own as he climaxed inside of her… Horny, sweaty, and so in love that the thought of losing her made him hurt deep inside of his very soul. Tina, I remember your kiss, the smell of your skin, the feel of your breasts, the softness of your hair and the curves of your body… I remember every mole on your physique, and I remember the first time you told me you loved me…Did you lie then?
He tossed the envelopes down on a stack of rotten wood and removed his cowboy hat from his head. His silvery white tresses broke free, falling partially in front of his face, brushing against his back, then blowing in the breeze. A burst of wind from the open barn doors brought that odor of burnt leaves to his nostrils once again. She was inside of his blood and bones. He could never let her go, and he could never forget her.
He looked off into the distance. The ‘For Sale’ sign that was once jammed into the hard soil was now gone, replaced with a ‘SOLD’ logo, instead.
“It took a long time to finally buy this place. I’ve tried negotiating for it over the years, and nothin’ worked. Then finally, my agent gave me the long-awaited call. Said, ‘That piece of shit can finally be yours.’” He chuckled. “Garrison, you and I been knowin’ each other a while.”
“We sure have, Mr. Wilde.”
“I have to find her, you know that, right? There’s no way that I can’t. It’s not an option. That woman belongs to me. She’s as much mine as my right arm. I don’t care if it takes until I breathe my last breath. God makes only one woman that can handle a son of a bitch like me. I discovered my soulmate. She was my heaven on earth. Usually, we never find that one woman. I did.”
“I understand that you’re determined, and I’m doing all I can. I have spoken to the few family members I can find of hers, and they haven’t seen her, either. I asked for DNA samples, they refused. I did surveillance, and she didn’t show up. I checked out all the numbers going out and comin’ in, for their landlines and cellphones. I looked through family marriage and death records. Nothin’. It’s like she’s vanished in thin air, but we know people don’t just vanish. The only other conclusion, if she didn’t change her identity, is that she’s deceased.”