Dead Asleep by Jamie Freveletti Read Free Book Online Page A

they washed against the beach below. She used her key and stepped into the cool foyer. The lights were low, the house quiet. Despite the apparent peacefulness, or maybe because of it, Emma retrieved her gun from the cabinet and made another quick circuit of the house before entering her bedroom. She grabbed her nightgown from a hook behind the bathroom door, dropped her clothes in the hamper, placed her gun within reach on the nightstand, and fell asleep in minutes.
    She woke the next morning when a bar of sunlight shot through the edge of the wooden shutters on the window and landed on her face. A quick glance at the clock told her it was almost nine, far later than her normal rising time of seven. The late night had taken its toll. She yawned, stretched, and headed to the armoire to get some clothes. She opened the panels.
    A human skull sat on the shelf.
    Emma swallowed the shriek of surprise at the sight of it. It stared back at her with its black hole eyes. It couldn’t have been placed there before she and Moore took their turn around the house, because she’d opened the armoire to get the gun. Somebody had entered after she left for Carrow’s. The idea that an unknown intruder had waited and watched made her skin crawl. She wondered if the priestess was the culprit.
    Emma kept her eyes on it while she opened a drawer beneath. She pulled out a pair of shorts and a top and dressed. She removed a pair of running socks and put them on her hands, took a deep breath and lifted the skull from the shelf. Holding it out in front of her, she walked with it through the hall and into the kitchen, where she placed it in the stainless steel sink. It looked authentic, but she knew that it likely was not. The sharp intake of breath behind her told her that Latisha Johnson, the cook, was back.
    Emma turned and saw her standing next to a large man in army green overalls. The deliveryman had a large water balloon on his right shoulder. His skin was pale and his head shaved clean. A name tag embroidered on his shirt read carl. He gave Emma a dull look and glanced at the skull with the same lack of curiosity.
    â€œYou should remove that immediately,” Johnson said. “It brings death. It shouldn’t be in the house.”
    â€œWhere do you want me to set this up?” the deliveryman asked.
    Johnson didn’t respond. The stark fear on her face prompted Emma to once again pick up the skull. Its black socket eyes seemed to watch her. She carried it past both Johnson and the deliveryman. Johnson cringed away as Emma crossed next to her, but the man just flicked his eyes between the skull and Emma. He stared at it with an impressive calm.
    â€œLady, I got fifteen more deliveries to make. Where do you want this?” Emma heard the man ask again as she went out the back door, taking care to walk on the grass rather than the gravel of the driveway. The lawn felt warm under her feet. Hearing footsteps behind her, she looked back to see Johnson following at a safe distance. Emma kept going toward the garage, past the large green delivery truck parked in the driveway with the words springfed water emblazoned on the side. Once she reached the garage, she placed the skull gently on one of the tables. Johnson came to stand next to her.
    â€œMiss Emma, you should leave. That’s a message.”
    Emma had no doubt that it was, but she was intrigued that someone would go so far to try to frighten her, and in such a bizarre fashion. Wild men hacking at her with machetes scared her; Halloween props did not. She put her hands on her hips while she contemplated the skull. The deliveryman appeared behind Johnson holding a clipboard.
    â€œVoodoo bokor killed my neighbor when I lived back in Haiti,” the man said. He stepped closer to Johnson and thrust the clipboard at her. “Free trial is thirty days. You don’t like it you call the company and I’ll come back and take it away. Need to sign.” He