Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) by Jools Sinclair Read Free Book Online Page A

She glanced up and saw me and signaled for me to stay where I was. Then she sent me another text telling me to meet her at Thump, the coffeehouse we always went to. She would be there shortly.
    I lingered for a few minutes longer and watched as she spoke to the ambulance driver. I knew there was really no need for an ambulance to be there or the paramedics. This was a DOA through and through. The woman had been dead for hours. I saw that Kate was working her magic and sure enough, after a few moments, the guy opened the back of the vehicle and let her step inside.
    Kate was in there for what seemed like forever. When she emerged, her face was pale and her hair was being blown everywhere. She didn’t even seem to notice. I could tell she was shaken. It was never easy seeing death, I knew that now, too.
    I started walking into the bitter wind. It was freezing. I pulled my coat tighter as I tried to think about why all this was happening. Bend was a small city and it hardly ever had any murders. The last one had been over a year ago when a husband shot his wife eight times one night, claiming he thought she was an intruder. The jury saw it differently.
    And now, within a month, two people had been killed. And for some reason, I was hooked into what was happening, had seen them both die.
    My phone rang.
    “I’ll be there in a few minutes,” Kate said.
    I went inside Thump and got in line for the cappuccinos. It was packed, but a couple left and I slipped into the corner table and waited. Kate walked over, heels pounding the floor.
    “Was it her?” I asked.
    She nodded her head.
    “Exactly how you described,” she said. “Long, dark hair, Asian woman. Found dead in the bathtub.”
    Kate had that older-than-her-years look again.
    “What in the hell is going on, Abby?” she said as she grabbed her cup. “Somehow you’re following some killer around in your dreams. How is that possible?”
    Soft music floated through the noisy crowd.
    “It was awful, just awful to see her,” she said. “The poor woman had this terrible expression frozen on her face. I’ll never forget it.”
    She closed her eyes and sat for a moment before taking out her notepad from her large, black purse.
    “Okay. Here we go.” She took a deep breath. “According to the lead investigator it was an accident.”
    “What?”
    “She was in the bathtub, and their theory is that she somehow passed out and drowned. They found a half empty bottle of wine nearby. They’re thinking maybe she had a bad reaction to it or an underlying medical condition and fainted.”
    “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” I said, shaking my head.
    “Well, it’s just their initial theory. Someone even suggested that it might be a suicide. I guess she recently broke up with her boyfriend of three years and she was distraught. But the coroner will do an autopsy and they’ll have a thorough investigation.”
    I sat in silence. I couldn’t believe it.
    “It wasn’t an accident, Kate,” I said a little too loudly. “It was murder!”
    “I know,” she said in a hushed voice. “They’re going to talk to the ex-boyfriend too, Abby. And when they do the autopsy, my hope is that they’ll find that same drug in the body, like the first one. That will help make the case for murder as well as linking the two victims.”
    I sighed.
    “They are also canvassing the area and talking to neighbors. Something might come up there. Maybe somebody saw someone prowling around or leaving afterwards,” she said. “They’re just starting the investigation.”
    I sat back in my chair and took a sip from my cup.
    “Do you think he is just picking them randomly?” she asked.
    “I don’t know,” I said.
    I had no idea why he was killing. I wasn’t able to pick up on his motive. I just knew that he was being very methodical and that he wasn’t done, that there would be others.
    “He won’t stop,” I said.
    “Yeah,” she said. “I figured. But he might leave