Rising Darkness by T.S. Worthington Read Free Book Online Page A

think of it and analyze a few of the decisions that he had made in his life then he could see how he had done it to try to erase this bit of agony that wrapped itself around his heart from time to time.
    He walked into the room watching Elena’s smile as she turned from hugging Kirsten to look at him. Her beautiful eyes were so full of hope and innocence. He was so glad that she was there.
    “I just can’t believe it,” Joe said as he scooped Elena in his arms. He felt her body tense slightly, but relax under his embrace. He was not sure that he should have hugged her given the history that they had with each other, but he could not help himself. Both of his girls were home and they had come to lend support to him. He was feeling happier than he had felt in days. It was turning around a bit for him. That was what it felt like.
    “Well, I figured that you might need us, so I asked Elena to come,” Kirsten said.
    Joe smiled at her and then at Elena.
    Elena smiled back. “Well, Kirsten is pretty convincing.”
    “Yes, she is!” Joe said. “Come on in, we were just playing cards.”
    “Uno? You tired of Kirsten’s cheating yet?” Elena quipped.
    Joe could not hold back the laughter. He was not used to Elena cracking jokes that way.
    The three of them sat down and began to play cards and the hours flew by. It was the most fun Joe had seen in probably years and he knew that Tracy would have enjoyed it so much. She would have loved to have the house full again with the full family. Even though she was neither of his daughter’s natural mother, she had always wanted to be a mother.
    Joe still remembered when the doctor had broken the news to Tracy that she was never going to be able to bear children. It was tragic, but it was something they had to deal with together. Joe had always thought that Tracy felt like a failure in his eyes because she was not able to bear him children, but he had tried to explain to her that he loved her and wanted to be with her. He already had two great daughters.
    “So, Elena I was actually expecting you a bit earlier. Did your flight get delayed?” Kirsten asked.
    “No, I was just hanging around town for a bit. I wasn’t actually sure if dad wanted to see me,” Elena said.
    “What? That’s crazy. I always want to see my girls,” Joe said.
    “Yea, that’s weird retard,” Kirsten joked. “Did you take an Uber or something?”
    “Yea, it’s the best way to travel nowadays,” Elena said.
    “You know they used to be called taxis,” Joe said. “Do they not have taxis anymore?”
    “Yea, but Uber is faster and cheaper,” Elena replied.
    “Oh, I see. I’m glad to know my girls are not totally spoiled and appreciate how hard it is to make a dollar in this crazy world,” Joe replied.
    The two girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes. He hoped that they weren’t getting too sick of him yet. He leaned back and took everything all in and for just once since the murder of his beloved wife he had not thought about taking his own.
    ****
    Alex thought that the meeting with Jess Lydell had gone pretty well. He had managed to rattle her cage a bit and ask some deeply probing questions. Well, at least he had managed to make her feel extremely uncomfortable and make her talk about her husband’s infidelity and show her the pictures. He knew that she had seen the pictures already, but it was nice to rub her face in it.
    He knew that she had something to do with Tracy’s death. If she did not do the murder herself then she hired it to be done by somebody. He had pretty good instincts and he could read people pretty well. It was a given in his line of work and he had seldom gotten a lead on anyone as strong as what he felt when he talked to that woman.
    Jess Lydell was beautiful, even if you were comparing her to a Hollywood starlet. She was tall and leggy, with big luscious breasts, curves for days, an amazingly sweet smile and adorable facial features. If she had not been so