Un-Connected by Noah Rea Read Free Book Online Page A

came after her with the letter
opener, and she pulled a gun to protect herself. You were too fast or too
strong, and she didn’t get off a shot.”
    Deb had found a person who gave her the name
and number of an FBI agent who didn’t believe I did it. She called him. The FBI
guy told Deb he believed Ben was innocent and wanted to talk to me.
    “Sure he does. So he can turn me in and get super
cop status.” I said and then paused.  When was this going to get better I was
asking myself?  Now I was really scared again and getting nauseated. “Did you
believe him?”
    She nodded “yes”.
    Neither of us said anything for several
minutes while I tried to think.
    “Rebecca didn’t have a gun and wouldn’t have
pulled one if she did.” I said quietly. “She would fight hard but she has never
held a gun in her hands.  She wouldn’t know how to use it.”
    I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “Do
you think I can do it safely?”
    “I think you should call him.”  Deb said.
    “I don’t want to.” I said and then paused.  “I
don’t know what to do, but you are the only person I have been able to trust up
until now. If you think I should, I will try. Will you help me?”
    “Of course.  Look, the more I talked to
people about you, the more I confirmed what you said is true.  And I learned
some other things about you. It’s funny…I felt I already knew you and I felt
like you were telling me the truth. All this has confirmed what I believed was
true. I was beginning to find myself trusting you more and more and it scared
me to trust you. That fear is what made me want proof what you were saying was
true.”
    Deb paused for a moment. “I like you Sam …”
    She said my name with attitude as if she was
rubbing it in that I hadn’t given her my correct name.
    “I mean, as strange as this sounds, whoever
you are, whatever your name is, you are right now one of my friends, and I
trust you.  You are reliable.  You don’t cause me any trouble…” She paused. “You
know what I mean.  And I haven’t been afraid to turn my back on you for several
months now.”
    It was a relief to hear that from her as I
had begun to really feel close to her as well.  You can’t help that, I guess,
when you spend so much time with someone and you get along really well as we
did.
    “That is just because I jump when you say
frog and I’m the best help you ever had.” I joked.
    She smiled and went on telling me what she
had found out.  She told me about how my parents, Rebecca’s parents, and my
friends and co-workers had stood up for me.  They all knew I loved Rebecca, and
knew there was no way I would do anything to hurt her.
    “And for an accountant, you aren’t a very
good financial planner if you’re a murderer.” She chuckled.  “You only had a
$100,000 life insurance policy on Rebecca.”
    Deb paused and then said.  “Also Rebecca’s
parents said she didn’t know anything about guns and would not have picked up
one. She would have run or fought with lamps or fireplace tools but never a gun.
 So that checks out as well.  Actually everything you have told me appears to
be true.” 
    “But you didn’t tell me the whole truth from
the beginning.  I’m not happy about that but I understand at least a little. 
You didn’t trust me either.  We were two strangers thrown into a truck cab all
day long trying to keep an eye on the other.”
    “Anyway, the FBI guy had checked on the gun
in Rebecca’s hand. It wasn’t registered to her. It was registered to a guy in
Chicago, who had never been to Virginia, and he didn’t know it was missing.  He
called back later and confirmed he couldn’t find it after being alerted to the
crime.”
    We sat for a while longer, drinking cold
southern tea and eating spicy Bar-B-Q.
    I found my mind wandering back to the day Rebecca
and I had met, when she’d been sitting outside the auditorium where I’d taken
my CPA exam. I’d finished the exam and had headed