Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 86857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 290(@300wpm)
“Josephine, do. You. Hear. Me?”
I nod.
“Now, go make things right with Colten.”
I can’t. I just … can’t.
When I get home, there’s a note on my pillow.
All those girls I kissed when we were kids … I closed my eyes and thought of you.
I hold the note to my chest and close my eyes … and I think of Colten.
After a restless night of more images of dead girls’ bodies, I wake at four and start making notes of the number of bodies at each location and the names on the headstones. I don’t think this is Vita Atonement, but I feel like it’s the only visible road to take right now.
I snap a photo of my notes and send it to the lead detective who interrogated me in Nashville.
I meet with my physical therapist a final time before going back to work. Then I stop by the grocery store. When I get home, I put my groceries away and decide it’s time to get back on my stationary bike per my therapist’s suggestion. When I go into the bedroom and toss my shirt onto my bed, there’s another note.
Detective Mosley is a trespasser.
I loved it when you sat next to me while I played the piano … but I loved it more when you’d lie on my bed, making my pillow smell like you. Before I left this note, I rubbed myself all over your pillow. I hope you like it. I hope you like me.
Without thinking, I find myself hugging that note too, against my chest, closing my eyes … and thinking of Colten.
Over the next two weeks, Colten dabbles in breaking and entering every time I leave my house. I’m not sure how he gets any work done. Chicago has way too much crime for him to leave daily notes on my pillow.
Remember that time you found a dead frog by your favorite tree? I found him near the pond by the batting cages, and I left him by your tree as a gift to you. I’ll never forget how excited you were. I’ll never forget how I felt like nobody knew you like I did. I’m still loving knowing that no other human will ever know you like I do.
Colten gave me a dead frog. It makes me laugh out loud. I remember that day, but he never said a word, never let on that it was him.
Another day …
The week I mowed your lawn while your family went on vacation, I spent hours under the tree in the front yard, lying in the grass in your favorite reading spot. I liked the world through your eyes. I still do.
Another day …
The last time Reagan stayed with me, I told her about Artemis. Then I told her you were my Artemis.
Another day …
The greatest day of my life, aside from the birth of Reagan: the day Jo Watts turned out to be the neighbor girl instead of the neighbor boy.
“You’re with me today, Dr. Watts,” Dr. Cornwell says the second I walk into the conference room on my first day back to work.
My colleagues give me a few smiles and kind “welcome backs.” They’re not looking at me like someone who got shot in the line of duty. I’m not sure how to read their expressions.
“You’re quite the local celebrity.” Cornwell holds up a physical newspaper.
I snatch it from him.
Assistant medical examiner believes she was a murder victim from over a century ago. Helps officials find victims’ bodies in Nashville.
“Is it true?” Cornwell asks.
“Which part?” I hand the newspaper back to him without reading past the headline.
“Any of it? All of it?”
I glance around the room, all eyes on me. “Listen, I’m just going to tell you what I’ve told everyone else. I had a near-death experience after the shooting. Since then, I’ve had visions and dreams about Winston Jeffries’s victims. Everyone in the room knows me well enough to know that I don’t believe in this kind of lunacy. Yet, here I am, experiencing it firsthand. I have no explanation.”
That’s not totally true anymore, but it was for a while, so it’s all they’re getting. I have no plans of telling the police that I was wrong about my role.
“And why am I with you today?” I shoot Cornwell a look.
“My, my … aren’t you a little chippy today. Anyone else would find it an honor to be with me for the day.”
“I feel like you don’t trust me. Like you’re demoting me.”
“I’m observing you for one day. Just one short day, Dr. Watts. It’s the responsible thing to do. I need to make sure you’re physically and emotionally up to the task.”
“You’re just observing?”
He nods, holding up his hands. “I won’t touch a thing.”
I take a seat at the table and remain obediently quiet while Dr. Cornwell goes over the cases for the day.