Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 469(@200wpm)___ 375(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
“That was me.”
“Why are you being weird?” I tilted my head to the side. “I know what I saw. And my dad’s not a liar. And I know your brother’s name is Joe.”
“You saw me. And my name is Josephine. My friends call me Josie. And my dad calls me Jo because I was supposed to be a boy.”
I shake my head. “The kid who got out of the truck was wearing shorts and a green shirt.”
“Yeah. And it smelled like fish, so I changed my clothes. Do you want to come inside?”
“Not if you don’t have a brother.”
“That’s …” She twisted her lips together as her fists perched onto her hips. “Rude.”
“I’m not being rude.”
“You don’t want to be my friend because I’m a girl. That’s rude.”
“I don’t play with dolls and dress up stuffed animals.”
“Do you eat cookies and drink chocolate milk?”
After thinking about it for a few seconds, I nodded.
“Good. So do I. Come on.” She turned and left the door open, disappearing to the right.
I glanced back at the street, giving a quick look right then left before taking slow steps into the house. More animal heads mounted to the wall peered at me along with a big fish and some kind of bird on a shelf that looked quite real.
“Where are your parents?” I asked, peeking around the corner into the kitchen as she poured two glasses of chocolate milk.
“My dad’s rubbing my mom’s feet in the bedroom. They’re huge! She’s pregnant, and I guess being pregnant makes your feet and ankles get really big, and that makes them hurt.”
I nodded slowly while she climbed onto the kitchen stool and opened a Tupperware container of chocolate chip cookies.
“So what’s your name?” Josie asked, setting a cookie on a napkin for me right next to hers.
“Colten.”
“Where did you come from?”
“Across the street.”
“Duh. Where did you live before you moved into the house across the street?”
I stammered a second. She had me flustered because she was a girl, a pretty girl, with as much if not more confidence than I had. “Houston, Texas.”
“Are you a cowboy?”
“No. Why?”
She lifted a shoulder and dropped it just as quickly while dipping part of her cookie into her chocolate milk. “I thought there were a lot of cowboys in Texas … which is weird because we have a lot of cows here in Iowa, but I don’t see that many cowboys.”
I couldn’t start my first day of school with only one friend—a girl. But school wasn’t starting for two months, so I didn’t see anything wrong with being Josie’s “neighborhood friend” just until I found boys my age. After all, the cookies were the best thing I’d ever tasted, and I liked watching Josie.
Her smile.
The way she flipped her hair over her shoulder.
Even the way she whisper-counted to ten every time she dipped her cookie in milk.
“Have you ever seen the exoskeleton of a cockroach under a magnifying glass?” she asked before starting her silent count again with her next bite of cookie dipped into the milk.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a live cockroach.”
“Oh, it’s not alive, silly. It’s dead. I have a lot of dead stuff in my room. Want to see?”
And just like that … the hair-tossing and whisper-counting became the least fascinating thing about Josephine Watts.
CHAPTER THREE
“You’re breaking my heart, Dr. Watts.”
On the verge of grabbing my bag and heading home for the day, I glance up from my desk. The irony …
I’m breaking his heart? I’m pretty sure he obliterated mine on more than one occasion, which proves one thing: he has no heart.
“Who keeps the citizens of Chicago safe while you’re stalking me, Detective Mosley?”
“I bet it felt nice to put on makeup and wear a bra for your date the other night?”
I’m wearing a bra. Asshole.
Glancing down at my chest, I curl my shoulders inward when I notice my nipples. I’m wearing a thin bra.
But still … he’s an asshole.
“You were supposed to call me with the results of the autopsy.”
“I talked to Detective Rains. Cardiac arrest due to major blood loss. The decedent was alive when his legs were amputated.”
“Why?” Uninvited, Colten takes a seat in the chair across from me.
“It’s extremely hard to profile a ghost. When you catch your killer, plenty of qualified people will dissect his life and motives.”
“No.” Colten shakes his head. “Why did you talk to Detective Rains instead of me?”
“Because I like him better than I like you.”
“Oh …” He nods and smirks. “So you do, in fact, like me?”
“I like your parents …” My scowl softens as I keep my gaze on my computer screen. “I liked your parents. I haven’t talked to your mom in years, but I was brokenhearted when I heard about your dad. I’m sorry, Colten.”
“Good old dad hung himself.” He blows out a long breath, staring at my framed certificates on the wall. “I didn’t even come home for the funeral. Fuck it. If I mattered to him, he wouldn’t have killed himself.”