Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 72074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72074 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“The guard on duty says he did a check at one thirty and everything was okay. When another guard did a second pass through, he saw him hanging,” Derek says. “I’m already running a check on both guards, but so far, everything looks clean.” I hear him typing in the background.
“Everything is not clean,” I say. “Check their debt history.”
Derek then stops typing. “I think I know what I’m doing.”
“Yeah. Yeah,” I say, not sure I want to have this conversation with Jacob here. “I want to know everything about them down to the last time they took a shit,” I hiss. “Fucking everything.”
“I’m on it.” He hangs up, and I take another gulp.
“You need to reel it in,” Jacob says, and I glare at him. “You aren’t going to do her any favors by flying off the handle.”
I’m about to tell him to fuck off again when I see Kallie standing there. She holds the wall while she sobs, putting her hand in front of her mouth to muffle it. It takes Jacob two seconds to get to her. “I need water,” she says, her voice cracking. “She needs water.”
I open the fridge, and I’m about to take a bottle of water to Olivia, but Kallie stops me. “You can’t see her like that,” she says while she tries to stop crying, but her breath hitches. “She doesn’t want anyone in there. Not even me.”
I want to burst through the door, not caring, and then Kallie’s hand drops from my arm. “I just put her in the bath. I had to peel her off the floor. I’ve never ever …” She swallows. “She’s never been like this.”
“Go back in there,” I say to her. “I need to tell Mom and Dad about all this.”
“Casey.” She says my name. “Don’t do this if you aren’t sure.” She shakes her head. “I love you with all my heart, but if you hurt her, I won’t forgive you.”
Jacob must feel my anger reaching its breaking point because he kisses her, whispering, “Go take care of your girl.”
“I’ll be back.” I walk out of the house, and if I knew she wouldn’t hear me, I would scream out to the universe. I walk over to my parents’ house. They are both sitting out on the porch talking, but they take one look at me, and they both stop. My father gets up first.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. My mother is right behind him.
“The guy who attacked Olivia was found hanging in his cell this morning,” I say. My father just looks at me, but my mother takes a step forward to go to my house. “Not now, Mom.”
“But …” she says. “Olivia.”
“She’s with Kallie,” I say, looking at my father. “She was going to leave, thinking that the threat was over.” I put my hands in the back pockets of my jeans, looking up at the pink sky. “I have to head back.”
“Makes sure she eats,” my mother says. My father puts his arm around her, and I turn and make my way back to my house. When I walk in, I spot Jacob on the phone, and he looks up at me. I walk over to the counter, screwing the cap back on the whiskey, then put it back in its place.
Jacob hangs up the phone. “That was the FBI,” he says. I glance toward the bedroom and knowing that I can’t hold her is killing me. Knowing that she needs something and I can’t give it to her makes me feel hopeless. “They are calling foul play.”
“No shit.” I shake my head. “What else did they tell you that we already know?”
“The guard who was on duty that night called in sick, and this was his replacement.” Now I look over at him. “Yeah.”
“I’ll tell Derek,” I say, taking out my phone and sending Derek a text.
Me: Guard was a replacement.
When I put the phone down, Jacob asks, “You ever going to tell me what it is you do?”
I want to laugh and shake my head, but then I spot Kallie. She’s wearing my shorts and a shirt. “What happened?” She shakes her head. Tears stream down her face, and she looks so helpless. “I got in the tub to hold her because she was shaking so bad.” My hands clench into fists. “I put her in your bed. She was so out of it that she didn’t even realize it.”
“I got it,” I say. She looks at Jacob, who walks to her and envelops her in his arms.
“If you need us, all you have to do is call,” Jacob says and carries Kallie out as she cries in his arms. I walk to my bedroom and find her lying on her side in the middle of my bed. I walk quietly over to her, trying not to wake her. I want to lean down and kiss her head, but I don’t. Instead, I walk into the bathroom, and I see water everywhere. After I put towels down, I start the shower. For the second day in a row, I take a fast shower, just making sure I wash off the dirt.