I immediately checked her pulse, feeling nothing. Her skin was cold to the touch, but she wasn’t stiff. I started CPR, pumping her chest and placing my mouth over hers.
“Come on, Sophia, breath!”
I pumped and breathed into her mouth some more. I wasn’t finding a pulse, and she wasn’t breathing. I grabbed my phone and frantically called for an ambulance. I continued with the CPR until my arms were tired of pumping, but eventually I had to stop, long after the point where I knew that Sophia Page was gone, and must have passed shortly before I found her. I sat with her body until I heard the paramedics enter the house.
Chapter Eight
One Month Later
I sat at the beginning of the aisle in the middle row of Carter Wyatt’s arraignment hearing at the Montgomery County courthouse. He’d been formally charged with four counts of first-degree murder and five counts of kidnapping. It was the first time that I’d seen him since finding Sophia Page’s body. He walked into the room wearing an orange prison suit, his wrists handcuffed in front of him. His hair was trimmed and his face was neatly shaven. As he walked to the defendant’s table, he looked around the room, and when he spotted me, he dipped his head and gave me a smile like we were old friends. I didn’t smile back.
The arraignment lasted only a few minutes. The judge went through the charges and asked Wyatt for his plea. He said that he was guilty. I wasn’t surprised, given that he’d confessed to me so easily. After the arraignment, I left the courthouse and walked a block and a half along Maryland Avenue to the Starbucks on the corner. I got my usual venti with two shots of espresso. The temperature had dipped over the last few days, as the first day of winter had arrived. The cold is coming, I thought as I walked back to my car. ‘Winter is coming.’ One of my favorite lines from Game of Thrones.
As I neared my car, my phone rang, and I saw that it was the station. I was told that a body had been found out at Lake Needwood and that I needed to go check it out. I suddenly stopped walking and hesitated before answering. My arms and legs stiffened, and I felt a cold shiver run through me.
“A body?” I asked.
“Yes,” I was told. “A young woman.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “I’ll be there in a few.”
My mind immediately started unlocking vaults of memories, and when I looked at the hand holding the cup of coffee, I saw that it was trembling. Lake Needwood. I walked back to my car in a slight daze and sat in the front seat for a moment. Memories that I’d locked away started flashing across my mind. Scene after scene, each more graphic than the one before. Can it be happening again?
I tried to turn the key to start the ignition, but every time, my hand stiffened. So I sat there for a moment to gather myself, but the longer I was still, the more time my brain had to unlock the vaults. Finally, the memories became too much, and for the first time in nearly twenty years, I cried her name.
“Corinne!”
The End
Message from the Author
I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know Detective August Miller through these three short stories. I’ve had a blast creating her character. Stay tuned, because her debut novel, A Cold Day for August, will be here soon!
Thanks,
Charles
Other Books by Charles Prandy
Detective Jacob Hayden Series
The Avenged – Book 1
Behind the Closed Door – Book 2
The Game of Life or Death – Book 3
Within – Book 4
Who is Benjamin Reeves? – Book 5
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Stand Alone Novels
The Last of the Descendants
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Short Stories
The Elephant Bowl – Detective August Miller
The Endearment Diary – Detective August Miller
Between the Trees – Detective August Miller
* * *
Detective August Miller
A Cold Day for August – Book 1 (Coming Soon)
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To be notified of future works by Charles, please go to www.charlesprandy.com
The Elephant Bowl Page 8