Forgotten Bones
Page 30
“That he’s the product of rape? That his seventeen-year-old mother gave him up? That it took three tries to get him to a home where he was actually wanted? That it took more than a year to get it right? I don’t know, Skye. I’m not sure I could give him the cold, hard facts like that. Winston is such a sensitive soul.”
“I refuse to lie to him, Lena. His parents already know the real story. I’m simply going to suggest that he take a trip home and let them explain everything to him, this time the right way, lay it all out for the first time, and let him deal with the facts. It is what it is.”
Zoe came through the door carrying a serving dish they’d missed, sticky with cheese and sauce. “What are you guys arguing about?”
“We’re not arguing,” Lena explained. “We’re discussing.”
Skye slapped the dry dish towel over her shoulder. “A difference of opinion. We do it all the time. Kind of like you and I do all the time. Family often disagree. It’s what they do.”
“I know that. Don’t we have anything for dessert? Who asks people over without thinking about dessert?”
Skye rolled her eyes. “What did you have in mind? There’s gelato in the freezer. Caramel Sea Salt. Eat that. You’re the only one complaining.”
“Not really. Reggie and Leo were wondering, too.”
“Fine,” Skye muttered, getting down bowls. “You do the honors, why don’t you?”
After everyone finished off four quarts of gelato and called it a night around midnight, Josh and Skye saw them off and locked up. Exhausted, they went into the living room and plopped down on the sofa in a heap.
“Do you realize Sierra will probably be up in six hours?” Skye noted.
“Yep. And we’ll get up and do it all over again tomorrow.”
“I’m too tired to walk upstairs. Can’t we just sleep right here, in our clothes, that way we’ll be all ready to jump into action tomorrow.”
“There’s something we need to talk about.”
“Look, if it’s about telling Winston the truth about his birth mother…”
“It’s not. I have something to show you.” He got up to pull open a drawer in the media cabinet and took out a white envelope. “It came yesterday…I pulled it out of the mailbox.”
“You got stuff out of the box, and you’re just now mentioning it to me?”
He handed off an envelope. “The postmark is Idaho. County jail. From Roman Jaynes. I already let Grayhawk know about.”
“You opened my mail? Josh, you don’t need to sneak around, protecting me like this. The guy threatened me. So what? You were right there. It isn’t the first time it’s happened. It probably won’t be the last.”
“No. This is different. Open it.”
She slid the piece paper out and unfolded the letter. “It looks like a map.”
“And a threat. I copied it, scanned it, and emailed it back to Grayhawk. It shows where another body’s buried, and it’s not at the body pit.”
“I can see that.” Skye read the words, then read them again.
This is one you don’t know about.
Nobody knows about her.
But when I get out, the same thing’s gonna happen to you.
I have a special place all picked out just for you.
I dream about it.
And no one will ever find you.
I guarantee it.
That’s a promise from Roman Jaynes.
And I always keep my promises.
Her pulse picked up. She swallowed hard. “At least he gave up another victim.”
“That’s all you have to say about it?”
“What do you want me to say? We’ll have to monitor the situation, keep tabs on it, him, maybe through Grayhawk. I don’t know. What else can we do? I could write back, keep him talking, keep him engaged, maybe he’d give up another body.”
“I don’t like that option.”
Tired, she folded the paper back up and slipped it back inside the envelope. “He’s locked up. What can he do from Idaho? I don’t want to think about this tonight.”
****
Eight hundred miles from Seattle, Roman Jaynes stretched out on his hard bunk. Wide awake and alone in his dark cell, he stared up at the ceiling, determined to recount the steps it took to reach the outside fence.
He’d spent his one hour of exercise time in the open yard, looking out beyond at the forest of trees that surrounded the facility and the highway in the distance.
And freedom.
He could imagine reaching that freedom, imagine getting his fingers around Skye Cree’s throat, tightening his grip until he’d choked the life out of her.
Just before sleep overtook him, his lips curved into a satisfied smile. Roman grinned at what he hoped to do as soon as he was free.
His eyes closed. But even in sleep, he dreamed about getting his hands around Skye’s throat.
******
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vickie McKeehan has twenty-seven novels to her credit and counting. Vickie's novels have consistently appeared on Amazon’s Top 100 lists in Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense and Mystery / Thriller. She writes what she loves to read—heartwarming romance laced with suspense, heart-pounding thrillers, and riveting mysteries. Vickie loves to write about compelling and down-to-earth characters in settings that stay with her readers long after they've finished her books. She makes her home in Southern California.
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