Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83994 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“More than an hour. I haven’t heard from her since last night.”
“That’s genuinely unheard of, but you know most people don’t talk all day every day, right?”
“Right, except we do. I think I’m going to head over to her place and make sure she’s okay.”
“Sounds good, dear. Tell her I said hello.”
I fidget with the ring in my pocket on the subway ride over to Natalie’s neighborhood. She’s not too far away, only a couple of stops, and it’s a nice night when I hurry down her block. She lives in a decent building on a quiet neighborhood corner, but there’s no answer when I buzz her apartment, which puts me completely on edge. I call and call, text ten more times, and even reach out to her mom.
Haven’t spoken to her since a couple of days ago. Is everything alright?
I slip the ring on and off nervously. I have to lurk like a creepy stalker for a few minutes before I catch the door after someone comes out. Fortunately, he doesn’t say anything when I sneak past him and hurry up the steps toward Natalie’s front door.
I’m probably overreacting. I bet she went out with some coworkers and she’s just drunk. But just in case, I’ll hang around for a while, on the off chance I catch her on the way back.
But my stomach goes all cold as I approach her place. Something’s not right. I can feel it right away. It takes a second before I realize her little welcome mat is kicked aside and halfway flipped over. Which isn’t like her at all.
She takes serious pride in her home. There’s no way she’d leave her mat like that.
And even less of a chance she’d leave her front door open a crack.
I’m in full-on panic as I push it in. “Natalie?” I call out. Her apartment is dark. Not a single light is on. I flip them on as I step inside. “Natalie, are you sleeping or something? Is anyone in here?”
The smell gets me as I go deeper. It’s sharp and metallic. I don’t recognize it right away, but I don’t see anything off in her kitchen. I slowly move back toward her bedroom, thinking maybe she left a window open to the street, when I step in a puddle.
It’s in the hallway. Right outside her closed bedroom door. I curse and lift my foot up, frowning at the red smear. It looks like old ketchup.
And it smells terrible.
“Natalie?” I call out again, terror starting to build in my stomach.
I know what that stuff on the floor is. But there’s a lot of it. I’m having trouble making sense of what’s happening. I grip the ring in my pocket so hard that the diamond digs into my skin.
I step into her room and gag.
The smell is awful in here. Metallic, musty, animal. Natalie’s lying on her bed, her eyes open, her mouth open, a knife in her chest.
Blood is everywhere.
It’s drenching the bed. Drenching the floor. It’s all over my shoes. I stare, a scream bubbling up from my chest. I go to her, but she’s pale and cold and not moving, and I know there’s no way she’s still alive, no way with all this blood, so much blood, an unbelievable amount.
My hands are shaking as I take out my phone. I have to call someone. I have to call for help…
Declan’s voice fills my chest with a tense aching.
“Hello, Ms. Brennan. You didn’t come to work today.”
Panic slams into me. I can barely think. I can barely breathe. I don’t know why I called him, but if anyone can make this right, if anyone can fix what happened to Natalie, it’s him.
“Declan, it’s Natalie, I went to her apartment… I went there and she’s…” I can’t say it out loud. I can’t speak the words.
She’s dead.
“Slow down. Tell me what happened.”
He sounds so calm and measured. It helps ground me, at least a little bit.
“I’m at Natalie’s apartment… Declan, oh my god, there’s blood… there’s blood everywhere…”
I finally break, slumping up against the wall outside Natalie’s room. Sobs rip themselves from my chest as the magnitude of what happened washes over me.
She’s gone. Natalie’s gone.
Distantly, I hear Declan’s voice over the phone.
“I’m coming, Casey, just wait for me.”
Chapter 7
Declan
Ismell blood the second I step into Natalie’s apartment.
It’s not fresh. I’d guess at least a day old, maybe more. It’s hard to say exactly, but I’m familiar enough with the reek of death.
“Casey!” I have my gun drawn and I’m going slow. Nothing moves. There’s no sound. The place seems oddly empty, but I only spoke to her ten minutes ago.
“In here.”
I follow her voice to the back hallway and find her slumped down on the floor across from the bedroom door. Blood’s pooling in front of her, a trail of it leading away.