Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered by Hayley Camille

Author:Hayley Camille [Camille, Hayley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SpearPoint Press
Published: 2017-04-18T22:00:00+00:00

Now, Jacob pulled his hands roughly across his tired face. The driver’s seat of his car was strangely comforting, and he thought he could almost fall asleep right then and there. But his blasted notebook with its’ ever-narrowing list of Avon ladies was still his only lead and if he didn’t dig up answers soon, Jacob felt sure there’d be blood waiting for him when he woke. He gathered his wits and got out of the car. He pulled the jacket of his uniform straight, running his palms down the brass buttons to smooth it out, then fitted his hat. Striding across the road with his papers, Jacob knocked on the front door, ready to launch into his usual introduction.

The door opened.

“Mrs. Betty Jones?” he began, head down, reading from the notebook. “My name is Sergeant Jacob Lawrence with the New York City Police Department -”. As his head came up, his words broke away, and Jacob’s mouth fell softly open. His mind jarred and lost thought. His heart took over, hammering in his chest, and he was immobilized, like a man caught in a storm not knowing where to turn. He stood on the doorstep, gaping. Reeling. Because this woman looked just like her. Like Susie.

But it couldn’t be, because Susie was dead.

Suddenly Jacob felt cold. He reached out and found the doorframe to steady himself.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, “you just look like someone…” but he couldn’t finish his sentence, because when he looked back into the woman’s eyes, he knew.

It was her.

Those eyes had haunted him for twelve years. That face, that mouth. That ghost.

Time fell away.

“Susie -?” he breathed.

The woman in front of him smiled sadly. She seemed to be fighting back tears. Somewhere, under the concern in her eyes, was an odd look of relief.

“Jake.”

“But you’re – I was there, at your house -”

“I know,” she said.

“You’re dead,” he said simply.

“Yes,” she replied, “It was the only way I could live.”

He stood there in shocked silence, drinking her in like a man lost in the desert, finally given water. She had changed, but to Jacob, barely. Her hair was darker, and longer, curled in victory rolls that swept up from her cheekbones to frame her face and then dropped down over her shoulders. There were tiny lines around her eyes and mouth, as if she’d spent years smiling and couldn’t help but show it. The roundness of her fifteen-year-old face was gone and in its place, he found the contours of a beautiful woman. But in her eyes, those depths of dark blue he had known so well, she couldn’t hide from him. Twelve years, meant nothing to a person’s eyes.

And he knew he had found her.

And suddenly, inexplicably, he was angry.

“Why?” he said, his voice cracking.

“I had no choice, Jake.” She held the door open. “Please, come inside.”

Jacob stepped resentfully into her sitting room, dragging off his hat. Betty shut the front door softly behind him. Jacob turned to face her.

“This isn’t a coincidence, is it?” he asked, knowing the answer.

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