Dreamcatcher: Sacrifice by KC Pearcey

Author:KC Pearcey [Pearcey, KC]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 228 Publishers
Published: 2024-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 46

The flight from Hartfield-Jackson International to Louis B. Armstrong Airport had taken a little over two hours gate to gate.

Charlie had spent most of the flight with his eyes closed, pretending to nap even through the mild turbulence. The flight attendant made her own futile effort to rouse him, bringing him a second bottled water and additional snacks without asking whether he wanted them or not.

The water and wafers lay unopened on the tray table in front of him.

He was feeling deflated and sad.

Marcie hadn’t scolded him the way he’d expected her to do when he told her that he was leaving. She took Elvira’s collar in a firm hand and gave him a quick one-armed hug, telling him to come back soon. He knew she meant it, even if he didn’t think anyone else in town cared one way or the other if they ever saw him again.

He’d tried to call Thomas twice on the way from the Piney Woods, headed south to the airport, but both times the lawyer’s cell phone went to voicemail, and he didn’t want to leave a message that Cora might hear. He didn’t know what he’d say anyway.

Thomas was a reasonable man.

If he’d left town, then Charlie had to assume that someone, probably Ben, was keeping an eye on Cora—or was arranging for another police officer to do it.

To do his job.

The last time he’d left another man to do his job, he’d left Cora in Balfour.

He’d had a random impulse to call Cora before he left, but he knew that wasn’t a good idea. It was late in the day, and she was probably tired. He’d told her that he was leaving, and that’s what he had to do. She would call him about one of her crazy dreams soon enough, and until then he’d just have to wonder if she knew what he’d said to her husband.

But then again, she would act like nothing had happened.

That would be like Cora—she would wait for him to bring it up. To confess what he’d done.

Not that half of Balfour didn’t know by now what he’d said to Thomas.

He’d been too hard on Thomas. The man was a white knight who had never been confronted with true evil in his life. He’d avoided criminal law as much as any lawyer could. He was the kind of man who made peace whenever possible. Who agonized over lost friendships caused by property line disputes and broken families arguing over inheritances and painful divorces. He wrote wills and settlements and brought closure.

The pictures in Charlie’s head were a far different kind.

He couldn’t rid his memory of the crime scene photographs and all the mutilated bodies Brackett’s stories had left in their wake. Vivid colors. Sharp focus close-ups. The stuff of horrific nightmares and gory slasher films. He could picture the grieving faces of the friends and family left behind. He could see Brackett’s vacant eyes and thick lips curling in a snarl, and those cursed chess pieces decorating the top of the defense table during the trial.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.