All Acts Of Pleasure: A Rowan Gant Investigation Read Online Free PDF

we
couldn’t rule out the anchovy pizza.”
    “You are evading again, Rowan.”
    “Uh-huh, I know. Can you blame me?”
    “No, I do not suppose that I can. However,
you also know that with me you cannot get away with it.”
    “Yeah, you’re right.”
    “Good of you to notice,” she replied, a hint
of faux-conceit in her voice that was almost instantly replaced by
measured seriousness. “Now, tell me…who do you believe the woman in
your nightmare to be?”
    “Honestly, I think she’s probably the woman
who killed Hammond Wentworth and Officer Hobbes.”
    “Really?”
    “You sound surprised.”
    “No, not surprised,” she returned with a
shake of her head. “Disappointed.”
    “About what?”
    “About the fact that you are still trying to
evade my question.”
    “I’m not sure I follow, because I’m fairly
certain I just answered it.”
    “You gave me an answer, but you did not tell
me the truth.”
    “Come again?”
    “Rowan, be honest. We both know that you did
not seek me out to tell me you believe you are having nightmares
about an unidentified killer in an ongoing murder investigation. As
insane as it may sound to the general populous, for you, that is
the norm. No, there is a vastly deeper issue here that you cannot
begin to overcome until you admit to it.”
    “Okay,” I returned with a shrug. “Since we
seem to be on completely different pages here, would you like to
share your insight?”
    “Borrowing your analogy, we are both on the
same page and you know it. You, however, are choosing not to read
what is upon it.” Helen shook her head and peered back at me with
obvious sadness in her expression. “You know, Rowan, for someone
with the depth of intuition you possess, it amazes me how difficult
you can elect to be at times, especially when it comes to your own
sanity.”
    I raised my eyebrows and harrumphed softly.
“Yeah. You aren’t the first person to make that observation.”
    “I am certain of that.”
    “So…you’re going to make me say it, aren’t
you?”
    “We cannot discuss this fully until you
do.”
    “I don’t want to.”
    “All right, start there. Why not?”
    “Because if I do…well, if I do then that
might make it real. I can’t let it be real. Hell, I came here so
you could tell me that it’s not.”
    “I understand that.”
    “Okay then. So you obviously know what it is.
Just tell me I’m being paranoid, and we’ll be done with all
this.”
    “Me telling you what you want to hear will
not fix the issue. You know that, Rowan.”
    “Okay, so what will?”
    “You facing your fear.”
    “Facing my fear? Are you kidding? Haven’t I
faced enough of those for one lifetime?”
    “Actually, my friend, you have come nose to
nose with more fears than anyone I know, and I commend you for
that. But, by the same token, you have turned and run from just as
many, if not more.”
    “Some of them just don’t need facing,
Helen.”
    “Perhaps you are correct. It is true that
some fears are transient. However, this one is not, and it will
haunt you if you run from it. You know this. That is why you are
here now.”
    I slowly twisted around and looked out at the
scattered clouds in the sky. It was now a given that we were going
to veer down this road whether I wanted to or not.
    “All right,” I finally agreed as I hung my
head. “I’m afraid the woman in the nightmare might be
Felicity.”
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 2:
     
     
    Felicity.
    Felicity Caitlin O’Brien, to be exact—my
wife, and unequivocally the greatest love of my life.
    It sickened me that this vile thought could
even cross my mind. And, that exact thought was also the very
reason why I had gone to great lengths to hide this recurring
nightmare from her.
    Normally, I could tell Felicity anything.
Close simply wasn’t strong enough a word to describe our
relationship. We were without a doubt, soul mates, and not in the
new-agey, soft-focus sense of the overused catchphrase. There was a
depth of