In the Belly of Jonah Read Online Free PDF

boaters. None of them had seen anything unusual or suspicious on the beach until returning. All of them noted it had been too dark to see anything at the hour of their departure. The police gave no indication that any of the fisherman were “persons of interest” at this time, meaning those poor bastards were probably all suspects for the moment, even the unlucky guy who found her. He was quoted as saying, “Oh dear God, it was horrible. That poor girl was just sitting there and she had a window sliced out of her body. I’ve never seen anything like it. A perfect rectangle. You could see right through her.”
    I lost it.
    Made it to the bathroom in time, but I lost it. Too much information, Coloradoan .
    I rinsed my face and brushed my teeth, opting not to finish reading the story. Jill was too good for this, too kind. Whatever happened to her, she did not deserve this. What kind of monster would do this to such an innocent young woman? A woman with hopes, dreams, ability; a long life ahead full of promise and purpose.
    Poor Joe.
    He had worked closely with Jill for the past seven weeks, mentoring her, shepherding her, helping her through the unavoidable obstacles of being a new hire at our company. As if mining and mineral processing were not a hard enough industry to work in as a summer temp, Jill had it doubly tough being an attractive college girl. Joe had made sure the uphill battle of acclimation, indoctrination, and acceptance was as painless as possible for the four athletes, particularly for Jill. And Joe had already decided he would invite Jill to return next summer because she was such a strong, reliable worker.
    I dialed the number knowing Joe had likely been at work since at least five and had probably missed the early morning news.
    “Joe, it’s Liv. Are you sitting down?”
    He didn’t respond right away.
    “Sitting?”
    “Yeah. What’s up?” he asked.
    There was no easy way to say it. “It’s Jill. She’s been murdered.”
    “Oh no,” he said, his voice sounding small.
    I wished I could have told him in person, face to face. But the plant is almost forty minutes from my house, and I was afraid someone would get to him before me. I knew he’d need time to recover from the news, and he’d be embarrassed if one of his employees witnessed his reaction.
    “It’s bad, Joe. It’s all over the news. She was butchered by some monster near Horsetooth.”
    He said nothing.
    “I know you’re in the middle of a shift change right now. You’ll need to pull it together quickly and tell the employees. Have them take a minute of silence for Jill and her family. The guys are going to need it. Tell them the authorities are working the crime scene and that we’ll know more later. But for the moment, all we can do is pray and cooperate any way we can with the authorities to help them find the bastard who did this to Jill. Tell them we will have a counselor up at the site from four to eight tonight for anyone needing to talk about it in private.”
    I waited for his response. Nothing.
    “Joe?”
    “Yeah, I’m here,” he croaked.
    “You okay?”
    “Hell no.”
    That took me aback. It was the first time I had ever heard Joe swear. Ever. “I’m leaving now. I’ll be there by six forty and I’ll cover for you with the quarry and maintenance employees when they come to work at seven. Are you okay to talk with the plant employees right now or do you want me to do it via speaker phone?”
    I heard him clear his throat. “I’ve got it. I can handle it.”
    “I know you can. See you soon.”

    After fielding some questions from the quarry and maintenance employees, which it turned out I had no answers for, I cornered Joe.
    “How are you doing?”
    “Not so good, Liv,” Joe said, sporting a sickly shade of green.
    “I’m so sorry, Joe. I know how close you two were these past few weeks.”Did I see him blush? “Do you need a little time for yourself? I can cover here.”
    “No, I’ll be okay.