Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues Read Online Free PDF

He’s been getting some of his memory back. It’s slow, and when he does magic, it’s in random spurts, like the way he killed Jasper. He didn’t kill Harold.”
    She smiled at me, the dash light picking out glints from the diamond chip earrings she got for Christmas from Terry. “Don’t be stubborn about this, Skye. I know you care about Lucas, but you owe Abe your life.”
    “I know.” I smiled half-heartedly. “It’s hard to forget that. See you tomorrow, Debbie.”
    I kept my foot on the gas to keep the engine running so the headlights would illuminate the path between the driveway and the porch. Bowman waved to me when he opened the front door for his mother. I waved back and then left the house.
    It was getting harder for Debbie to go home each day. I knew it was because she never knew what she was going to find. One night, Terry was completely naked, running through the front yard. One night, the kids were scared of him because he’d killed a rabbit on the kitchen table. I knew she was holding on to the mess her life had become since her perfect world had ended when Terry was killed.
    The back roads outside Nashville between my house and Debbie’s were dark, narrow, curving country roads. The best thing I could say about them was that they were usually empty. Over the summer there was more traffic from tourists, but it also stayed light later.
    Despite the lateness of the hour, I took a turn I usually avoided going home. It took me past the spot where Jacob and I had died. It had been three years, but that night would always be like yesterday in my mind.
    We were coming home after a late dinner. It was dark, and the roads were empty. Jacob and I were full of plans for the future. We were happy and hopeful.
    A truck was coming from the opposite direction on the narrow, winding road. The bright lights flashed into our eyes, alerting us to the danger—too late—it was in our lane.
    Jacob took evasive action and swerved off the road. Our SUV bumped and bounced over rocks and small trees into the thick woods surrounding us.
    I know I passed out for a few minutes. When I woke up, Jacob was getting ready to walk back to the road and find help. Our cell phones had no service, and the truck driver hadn’t stopped.
    He was slightly injured but nothing serious, at least to my admittedly dazed eyes. He promised he’d come back for me as soon as he could. I think I lost consciousness again. When I woke, he still wasn’t back.
    The police finally found me, and I was rushed to the hospital, fighting for my life.
    Addie, Jacob’s mother, and the doctor tried to persuade me not to look at his body, but I couldn’t stay away. I didn’t care if that was the shock that killed me. I had to see him to believe it was real.
    He was mangled almost beyond recognition, torn to pieces, his handsome face shredded. There was no way his injuries had happened in the wreck. But though I protested and demanded an investigation, nothing happened. At that point, I’d died, and I had my own realities to deal with. I’d put Jacob’s death behind me—as Abe had insisted I should.
    But I never forgot.
    I mostly avoided the spot where we’d both died that night. It was a shortcut we’d liked to take going home. The sharp curve always re-played our last conversation in my mind. I could still see his smiling face the instant before he said he was going for help.
    But it was different tonight. There were several highway patrol cars, an ambulance, and a few firefighters at the same spot where we’d had our wreck.
    Addie was going to pitch a fit that I was home so late, but I couldn’t stop myself from slowing down and parking on the side of the road with the emergency vehicles.
    Someone was directing traffic. Flares had been set on the road to make sure no one came down the right hand side. I could see from the temporary lighting that another vehicle had gone off the road here. Small trees had been smashed to the ground and underbrush