The Dead Series (Book 1): Tell Me When I'm Dead Read Online Free PDF Page A

somewhere.”
    “Could be. We’ll see when we get home.”
    Up ahead, I spotted a dark figure on the side of the road, tottering towards us, his head down. I slowed and went around. As my headlight beams shone on him, he looked up at us. His eyes were vacant. The way he moved, I could see he had the jimmies.
    “See, this is why I don’t drink anymore,” I said.
    My joke fell flat. The sight of this guy chilled us both, and we rode the rest of the way in silence. I kept thinking about how this thing was spreading. Could Holly or I come down with the sickness?
    At home in familiar surroundings we couldn’t wait to get into bed. It felt like when we were first dating. All my senses were aroused. I smelled her hair and got lost in it.
    “We’re good together, aren’t we?” I said.
    “Like fleas and parrots.”
    I kissed her perfect fingers, then her wedding ring. She was everything I wanted. And I would do anything to protect her. Anything.
    I pulled her close and kissed her. “I love you so much, Holly.”
    “You butter,” she said and pushed me onto my back.

 

    We read the disturbing headline in the paper— MAN SEES BODY OF MISSING WOMAN. A local hunter told reporters he found the body of the missing woman, a local named Sarah Champion, in the woods. She’d been eviscerated. He went to get help, but when he returned with the police, the body was gone. The only things left were blood, hair, bits of clothing and a finger.
    Sarah was a writer in her forties who loved to run. Holly and I had seen her many times in the early morning on our way to work. She left behind a husband and two young sons. The hapless hunter was not considered a suspect.
    Holly and I carpooled whenever we had the same work schedule. With the news of Sarah’s slaying, fear had taken over our lives. Fear of the forest, fear of the night and fear of other people. I thought about buying a gun.
    Everyone at work talked about the killing. Some believed the hunter had murdered Sarah himself, hidden the body and gone to the police to taunt them. Those people watched too much cable television.
    “It had to be a drifter,” Fred said. He was incapable of believing anyone in Tres Marias would commit such an atrocity. “A psycho from across the border.”
    “And by ‘border’ you mean Oregon?” I said.
    “Exactly. Or farther north even. Remember the Green River Killer?”
    “How do you explain the animal mutilations?” someone else said. It was Zach, the wiseass kid who spent all his time in the alley smoking dope when he wasn’t stocking inventory.
    Fred regarded him like a patient teacher. “I told you, Zach. There’s a rabid bear or something out there.”
    “Or maybe one of those freaks with the jimmies did it.”
    “Why don’t you unpack those fax machines.”
    “I’m tellin’ ya, man …”
    Zach was the one person Fred ordered around. The rest of us knew our jobs and did them without being asked. I often wondered why Fred didn’t fire him. I suppose it had something to do with the fact that Fred was the one who had hired him. He saw himself as a good judge of character.
    “Zach’s just rough around the edges,” he said one time.

    At Subway, Holly and I tried to keep the conversation light, but it always came back to the weird events that consumed our lives. In my head I saw Missy everywhere, and I was terrified she would confront me in front of my wife.
    “Don’t you like your sandwich?” Holly said.
    “Not that hungry, I guess.”
    “I like the way you held me this morning.”
    I tried ignoring the pain in my gut as my hand found hers.

    When we got home in the late afternoon, I fell asleep on the sofa in the TV room. Holly insisted on going to the grocery store even though I’d promised to go later.
    Something woke me. When I opened my eyes, Jim was standing there. Terrified, I rolled off the sofa and scrambled to my feet. He was gone. Had I dreamt this? I looked at the carpet and saw dirty footprints.
    When Holly