The Vampire Diaries: Bound By Blood (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page A

work here, and I have a job to do and… .”
    “And what?”
    “I think I’m in over my head.”
    She paused, and I could hear the sounds of the office going on behind her. Ronie didn’t go into the family business—private investigating—but she hadn’t gone far. She was the fraud manager to a major insurance company.
    “Quit looking at the big picture, Max,” she said. “The big picture is too big, too stressful. Focus on the small elements of the case, those elements you can control.”
    I needed to hear that. I exhaled, “You’re right.”
    “What if Sheriff Forbes won’t cooperate? The clues are there for you just as much as they are there for her.”
    “They gathered all the clues,” I said.
    “Then why is the case still open?” she asked.
    I thought about that. “Because they missed something.”
    “And that something might just be under your nose, Max. Think outside of the box—”
    “Look deeper,” I said, chiming in with her.
    She laughed a little and we shared yet another special moment. “Yes, Max. Deeper.” She said the last word with a little double entendre that reminded me of the old us.
    “I miss you, Ronie.”
    “I’m very married, Max.”
    I almost told her I loved her. I almost told her I dreamed about her two or three times a week. And that every time I do, I wake up sad and my heart breaks all over again. Over and over. I almost told her that I don’t think I will ever, ever get over her. But I didn’t tell her any of that. Just hearing her voice was enough, despite knowing she would go home to another man. That she loved another man. That she slept with another man.
    “Thank you, Ronie.”
    “I have to get back to work, Max. Good luck and stay safe.”
    She clicked off as I continued to hold the phone to my ear. Longing was such a bitch.

CHAPTER SIX
     
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    I took in a lot of air, held it in my lungs, and exhaled.
    As I did so, a powerful gust swept through the forest and rattled the trees around me. Yes, I loved the water—water of all types, really: oceans and rivers, streams and the rain. I loved the rain most of all. Hell, I even loved the sound of kitschy zen-type desk fountains.
    But the wind held a special place in my heart, too. I’d always loved the sound of it whistling through branches overhead, or thundering over my ears. Others ran from windstorms, but I never did. I enjoyed walking my dog in them, feeling its raw power, observing its dominion over everything. The strongest trees bowed before the gusts that sometimes blew through town. I once had someone tell me he believed the wind stole his soul. I believe he couldn’t have been more wrong. The wind gave life. Hell, the wind was life.
    The breath of God.
    Then again, I always had been a little weird.
    As I stood there in the clearing, where two campers met their fate by an unknown assailant, I listened to this sudden gust of wind that seemed to be blowing everywhere at once, swaying the massive treetops, rustling the leaves of the forest. I closed my eyes and felt the wind move over me, through my hair, thundering over my clothing. Hell, I was in heaven. The waterfall was thundering by my side, and the gusting wind blasted everywhere else.
    No wonder I had enjoyed camping here. The perfect spot.
    And, for one murderer, it had been the perfect spot to kill, too.
    I kept my eyes closed and felt the raw power of the wind, its thundering howl merging with that of the churning waterfall nearby. Nature was at its clamorous best. With my eyes closed, the wind seemed to pick up strength. I reveled in the sensation, briefly forgetting why I was here. I took in some air, and as I let it out the wind seemed to increase. It was up to gale force now, easily 40 or 50 miles an hour. Dirt and debris pelted me, but I ignored it.
    I lowered my hands and the wind died. I could almost believe that I was the forest’s maestro, controlling the symphony orchestra of nature. I almost believed . I wasn’t delusional.