Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Zach peered at the angry red impressions. He knew Cathlyn would look at the bones in the neck and other factors before he’d have a definitive cause of death, but it sure as hell looked like Josie’s mother had been strangled.
Strangled.
Not starved. Not shackled.
“Can you check her right thigh?”
Barry pushed her robe aside to expose the top of her right thigh, Zach’s stomach dropping. Casus belli. The words were crusted with dried blood, an enraged declaration of guilt carved into the thin, wrinkled skin.
What the fuck did this mean?
Footsteps sounded behind him, and he turned to see more criminalists entering the room. They’d be here for a while, going through this house that Josie had cleaned just that morning. The whole scene felt surreal in the aftermath of the time he’d spent sitting in the chair by the window as he’d listened to the old woman say cruel and insensitive things to her daughter.
He needed to interview the neighbor next door.
And then he’d have to go tell Josie her mother was dead.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The pounding above her ceased, and Josie went outside, putting her hands on her hips as she squinted up at Jimmy, who was on her roof with a now-empty box of shingles.
He smiled down at her and then maneuvered his large body around, descending the ladder carefully, tool belt clanking gently with his movements. He hopped off the bottom rung and wiped his hands. “All done. You only had some rotting wood that needed to be replaced. I added some new shingles, and now you’re back in business. You can put those pots and pans away.” He turned toward the ladder and began lifting it away from the house.
“I can’t thank you enough,” she said, gratitude making her chest feel tight. She wouldn’t have to—somehow—pay for a whole new roof. This man had fixed it with only minimal materials and several hours of his labor. “What do I owe you?”
“Not a dime,” he said, holding the ladder beside him as he began walking toward her back shed. “I would have been here anyway. I was glad to keep busy.”
She hurried to catch up. “All right, but I insist on paying you for the shingles and the wood.”
He entered the shed, depositing the ladder on the hooks it had originally been hanging on. “Nah, I had that stuff lying around. Glad to get it off my hands.”
“I thought you told me you were fixing up a boat.”
“I am.”
“Boats don’t have shingled roofs, Jimmy.”
“See? Totally useless to me.”
He turned and started walking toward the house. Josie huffed out a breath. She knew he was lying. He’d bought those shingles—the exact same ones that were already on the roof—before he’d gotten there, and she knew it. Sunshine spread through her as she watched Jimmy amble toward her porch. He turned toward where she’d come to a stop. “Get inside now. I’m tasked with keeping you safe.”
Josie laughed as she caught up to the big frog of a man with the heart of a prince.
But just as Jimmy was opening the front door, they heard a vehicle approaching and turned to watch Zach pull into her driveway. Josie’s heart did a little leap in her chest as he got out, watching as he moved with that masculine grace of his toward where they stood.
But then she frowned when she saw the troubled look on his face. Apparently Jimmy noticed his partner’s mood too because he stepped forward and asked, “Everything all right?”
Zach didn’t answer for a minute as he climbed the steps, his eyes meeting Josie’s. Oh God, something was terribly wrong. “What is it?” she managed.
“Josie, come on in the house and—”
“No. Tell me now. What is it?”
His eyes shot to Jimmy quickly and then back to her. “It’s your mother. She was found dead in her home.”
Josie reached out, grabbing the railing next to her. “What? I don’t…” She shook her head. “How?”
His eyes were trained on her so intently, she swore she could feel his gaze. “She was murdered. Strangled.”
“What?”
“Let’s go inside.”
Josie allowed Zach to guide her into the kitchen where they all took a seat at the large farmhouse table. Josie found a divot in the surface and moved her finger over it, using the small texture in the wood to ground herself. “I don’t understand,” she said. “Strangled?” She met Zach’s eyes. “So it’s not related to the copycat? It’s just…random?”
“No. It’s related. Casus belli was carved into her thigh. It was the only thing that appeared similar, but we’re operating on the theory that this is the same man who killed Aria Glazer and Miriam Bellanger.”
“But why?” she asked, her voice emerging on a choked whisper. “Why my mother? Why strangle her when he starved the other two women?”
“I don’t know.” He paused, and she could tell he was going to say something else he was hesitant about. “We won’t know all the details of your mother’s death for at least a few days. But there was something clearly visible on the body.” He paused again. Giving her time to brace? “Your mother was burned repeatedly by a lit cigarette before death. The burns were on her face and on her genitals. They were…extensive.”