Until I Die Again [On The Way To Heaven] (Soul Change Novel)

by Tina Wainscott

  The truck.

  If the truck from her nightmares was black, this one was ashen gray from the torture of flames and intense heat. The paint was bubbled up in some places, non-existent in others.

  The front corner was smashed in, and all along the side were dents. It had definitely been in a wreck. She walked around the other side, and her heart stopped beating for a moment when she saw the faint outline of green elf shoes beneath the crackled finish. Below that in green letters: ELF PRODUCE. FRESH TO YOU.

  Her teeth chattered, but not from the cold. She had been murdered by whomever had driven this truck last. Her stomach churned. She had to tell someone. But who was going to believe her connection between the truck and Chris’s car?

  She would make someone figure it out, she thought, icy wind chilling her bones.

  “Who the hell are you?”

  Hallie’s shoulders hunched up, and she fought the lightheaded feeling that threatened to make her faint at the sound of Randy’s voice. She turned around, knowing her face was pale. He stood there, narrowed eyes filled with something akin to fear and anger. She glanced at the truck, then back at him, unsure how to play her hand. The wind picked up, howling viciously.

  “I told you who I was.”

  He stepped closer, his own gaze flicking to the truck before zeroing in on her again. “Yeah, I know what you told me. But who are you really? Who sent you here?”

  She pulled her hair out of her eyes. “No one sent me. I came here on my own.”

  “Because you dreamed of living in a town like this?”

  “Yes.”

  “No. You show up at my garage and offer to do my books, guessing that I need help. You go snooping through my files, taking things from my files.” He leaned closer, so close his warm breath fogged in front of her nose. “And now you’re here, of all places, in the junkyard, looking at one particular car, and one particular truck.”

  She backed away. “I’ve looked at a lot of cars here. What’s the big deal?”

  He nodded toward the truck. “Ever seen that truck before?”

  “Maybe I have, and maybe I haven’t. What’s your interest?”

  He took another step closer. “It was stolen awhile back. The thief ran it into the side of a mountain, and it burst into flames. Maybe you know who stole it.”

  “You don’t look like a cop to me,” she said, standing tall and straight. “And you never answered my question. What’s your interest in it?”

  Before she could move away, he grabbed her arms. “Tell me who you are,” he hissed.

  “Get your hands off her,” another voice said from a few feet away.

  She knew that voice. Her heart jumped before she even looked to see Jamie standing there, rigid and ready to kill. Jamie. But… how?

  Randy’s grip relaxed, but his fingers remained around her arms. “I don’t know who you are, but I’m having a little fight with my girlfriend, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave.”

  Jamie took a step closer. “I don’t know who you are, but you’ve got your hands on my wife, and I’m not going anywhere without her.”

  Surprise registered on Randy’s face, and with Jamie’s bruises, he looked like a man who regularly tangled with others. Hallie took the opportunity to twist free and race to Jamie’s side. Strong arms encircled her, but he remained facing Randy with stiff shoulders and a challenging stare. When Randy did nothing, Jamie steered her away to the front gates.

  “Hallie DiBarto,” Randy’s voice called after them. Jamie kept walking, and she didn’t look back. “We’re not done yet. I will find out who you are.”

  She shuddered, but the security of Jamie next to her injected the courage that was now faltering inside her. They walked past her rental car to his, and before they reached it, Randy stalked to his truck, shooting her a threatening glare before jumping in and driving off.

  Before she could turn back to Jamie, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his warm embrace. “Before I say or ask anything, I just want to hold you.”

  She wanted to laugh, cry, scream. Instead, she soaked up the feeling of being with him again. It was stunning, unbelievable. It was a full minute before he finally moved back to look at her.

  She ran her numb hands over his head. “You must be freezing!”

  He glanced down absently. “I don’t have many coats in Caterina. You’re the one who’s cold. Your teeth are chattering Let’s get in the car.”

  He’d left it running, and the heat felt wonderful. But not nearly as much as seeing him did.

  “How did you find me?”

  His eyes widened. “You’re going to ask me questions first?” He took a deep breath. “I found credit card charges from the Maven Inn.”

  “They wouldn’t take cash. I couldn’t believe it.”

  He shook his head. “You paid cash for everything so I wouldn’t find you.”

  “It wasn’t to hide my tracks. I didn’t want to stick you with the charges.”

  He gave her an exasperated sigh, and she saw the raw pain in his eyes. “I don’t care about the money.”

  She touched his cheek. “You thought I was hiding from you. I’m sorry. It never occurred to me that you’d try to find me, especially after you told me not to come back.”

  He took a deep breath. “And you weren’t going to give me a chance to change my mind?”

  She smiled then, biting her lower lip. “Do you think after all we’ve been through I would give up on you that easily? I just… I had to take care of some things here before I could live in peace. I couldn’t explain it to you because you would think I was crazy and send me away to the Sharp Rehabilitation Center.”

  “The bridge nightmares?” She nodded. “Well, I’m here now. Can you explain now why you left? Why I found my wife standing in a junkyard clutched in the arms of some greasy thug?”

  She inhaled deeply, giving herself a moment to think. Jamie would never believe the truth. Maybe a half truth would be easier to digest.

  “A little more than three months ago a woman was run off a nearby bridge and died.”

  “You mean Chris.”

  “You know? About Chris?”

  “I found the article and her obituary.”

  “How in the world did you find them?”

  “Phoenix outed you. Remember, he has a paper fetish. He also likes to crawl under dressers and things. So go on, what about Chris? The article never said anything about her being run off the road. Her boyfriend, Alan, said she lost control of the car because she was upset.”

  She felt the blood rush to her cheeks. “I—she was not upset. Well, she was upset, but she didn’t lose control of the car. A truck ran her off the bridge.”

  “How can you be so sure? Three and a half months ago you were in California. You’ve never even been in Colorado.”

  “I, well, in a way I was. You see, I had these dreams about the accident, you know, the ones about being run off a bridge. And I knew Alan—Randy, had something… back then I thought he… I had…” She dropped her head, rubbing her fingers across her temples.

  When she lifted her head, her insides tightened at the penetrating look Jamie was giving her. In an exhale, she said, “I’m Chris. I know you’re not going to believe me, and I don’t expect you to. I just—I can’t dance around it anymore, and now that you’re here…” Tears flooded her eyes, tears of relief and of sadness that when he knew the truth, he wouldn’t want anything to do with her.

  She waited for something, a word, an action. He just sat there and looked at her. Behind those blue eyes raced a thousand thoughts, all hidden from her. Then he reached out and touched her wet cheek with his thumb.

  In a ragged whisper, he asked, “How?”

  Her heart filled like a helium balloon, causing her to inhale sharply. “You believe me?” she whispered.

  “I knew you were different, but I never imagined…” He shook his head. “I don’t know. I couldn’t imagine anything like this. But when I rea
d that obituary, it was you. The dogs, the way she was. And the accident, your nightmares about bridges. And that time you screamed out Alan’s name. You looked like my wife, but you felt different.” His fingers traced the lines of her face. “You’re really someone else in there? A completely different person?”

  “Yes. I’m Chris Copestakes, I was born here in Maven, I went to the community college to become a forestry technician, I had three sisters, three shelties, and when I was twenty-three, I was killed.”

  His eyes looked luminous, taking in every word, every movement. “But you came back?”

  She touched the hand that was pressed against her cheek. “Do you remember that night at Captain Morgan’s in California? When I told you that I had come back from death for you? That was true. On the way to Heaven, God told me I had a task, and I heard a voice say, ‘Find his heart.’ Then I woke up in Hallie’s body, and you were there in my room. I came back for you, Jamie. Because you needed a second chance, too.”

  She realized that the gleam in his eyes was actually a film of tears, and that made her eyes water even more. His hand slid down her arm, taking her hand and pressing it against the softness of his lips.

  He squeezed his eyes closed. “Everything I said, everything I did… I said a lot of mean things to you, I told you to leave me alone. But you stayed.”

  She leaned over and touched her mouth to his. “Because I loved you. I wanted you for me, not just because you were legally my husband.”

  “Then why did you leave me when everything was perfect?”

  “Because inside me, it wasn’t perfect. The nightmares kept telling me that my death wasn’t an accident. I knew I wouldn’t have any peace until I found out what really happened.”

  “And the jerk I found you with?”

  “That’s Randy. The man I knew as Alan Messino.”

  “The Alan in the article? Chris’s—your boyfriend?”

  “Former boyfriend.”

  She told him what she’d found out months earlier, filling him in on all the pieces of the puzzle except one. “I don’t know how he could have stolen the semi and caught up to me by the time I reached Crystal Bridge.”

  Jamie pulled at a loose thread on his green sweater, deep in thought. “According to the article, Paula said you were meeting Randy, which he denied. She couldn’t prove… hey, wait a minute. Where did you call her from?”

  “I don’t even remember calling her.”

  “But you stopped somewhere to call. That would give him some time.”

  “Yeah, but not that much time. And he wouldn’t have known…” Her eyes widened as the final piece of the memory jigsaw puzzle slid into place. “My tire went flat. I stopped and put on the spare. There was a gash in it; maybe a knife slash. He cut my tire, and that gave him the time he needed.” Then the blood drained from her face. “Oh my God, Randy really did kill me. How are we going to explain all this to the police? Will they ever believe us?”

  “It’s going to be tricky, trying to explain how you know all this when you just moved to town. We’ve got to get that file from Randy’s office.”

  She looked at Jamie. “No, you’ve got to go back to Caterina. Dammit, you shouldn’t even be here!”

  “Of course, I should. Despite whoever you are inside, you’re still my wife.” His eyes blazed with determination. “And because of who you are inside, I love you. I’m staying with you.”

  “No, Jamie, this is my problem. I don’t want to drag you into it. Look what I’ve already done, what with Mick attacking you. This is my fight, and I’ve got to do it alone.”

  He leaned closer, his eyes narrowed. “The hell you are.”

  “Hill.”

  “No, the hell you are. You think after what I saw earlier, and after what you just told me, that I’m going to leave you to deal with this by yourself? I think you know me better than that.”

  She didn’t want to drag him into this. But she didn’t know what she would have done if Jamie had obeyed her and left.

  “Jamie—”

  “Don’t argue with me, woman.”

  “I was going to say, I love you.”

  He pulled her hard against him, and for an instant, she had a crazy thought that the sound of crashing glass was the sound they’d made when they came together. It wasn’t. It was the crow bar that was starting to swing in through the open window again.

  CHAPTER 19

  Hallie felt the sting across the back of her head before Jamie shoved her down and grabbed hold of the swinging crowbar. Dizziness swarmed in her brain amidst the grunts of the two men above her battling for the crude weapon. Anger, fast and furious, raced through her. Randy had taken her life before, and now he meant to take it again—along with Jamie’s.

  She reached for the door handle and shoved it open, toppling Randy onto the snow-covered ground. Before he could get to his feet, she jumped out and leapt on top of him, pounding her fists into his face.

  “You son of a bitch! I am not going to let you kill me again!”

  His green eyes widened, registering confusion. After that, everything happened too fast. She saw Jamie in the corner of her eye, then Randy twisted around and suddenly she was pinned beneath him with a knife at her throat. The horror in Jamie’s eyes matched the fear in her heart. He froze.

  Randy gasped, his eyes shifting from Hallie to Jamie. “Don’t come an inch nearer, or she’ll be coloring the snow red.”

  Jamie raised his hands, but his voice remained harsh. “Put a scratch on her and die.”

  “You might be bigger than me, but I’ve got the knife.” He pressed the blade harder against her throat.

  She found herself memorizing every feature on Jamie’s face, pressing the image into her mind to take with her to Heaven. She wanted to plead but was afraid to move for fear the blade would cut her.

  Randy nudged her. “Whoever you are, get in the truck. Both of you.”

  She wanted Jamie to run, but she could tell by the look in his eyes he wasn’t going to leave her. He walked to the truck and slid in, never once taking his eyes off her.

  “The driver’s side!” Randy barked in her ear, making her flinch. “Okay, you get up slowly. And no more attempts at being Superwoman, or you won’t get a chance to say goodbye to your hubby, got it?”

  She didn’t answer, just got to her feet along with him. He shoved her along the icy ground toward the black truck. The sky started spitting half-frozen water, reminding her only then how cold she was. She slid into the cab next to Jamie, and Randy squeezed in and closed the door. The knife was still pressing against her throat.

  “Start the truck and head east,” Randy ordered.

  Jamie complied, pulling out of the parking lot and onto the narrow road. It hurt to look at him, to feel his arm against her shoulder, and know that they would never get to explore a new life free from old hurts and deception. Her heart felt like a rubber ball, hard and tight inside. If she would have just left it alone, lived with the nightmares, this wouldn’t be happening.

  Randy gestured. “Turn down that road.”

  She knew where they were going: to his trailer. It was hidden by a stand of evergreens that encircled it half-moon style. The truck struggled through the snow on a road that was never plowed except when Randy cared to do it himself.

  “We’re home, kids!” Randy chimed before yanking her out of the truck backwards. When Jamie moved in retaliation, the knife took its former position biting into the skin of her neck. “Watch it, hero.”

  Her inadvertent cry restored Jamie’s calmness, though she saw the muscles in his throat straining against his skin, holding back his fury.

  They stomped through the snow and flurries to the aluminum trailer like a party of mourners, Jamie in front. When he reached the dilapidated wrought-iron steps, he turned.

  “You’ve got the key.” Randy pointed to the key ring Jamie held. “Open the door.”

  Jamie’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before turning and trying the different key
s on the ring. When he found the right one, he turned the key. Her head spun at the speed in which Randy moved. Before she realized what was happening, he grabbed a broken bar from the steps and slammed Jamie in the back of the head with it. He dropped to his knees, then fell to the ground.

  “Jamie!”

  Randy caught her arm and jerked her backward. “Help me get him into the trailer.”

  “Oh, God, not again.” Blood colored Jamie’s blond hair.

  “Lift his head and help me get him inside. Or do you want me to drag him feet first?”

  She gently lifted Jamie’s head and shoulders and kicked the door open. They laid him on the worn green carpet in the living room. Randy grabbed her arm and yanked her outside into the cold again. They walked to the tiny wood shed, and her heart shuddered as she tried to remember what he kept there. Thankfully, he reached in and only grabbed a coil of rope. What small favors I’m grateful for now.

  When they walked back in the trailer, Jamie was moaning. She leaned down and touched his face, willing his eyes to open.

  “Wah, wah.” Randy jerked down a narrow hall to a bathroom the size of a kitchen cupboard. “You’re killing me. Sit down, behind the toilet.”

  “What are you going to do with us?”

  “I’m working on a plan. I wasn’t exactly planning on house guests.”

  “If you’re busy, we can always come back later.”

  “Smart asses die first.”

  She thought of escape. She could push him out of the way, rouse Jamie. No, not enough time. Besides, she was trapped, Randy between her and the doorway. She squeezed between the shower bin and toilet. Randy crouched down and secured her with the rope to the back of the toilet, running it around the porcelain base.

  “Jamie! Jamie!” she screamed, hoping to wake him before Randy could reach him. It was their only chance.

  Randy cinched the knot and tore out of bathroom. She couldn’t even wriggle. She heard a thump, something breaking. Jamie was conscious again. Fear gripped her insides, and she struggled to get free. Then she heard the gunshot. Every muscle collapsed and left her near fainting.