Even if the fire did manage to lose oxygen and burn itself out, that was okay. The basement was destroyed enough to suit me. Ron was absolutely dead.
That was enough.
∞
From Ron’s house, I drove to the nearest motel, coughing as I went to expel from my lungs the soot and smoke that I’d inhaled. I paid for a room in cash but took in nothing except for a pair of jeans and socks, a blouse and bra, and my tennis shoes. I wasn’t staying. I just needed somewhere to take a long, hot shower and wash away the noxious and pungent odor of smoke.
After changing into the fresh set of clothes, I carried the dirty, soot-covered clothes back out to my car. I stuffed them into the duffle bag with everything else I’d taken to and from Ron’s house.
Behind the motel was a large dumpster. I threw the duffle bag in it and got back in my car, feeling like a weight much heavier than the duffle bag had been lifted from my shoulders.
I wasn’t worried about anyone finding the bag. If someone happened upon it and unzipped it, they’d discover two changes of clothing, a set of tie-down straps, and various other nondescript items. I’d left the bottle of Chloroform in Ron’s house, so there was nothing in the duffle bag that would make someone think it had been used in a crime.
Assuming the police ever did come to see me, it wouldn’t be to arrest me. It would be to let me know that Ron was dead. That is, if they did their job. I didn’t expect to see or hear from them, but if I did, I would act surprised and grateful, maybe even relieved, which wasn’t a stretch of the imagination. I really was relieved. So relieved in fact that as I drove across the city, back home to where Wade and Mason were waiting for me, I actually smiled.
There would be no more panic attacks now. No more sleepless nights. No more looking over my shoulder. He was gone for good. I had made sure of that. I could finally put the trauma behind me and move on with my life. The first step was to have dinner with my husband and son. The second step was to return to the fire station in which I’d left Austin and do everything I could to find him and bring him home, where he belonged.
Where we all belonged.
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About the Author
Kimberly A. Bettes was born in Missouri on Thanksgiving Day, 1977. Kimberly is the author of several novels and short stories. She lives with her husband and son in the beautiful Ozark Mountains of southeast Missouri, where she terrorizes residents of a small town with her twisted tales. It’s there she likes to study serial killers and knit. Serial killers who knit are her favorites.
Connect with Kimberly Online:
Twitter
Facebook
Blog
Other Titles by the Author:
Novels
The Day Bob Greeley Died
Before the Harvest
Held
RAGE
The Good Neighbor
Annie’s Revenge
Novellas
The Cabin on Calhoun Ridge
Shiners
Short Stories
His Ashes
The Home
Collections
Once Upon a Rhyme
Twisted
Minutes to Death Series
The Loneliest Road
Close to Home
The Last Resort
Shock Rock
The French Quarter
Anthologies Featuring Work by the Author
Carnage: After the End Volume 1
Legends of Urban Horror: A Friend of a Friend Told Me
HELD is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
Copyright © 2011 Kimberly A. Bettes
Printed in the United States of America
CASE PUBLISHING
PUSHED is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 Kimberly A. Bettes
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America.
Case Publishing
First Edition: February 2014
Held & Pushed (2 book bundle) Page 33
