Read Online Afterthoughts by Lynn Tincher - Free Book Online

Something
else happened. Someone else was involved and I am determined to
find out who it was! I can’t let Sarah down. I have to close this
for her!” Paige’s blue eyes swelled up with tears again and Jay
handed her his handkerchief.
    “ Let it go Paige,” Jay
pleaded with her. “At least for now. It’s not helping you to keep
this up. You really need to let it go.”
    “ You’re wrong!” Paige’s
voice was getting louder. She spun around to see Ian staring at her
from the window. “Get that man out of here before I throw him out
myself!”
    Jay left her and went into the house
to talk with Ian. Paige sat down at the patio table, looking at the
handkerchief. “Jay is wrong. There’s someone behind this,” she told
herself. “There has to be and I’ll find out who! I promise you
Sarah.” Paige looked up as if Sarah was watching her from above,
tears streaming down her face. She wiped them with the
handkerchief. “God, does anyone else besides Jay still carry these
things?” But today, she was glad he did.
    Looking around the
beautiful patio she remembered sitting out here, cooking steaks
with Anthony and Sarah, and watching Richie play with the
neighbor’s puppies. What a perfect, successful family they appeared
to be. Everyone seemed happy and the house was full of love. “Who would want to hurt these people?” she asked herself. She looked around to admire
the rose bushes and Crepe Myrtle trees that lined the entire patio
and out to weeping willows along the creek side just beyond the
yard. She was sad to think that winter was creeping in and
everything would look as dead as she felt. She could see Richie’s
old swing set in the back yard and wondered what happened to
him.
    “ Why did he get so messed
up in drugs? Maybe he was in trouble. Could the Steckler’s have
been murdered for drug money?” Paige was
more determined than ever to find out.
    She lay her head on the table and shut
her eyes. Visions of Richie swinging on his swing set quickly
changed into visions of him swinging in the garage. She could see
the ladder on the garage floor as she remembered the smell of the
urine that lay in a puddle around it. She could feel the rope in
her hands; the rope was in her hands …
    She fell asleep.
     

Chapter 11
     
    The rope around her was tighter than
she remembered. It cut into the flesh of her wrists and she could
smell the stale blood around her. The lightning flashed through the
window again as fear crept over her.
    She could hear him coming. Paige
became ill at the thought of him entering the room. She vomited
violently as he opened the door.
    “ Come now my little
pigeon. Don’t be like that!” his cold voice whispered behind her.
She could feel him try to clean her up. He touched her hair as she
tried to scream. Nothing would come out. She could feel herself be
taken over, told to relax. She tried to see his face, but the room
was too dark. “Relax” she kept hearing over and over again. “Everything is fine. Just relax. Let it go.”
    “ Paige?” Jay’s soft voice
woke her. She sat up with a jolt. Trembling, she immediately became
ill and raced to the rail to vomit over the side.
    Jay came up behind her and held her
head as she was wretched. When she finished, he turned her around
and rubbed her shoulder. “Are you okay now?” he asked
her.
    “ I think so,” she sniffed,
still trembling from her dream. She was determined not to tell Jay
about it. He was worried enough about her.
    Was she remembering those months or
was all of the stress bringing this out in her? She couldn’t think
about that now. “I need some water.”
    Jay helped her into the kitchen and
poured her a glass. Aileen came in with a cold wash cloth and
handed it to her.
    “ I’ll wash this thing
before I give it back to you,” she smiled at Jay as she wadded up
his handkerchief.
    “ Please do! I sure don’t
want your cooties,” he laughed at her making Paige
smile.
    “ Feeling better?” Aileen
asked