Read Online Come Get Me by Michael Hunter - Free Book Online Page A

him.
     
    “Well,” she began whispering as if there was
anybody else in the general area that even cared, “everybody is
saying how he was pushed out his tree stand. At least, that is, all
the people I’ve talked to. I don’t see how that could’ve happened
though. I mean a tree stand is pretty small isn’t it? I don’t know.
Anyways, the rumor going around is that Tommy was doing something
with one of the boys in towns’ wife and he kinda caught them at it.
He got him back though by going out to Tommy’s stand and killing
him. Yup, pushed him right out of it they say. Then to make it look
like an accident he tossed him on a tree or something. I don’t know
what the big deal is about falling on a tree is though. I mean
falling on a tree isn’t that big a deal. I’ve seen a lot of people
fall out of trees and on them too.” She said all of this as if it
was an everyday occurrence. Jim almost pitied her for being so
stupid. Not seeming to know any different she stepped even closer
than she already was and told him it was all being kept quiet
because the tree Tommy had landed on was way to far away for him to
have made it there by himself. There was no way he could’ve reached
it without help. Everything Jim was hearing, even considering the
source, was making it harder and harder to believe Tommy’s death
had been an accident.
     
    Maria paused for a breath before adding a
little gruesomeness to her already macabre story. She smiled and
told him that there was also a rumor going around about there being
blood all over the place when they’d finally found Tommy. She said
she had it on good authority that it had been everywhere. Even on
the tree stand that he supposedly fell out of. That was one of the
things that were supposed to be such a secret, because if he fell
out of the stand onto a tree then how did the blood get up there?
This supposed friend of hers said the police’s shoes were drenched
in it when they got done walking around looking for clues. As Jim
stood with a look of mounting horror creeping across his face she
quickly added that everything she was telling him was just rumors
and that none of it was probably true and that if anyone asked he
didn’t hear them from her. She must’ve thought the look on his face
was acceptance of everything she said because she looked pretty
happy about everything after that.
     
    She was actually a lot happier about
everything than he would’ve expected someone in this type of
situation to be. She must've sensed something was wrong though
because she suddenly let out an eep and a look of embarrassment
sprang across her features. Jim had never heard anyone make an
“eep” sound before now and if the situation were different he
might’ve laughed but after what she’d just told and how much
pleasure she’d taken in the telling he didn’t care.
     
    “Oh!” she squeaked. “Wait a minute! You were,
like, best friends or something with Tommy weren’t you?” She hadn’t
waited for an answer to any other of her questions so why start
now. “Oh God! I totally forgot! Here I’ve been going on and on
about it like it was just regular everyday gossip, not thinking for
one minute I was talking to one of his best friends. I am so
sorry.” She would have stood there apologizing for the rest of the
day if he’d let her and he was half tempted to but it eventually
got on his nerves, plus he didn’t really think she was for some
reason so he cut her off.
     
    “Maria its ok, really,” he began, trying to
keep his voice under control. “You made an honest mistake. Don’t
worry about it. Really. I’m trying not to think too much about
everything but I’m glad you told me what you did. It’ll give me
something to ask Rob about if I ever find him. You made a mistake
and now you’ve apologized. End of story. Let’s leave it at
that.”
     
    She didn’t look like she believed him but he
didn’t really care what she thought anymore. He had bigger things
to