Read Online Discovering Normal by Cynthia Henry - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Cynthia Henry
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“Chris was the toughest and the smartest agent I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. I don’t know what the hell the son-of –a-bitch was thinking,” Deej said with a squeeze.
“I guess I haven’t known that for a long time.” Beth reached for the hankie decorated with a huge ‘ D ’ that he handed her.
***
Jack had been waiting at the curb when Beth and Deej emerged with their luggage. Beth was so grateful that he’d brought Ramona along for the ride. Now Jack pulled up the long drive to the house and shut off the engine. Deej instantly hopped from the car, but Beth lingered in the backseat, holding Ramona’s hand for just a moment more. She’d left here only seventy-two hours ago and now she was back and her husband was dead.
It was unfathomable.
“Come on, honey,” Ramona whispered.
Beth climbed out and heard the same bird calling in a distant tree. Did he recognize that she’d come home--even sadder than when she’d left and so much more humbled?
Sundance dashed toward her and Beth stooped to pet him before she followed Ramona up the walk, but paused when Jackson pulled open the screen door.
No squeak. No slam.
The jerk fixed it.
Deej gestured his head for her to follow and she did, entering her kitchen as if she were a stranger and had never seen it before. The counter was a mess--coffee stains and sugar sprinkled around the coffeemaker. The sink was full of dishes--an unwashed frying pan and countless mugs and plates.
For some strange reason, Beth pushed her foot on the pedal of the garbage can and peered inside. A bag of chips, wrinkled napkins, a Popsicle wrapper, eggshells and the cored inner seeds of a green pepper?
Beth let it slam closed and turned when Deej called her name. She hadn’t even noticed Larry Thomas, a cop who had worked summers as a farm hand before he’d gone into the academy five years before, was near the kitchen doorway. “I’m sorry, Beth,” Larry said.
“Have you found him?”
Larry shook his head. “No, we’ve got a team on it. One of the herdsman said that Chris kept his hunting rifle in a safe in the barn office. We were able to get it open and the rifle’s gone, Beth. We’re working with the assumption that he wandered out into the woods beyond Dennison’s place.”
She wouldn’t have thought it was possible to feel sicker than she already had over the last four hours. But it was possible all right.
Beth fell into her kitchen chair--one of the four that she’d meticulously stripped and refinished--and rested her head. “This just doesn’t make any sense,” she muttered. Ramona’s palm stroked circles into her back. Beth raised her head to see Ramona, Jack, Larry and Deej, who’d dealt with so much tragedy in the past, staring at her as if they didn’t have a clue either what the hell it all meant.
“Can I see the note he left?” she asked and Larry pulled it from a manila envelope that he held and handed it to her.
Beth glanced down at yellow legal paper and Chris’ half-print, half-cursive handwriting.
Not much to say besides there’s no reason for me to go on. I’ve lost my wife, my children, everything. The world will be better without me.
Chris
The world would be better without him? Chris had never for a moment truly believed that the world would be better without him. He believed there was too little good and far too much bad and he’d never sacrifice a nanosecond of providing the world with even the briefest flash of humanity.
Unless she’d utterly destroyed him.
“This doesn’t make sense,” she said again and she knew she was rambling, but it didn’t make any sense at all. “He didn’t even try to get me to stay.” She looked up toward Deej and Jackson. “You know him. He always thought he was right and he’d never give up without a fight. I talked to him on the phone when I arrived in Connecticut. He asked how the car had done. He didn’t say he couldn’t live without me.”
Beth
“Chris was the toughest and the smartest agent I’ve ever had the privilege of working with. I don’t know what the hell the son-of –a-bitch was thinking,” Deej said with a squeeze.
“I guess I haven’t known that for a long time.” Beth reached for the hankie decorated with a huge ‘ D ’ that he handed her.
***
Jack had been waiting at the curb when Beth and Deej emerged with their luggage. Beth was so grateful that he’d brought Ramona along for the ride. Now Jack pulled up the long drive to the house and shut off the engine. Deej instantly hopped from the car, but Beth lingered in the backseat, holding Ramona’s hand for just a moment more. She’d left here only seventy-two hours ago and now she was back and her husband was dead.
It was unfathomable.
“Come on, honey,” Ramona whispered.
Beth climbed out and heard the same bird calling in a distant tree. Did he recognize that she’d come home--even sadder than when she’d left and so much more humbled?
Sundance dashed toward her and Beth stooped to pet him before she followed Ramona up the walk, but paused when Jackson pulled open the screen door.
No squeak. No slam.
The jerk fixed it.
Deej gestured his head for her to follow and she did, entering her kitchen as if she were a stranger and had never seen it before. The counter was a mess--coffee stains and sugar sprinkled around the coffeemaker. The sink was full of dishes--an unwashed frying pan and countless mugs and plates.
For some strange reason, Beth pushed her foot on the pedal of the garbage can and peered inside. A bag of chips, wrinkled napkins, a Popsicle wrapper, eggshells and the cored inner seeds of a green pepper?
Beth let it slam closed and turned when Deej called her name. She hadn’t even noticed Larry Thomas, a cop who had worked summers as a farm hand before he’d gone into the academy five years before, was near the kitchen doorway. “I’m sorry, Beth,” Larry said.
“Have you found him?”
Larry shook his head. “No, we’ve got a team on it. One of the herdsman said that Chris kept his hunting rifle in a safe in the barn office. We were able to get it open and the rifle’s gone, Beth. We’re working with the assumption that he wandered out into the woods beyond Dennison’s place.”
She wouldn’t have thought it was possible to feel sicker than she already had over the last four hours. But it was possible all right.
Beth fell into her kitchen chair--one of the four that she’d meticulously stripped and refinished--and rested her head. “This just doesn’t make any sense,” she muttered. Ramona’s palm stroked circles into her back. Beth raised her head to see Ramona, Jack, Larry and Deej, who’d dealt with so much tragedy in the past, staring at her as if they didn’t have a clue either what the hell it all meant.
“Can I see the note he left?” she asked and Larry pulled it from a manila envelope that he held and handed it to her.
Beth glanced down at yellow legal paper and Chris’ half-print, half-cursive handwriting.
Not much to say besides there’s no reason for me to go on. I’ve lost my wife, my children, everything. The world will be better without me.
Chris
The world would be better without him? Chris had never for a moment truly believed that the world would be better without him. He believed there was too little good and far too much bad and he’d never sacrifice a nanosecond of providing the world with even the briefest flash of humanity.
Unless she’d utterly destroyed him.
“This doesn’t make sense,” she said again and she knew she was rambling, but it didn’t make any sense at all. “He didn’t even try to get me to stay.” She looked up toward Deej and Jackson. “You know him. He always thought he was right and he’d never give up without a fight. I talked to him on the phone when I arrived in Connecticut. He asked how the car had done. He didn’t say he couldn’t live without me.”
Beth
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