Read Online Shadows Fall by J.K. Hogan - Free Book Online Page B

entry of the run-down building. It was almost pitch black inside, but I got a vague sense of sawhorses and scaffolds. Tip-toeing for some inconceivable reason, I made my way into some kind of vestibule or foyer. I didn’t notice anything that this mulo would be so desperate for me to see, but I couldn’t really see much at all.
    My foot hit something solid and I was afraid to go any further into the dark. Who knew what kind of hazards were strewn about the construction site. I dug out my iPhone and swiped it to turn on the flashlight app. A bright light shone out of the camera flash and illuminated the dusty room in front of me—and the man lying all too still on the floor.
    I screamed for the second time in five minutes, stumbled back against a plastic-draped scaffolding and dropped my phone. I assumed it landed screen up, because the room was suddenly plunged back into darkness. With my skin crawling, I felt around on the floor for the hard case. Instead, I grabbed a cold leg.
    “Holy God!” I shouted, scrambling backwards and sideways until my back hit a wall. My pulse pounded and my head was spinning with the urge to pass the fuck out, either from fright or hyperventilation. My muscles were on lockdown, frozen into that gray area between fight-or-flight, but I knew I had to find my phone so I could get the hell out of there.
    And the body… I’d have to call someone. I poked around with the toe of my shoe, carefully avoiding the area of blackness where I thought the body was. Finally I felt the phone. I dragged it across the floor with my foot until I was able to pick it up. Everything was illuminated once again. “Oh thank God,” I said.
    But once there was light, I could see him again. His head was turned to face away from me, but I knew that it was the guy from outside. Obviously he’d wanted me to find his body. It was laid out like a sacrifice, arms stretched out to reveal the deep cuts on his arms. I shivered. My brain was finally catching up to the situation, and I realized it was entirely possible that the killer could still be here.
    I quickly got to my feet and lurched toward the dim light pooling at the doorway. As soon as I was out of there, I pressed my back up against the cool façade of the building and panted to catch my breath. I see the dead all the time, but I’d never actually seen a dead body before. I wasn’t sure what to do; the only thing I could think was call Charlie .
    With shaking hands, I pulled up his number on my phone—I may have entered it from the business card he gave me after chasing Jay out of the shop. I pressed send and he picked up on the first ring.
    “Hale.”
    “Ch-Charlie?”
    “Who’s this?”
    “Titus.” My voice was shaking and I was embarrassingly close to tears. “I need help.”
    “Tell me where you are and I’ll be right there.”
    I rattled off my general location, already soothed by the sound of his voice, the confidence in it. “Please hurry,” I said.
    “Stay put, I’m on my way.”
    * * * *
    When Charlie pulled up in his unmarked black Charger, I was sitting on the cracked concrete with my knees pulled up to my chest. I was still shaking, though for once even the dead were silent. Either that, or my traumatized mind couldn’t process any more information than it already was, and I was blocking them out.
    Charlie crouched down in front of me, took my chin in his hand, and tilted my face up. His eyes roved back and forth as if he were checking every inch of me for injuries. At first, I couldn’t meet his eyes; I was still seeing the dead guy floating across my vision.
    “Titus,” he said softly. He waited until I made eye contact before he spoke again. “Can you tell me what happened?”
    I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to speak; I don’t think I could’ve if I’d tried. Instead, I pointed to the door of the empty building, much like the young mulo had. Charlie glanced over and a look that I couldn’t interpret passed over his face.