Read Online The Dream Thief by Kerry Schafer - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Kerry Schafer
Tags: Literary, Psychological, Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal, Mystery, supernatural, Dreams, love, bestselling author, Interstitial Fiction, pacific northwest, redemption, weird fiction, Kerry Schafer
Ads: Link
could still feel his heart beating in rhythm with my own. Not dead. Not dead is good.
Everything in me wanted to rush over and stop the bleeding and call for help, but I didn't dare let Marsh see that I cared for fear he'd start shooting.
 "Tell me what you want."
"Saundra sent me to get the rest of her stuff. Remember? We agreed."
He said this like it made sense to him somehow, and I shook my head a little to clear it. "This requires a gun? And beating Will senseless?"
"You weren't supposed to see any of the equipment."
But I had seen it all nowâthe equipment and the little bottles. In that moment I wished I hadn't. If Marsh had only come an hour earlier and taken it all away, I would never have known what was here. And then it wouldn't have been my job to fix it, to clean up the mess. If I let Marsh walk away now with all of this contraband I would never be able to live with myself.
On the other hand, no way was I going to let Will die.Â
I needed time to think.
Holding my breath and taking a gamble that Marsh didn't really want to pull that trigger, I turned my back on the gun and crossed the barn to the contraption that looked like a distillery.
"What is all this, anyway?" I ran my fingers over the tubing that connected the pot to the glass beakers, watching Marsh in my peripheral vision.
He blinked repeatedly, processing. His brow furrowed and he squinted at the apparatus like he'd never seen it before. Then he shook his head, exactly like a cow will do when the flies are pestering, and said, "That isn't important. Saundra wants her stuff, and she wants it now."
"So take it. Why are you waving a gun around when you have work to do?"
He just stood there, looking dazed and confused, as if this was a question for which he had no answer. I thought about Will, and the guitar, and the little bottles on the shelves in the tack room.
"Sorry about the whole spilled dream thing," I said, watching him. "I hope there are no lingering effects."
He gave an exaggerated sigh. "Stop stalling. You're going to load my truck for me. That's why I've got the gun. So I'm gonna count to ten, and if you aren't moving by then, I'm going to shoot Will. You hear me?"
Marsh's behavior just didn't add up. He'd never been overly bright and he'd always been a bully, but he wasn't stupid and he wasn't a killer. If I was right about what was going on, he'd been programmed somehow and wasn't driving his own boat.
 Which made me responsible. For him, for Will, for this whole stupid mess my mother had bequeathed to me. I hate responsibility. All I've ever wanted is freedom, me and Red and the wide open road. Well, and maybe Will.
But I couldn't walk away. Even if I could have disabled Marsh, grabbed Will and made a break for it, I couldn't run off and leave that room full of bootlegged dreams. And I really wasn't even good with the idea of letting Saundra have her hooks in Marsh.
"You don't have to do this." I took a slow step forward, holding out my hands and keeping steady eye contact, as though Marsh was a frightened dog who might be soothed and brought to heel. "Come on, Marsh. You don't hate Will. Just yesterday you were relieved he was still alive. You're not a murderer."
A deep, guttural sob caught in his chest. The gun in his hands wavered. "I am, though. I killed Tom. Threw him in the lake."
I took another step with nothing better in mind than getting close enough to wrestle with him for the gun. I figured if I was right up close and personal I'd be away from the business end of the damn thing, seeing as it was a long barrel and not a pistol. Maybe I could take him down without either of us getting hurt.
Not a great plan, as I'm better at running than fighting. By the time the guns come out I'm usually miles away.
"If you killed Tomâthat's no reason to kill somebody else. Make a run for it. Get out of town. Do you think Saundra is going to protect you from the cops? You don't need to help her."
"I want to
Everything in me wanted to rush over and stop the bleeding and call for help, but I didn't dare let Marsh see that I cared for fear he'd start shooting.
 "Tell me what you want."
"Saundra sent me to get the rest of her stuff. Remember? We agreed."
He said this like it made sense to him somehow, and I shook my head a little to clear it. "This requires a gun? And beating Will senseless?"
"You weren't supposed to see any of the equipment."
But I had seen it all nowâthe equipment and the little bottles. In that moment I wished I hadn't. If Marsh had only come an hour earlier and taken it all away, I would never have known what was here. And then it wouldn't have been my job to fix it, to clean up the mess. If I let Marsh walk away now with all of this contraband I would never be able to live with myself.
On the other hand, no way was I going to let Will die.Â
I needed time to think.
Holding my breath and taking a gamble that Marsh didn't really want to pull that trigger, I turned my back on the gun and crossed the barn to the contraption that looked like a distillery.
"What is all this, anyway?" I ran my fingers over the tubing that connected the pot to the glass beakers, watching Marsh in my peripheral vision.
He blinked repeatedly, processing. His brow furrowed and he squinted at the apparatus like he'd never seen it before. Then he shook his head, exactly like a cow will do when the flies are pestering, and said, "That isn't important. Saundra wants her stuff, and she wants it now."
"So take it. Why are you waving a gun around when you have work to do?"
He just stood there, looking dazed and confused, as if this was a question for which he had no answer. I thought about Will, and the guitar, and the little bottles on the shelves in the tack room.
"Sorry about the whole spilled dream thing," I said, watching him. "I hope there are no lingering effects."
He gave an exaggerated sigh. "Stop stalling. You're going to load my truck for me. That's why I've got the gun. So I'm gonna count to ten, and if you aren't moving by then, I'm going to shoot Will. You hear me?"
Marsh's behavior just didn't add up. He'd never been overly bright and he'd always been a bully, but he wasn't stupid and he wasn't a killer. If I was right about what was going on, he'd been programmed somehow and wasn't driving his own boat.
 Which made me responsible. For him, for Will, for this whole stupid mess my mother had bequeathed to me. I hate responsibility. All I've ever wanted is freedom, me and Red and the wide open road. Well, and maybe Will.
But I couldn't walk away. Even if I could have disabled Marsh, grabbed Will and made a break for it, I couldn't run off and leave that room full of bootlegged dreams. And I really wasn't even good with the idea of letting Saundra have her hooks in Marsh.
"You don't have to do this." I took a slow step forward, holding out my hands and keeping steady eye contact, as though Marsh was a frightened dog who might be soothed and brought to heel. "Come on, Marsh. You don't hate Will. Just yesterday you were relieved he was still alive. You're not a murderer."
A deep, guttural sob caught in his chest. The gun in his hands wavered. "I am, though. I killed Tom. Threw him in the lake."
I took another step with nothing better in mind than getting close enough to wrestle with him for the gun. I figured if I was right up close and personal I'd be away from the business end of the damn thing, seeing as it was a long barrel and not a pistol. Maybe I could take him down without either of us getting hurt.
Not a great plan, as I'm better at running than fighting. By the time the guns come out I'm usually miles away.
"If you killed Tomâthat's no reason to kill somebody else. Make a run for it. Get out of town. Do you think Saundra is going to protect you from the cops? You don't need to help her."
"I want to
Similar Books
