Read Online Time Storm Shockwave by Juliann Farnsworth - Free Book Online Page B

turmoil in their relationship. He wished he had never walked away angrily, though obviously, he had been right about Ashlyn, and now he was even more worried for Mark than he had been before.
    Stewart was alone for far longer than he had expected, maybe an hour. He heard a noise outside that he couldn’t identify, then a moment later Ashlyn walked into the room— oh great , my favorite person.
    She stared at him for a moment, furrowed her brow, and said, “I’ll be right back.”
    He had waited another twenty or thirty minutes— if they are really going to kill me, I wish they would just get on with it —this in and out nonsense was making his anxiety unbearable.
    She walked in, sounding agitated, “Come on, we’ve got to go quickly.”
    He stood up and sarcastically retorted, “What, you want me to go somewhere else before you kill me? I guess then you won’t have to drag my body so far, but then Justin could do it, couldn’t he?”
    Ashlyn shook her head. “Stewart, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”
    “What do you mean?—” He gaped at her “—you just told them to get rid of me a couple of hours ago.”
    “That wasn’t me.”
    He was ready to spit out a venomous comment to anything she said, but he didn’t expect that. “What, you were just having a bad hair day when you told them to kill me, or maybe it was PMS, and now you feel better?”
    “ No”—she spoke forcefully—“I mean that was not me.”
    He didn’t say anything for a minute, and then he asked, “What, like an evil twin thing?”
    “It’s something like that.” 
    “Are you serious? What is her name?”
    “I’m dead serious, but we have got to go now before they find …well, I’m not sure of his name, the big guy with black curly hair.”
    “Justin?”
    “I guess, come on.”
    “You didn’t answer my question.”
    She stared at him, blankly; a preoccupied expression blanketed her face.
    “What is her name?” Stewart demanded.
    Recognition hit . “Dierdra—” Ashlyn shook her head in apology “—I’m sorry, I’m just worried, let’s go.”
    They left the small building, and she ordered, “Help me get him in there.”
    Justin was face down in the sand, blood oozing from his head.
    Stewart gawked at her, “Did you do that?”
    She glanced down at the body on the ground and then back at him, “Yeah.”
    Great, just when I felt safe . “How did you…?” He motioned with his eyes.
    She didn’t answer. They dragged the body into the building and locked the door.
    She prodded him, “Let’s go, we’ve got to hurry.”
    Stewart was still brooding over the six-foot corpse, and tried to imagine how long it would be until someone found it. Sound might not carry on the island, but he bet the smell would soon enough.
    “How long does it take for a body to start smelling?” he asked.
    She glared back at him. “How should I know?”
    “Well, I get the impression that he isn’t the first person you’ve killed.”
    She didn’t say anything, just turned away and headed off across the island. He followed behind her.
    After a few minutes , he asked, “Where are we going anyway?”
    “We have to get a boat somewhere and get off this island —” she gave him a grave look “—Dierdra is with Mark.”
    Stewart’s face went a little white underneath the black and blue. He had stopped dead in his tracks. “Does he know she’s not you?”
    Ashlyn considered the question. “No.”
    “Oh man, this is bad.” Then he asked her uneasily, “Why are you so sure he doesn’t? Maybe she told him. Maybe she killed him?”
    “No, she is pretending to be me, I’m sure of that.”
    “Why?”
    “Because that’s what I would do.”
     
    ***
    Mark was in the pilothouse. In tensely focused and frustrated as he headed back to the place they had been the night before. It was getting dark, but they were nearly there. In the morning, he would dive into his work, literally, and see if it