Shadows from the Grave Read Online Free Page B

she couldn’t help it. “You had dinner with her? Honest to God sat down and ate with her?” Before Chase could do much more than nod, Annie jumped off the bed and dashed to him. She threw her arms around him and squealed, unable to hold back her excitement.
    “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said, dancing in place as she squeezed his waist. “Oh, my God. I can’t believe it!” She pulled back and turned the book over to look at the back cover.
    Chase smiled. “Annie. You might want to look inside.”
    When his words registered, she quickly flipped to the front of the book. There, on one of the blank pages, the author had inscribed a personalized note. “ To Annie – the kind of reader who makes every bit of this labor worthwhile. The depth of enjoyment Chase described you as experiencing from reading my work keeps me going through the hard days. With warmest regards —” It was signed with a flourish.
    To her surprise, Annie felt the sting of tears. “Chase, I swear I don’t know when someone has gotten me something that means more. I can’t believe you got this,” she said. “Thank you.”
    He cleared his throat and gave her a quick hug. “I’m just glad you like it.” He headed to the bathroom. “I’m going to change clothes.”
    “Okay,” she said softly, her eyes still on the book as she ran a hand over the dust jacket. When the door closed behind him, she gave in and held the book to her chest. As she did, she caught a whiff of Chase’s cologne, still on the book from where he had wrapped it, presumably. Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes at the familiar scent. With great reluctance, she walked over to the chair where she had placed her clothes for the next day and laid the book on top of them. She was sorely tempted to open it and start reading, but she was tired, and she knew Chase was as well.
    When she had told him that it meant more than anything she could think of, she meant it. It surprised her that Chase was so familiar with her reading habits. “I can’t believe he paid such close attention, Murphy,” she told the cat as she got in bed. “What do you think it means?” The gift of the book touched her deeply. Annie had been teased about her voracious reading habits quite a bit over the years, and now she only let those closest to her see how much enjoyment she derived from reading. That Chase cared enough to pay attention wasn’t expected, and it caused something to shift inside her. She didn’t examine her feelings too closely. That was something she had learned not to do with Chase. Too close of an examination could lead to revelations she wasn’t sure she was ready to handle, at least not yet.
     
    ~ * * * ~
     
    When Annie’s cell phone rang at seven o’clock on Sunday morning, she had to untangle herself from Chase’s limbs in order to reach for it. To her relief, he seemed oblivious, and just rolled over at the disturbance. A hot blush stained her cheeks, but she ignored it.
    “Hello?”
    “Annie?” the man on the other end of the call said with an urgency in his voice that was disturbing. “It’s Jason. Are you still at Chase’s place?”
    “I am.” Still disoriented, she sat up. “Why? Do you need to talk to him? He’s here.” There was a lot of noise in the background, and Annie heard Jason telling someone that she was okay. “What’s going on, Jason?”
    “I’m downtown, at the square. There’s a fire in the block where your shop is. They’re trying to contain it now, but it doesn’t look good. I just wanted to make sure you were safe,” he said. “I’m sorry, Annie.”
    For a moment, Annie just sat there, stunned, and then her feet started moving her body toward the side of the bed. As she moved, Chase woke up. “What’s wrong?”
    She put her hand over the phone. “There’s a fire downtown.”
    Speaking into the phone again, she said, “Jason, I’m heading that way now.” She disconnected the call and grabbed her