The Tessa Randolph Collection, Books 1-3 by Paula Lester (good short books .TXT) 📕

She tried to go back to sleep, but the thoughts were too many. Counting backward wasn’t working. She was caught somewhere in the middle between dreaming and scheming her next move in tracking down this killer when several knocks rapped on her door.

Still dressed in her pajamas and struggling to figure out what time of day it was, she checked the peephole and opened the door.

“You’re out of jail!”

Silas nodded. “They let me go. Someone else admitted to the crime.”

"I see.” Tessa knew who that someone was. She ushered Silas inside, unsure what the past few days meant for their friendship. She checked the time, and it was an unholy hour. Some people called it morning, but Tessa wasn’t included with them.

Silas sat on the couch, and almost immediately, Pepper strode in, acting as if she’d had the best sleep of the century, and she leaped on the couch. She curled up next to him as he stroked her head slowly.

Tessa suddenly felt self-conscious in her pajamas. She sank into an armchair across from Silas and pulled a blanket over her. "Okay, so this is the first place you go when they release you from jail? Why? I would think you’d want to go to your own apartment and chill for a while. I can’t imagine you got much good rest or quality food lately."

"I came here because we need to talk. While I was sitting in that cell, I had a lot of time to think about what you said—that you’re the Grim Reaper—”

Tessa stiffened. "I'm not the Grim Reaper," she corrected. "I'm a grim reaper.”

“Well, I believe it. I believe you. I want you to know I didn't say a word about that while I was in custody. I didn't say anything about you at all, actually, or the death I saw you perform."

“I didn't perform that death. That's not how it works. Deaths just happen the way they happen and we reapers escort the souls across the veil to the next step in their journey. We don't aid, abet, or cause deaths."

She wrinkled her nose a little as she thought about Lee Stuart. Then she shook her head to clear that particular thought. Lee hadn't killed people because he was a reaper. He'd killed people because he was a bad person.

Silas pursed his lips and seemed to mull over what she'd said in silence for a few minutes, continuing to pet Pepper, who purred softly at the attention.

Finally, he blew out a breath. "Okay, I get it. And also, that's really crazy. But I can accept it—I mean, I'm sure there are a lot of things in the world that can't be readily known or understood by the average human mind. But that’s not the problem.”

“No?” Tessa tried to understand where he was going with this. But her morning brain was sluggish. It would’ve helped if she’d had a little sleep.

“My real problem with this whole thing is that you lied to me. I knew from almost the time you took the job with Cooper's Life Insurance that something wasn't adding up. I asked you about it repeatedly. And you always lied."

Tessa winced at the pain in his voice. It was obvious she'd really hurt him.

"I can't trust you." His words were soft, but they carried a huge weight that made them sound deafening to Tessa's ears. "Lying is not a great way to start a relationship. In fact, it's pretty much the most horrible way to start one."

He got to his feet and Tessa had to crane her neck to look up at him as he continued, "I'm not going to tell anyone your secret. But I'm also not going to get any deeper into this thing. You've made it clear you don't trust me enough to tell me the truth about things, so I'm out."

Tessa cowered into her blanket. She didn’t know what to do or say. She felt like someone had hit the pause button on her.

Silas started toward the door but then stopped and turned back, pointing at Pepper. "One last thing. I’m in deep water with the owners here. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll have my job. But as of now, the rules are the rules. You're not allowed to have cats in the apartment. You need to get rid of her. Today."

He covered the distance to the door in three long strides, went through, and closed it firmly behind himself while Tessa stared after him.

She groaned and rolled her head back to rest it on the back of the chair for a minute. Then she jerked it up again and looked at Pepper. "See? Even though you think you like him more than you do me, he's no friend of yours. Now you're going to have to move. And there's only one place I can take you."

Tessa threw the blanket aside and got to her feet, the fatigue of her long night setting in, draining the energy out of her body.

But she knew it was more than that. Silas’s words had injured her. He was right—she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him the truth about her job. But somewhere deep inside, she didn't think it was fair for him to expect that of her. After all, she'd just been getting used to the fact that she was a reaper when she and Silas started flirting. How could she be expected to spill such a big thing so fast?

Still, she could understand his feelings about it too. She'd been lied to in relationships before, and it didn't feel good. In fact, it felt downright horrible. Silas was right to stop the relationship before it got any further. It wouldn't be good for either of them to stay together if he had an underlying distrust of her.

She trudged into her room, changed into jeans and a sweatshirt, and grabbed Pepper’s cat carrier out of the closet.

When the cat saw the carrier, her eyes grew big,