Before I Go: A dark and tense psychological crime thriller. by Marie Reyes (reading strategies book txt) 📕

“You know, the police are probably coming here now. Alex would have told them. You really want to have them stumble upon this? You’ll go down for this. If you let us go… I swear we won’t tell anyone.” Josie pleaded.

“I doubt it.” He unzipped the small pocket at the front of the bag and pulled out her passport. “Lastly, but most importantly.” He opened her passport at the photo page and held it up next to her face before adding it to the rest of her burning belongings. He added the whole bag to the fire and watched as it popped and crackled. “There’s something about fire, don’t ya think, something primal.” No-one responded or said a word after that for a good five minutes, transfixed by the fire as the bag started disintegrating, making room for whatever was next.

Shadows danced across Josie’s face, her eyes glistening in the orange light as she watched her things disappear into the fiercely rising and falling flames. She swallowed hard, and Michael wondered if she was holding back tears. As Samuel started on Michael’s bag, he felt nothing. His limited personal-effects meant nothing to him. It wasn’t the reaction Samuel wanted, and he looked pissed off as he kept checking Michael’s face for a reaction. “Okay, now that’s over with. There’s one more thing missing.” Miguel’s right-hand man passed him a small bottle as if he and Samuel had rehearsed this moment. Samuel held the bottle up to the light emanating from the fire. “What’s this, Michael? You left it in your locker. You must have wanted to keep it safe.”

“That’s not mine.” He coughed, the thick smoke catching in his throat.

“Come on. Michael. We both know that’s not true. So tell us, what is it?” Something in Samuel’s expression told Michael he already knew full well what it was.

“It’s nothing.” Michael said, knowing already that Samuel would just keep pushing, and wondered what he should say.

“What were you doing with it then?” He paced in front of the fire, the flames licking him from behind. “Why are you here, Michael? Tell us. I’m interested.”

“Fine.” He could tell Samuel wouldn’t let this go. “I came here to get pentobarbital. I came here to die.” It felt strange finally saying those words to another person. No-one ever knew he’d had these thoughts, not that there was really anyone to tell.

“You came here to die?” A smirk twitched at one corner of Samuel’s mouth.

“Yes. I came here to kill myself.” He looked down at the paving slabs, unable to rid the shame from his voice. The words hung awkwardly—their implication suspended in the silence without response—met only by the roar of the fire.

Finally, someone spoke. Josie shuffled towards him just a little. “You should have said someth—”

“So you’re a man with nothing to lose.” Samuel’s smirk turned downwards. “In other words, dangerous.” He stoked the fire with a metal implement, making sure the remnants of everything would be consumed. “I’ve got my eye on you Michael.” He led them back to the house, leaving the fire to burn.

Chapter Twenty Nine

They watched in silence as Samuel poured himself another drink and snorted a line of cocaine off of the granite countertop of the bar. “So, I was thinking. How best to deal with you two.” He sniffed and rubbed his nose. “My man Che here likes to keep things simple, quick. But where’s the fun in that? This guy has no imagination.” He playfully elbowed the man, who continued to stand straight, holding his gun. His expression unchanging. “Then it occurred to me.” He went back to the counter to have another line. Michael couldn’t bring himself to look at Josie as they sat, planted to their seats. “You know what?” He approached Josie slowly, and she flinched as he tucked a tendril of bleach-blonde hair behind her ear. “You look just like her, you know. Younger and hotter, though. I bet he can’t wait to meet you. He always liked a younger-model. Don’t we all?”

“Who?” Josie’s voice wavered as her lip quivered ever so slightly.

“You’re playing dumb again. El Verdugo.” He sat down next to her and leaned in closer, resting one hand on Josie’s thigh, and slipped his other arm around her shoulder, his hand loosely holding his drink. “When Che told him you were in town… wow… his face. You should have seen it.” He noticed Josie transfixed on his hand placed on her leg that shook underneath.  He laughed as he noticed her discomfort and took his hands off her. “You think I would? I’m not a monster.” He got up from the seat. “Anyway, I need to deal with your boyfriend first.”

“So, I was thinking, how should I dispose of you. Then it came to me. Give the man what he wants. Everyone wins. What do you say, Michael?” He grabbed the bottle of pentobarbital and shook it. “Less messy. You want to leave a good-looking corpse, right?”

Michael looked at the bottle in Samuel’s hand. It was the best thing that could happen to him. Relatively painless. He could just fall asleep. Not have to deal with this hell he was currently in, but couldn’t imagine leaving Josie alone in that hell, not by choice. Before he knew what was happening Che restrained him from behind as Samuel unscrewed the bottle. “Not to be cliche, but do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?”

It crossed Michael’s mind that they could be safe at the American Embassy right now. If he could just go back in time, he would have made sure of it.

“No.” He tugged his arms trying to pull them from Che’s vice like grasp

“Fine. I tried to play nice.” He pinched Michael’s nose in between his fingers, squeezing his nostrils so no air could get through. “Just open your mouth. Easy.”

Michael had never been able to