Hello, Little Sparrow by Jordan Jones (the reading list .TXT) 📕

in the mornings, let alone after a night with a random woman.

But, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. She was focused on me and I let it happen. I didn’t move seats or shy away when our eyes connected.

I allowed it to simmer.

She stood up and made her way over to me, walking in obvious seduction as she past several other men at the bar.

“Annoying, isn’t it?” She asked, taking a seat next to me.

“I’m sorry?”

“The singing. It’s annoying. They have the microphones turned up way too loud.”

“Yep. The screeching hurts my ears.”

She looked at her drink, then back to me. “Can I buy you a drink?”

“I’m cut off,” I replied, pointing to the mess on the floor another staff member was cleaning up. “I’m lucky they didn’t kick me out.”

“How did you manage to come on your own and get drunk enough to do that? Usually loners don’t stay long.” She let out a chuckle, not at all turned off by the vomit at the least.

“I was about eight deep before I came.”

“Ah, smart.” She took a drink of her rum and coke and pushed it back, giving the bar tender a nod. “You were in here with that black guy about a month or two ago, huh? He was a detective or something.”

I stared at myself in the mirror behind the bar. My reflection barely showed emotion as it stared back at me blankly.

“Yep,” I said. “He was my partner.”

“Oh, you’re a detective, too?”

I nodded.

“You said was. What happened?”

As the bartender looked away, I took the final swig of her rum and coke. “He was shot in the neck by a psychopath.”

Her eyes looked down to the bar under her. “Was that the same one I saw on the news? He was the one I left with that night?”

I nodded. “He was my partner and he was murdered in the line of duty. That’s why I’m here tonight…to forget him somehow. It sounds stupid that this was one of our spots, but I still chose to come here.”

She placed her hand on the back of my head and began to massage.

“I’m so sorry to hear about him.”

I brushed it off, trying to make less of a deal about it than it was. I couldn’t let it bother me like I wanted to.

The bartender got on the microphone for last call and someone jumped on afterwards and sang Bon Jovi’s Dead or Alive.

It was awful and I was ready to leave.

“Well, here. At least let me give you a ride home.”

“Lead the way.”

Walking was a chore, but we somehow both made it to her car. She played it off well…being drunk and all. She was able to stop and chat with three people on the way outside, all without stumbling or slurring her words. Her friends took a look at me and instantly took pity, because they knew I would just be the latest victim of her promiscuity. I wasn’t shaken, but I also wasn’t looking forward to it.

She cocked her head and told one last joke before the other women laughed and she pulled off; I was lying back in her passenger seat, sprawled out with little to no remorse in my decision.

We asked each other a few questions on the way to the cabin, but it felt like nothing more than a casual game of ‘know your romp.’ I couldn’t remember any of her answers, and I didn’t care if she remembered any of mine. She had five cats…or three. Her brother was deployed overseas somewhere doing something. Her dad had stage two lung cancer.

None of it mattered to me. My mind was blank and the most amazing thing could’ve happened, and I would’ve have moved an inch to either side. I was bored.

“There are police cars here,” she said as we pulled into the driveway to the cabin. “I’m not exactly sober here.”

“That’s my detail. Don’t worry about it.”

“They just follow you around?”

“They make sure I don’t get attacked again.”

“Wait, what? Again?”

I opened the door and got out, but she didn’t budge. She rolled down the window slightly and I poked my head through, feeling the heat coming from the vents.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I’m hunting a serial killer. He killed my partner and nearly killed me. Either you come in and we do this thing or you can have a good night.”

She gripped the steering wheel and put the car in park. After several long seconds, I pulled my head out and turned to walk towards the cabin.

She turned off the ignition.

Chapter Thirty-Four

The family Brooks made up in his head wasn’t there when he got home, or even there when he woke up the next morning. He restructured everything at home and turned his fake wife into his sister, and the children weren’t his own, but hers. He had a nephew and two nieces running around the house.

He found that his sister was more talkative than his wife was. There was a lot that’s changed since the last time he saw her. She had fair blond wavy hair that always cascaded down her face, and a pleasant smile more genuine than Brooks’ desire to kill again.

He changed his nonexistent dog’s name from Bowser to Reptar. He thought since he was changing everything about his life, he might as well cleanse everything.

Blood trickled down his neck after nicking himself with the razor. After sitting in his bedroom for several hours thinking of conversation pieces that would be most appropriate for a mid-afternoon lunch date. He looked at the clock and it already read 12:37 p.m.

The water that pooled in his hands then splashed his face was warm against his skin