Famous (The Soul of the World Book 1) by David Skato (best book reader .txt) 📗

got something even better than that.” She goes over and places her computer on the table. She opens it and logs in.

“I know who put your name on the iPad.”

She presses play on a video clip, apparently displaying footage from the Quest Inc. office building. “This is the video from 4:37 that morning.” She said as she presses play.

The video starts to play soon, showing Rochelle run to the iPad and typing on it. She is constantly looking back, clearly afraid of something. She pulls what appears to be the ID from her pocket and goes off-screen. The black mist starts to enter through the glass front doors, and the footage begins to static before finally going black.

“That's all of it. Someone turned off the cameras. All of them. At the same time.” Jessi says, spooked.

“Jessi listen, something strange is happening and Rochelle is the key to whatever it is. I need you.”

“OK tell me what to do.” She instructed him.

Dontae’ paces to the end of the living room. “I may have to do some things that look bad, but I need you to be on my side.”

“Donate’ you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“That video that she just posted is a message to get people to sell their souls to the devil.” He informs her to a much-warranted blank stare.

“OK Wade, I think you need help. Seriously. I’m talking about the kind of help they give people that talk to their dead grandmother.”

“If they finish the plan, people will become, I don’t know, devils, I guess; millions of them.”

She looks at him and rubs her forehead in disbelief.

He tries to speak. “I know how it sounds-“

“Do you?” She cuts him off. “You sound like you’re insane. The devil, souls and shit? Come on man!”

“Do I ever play like this? Look at me. Do you think this is a game?”

She calms down.

“No. I don’t. I think you need to talk to someone because you really believe this.”

“I just need you to have my back when the call comes.”

“What call?” She asks.

He looks down. Dontae’ knows how this is going to look to the world. A rogue cop who murdered his girlfriend, then Rochelle. Dontae’ wasn’t big on leaving a legacy, but he didn’t want to be known in this capacity. At the end of the day, he would rather be known as a murder than let these monsters take over the world. His life for many. It was worth it.

“Dontae’ what call?” Jessi asked, bending a little to make eye contact.

“Jessi, I may not make it through this.”

“That’s bullshit Dontae’! Do you realize how this sounds?”

He holds her by the shoulders and looks into her eyes. “I need you to trust me. Do you trust me? Look at me. Do you trust me?

A tear streamed down her face as she looks deep into his eyes. She now knows that what Dontae’ is telling her is God’s honest truth. “Yes. I trust you.”

“Whatever is happening, I have to stop it.” He informs her as she walks to the couch and takes a seat.

With an explosion of tears, Jessi breaks down. “This is too much. It’s just too much. I feel like I can’t keep it together. Wilcox grilling me. The whole force looking at me crazy. Dontae’ I don’t think I can handle this.”

He goes and takes a seat beside her placing his arm around her shoulders. “I know Jessi. It will all be over in a few days.”

She looks into his eyes. “Dontae’, I know I appear tough but I'm not. Rochelle was the first dead body I’ve ever seen. When you called me and said we were going to a suicide scene, I almost fainted. I ate that burrito on the way there to hide my God damn shaking hands.”

Dontae’ briefly recalled the cases that he has worked with Jessi and realizes she was telling the truth. Although they had been on a few homicide investigations, they were always after the body had been moved. It had been either it was a gunshot victim who was rushed to the hospital and later died or interviewing witness of previous cases started before she joined the unit. “It’s okay,” He calmly states.

She wipes her tears with the palm of her hands, sniffling as she talks. “I didn’t want to seem green. But now you know.”

“You handled it well.”

“I had to hold it together. My one-liners keep me focused,” She cry-laughs.

Dontae’ lies his head back and stares at the ceiling, remembering. “Mine was one week out of the academy,” he tells her.

“You first body?”

“Yeah. A murder-suicide. The man killed the woman and then killed himself. It was a bloody scene. That wasn’t the worst part. They had two little girls. One was hiding in the closet the entire time while her parents were dying. The other one was in the room while it was happening; she witnessed the whole thing. It’s still the worst thing I've ever seen in my career. I had to drive those girls to child protective services. I remember thinking to myself; I can’t let them know that I'm afraid for them. But I was. I grew up without parents, so I know how hard it was going to be—those poor little girls. I just wanted to hug them and tell them it was going to be ok. But deep down, I knew it wasn’t.”

“Damn Dontae’ that’s terrible.”

He broke from his daydream and tapped her on the knee.

“I’m going backstage at Rochelle’s show tomorrow night. I’m going to try my best to get to the bottom of this. If all else fails.” He pauses. “If all else fails, I will end it.”

She nods. “Wait a second.” She goes to her bag and pulls out a phone still in its packaging, then hands it to him.” “Take this. It’s a prepaid, untraceable. I have one too. It’s the only number saved in there.”

He stands and heads for the door. He looks back one last time. “Thank you.” He mouths just