Death Wish: The Linh Davies Series, #3

By M.D. Thomas

Death Wish (The Linh Davies Series Book 3)

 

To finally be free of the voices in her head, Linh Davies faces her greatest challenge yet....

After her latest possession Linh is trapped, torn between living up to her end of a terrible bargain or dying in order to get out of it.

But even dying isn't easy when you can't control your own body.

Death Wish is the third and final book of the Linh Davies Series, a story of possession and the desire to be free of it. If you like action-packed supernatural suspense with a hint of a medical thriller, then you'll love M.D. Thomas's conclusion to this fast-paced series.

Buy Death Wish to finish the thrilling series today!

 

Read what reviwers are saying:

"Plenty of twists and thrills I could not put it down. Definitely one of my new favorite authors. Right up there with King, Koontz, and Decker for me." 5-Star Amazon Review

"Does not disappoint. I enjoyed this book so much, sad to see this awesome series end, but it ended on a good note." 5-Star Amazon Review

"Amazing end to this series.. it was interesting and curious... it was dark and creepy.. i enjoyed these characters and their world and this author does amazing writing and makes me feel with them. very good." 5-Star Amazon Review

"Story that pulls you in." 5-Star Amazon Review

"Not for the faint hearted." 5-Star Amazon Review

 

"What a story, the first two were good this one is great." 5-Star Amazon Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.D. Thomas
• Release date: Jul 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734487060

Book preview

One

The numbness was the same the first time I had Jakob Wallis’s awakening dream and every time after that, an emptiness inside that grew until I had no feelings at all, leaving me an empty shell.

I watched without anger, without fear, without disgust as he sat alone in his car just up the street from Ike’s auto repair, the gun lying on the passenger seat, his phone in his hands.

Pictures scrolled by. Jakob and Ryan playing together, fishing together, working together while the years flowed past, swipe by swipe. Jakob teaching him how to put a bike together, how to ride one, how to fix one. Shooting basketball together. Throwing baseballs. The two of them fishing on a glassy lake in the summer, forested mountains rising in the background. Pictures of the Mustang when they’d found it decaying in an old barn, Ryan leaning against it with a huge grin on his face. The two of them tearing the car down and building it up.

Always together.

Then new pictures. Pictures with a different, darker tone. Pictures of Ryan talking to Amanda. Pictures of Amanda walking on the sidewalk across from Ike’s.

And always the gun on the seat beside him.

I saw the pictures through his eyes and the story he told himself was as clear to me as if he’d spoken it aloud. It had been the two of them for so long, father and son, friends, happy, and then the girl had come along and taken him. The girl he was talking to right at that moment, just down the road at the church, that den full of self-righteous fucking hypocrites.

Jakob took another swig of beer, put the bottle back on the dash. He picked up the gun, ran his fingertips along the cross-hatched grip, down the length of the barrel. She would walk by soon enough.

A pretty woman yanking her arm away as she walked toward the door, Ryan hunched against a wall nearby, his eyes wide and his lips parted. I didn’t recognize her, but she must be the wife, the mother.

Jakob went after her, clutched at her arm, but she shrugged him off and then Ryan was there, pulling Jakob back and it was hard to tell if the son was giving the mother the chance she needed to get away or if he was helping his father do what he couldn’t on his own.

Many of the same memories as the phone, but lived instead of saved. Ryan running through a grassy backyard. Jumping out of a red barn. Holding a kitten. Nestled in bed asleep.

Driving a toy Mustang across cracked linoleum.

So many memories, all centered around Ryan, but it was the moment in the car, the gun resting on the passenger seat, that Jakob came back to over and over, starting and stopping earlier or later, but always that same key time. Any life, long or short, revolves around a linchpin moment that forever shapes our lives, shapes who we are, and that was the one that made Jakob Wallis the man he was when he’d gotten stuck in my head.

Two

I emerged from the dream of a dream, drenched in a cold sweat, the memory of Jakob Wallis’s awakening crystal clear in my thoughts as I stared at the dark hotel ceiling. It had been more than a month since I’d killed Jakob, but the details of his awakening were all there still—the montage of scenes from Jakob’s life, revolving around his son and the moment that he outgrew his father.

I rolled onto my side to look at the alarm clock.

Five-thirteen.

Too early to get up, but not by much. Not too early to avoid sleeping more. Dreaming about Jakob’s awakening was always disturbing, partly because of the sinister things that happened within it, but mostly because it filled in the outline of Jakob’s humanity, of the everydayness of a man longing for the life he’d shared with his child. How that sameness, that similarity to so many others, could exist in a man like Jakob—a killer, a captor—was what was disturbing. His dreams, his wishes, should be the stuff of horror, should not be understandable. Worse, if such horror co-existed with the everyday in him, did it coexist within all of us, just a hair’s breadth away?

I swung my feet out of the bed, wishing I was back in my apartment in Northern Virginia, that I could burrow into Conner and absorb enough of his warmth and security to drift back under.

Can’t sleep, Lucy? Jakob said, breaking into my thoughts. We can talk. You know how much I like to talk….

Instead of rising to the bait, I concentrated, forced my thoughts down and away from Jakob Wallis, whatever the hell that meant, as if there was a direction to whatever made up him within my mind. He didn’t comment again, which most likely meant, to my surprise, that it had worked. It was becoming more and more difficult lately to wall him off, hadn’t worked in days actually. Days of Jakob’s constant blather, his talk ranging from the mundane (he missed repairing cars) to the profound (would the crimes he’d committed prevent him from a joyful afterlife?).

So much chatter.

Berating me. Belittling me. Mocking me.

All pushing me toward this day.

I used to doubt the existence of an afterlife, but the voices in my head, most of whom had moved on, made the possibility seem more plausible—in a world where people could become trapped inside of another person, was it really such a stretch to imagine that there was somewhere else for their souls to go when they were done here on earth?

I sat on the edge of the bed for another minute, there in the dark, unfamiliar room, the brief quiet in my mind a blessing after going through Jakob’s dream once again. I could hardly escape him, awake or asleep.

A moment later I stood and padded across the carpet to the balcony doors and slid them open, the moist air from the ocean below filling my nostrils as intensely as the roar of the surf that filled my ears. It was cool outside, but not nearly as much as it should be considering it was only mid-March. I’d never been to South Carolina before, much less Myrtle Beach, and the town was a pleasant place, if a bit touristy for my taste. I doubted I’d ever be back though.

You’ll be lucky to make it six more months, I thought, the possibility of such a short time left in my life not nearly as disturbing as it had once been, back before Wallis.

I stepped up to the railing and gazed into the darkness below, ignoring the already light horizon where most people would’ve gazed. Five stories to the concrete below that bordered the sandy strip of beach. Hardly a height to guarantee death, but if I went head first…there’d be no more worrying about the bargain I’d struck with Wallis. No more dreading the next conversation with De’Angelo, of having to finally admit that I could no longer work in the emergency room. Best of all, no more of Jakob’s near-constant chatter.

We had a bargain, Jakob said, my concentration failing, or perhaps his ability to break through stronger. Not that it mattered, the result was the same either way. I’m not sure how, but Scarlet kept him away sometimes. However, as strange as it sounded, she had a life of her own inside my head, and was often away. And if you keep up your end of the bargain, I’ll keep up mine. I’m a man of my word, Lucy.

The bargain.

We’d made it not long after his awakening, when I was still reeling from witnessing the shooting of Amanda and her friends. Jakob said he wanted a chance to really live, even if it meant using my body, or he would cut me again and again until the wounds on my arms seemed like mere scratches—he must’ve noticed them in his basement. A simple bargain, made in fear and haste: once I’d helped Amanda and Scarlet move on, Jakob could have control of my body when I wasn’t at work or around Conner (as long as there was no sex, of any kind, and he didn’t kill anyone), and neither of us would interfere with the other. I regretted the agreement immediately, but I’d had no choice—I was strong, must have been to make it through Elizabeth and everything since, but Jakob was stronger, a millstone that would ground me to powder one cut at a time if I tried to resist.

I’ll keep up my end, I said, wondering if he could detect the bitterness I felt. We’re here, aren’t we?

Myrtle Beach, yes, but more specifically the hometown of Scarlet’s ex-boyfriend. The man who—assuming her wish was what she claimed, hardly a certainty anymore—she wanted to tell she’d made a mistake, that she never should’ve left him. Finding him had been easy according to the private detective I’d hired, though it certainly hadn’t been cheap—I was done with sneaking around, done with breaking and entering. I didn’t know if Scarlet and Jakob spoke to each other (neither would admit to it), but when Scarlet was around Jakob wasn’t. She was the only thing that kept him away and Jakob wanted her gone, said he wanted me all to himself, a thought that would’ve made me shudder with revulsion if I’d been able to feel anything.

Then why are you on the balcony? Jakob asked. Not for the fresh air I don’t think. If you want to jump, go ahead. I’m sure Conner would be relieved that he didn’t have to deal with you anymore….

I reached out and gripped the balcony railing so hard my knuckles ached, the flesh around the cut I’d made in my thumb pad half-numb still. I’m up here because I couldn’t sleep. Your dream woke me again. I didn’t want to talk about his dream yet again, didn’t even want to talk, but it was a sure way to distract him from the taunting. He was fascinated by my ability, even more fascinated by his own role within it.

Was it the same?

Of course. We’ve been over this a thousand times. It’s always the same….

But I’ve told you my wish. I know what I want. That’s all that matters. Don’t forget that.

Not long after he’d shown up in my head, Jakob had made one thing clear—his wish had nothing to do with that first dream of his. He’d ghosted around in my head long enough when Amanda was still there to hear that the Surgeon’s last wish hadn’t been what had helped him move on, and he’d been convinced ever since that his wish was whatever he wanted it to be.

I won’t, I said.

I wasn’t sure what to think though. At one time I’d thought the voice’s reactions to their dreams was an absolute predictor of what would make them move on. But Amanda’s and the Surgeon’s reactions had very little to do with what had actually helped them leave—Amanda had been fixated on her death, while the Surgeon had been convinced he wanted McGurney fired.

The problem was that it didn’t matter—Jakob was such a sicko and so determined to get what he wanted that he was willing to make my life miserable until I granted his supposed last wish, whether it was true or not. And until I could figure out what his real wish was, I didn’t have a chance of granting it.

I looked down at the ground below once more. I didn’t want to die yet. But, assuming the information the private detective had given me about Scarlet’s ex was accurate, the time was coming very soon when it was die or let Jakob Wallis loose again on the world.

Sighing, I loosened my grip on the balcony railing and went back inside.

My injured palm throbbing, I checked my phone to see if I’d missed any messages from Conner. I hadn’t. Our relationship hadn’t been the same since I’d returned from Jakob Wallis’s house with my hand sliced and diced. Conner hadn’t said as much, but I’m sure he knew there were things I wasn’t telling him, and because of that he didn’t trust me the way he once had. Not that I could blame him really. I’d given him very few reasons to trust.

Trust wasn’t the only issue though. He hadn’t been sleeping over at my apartment as often, was more distant when he did. We hadn’t had sex since before Wallis either. That hadn’t come up yet, but the lack was there between us all the time.

I fiddled with the phone for a moment, almost shut it down, then dialed his cell—I wanted to hear his voice. He picked up after the second ring.

Hey, I didn’t wake you did I? I asked after his sleepy hello.

No. I was about to get up anyway, Conner mumbled, and I could picture him sprawled in the king-sized bed at his apartment. I liked the idea of him sleeping in my bed while I was away, but there was no real point since it was just farther from the hospital. Everything okay?

It took me a moment to answer, Jakob already yammering away again. Yeah, I just couldn’t sleep any more. Bad dream. I don’t sleep as well without you.

Me either, Conner said, sounding like he regretted the admission. Did you get to see your friend last night?

That was the lie of course—that I’d come to Myrtle Beach to meet an old college friend for the weekend. I don’t think Conner believed me when I told him the first time, and he didn’t sound any more believing on the phone. I hadn’t wanted to lie, had wanted to just tell him the bare facts like I had about getting caught in Jakob’s basement, but I hadn’t been able to do it. Today, I said, as if having to speak more than one word would make the lie obvious.

Oh, Conner said. For the hundredth time I wished I could tell him everything, but he’d never look at me the same again once I did, and he was just about the only part of my life that held a shred of stability, of security.

Sorry again if I woke you up, I said, knowing I sounded pathetic and not caring. I just wanted to hear your voice.

You okay, Linh?

The question was so natural, and Conner’s voice so calm, that for a moment the numbness lessened, left me a knife-edge away from spilling my guts. Yeah, I managed, choking out the word. Yeah, I’m okay. Listen, I’ll let you go. See you Sunday evening?

Yeah. At the airport.

Love you, I said.

There was the slightest pause. Love you, too.

He disconnected.

Three

Scarlet’s ex had agreed to meet me that afternoon.

I considered going back to bed as I sat on the edge of the hotel bed in the dim morning light, but the prospect of lying there with Jakob chattering away in my head was the least appealing thing I could imagine. So instead I dressed in my running clothes and headed down to the beach where I pounded across the sand for the next two hours—an hour south, then an hour north. Jakob still talked when I ran, but it was easier to ignore him when I was exercising.

There was a text from Dicky when I got back to the hotel.

---

Anything wrong, Davies? We haven’t run in weeks

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Nothing. Just taking care of some stuff

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I’m worried about you, sugar-bear, Scarlet said as I stood in the hotel shower.

I’d finished washing up some time ago but was reluctant to leave the