Re-Runners First Life: A Time Travel Suspense Series Read Free Page A

Christian’s shoulder. ‘Son, the ambulance is here. They want to get you to the hospital.’
    ‘No,’ Christian pleaded. ‘I have to stay. I have to be sure.’
    The chief rubbed his eyes. ‘There’s nothing left, son. I’m so ... so sorry.’
    Christian turned anguished eyes to the man. Tears streaked ribbons of moisture down his soot blackened face. ‘No, no,’ he sobbed. ‘It can’t be.’
    ‘It was a brave thing you did, trying to save your parents like that, but I’m afraid it was impossible. You nearly lost your own life.’
    Christian buried his head in crossed arms and continued to softly cry. Inside he was singing, This is so easy. They are so pathetically simple.
    ‘Come on now. Let me help you.’ The chief put his arm around the boy’s heaving shoulders and signaled to the ambulance officers standing by, as they helped settle Christian on the gurney.
    On the trip to the hospital Christian closed his eyes and thought about his future. He made a conscious effort not to smile but it was difficult. Everything had gone according to plan. Drugging his parents hadn’t been challenging. Doris made it easy with her steady supply of sleeping pills. He didn’t want to use any kind of accelerant that could be identified by the arson squad, but his father’s habit of taking work to bed was well known to his colleagues. Stacking the bedroom with piles of paperwork and folders was an ideal fire loving fuel and Albert was a chain smoker. Everyone knew that too.
    Suffocating them both as they lay in their drug induced slumber had given him a powerful rush of endorphins. The thrill of taking a human life was more than he had bargained for. He’d thought it would be exciting, but he didn’t expect the overwhelming ecstasy of it. The only thing missing was the blood, but he couldn’t draw attention to himself. It was important he wasn’t suspected of anything. His life and his inheritance depended on it.
    He’d played the hero in attempting to rescue his parents and now he would play the grieving son. At eighteen years of age he was old enough to collect the insurance payout on his parent’s lives and their home. Then there was the cabin near Sullivan Canyon Park and the considerable financial estate left to him by his ever-loving parents. Christian was set for life...
    and what a life it would be.

Chapter 3

Christian - Age 26
    1984
    Los Angeles, USA
    The decor of the small but popular Italian restaurant hadn’t changed in twenty years and that was exactly why their regular customers liked it. To step inside lo Mangio was to step into Italy in Beverley Hills.
    It wasn’t far from Christian’s former home in Brentwood, but that was not what drew him to this authentic taste of Europe. Glorious Italy was in Christian’s future. In a couple of years, he planned to live there. Not forever, but long enough to immerse himself in the flavors and history of that beautiful country. But not yet. He had more to do here.
    He looked up and saw Sally approaching. Dr Sally Watkins was an attractive woman. Even during high school, she had never been one to enhance her natural attributes, but it was her intellect that had always attracted Christian. Sally was one of the few people he could stand being in the same room with for more than thirty minutes and the fact she had adored him for nearly ten years was ... convenient.
    He stood and reached for her hand before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and pulling out the chair for her to sit. Sally’s gaze swept the room, taking in the sturdy provincial tables and chairs, heavy oak beams set in the low ceiling, red checked tablecloths and subdued lighting.
    ‘This place never changes, does it?’ she sighed.
    ‘And aren’t we happy it doesn’t,’ replied Christian as he signaled for the waiter before turning his full attention to her. ‘I read about you recently in the American Journal of Psychiatry.’ His pale but intense eyes were full of admiration. ‘Very