To Love and to Kill Read Free

away, there was little she could do. Once Heather was gone, in fact, Misty had lost touch with her for a time, and Misty believed it was Josh holding her down, keeping Heather from contacting her family. One more way for Josh to govern over Heather and keep her tied down.
    â€œHe was just too controlling,” Misty explained. “He didn’t want her around any family or anybody that cared about her.”
    Heather didn’t even have her own cell phone or computer back then, during their early days in Florida. She had been totally cut off from everyone back home.
    Just the way Josh liked it.
    Then, in early 2008, after nearly four years of living with Josh, raising two kids and going through hell and back, Heather showed up in Columbus one day.
    â€œI’ve finally left him,” she told Misty.
    â€œThank God.”
    Misty and Heather’s grandmother was sick at the time. She was actually dying. So they bonded over that family crisis. The two women picked up their “sister” relationship from back in the day and stayed in touch daily. Misty kept telling her cousin it was all going to be okay. There was no need to worry about anything. She’d help with the kids. She’d help Heather start over. The key to it was for Heather to stay the hell away from Josh, who was still in Florida. If Heather could do that, she had a chance. Everyone in her family believed this.
    There was one day when Misty went to see their grandmother, who was on her last days. When Misty returned, Heather was gone.
    And so were her bags.
    Damn.
    â€œJosh had ... brought her back to Florida,” Misty later recalled. No one knew it, but he snuck into town, convinced Heather she needed him and drove her back.
    Heather had gone willingly, apparently. She wanted to work things out for the kids’ sake. That was Heather—always yearning to find that pristine image of the American family unit on the other side of a dark rainbow. What mother, after all, doesn’t want her children’s father to be a part of their lives? Maybe Josh was changing. He was angry and sometimes violent; but when he was good, he was a nice guy. They got along and loved each other.
    Or was Heather locked in that same fantasy that many abused women see in their dreams?
    I’ll give him just one more chance. He’ll change. You’ll see.
    Things didn’t work out for Heather. Josh didn’t change. So Heather moved out and found someone else to live with in Florida, thinking it would be better for the kids if she stayed in the state this time. The place she found had a computer. Heather now had a cell phone. She and Misty were in contact just about every day, sometimes several times a day.
    â€œMyspace, cell phone, e-mail,” Misty said.
    But then, suddenly, it stopped. Boom! One day Heather wasn’t communicating anymore. Misty and Heather had been talking for months. Heather was saying that Josh had a girlfriend now. He was letting go. Heather had someone new, too. There had been some issues between Heather and Josh’s new girlfriend, and Josh sometimes seemed to want to reconcile with Heather, but Heather was saying things were beginning to settle down. They finally had figured out that maybe they just weren’t meant to be together. Josh seemed to accept this.
    Now Misty was concerned, however. It was late in the day on February 25, 2009, and she had not heard from Heather in well over a week. Misty knew damn well that something was up. It was so unlike Heather not to call or e-mail for this long a period.
    So Misty called Heather’s brother, Jacob, and asked if he had heard from her.
    â€œNo,” Jacob said.
    â€œAny idea where she is?”
    Jacob responded, “I got a call from [Heather’s friend]. She was concerned.”
    â€œConcerned? How so?”
    â€œWell, Heather had all her belongings over there at her friend’s. Now all of her stuff is gone and she is