In the Shadow of Angels

by Donnie J Burgess

  “Well,” Brent replied, “nothing else has gone right tonight, so I think it’s a fair bet that it didn’t either.”

  “You’re probably right. Should we go check up on them?”

  “No, we need to wait until that concrete is ready, get the edges rounded and the surface floated. One thing at a time.”

  Brent picked up Devin’s gun and popped the cylinder open. He removed the live shells and spent casings. He could at least get the gun cleaned up and loaded while they were waiting on the concrete.

  “I bet he keeps his cleaning kit in the drawer with the gun.” Brent said, “Can you go see if you can find it? And swap out the spent casings for live rounds.” Brent was equally sure that Devin would be the type of person to recycle the brass. Many people try to destroy the casings to hide the crime, but in this case, if the body was found, the casings wouldn’t matter. There’s no explaining away a body found freshly buried under a concrete slab that you just poured - shell casings or not.

  *****

  “What has gone horribly wrong?” Devin asked.

  “Well, I killed Dr. Stephens,” Beth answered, very calmly.

  “What?!”

  “Yeah, I guess he had a gun and he got into a fight with BrentandJimmy. He broke Brent’s hand, maybe his leg too. He was about to smash Jimmy over the head with the baseball bat when I picked up the gun and shot him.”

  “You shot him? Are you sure he’s dead?”

  “Yep,” she replied, still eerily calm, “I shot him in the head. Then, when he was dead on the ground, I shot him again, just in case.” She said just in case, but the reality is that it was far more about the satisfaction of revenge than the fear he might walk away.

  “Jesus Christ, Beth, are you okay?”

  “Oh, I’m fine. It’s like I told BrentandJimmy, I’m done with emotion for tonight.”

  “So where is his body?”

  “I don’t know, Devin. I told BrentandJimmy to take care of it. Can we just torch this bitch and get back to the house already?”

  This was the only truly traumatic experience Devin ever saw Beth involved in and it was frightening. At first, she reacted as he expected - all tears and fears. This new, cold-blooded version of Beth was making him nervous. Certainly, she couldn’t have just decided to turn her emotions off. This was going to have to come out eventually and there was no telling how. Time was wasting though and he didn’t want to be standing around at the end of a dead end road with a corpse in the trunk of his car for any longer than was strictly necessary.

  Devin shook his head to try to shake the thoughts out.

  “All right. I guess I can probably get her into the car myself.”

  “I can help. I’m well past the freaked out by corpses phase. This will be the third one I’ve seen tonight.”

  Devin popped the trunk of the Sunfire and walked around to see Jezebel’s body still staring back lifelessly. For some reason, now that she had been dead for a few hours it seemed much creepier than when he put her in the trunk in the first place.

  Beth joined him at the back of the car. “I guess I’ll get her legs,” She said.

  Without waiting for a response, Beth grabbed her legs. Devin, who wasn’t quite mentally ready to move her, had to grab her torso quickly as Beth started trying to yank her from the trunk by the legs. The Sunfire was only a few steps from the Fiero, so the moving process went very quickly. It took another minute to get her propped up in the driver’s seat and get her legs into position on the pedals.

  “So do we light it up here or after the crash?” Beth asked.

  “Well, we will need the car to be in gear with the ignition on when we start the fire. I think we have to roll it down the hill and do it after.”

  “Are you sure it’s going to roll into that outcropping? It seems like a pretty small target from this distance.”

  “I’m hoping gravity will take care of that. If it rolls even fairly straight it will hit it.”

  “Maybe you could stick her arms through the wheel to keep it from turning too much?”

  “We can do that. I don’t think it matters though. The outcropping is a lot bigger than it looks from up here. Every car I’ve ever heard of missing the end of the road has hit it.”

  They rolled down the windows of the Fiero so they could push it from the doorframes instead of the back of the car. This was for practical purposes on Devin’s side. He needed to be able to steer it until it started careening down the hill. Beth was pushing from the frame on the passenger door just because she hadn’t pushed a car before, so she mirrored his actions.

  It took very little force to get the small car to the edge of the hill. Devin looked at the positioning from both sides of the car, shining his light down the hill to try to see the outcropping. He could barely make out the shape of the outcropping near the bottom, but not clearly enough to be of much use for aiming. Finally, he decided that it would have to be good enough.

  “Okay. Push, I guess.”

  Devin had seen his fair share of summer action movies and expected this thing to make a hell of a racket as it shot down the hill. The reality was not even close. There was virtually no sound as it rolled down the side of the hill. Occasionally one of the shocks would bottom out, making a bit of a thud, but other than that there wasn’t a sound until it hit the outcropping. Even that seemed understated. He was sure that it crashed into the outcropping though, otherwise it would be taking glancing blows from the trees beyond and that would be more of a scratching sound than a twisted metal one.

  When what little sound there was had ceased completely, he looked back to Beth and said, “I’ll go start the fire, you can wait up here.”

  Devin picked up the gas can and, using his phone again as a flashlight, he made his way slowly down the hill to the wreckage. Upon reaching the outcropping, he found the word wreckage to be vastly overstating it. Something he had not considered until that very moment was that when cars generally smash into this outcropping, they are travelling at least thirty or forty miles an hour before they go over the edge. In this case, it had been travelling zero before it went over the edge. The difference in destruction was notable.

  What he expected to see was an accordion-shaped hood, crumpled back into a shattered windshield, with maybe just enough room left in the cabin to hold a body - especially without the engine block in the front to absorb the blow. What he actually saw was a smashed up front end that looked like he would expect to see resulting from a fender bender in a school zone. It’s a good thing I’m burning the car, he thought to himself, there’s no way that crash would have killed anyone. But it wasn’t as if he could roll it back up the hill for a redo.

  He looked inside the car to see how Jezebel’s body settled after the crash. It was all wrong. Even though he thought there was no way they would believe this impact had broken her neck, he still wanted to do his best to make them at least consider it. She had fallen over the center console on the way down and now her body was lying on its side with her head on the passenger armrest. He picked her up and positioned her head forward over the steering wheel - hoping it would seem plausible that her chest hit the wheel on impact and snapped her neck. It didn’t need to seem likely. It only needed to seem plausible.

  Satisfied with the position of the body, or as satisfied as he could be given the lack of impact damage, Devin turned the key to the on position and put the car in fourth gear. Thinking about it though, he took it out of fourth and slid it instead into second. There was also no way they were going to believe she was in high gear when she went over the edge with the lack of damage.

  Still trying to keep with the spontaneous engine fire theme, Devin started dousing the exposed wiring harness and engine block with gas. He splashed it about liberally, but wasn’t sure just how fast it would go up, so he stopped at a few cups. He absently checked his pocket for a lighter, which he hadn’t carried since college, before kicking himself for not remembering this detail. He leaned back into the car through
the driver’s window and, luckily, found a lighter in the center console.

  He checked the position of the body one last time before he backed out of the window. Then he put the lighter to the wiring harness. In a huge flash of light, the gasoline burned up quickly. Unfortunately, once the gas was gone there was no fire left behind. He splashed more gas on the oily engine block and tried again with the same result. And these things are supposed to be burning up spontaneously? He thought to himself.

  He couldn’t leave without a result though. The car had to be burned at this point. Otherwise it would just looked like a horribly botched attempt to cover up a murder - which it was, but that was beside the point. He put the gas can inside the cabin and started splashing it about just as liberally on the seats and carpeting. He hit that with the lighter to an immediate result. There was the same flash of light as the gas ignited, but the fire continued burning inside the car once the accelerant was gone. Slowly at first, but building.

  He watched it burn for several minutes just to make sure it wasn’t going to go out. After a few more minutes, it was clear that the fire was going to burn until there was no more fuel for it. That thought made him wonder where the gas tank was on this thing. He thought he remembered reading that it was under the center console. The fire was picking up momentum in that area and he figured he better start backing away.

  He turned to walk back up the hill, but stopped. This was the last time he was going to see Jezebel and he had already seen Dr. Stephens and Digby for the last time, but he was still carrying the memory card tying all three of them together - and to him. It seemed like it would be best to get rid of it. The fire was as good a place as any. He pulled out the plastic sleeve with the memory card inside, turned back to the car and tossed it into the fire.

  When he turned again to walk up the hill, he saw Beth standing at the top. The moon was just behind her head and it looked like the vision of a halo from a prayer candle. If it would only have been a bit brighter out so that he could make out her features, she would have looked positively angelic. He took in the vision for a moment before something in the car behind ignited with a roar and forced him to start moving quickly.

  To Beth, watching from the top of the hill, the vision was the opposite: Devin was a dark silhouette against the flame. When whatever it was in the car ignited, it shot flames out of the windows, with the top stopping the flames from going straight up. The flames extended upwards from the windows in a red plume on either side of him, looking for all the world like a pair of fiery wings extending from the dark silhouette, like an angel but made from fire and darkness. Or, more aptly, like a fiery demon walking out of the depths of hell. It seemed only fitting after all they had been through tonight.

  Devin made it to Beth quickly with the fire pushing him along. He stopped when he reached her and put his arms around her. She hugged him back, struggling hard to try to keep her emotions suppressed. It was almost over now.

  Together, they stood and watched the car burn for several more minutes. It was oddly tranquil. They would have stayed longer if not for the flames and smoke so high in the air. They needed to be back to their driveway and out of sight before the fire trucks arrived. They got into the Sunfire and started the drive back to the house.

  Neither of them spoke for most of the drive. They were nearly back to their driveway when Beth turned to Devin and said, “I fucked Dr. Stephens. Or … He fucked me … Or … I don’t know. Brent found out, and when I told him the story, he said that it sounded like rape.”

  “I know,” Devin responded.

  “How do you know?”

  “You went from talking about him like he was a saint to calling him a bastard and a weasel all of a sudden. Then you stopped going to see him on your own. The last time we were in couple’s counseling, you didn’t say a word. Even without any of that, I think everyone in the room tonight knew about it when you walked in tonight and shot daggers at him with your eyes.”

  “There were pictures. Brent had them.”

  So that explained why Brent was so insistent that the other ones weren’t important. He was trying to spare his feelings.

  “What happened to the pictures?”

  “He gave me the memory card and I smashed it with a rock. That is part of what took so long to get back to you with Jezebel.”

  Devin nodded. Then he sighed. If she was going to get it all on the table, he needed to as well.

  “When we were at The Place, Jez gave me a blowjob. I tried to stop her. I didn’t want her to, but she practically forced me. That was why I was moving her body: She had my cum all over her. They would have thought I killed her.”

  Beth nodded, staying true to her commitment not to have any emotion until this was all over with.

  Devin sighed again. He needed to get it all on the table. “She also said she was pregnant with my baby.”

  Beth smile despite the situation. He must have known that this would crush her, but he didn’t know that she already knew. If he was willing to tell her this, he would tell her anything.

  “I know that, too,” Beth said, “but if I hadn’t confronted her at The Place, none of this would have happened. She wouldn’t have been so desperate to seduce you and you wouldn’t have had to move the body.”

  Devin wondered how she knew, but it didn’t matter. “No, I think it would have happened anyway. She wouldn’t have made me go to The Place if she wasn’t planning it out all along.” Devin paused to collect his thoughts. “But let’s just put that all behind us, okay?”

  “Once the sun comes up, I promise I’ll never mention her or Dr. Stephens again.”

  “Me too,” He responded, “and no more lies … or secrets.” He turned to kiss her on the cheek.

  Beth saw the kiss coming and turned to meet his lips with hers. She threw her arms around him and pulled him toward her, despite her insistence that she was done with emotion for the night and oblivious to the fact that the car was still travelling down the road at nearly forty miles per hour. Devin could barely see the road out of his left eye as he returned the most passionate kiss they shared since their wedding night. He steered the car to toward the shoulder with his left hand, while his right hand began pulling Beth’s blouse up over her head. The car came to a crooked stop only a hundred yards from the safety of their driveway. The driver’s side rear wheel wasn’t even across the fog line. Devin didn’t care. He threw the car into park, shut off the lights and joined Beth in the passenger seat.

  Everything else could wait.

  Chapter 19

  Brent was working the edger along the sides of the foundation for the gazebo while Jimmy was using a magnesium float to smooth the surface. They both saw the headlights coming down the driveway, but neither of them reacted to them. It was most likely Devin and Beth coming back from getting rid of Jezebel, though it could also have been the police coming to question them. Either way, stopping what they were doing now would be pointless; Dr. Stephens’ car was still sitting out front. If it were the police, they would check the freshly poured concrete for his body when they found his abandoned car in front of the house. Maybe not now, but they would come back with a warrant eventually.

  Once the car stopped, Devin and Beth walked out to where BrentandJimmy were working, unaware that the state of their hair and clothing gave away what they had been up to. BrentandJimmy pretended not to notice.

  Devin was the one who asked the question that he and Beth were both thinking, “Is he under there?”

  “Yeah,” Brent replied. “We were running out of places to stash bodies.” His attempt at humor fell a bit flat.

  “What about his car?” Beth asked.

  “Still a lot to do,” Brent answered. “We need to get the car out of here and get the cement mixer back to the home center. Plus we need to get the pictures of Dr. Stephens and Jezebel in the mail to the police.”

  Devin froze at the last statement. He was the only one who knew he had destroyed the memory card. “Guys,” he sa
id, “I burned that in the fire.”

  “Well, shit,” Brent said, “that sucks.”

  He thought it over for a moment, “I think the rest of the plan still stands, though.”

  “What is the plan?” Devin asked.

  Brent recounted the plan to leave the car somewhere with Dr. Stephens’ wallet still in it. To make it look like he had disappeared on purpose.

  “That’s a really good plan,” Beth said. “We could leave the car in the parking garage at the airport. That would really bring it all together.”

  “Yeah, with him being a doctor and his brother a judge … If anyone was going to be able to just disappear, it would be him.” Devin added.

  “But the airport is over an hour away,” Beth said. “What time is it now?”

  Devin looked at the clock on his phone. “It’s just after four. We should be able to get it there while it’s still dark. It might be light before we make it home, though.”

  “What about the cement mixer?” Beth questioned.

  “I’m just going to put it in my van and take it back in the morning,” Brent said. “You bought way too much concrete though and I don’t think my van has the suspension to carry it.”

  “We can just stack it up in the shed,” Devin responded, “having some extra bags of Quikrete is the least of our concerns. If someone comes with a search warrant, they’ll know the slab is fresh anyway. Did you leave the gun in there?”

  “No,” Brent answered, “I cleaned it, reloaded it and put it back in your night stand. Same thing as the concrete; if they come with a warrant, it’s not going to matter. Having something to ding a metal detector under the slab is more of a concern than them just randomly digging him up and checking your gun to see if it fired the bullets.”

  “Well, if it all goes right, we will probably answer a few questions, but there won’t be any search warrants,” Devin said. “We need to come up with exactly what we are going to say happened between the time that Officer Reynolds left last night and now. Whatever the story is, we don’t deviate a bit, right?”