by Matt Shaner
“So why not just tell her the truth?” he asked.
“She’s had someone killed. What makes you think she wouldn’t do it to us? There is no honor among thieves; forget the question.” After I spoke, I paused to imagine the effects. I decided that she would either kill us, or tell the police. There was no way to trust her. She was paying us to kill her husband. I wouldn’t trust a woman like that, especially if I was her husband.
“Okay. There’s two of us and one of her. Why not go to this meeting, and well, take her down. We did it once,” Shawn didn’t look at me when he spoke.
“Then we don’t get paid.”
“Have her bring the money. Tell her you found him.” Ending the whole show early was an attractive proposition.
“What do we show her, a bag of ashes?” I asked the question and also knew that a simple sweep of our fireplace would create the fake Bryan we needed.
“Look,” Shawn held up his watch, “I need to get going. I have an idea though. I’ll be in touch.” He pulled away from the parking spots. As the afternoon descended, a wind drifted through, and I felt very alone. The trees surrounding the compound swayed, and it seemed that something was coming. The ghosts were watching. Bryan had to be rooting me on. Could he hear us? Did he know his wife wanted him dead? Julia was cold when we met, but now I knew she was evil. I looked at the car radio and realized my lunch ended five minutes ago. I started the walk back, and nerves tightened in my stomach.
That night, a thunderstorm moved through ushered by those afternoon winds. The lightening started capping the unusually humid and hot night. Val and I stood outside, holding glasses of wine and talking. When the drops started to hit, we moved under the roof. The development initiated construction of another house over Bryan’s old place. The police had given up control of the site when it was clear that nothing could be raised from the ashes. They were gradually moving the case to the cold file; even though we caught clips on the news and in the paper every now and then.
The crew working on the construction, besides taking constant breaks and putting in around 15 minutes of real work a day, left their equipment at the site. For a few nights, some teenagers from the town would come out and mess with things. I used to do the same when I was young, so it never bothered me.
This night, as the rain picked up, Val and I decided to go inside. Before I went in the door, I heard something that piqued my curiosity. It sounded like a diesel engine from one of the bulldozers. I had to check it out.
When we were inside, I walked to our windows that faced the site. Two headlights on the bulldozer shone like beacons through the downpour. I pulled on my jacket, grabbed my umbrella and started that familiar walk. The second I was in view of the lot, the pair of lights swung out over the road and pointed in my direction. The rain fell harder, and a thin sheet of water formed on the street. The door to Shawn’s house stood open.
The combination of the diesel engine and the rain slamming my umbrella drilled into my head. The night was filled with noise. We hadn’t heard this much since Bryan’s place burnt down, and now standing on the site again, feelings of fear came up from the ground and into my core.
I stopped and heard laughter.
“We are really fucked, you know that?” It was Shawn.
“What are you doing?” I hoped to get him down from the seat of the bulldozer somehow.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I had to drink. Somehow, I ended up here.” In the short time we knew each other, I had never seen him intoxicated. This was a first, and the fact that he was sitting on a piece of construction equipment didn’t help the situation.
“Come on man, its late; let’s call it a night,” I said and started to walk towards him.
“Remember my idea?”
“We can talk about it tomorrow,” I said. This was getting fairly annoying. I saw the shadow of his head dropping.
“We burned him here.” The quote shot through me, and I hoped the surveillance vehicle, if there was one, didn’t pick that up.
“Look, I think you had a little too much to drink. Let’s go inside and get some sleep.” I walked towards him with my hands open. It was a gesture I saw on one of the animal shows about confrontation. The open hand meant no threat.
“You said you had an idea earlier,” he turned the motor off, but the lights stayed on. “What was it, to throw me out like Drew?” The words started to slur, and when he shifted in the seat, a bottle fell from behind him and into the mud.
“Of course not, I was going to fake a phone call or something. I would say he contacted me,” I said, hoping my expression didn’t betray the fact that I had no idea what I would do with Julia.
“Really?” He was off the seat and walking towards me.
“Yeah. You and I. We are in it till the end.” I watched him come close to me. He walked directly by me, and I could smell the alcohol. The rain still poured.
“Tomorrow. You take me to the meeting.” He walked back towards his house, the lights casting long shadows on the road. There was a problem. He knew about Julia. She did not know about him. This could be the direct cause of his death. Things weren’t looking good. By the time I turned around, he was back inside his open front door.
I walked home, took a warm shower and lay back down. The next day would be interesting.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Meeting Day
Every now and then, a morning goes by in slow motion. Each act seems to carry meaning no matter how small or large. The moment you wake, the minute pictures your eye fills in seem to have value; you can feel your mind taking them in with pause enough as if they are your last.
The outside was mixed in gray with shafts of sunlight breaking through scattered clouds over the road. I left the house and drove to work. Along the way, people looked at me through their windows. They drove while talking on phones, applying makeup, shaving and not paying attention. I stopped at the local Wawa to get coffee, as I usually did. As I walked out, an older gentleman in line turned and faced me.
“Not much out there but traffic today.” No one responded, and he turned back in line.
I reentered the car, noticing that I was sweating despite the cold wind that had kicked up. The rest of the drive was like the older man predicted, not too much traffic. I pulled into the parking garage and parked up on the roof. The parking lot had one final spot in the far corner away from my building. People walked by me. I made my way across the concrete roof. On one of the first days I worked there, my boss, on a walk to lunch, mentioned that the parking garage collapsed one night during its construction. This morning, I wished it would do the same and take me out of the situation. I pictured the concrete opening and swallowing the cars, pulling me down with them.
Arriving at my desk dejected that I hadn’t fallen into the pit of the garage, I had forty-five emails and three missed calls waiting. None of them were Julia. She would find some other way to contact me. I went to the kitchen to get another coffee, even though the stuff in there could barely qualify for it. When I turned the corner to return to the desk, Bryan stood blocking my way in the hall. He was smiling; at least it looked like a smile through his burnt mouth. I stopped. Two guys from another department bumped into me. I looked back, apologized, turned around and Bryan was gone.
The morning progressed. A new employee started in our group. The guy trained with our most experienced person and stayed out of my way. I spent time switching between online games and news sites until lunch came around. Passing up a few invitations to go to out, I found myself on the terrace outside of our café. It was a blank concrete space covered with steel chairs and tables.
The afternoon turned into a thick blanket of humidity. A gray sky, hinting at in the morning, had settled over the area. After I sat down, people filed inside from their tables. I caught a few glances, only imagining what was being said about me.
The terrace backed our buildings. In the middle of my salad, I noticed a figure walking from the far parking lot. Security tried to walk outside our buildings every now and then, but at this time of day, they would be eating just like me. After the figure came into focus, my heart rate climbed a few steps. Walking across the paths and coming in my direction was Julia. She dressed in the usual office professional outfit. My mind quickly tried to find something to say. It also tried to avoid sweating. A wind started behind the buildings and across the tables. People walked by her, and I wished they would stop and ask if she worked with us. In what felt like two seconds, she was at the table.
“You’re not eating?” I tried for humor.
“You know why I’m here.” She stared into me.
“Not to work, I guess.”
“One more time, and I’ll make your existence a living hell.” She actually smiled.
“I have news.” I didn’t know where that came from.
“I was hoping so,” she said. “Speak.”
Something stirred in me. I didn’t like her power trip. “Bryan called me.”
“No he didn’t.” Our phones were tapped.
“It was my cell phone.”
“What did he have to say?” She raised her eyebrows. I could tell this wasn’t going over well.
“He’s coming back.”
“Is he now?”
“Yes. He only wants to talk to me.”
“When?”
“I’ll let you know,” I said, hoping to get one up on her.
“No. I will know.” She replied, stood up and walked away. I ended lunch and went back to work. The rest of the day was a blur, and I tried to figure something out as to what would happen next. I sent Shawn an email in the code we agreed upon and decided to meet that night, after dinner, and discuss what was next.
Chapter Thirty-Three
A Plan
We stood outside holding two cups of coffee. Shawn looked haggard. He looked older. His eyes were bloodshot, and his hands shook while he held the cup. A small wisp of steam rose and circled his face. Crickets, still around despite the chill in the air, chirped outside in the yard. The moments passed with a sense of urgency. I wondered how we ended up here and where we would be going.
“What do you have in mind?” Shawn asked. He didn’t look at me when he spoke. I didn’t want to say what I thought of doing.
“You see she set us up,” I said.
“No shit.”
“I mean, if we tell her the truth, she tells the cops, and we get put away with nothing. If we carry it out, who knows what could happen. We can’t go back from here. She had to have this thought out.” I stopped talking when I noticed no reaction from him.
“Kill her.” The words stayed in the air and then vanished into the night. He read my mind. “What other choice do we have?” He still wasn’t looking at me.
“Okay. When?” I checked to see if Val or Erica was in any distance to hear this. They were chatting in the living room.
“Get a date, and we can go from there.”
“You really want to do this?”
“No,” he said. He stood up and turned to go inside. “I don’t.”
The women looked up at us and smiled. In the baby seat lying on the corner of our rug, the baby made some stirring noises, and Shawn took that as a chance to exit. We said our goodbyes, and I watched them go. We were about to cross the line again. It seems like, after you get practice, it becomes so much easier. Maybe we were addicted; maybe it was the power; and maybe we were just scared. I didn’t know. Aren’t all killers scared? I mean, after you choose to play God, there’s no turning back. We would look into the eyes of someone evil and return it to her. It didn’t feel right, but at the same time, it did.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Things Come Together
Despite being bothered by the usual end-of-the-month hassle at work, I managed to come up with a small form of a plan. I didn’t mind the chance to show Julia how it really worked. The entire time she was pulling our strings, and we could finally return the favor. I waited for her contact. The only thing that could screw us up is if she sprung another surprise thing on me. Our plan was, if that happened, that I would force a meeting under my terms, and we would take her out there.
During my lunch break, while I was checking on the news items for the day, an email went around the entire company from security. Everyone took a second to read the emails from security, and if they know the person involved, send a reply with a joke or insult. The subject matter of these didn’t usually extend past an illegally parked car or flat tire. This time, according to the message, it was my car. They asked the owner of the vehicle to report to the security office. I started the walk just as the joke messages began to pop into my inbox.
Security did not have a door, so turning the corner to the office, I was met with three staring faces. Two of the men were the usual security guys. The third man was our lawyer friend. He smiled at me, and something about it reminded me of Julia, then I remembered how close they were. The one security officer started to speak, and the lawyer cut him off.
“Well, there he is,” he said. I noticed the absence of any real cops and was encouraged. “I think it’s time we talked.” Two minutes later we were in a miniature version of the glassed in meeting rooms that were all over our buildings. The one security guard stood outside the room, following protocol for meetings with any outside persons.
“So talk.” I said. I tried not to let any feelings creep into my voice and was less and less successful.
“I’m not in a hurry, are you?”
“You’re interrupting my lunch break.”
“People like you don’t deserve any breaks,” he said, and he started to lean forward in his chair. I wondered if they taught him this in law school. The room felt like I was under cross-examination.
“I know my rights. We don’t have to do any talking without my lawyer.”
“That’s a little defensive. Did I accuse you of anything?” He raised his hands in a mock innocence pose.
“I think it’s where we are heading.”
“You know, if I wanted, you’d be in jail with a girlfriend named Bubba by now.” Part of me knew he was right. “That’s better. Do not forget what I have on you.”
“So why not do it. Just end it here.”
“I know she contacted you.”
“Who?”
“His wife.” That seemed very impersonal for a guy talking about his own sister. I didn’t say anything. “She says he’s alive.”
“You have nothing.” I remembered that night outside watching Bryan’s house burn. He left before the police. He could have turned us in then.
“The house and Bryan had an insurance policy, that combined, is worth around three million dollars. Julia is the beneficiary. If Bryan dies in the fire, from arson, the policy doesn’t pay out. The Fire Inspector ruled it arson.” He stopped and took a drink from our free bottle of water with the company logo. This made sense. She was covering her tracks. She would never get half the policy, but if Bryan died, she got the other half.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“I think she paid you three to set the fire and make it look accidental, and you fucked it up. Bryan was gone, missing, at the time. She has him hidden somewhere. If you talk, we’re prepared to cut a deal.” The loop played in my head. It seemed like I won the lottery. Everyone had an offer for me, and the directions went all over the map.
I felt the pressure of the situation hoped he wouldn’t notice any color rising in my face. I glanced at my watch, and the seconds stopped moving and started taunting me. The security guard outside was looking in, and I guessed we were taking time past his usual meeting allowance. He probably had an intense game of solitaire waiting. The guard turne
d back.
“I know the detective has been on you to talk, and he’s a nice guy. I, on the other hand, am not that nice. You are either cooperating or I’ll send you down faster than you realize it. You have some time, but you are trying my patience.” He stood and walked out of the room. The guard followed him down the hall. I sat, unable to move.
I walked back to my office and shut the door. I turned around and looked out the window. A gray sky drifted over the area two days ago and made it impossible to tell the current time. A row of vultures sat on the roof of the building across from ours. Some of them stretched out their wings and others circled over the woods behind the area. I wondered if they were waiting for me.
A vibration tapped out over the desk. My cell phone jumped around. I looked at the caller ID, and it was unknown.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The Set Up
I slid up the earpiece, and Julia’s voice sounded into my ear before I could say anything.
“Tonight. Same place as before.”
“No,” I said. I tried to keep authority in my voice.
“I hope I just misheard you.”
“Bryan wants to be there. He will only show up at a location of my choice.” It was out of left field.
“So you’re working with him?”
“I never said that. I just said he wanted to get together with me.”
“It will be a surprise? I don’t like surprises.”
“This is what you wanted. I’ll finish my end of the deal there.”
“Did you tell him about me?”
“Of course not.” I hoped it didn’t come across that I was talking about someone I threw into a fire a little while back. His image flashed over my mind again, and I cringed, hoping no one noticed.
“Get there first with Bryan. When I see you both, I’ll arrive.”