by Nick James
Chapter Thirty-One
He walked back up the trail toward the road and opened the door to the SUV. He quickly checked the backseat and the rear area for anything of interest. There was nothing to find. Neither one of them had a cell phone and he thought they might have left them in the SUV. Now that he couldn’t find them he figured they’d left them back in the city so they couldn’t be traced up here at a later date.
He found a loaded Ruger pistol in the glove compartment, resting on top of a folded road map. It was small and carried eight rounds. It took a moment or two with the thick rubber gloves on, but he was eventually able to open the cylinder and check the rounds, .22 caliber. He laid the pistol on the passenger seat, then checked the road map. It was a Wisconsin map, the next state over, and therefore hadn’t been used in their trip up here. The odds of them having followed him seemed to be growing, and that seemed to point to Montcreff.
He parked the SUV in the outbuilding, then walked back up to the cabin. He found Emily up in the bedroom, down on all fours scrubbing the floor. He watched her for a long moment, enjoying the view.
“Not happy with my work?” he said, then watched as she jumped.
“God, don’t sneak up on me like that. You’re liable to give me a heart attack. Jesus Christ.”
“Sorry,” he laughed. The room smelled of Pine-Sol.
She sat back on the floor and ran the back of her hand across her forehead. “Not a reflection on the job you did, but I wanted to make sure this is cleaned up. I don’t want a trace of what’s happened in here.”
“Found this in their glove compartment,” he said, tossing the Ruger onto the bed. “Thought it might be a good idea if you had it close by.”
She looked at the revolver but didn’t touch it. “I’ve never shot a gun before.”
“Then I think once I’m finished digging out there, we’ll maybe give you a lesson or two. Tell you what, why don’t you run into town and get a box of .22 shells at the hardware store.”
“Twenty-two. That’s how many are in a box?”
“No, that’s the caliber. Just ask the guy for a box and he’ll know what you’re talking about.”
“I’ll do it as soon as I’m finished up here.”
“Then I’d better get started digging.”
“There’s a couple of different shovels in one of the outbuildings.”
“I’ll find them,” he said remembering exactly where he’d left them the last time he’d dug a grave up here.
Something had gotten to the bodies. They’d been chewed on, not too seriously, but chewed none the less. He was digging about twenty feet away from where he’d buried Angie and the others. He’d hoped the cleared area had meant he wouldn’t have to deal with so many tree roots. That seemed to be the case, although a lot more rocks were in this area then he recalled from his earlier effort. He was maybe a third of the way through the task when he heard an engine. He listened as it steadily grew louder, coming his way, then stopped. A moment later Emily called his name. “Bobby?”
“Over here,” he yelled, then rammed the shovel into the pile of sandy soil and walked up the rise toward the large pine. “Over here, Emily,” he called as she looked around.
She gave a quick wave, then climbed off the ATV and pulled a red plastic gas can with a yellow spout off the back. She hung onto it with both hands, and then sort of limped up the rise toward him.
He met her half way and took the can from her. “What’s with this?”
“Once you dump them in, it’s best to burn the bodies.”
He looked at her for a long moment. “And you know this how?”
“Don’t let it go to your head. I just did a Google search.”
“You’re going to the hardware store? Maybe just get a box of lime. Anyone asks just tell them it’s for your outhouse or something.”
“See, if you had taken the time to Google that, you’d know it doesn’t work. You want to speed up the decomposition, lime works to slow it down.”
“You sure?”
“Very. It masks the odor, but actually sort of hardens the body by removing moisture and that slows down the process.”
“Really?”
“Not kidding. Here,” she said handing him a pack of matches. “You’ll forgive me if I miss this particular event. See you when I get back,” she said, then gave him a kiss and headed back over the rise. A moment later he heard the ATV start up and then grow faint as she headed back down the trail.
It was another good hour and a half before he felt comfortable with the depth of the pit. He picked up an armful of broken pine branches from around the area, then stood on the edge of the pit, broke the branches over his knee and tossed them in. He doused the branches with gasoline, then rolled the bodies one at a time to the edge and kicked them in on top of the branches. He found some larger limbs from a birch tree and tossed a couple of them into the hole. Then he poured a little more gasoline in, lit the pack of matches and dropped it into the hole. It took a second or two and just about the time he thought it wouldn’t catch, there was a loud sort of “woof” and the bottom of the pit was suddenly enveloped in blue and yellow flames.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The smoke billowing from the pit was black, but was pretty much dissipated by the time it cleared the tops of the trees. The initial sort of bar-b-cue odor had shifted to more of a coppery sort of smell. Bobby strolled around the area, found a few more pieces of wood, logs now, close to the size of his thigh and tossed them into the pit. There was very little smoke at this point and over the course of the next couple of hours the bottom of the pit appeared to be largely reduced to ash. He dumped some more logs in, then waited until he heard the wood crackle and pop before he climbed on the ATV and headed back to the cabin. Emily was just climbing out of her car when he came off the trail.
“So, how’d it go?” she asked, sounding like he’d just been fishing or taking a walk in the woods.
“Well. Great idea on your part. That fire will be burning for at least another hour or so. I thought maybe I’d grab some lunch in the meantime. I’m starving.”
“Hope you don’t mind, I picked up some burgers in town at O’Neil’s. They’re really good.”
“Perfect, then are you maybe up for a little target practice after lunch?”
“Yeah, I got those twenty-two’s.”
“The box of shells.”
“Yeah, along with this. What do you think,” she said then reached into a bag and pulled out a pink canvas holster.
“You’re kidding me?”
“No, the girl at the store helped me pick it out. I had the gun with me so we could make sure it fit.”
“Pink?”
“I got four of them, green, blue and black, too. Never know what I might be wearing and I wouldn’t want it to clash. What?”
“I think I may have really underestimated you.”
“Everyone does. Come on, let’s eat. I’m starving.”
After lunch, Bobby pulled a half dozen wine bottles out of the recycling bin and placed them in a paper bag. Then he and Emily walked into the woods to where a small stream had cut a deep rut in the sandy soil. He set the bottles up along the edge of the stream, just a small trickle of water today, then walked fifteen paces back.
“Okay, we’ll fire from here.”
Emily held her new pink holster with the Ruger. “You’re kidding? I can just about spit on them from here.”
“Trust me. Couple of rules. That gun is always loaded. Never pull it unless you intend to use it.”
She nodded.
“Always make sure there is no one in your line of fire.”
“Unless I plan to shoot them.”
“Yeah. Okay, so take the revolver out.”
She pulled it out then sort of stood with her feet together looking at the bottles. She still held the holster in her left hand while the revolver waved back and forth in her right.
“Okay,“ he said gently placing his hand on hers, and
slipping the revolver from her hand. “Drop that holster on the ground.”
“I just got it, it’s brand new. I don’t want it to get dirty.”
“If you feel you have to pull this out, the least of your problems is going to be getting the holster dirty. So, let’s just drop it on the ground.”
She tossed it off to the side, watched it land on a pile of dried leaves and seemed to relax.
“OK, now turn sideways. This will make you a smaller target. Good. Now, hold your hands up, pretend you’re holding the revolver, and aim at the bottles. You’re going to want to keep your right eye open and close your left. Now when you shoot, you’ll pull the trigger and the gun is going to jump a little, so then you aim again. Got it?”
“Yeah, kind of a lot to remember.”
“It will all come pretty natural to you once you do it. Okay, so take hold of your weapon, remember to keep it pointed away from everyone,” he said, then placed the revolver in her hands. “Now, this little bump on the end of the barrel, that’s called the sight and you use that to aim. So get that lined up with the bottle on the far right.”
“The green one?”
“Yeah,” he said since they were all green. “Now squeeze the trigger.”
“Nothing’s happening,” she said.
“Oh, yeah, that’s cause the safety is still on.” He grabbed the revolver, clicked the safety off, and handed it back to her. “Okay, aim, take your time, squeeze the trigger.”
“It’s still not work…” the pistol fired a shot that kicked up some dirt about fifteen feet back and five feet above the bottle. “Jesus,” she said, all smiles as she turned and casually pointed the pistol toward Bobby.
He quickly pushed it away. “You always have to be careful.”
“It’s okay. I wasn’t going to shoot you.”
“It’s not okay. Pay attention.”
“Okay, crabby.”
“This isn’t a game, Emily. This is serious business. Now aim again at that bottle.”
She fired a moment later. It was impossible to tell where she fired, but none of the bottles seemed to be in any danger. She went through all eight rounds and two more on the reload before she hit one of the bottles. “I got one.”
“Yeah, was it the one you were aiming for?”
“Almost.”
A dozen rounds later and she had figured out the sight. If she wasn’t hitting a bottle with every round, she was coming very close. They worked their way through the entire box of shells.
“I think you’ve got the hang of it. You’ve got eight rounds left and we’ll keep it loaded for now. Okay, click that safety on. Good, now put it back in that stylish pink holster and let’s head back to the cabin. You need to get dinner going and I need to fill in that hole.”
“Thanks for showing me,” she said and gave him a kiss.
“You’re a natural, Emily. Little more practice and you’ll really have it down.”
“I’ll go in tomorrow and get more twenty-twos.”
“Yeah, good idea.”
They walked back to the cabin. Emily held her pink holster in her left hand and Bobby’s hand in her right.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The bottom of the pit was filled with ash. Standing at the edge, it was impossible to determine what had been burned besides some logs. He shoveled the sandy soil back into the pit for close to an hour, then dragged a birch limb across the top and placed three large granite rocks at a right angle to the limb. He gathered up leaves and pine needles, scattering them around the site to make it blend into the rest of the area. After one or two good rains, you’d never be able to tell the difference.
He parked the ATV back in the outbuilding, then walked up to the cabin. Emily was reading a magazine at the kitchen counter, sipping a glass of wine. “Everything go okay?”
“All cleaned up.”
“This whole thing is just really weird,” she said.
“You’re telling me. I just hope Antonnini is our guy.”
“Who else could it be?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. You have a lot of names on that list. They all paying you?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that, Emily. It’s not a problem, as long as all they do is continue paying and don’t try to kill you.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah, there’s a big part of me that gets exactly where you’re coming from.”
“Thanks for not judging me,” she said, then just stared into his eyes.
“Thanks for not charging me,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “I’m going to get cleaned up. What’s for dinner?”
“Back to basics. A nice beef roast, potatoes, carrots. Hurry back down.”
He shaved, took a hot shower, toweled off, and was disappointed not to find her waiting for him in the bed. A bullet hole from their earlier visitors was lodged in the headboard just above the pillow on Emily’s side of the bed. Thank God she’d heard something and woke him up.
They ate dinner with both their guns within reach. Emily’s pink holster rested next to her on the kitchen counter. Bobby had his holster tucked into the back of his waistband. Over dinner he broached the subject of Noah Denton.
“I’m going to have to head back to the city tomorrow. Noah Denton’s funeral is going to be in the next few days. I don’t expect you to go to that with me, but I’ll have to attend for business reasons.”
“If you really want me to, I’ll go.”
“No, not that I wouldn’t love you on my arm, but your being there could jeopardize the lawsuit, if you’re still planning to proceed with it.”
“What do you think we should do? Honestly.”
“Who was your attorney on it?”
“Humph, it was the head of the new firm, Nate Anderson. In fact, he was the one who contacted us. I think the words he used were “absolutely outraged” at the entire situation. He suggested we sue. Of course he’s nowhere to be found, ran off somewhere with Angie what’s her name.” The irony wasn’t lost on Bobby.
“Then things were supposed to be handled by a guy named Chuck Larson. Mom and I met with him, brought him up to date. Basically starting over again. I haven’t heard from him for a week or two, so I’m not sure where things stand.”
“Well, I can give you some inside information, probably not for publication yet, but you’re going to hear it sooner or later. Larson came back to the firm, he…”
“He’s back at the firm with Denton? Your firm?”
“Well, yeah, except that Denton’s dead.”
“But what does that do to our lawsuit?”
“Apparently he was able to overcome his outrage. What does it do? Probably put you back to square one. Did you pay him or Anderson anything?”
“No, it was going to be on a contingency basis. You know, I thought they were just a little too eager. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but…”
“Honestly? I think they were probably using your lawsuit as one more arrow in their quiver. Then when things started to fall apart, they just put it off to the side.”
“Is that even fair? I mean can they do that?”
“Well, they have. What are your choices? You can file a complaint with the state bar association as you certainly have the right to do. You could threaten to do that and settle for some sort of out-of-court settlement. You could refile the case with another firm. None of those options are very good.”
“Would you take the case?”
“I can’t. It’s not that it doesn’t have merit, it does, but I’m employed by the firm and I couldn’t sue them. Besides, I’m still disbarred so even if I believe in it, and I do, I can’t represent you.”
She paused for a moment or two, then said, “I better think about it. In the meantime, what’s your plan for that car?”
“You up for a drive?”
“I suppose.”
“I want to take it down to Duluth and leave it on the street.”
“Won’t someone notice it sooner or later?”
“Hopefully, sooner, I’ll leave the keys in the ignition, some credit cards in there. With any luck someone will grab the thing, run up some purchases, and make it look like they’re still out there spending.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
It took over an hour and a half to drive down to Duluth. Bobby kept the SUV below the speed limit and Emily stayed right behind him the entire way. He worked his way toward the industrial area and found a series of dim bars along one of the harbor streets. Three or four blocks of unappealing places with a pretty rough clientele. One of the joints had a sign above the door flashing Girls, Girls, Girls. There was a brief scuffle between two people on the next street. Driving past, he couldn’t tell if they were male or female. Neither one appeared to be in any condition to remember the incident by morning. From the look of things, the SUV would be one of the better cars on the street. He parked it, made sure all the doors were unlocked, then left the keys in the ignition and the credit cards on the passenger seat.
“You sure this is going to work?” Emily asked as he slid into the passenger seat and she pulled away.
“That thing will be gone before we make it back to your cabin.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Trust me.”
She half laughed. “You make it sound like you’ve done this sort of thing before.”
“No, just familiar with crime stats on this sort of stuff. With any luck, some kids will grab it. By the time it’s recovered, if it’s ever recovered, there will have been so many things going on in that car, so many people in and out, it’ll never be traced to your place.”
They drove on in silence for the better part of the way, both lost deep in their own thoughts. Bobby wondered what he was going to do once he returned to the city. Montcreff wouldn’t be too happy about losing two people and Bobby figured he’d probably try again, and soon.
