My stomach twisted in disgust. “Y-yes.”
“You’re not. I’ll drop you off by the house—”
“I’m not going to let you do this by yourself. I’m more than capable—”
“I don’t care anything about that, Ebony. This isn’t about gender equality. I don’t want you to have dead bodies on your mind.”
“What? Wyatt is my body not yours.”
“You’re not made for this—”
“Wyatt prepared me.” Rage rose in me. “He got me ready to kill him, when he hit Kia. When he hit me. When he made us run for our lives. When he placed terror in our hearts. When Poppy stopped talking. If I don’t do this, then I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Yoshiro sighed. “This is the plan. I take the truck to the back and unload his body. We have to wipe down Donald’s seats fast. We don’t want any of Wyatt’s DNA on it. Once that’s done, give the truck to Donald.”
“Then, I run back to you?”
Yoshiro nodded.
My anxiety kicked into high gear. “I know you. . .worked for the mob, but have you killed someone here in this town before?”
“Yes.”
“W-who?”
“Mabel’s father.”
“Because he burned her?”
“Yes. I don’t like guys that hurt women.” Yoshiro gripped the steering wheel. “I stopped in the gas station one day and he was yelling at her. When her father went upstairs, I asked her if he burned her face. During that time, she was scared. She barely squeaked out the words.”
“What did you do?”
“I went upstairs, choked him, carried him to my truck, and took him to Sam.”
A cold shiver ran through me.
“Holy shit.” I stared out of the window. “What did Mabel do?”
“She came over with an apple pie the next day. That was five years ago. Now every year on that date, she brings me an apple pie.”
“What about the police?”
“They put out a missing case for him. As you can probably guess a man who burns his daughter when he’s annoyed doesn’t get much sympathy from the cops. Everyone in town loves Mabel.”
“No one suspected you?”
“This isn’t the city. No cameras at stop lights. Everyone knows everyone so when things happen there’s almost never any witnesses. This town protects their people.”
I ran shaking fingers through my hair.
“He’s been missing for five years now. In two more years, Mabel will get his life insurance. It takes seven years for an unexplained absence in order for them to finally fork the money over.” Yoshiro turned into his driveway. “Not that Mabel cares. She’s just happy to not live a life of fear.”
I nodded. “I can understand that.”
He drove us past the house and took us up the small hill leading to the back house. “Does all of this scare you?”
“Which part? Us feeding Wyatt’s cut up body to hogs or you killing Mabel’s father?”
“Any of it.”
“I’m long past scared now, Yoshiro. I’m like Mabel. I just want to stop being scared. I like waking up and not being terrified that a monster is coming into my house, planning to rape me in front of my kids and then kill me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s survival of the fittest right now.”
“You’ll never be the same after this, Ebony.”
“I haven’t been the same in a long time. In fact, I don’t want to be the same. I like who I’m becoming.”
Yoshiro parked in front of the back house. “Good. Because what we’re going to do won’t be easy. But at any time you want to stop, I’ll—”
“I’m staying the whole time.”
“Then, we’re doing this together.”
“We are.” I jumped out of the car.
Then we got down to business.
Yoshiro hurried into the house, grabbed cleaning supplies, and handed them to me. While I sprayed down the seats and windows, he pulled Wyatt’s body out of the car and took him to the back house. The whole time my heart hammered. My hands shook. Sweat soaked my armpits. Every few seconds, I kept thinking I was hearing police sirens, but it was all in my head.
Minutes later, the tow truck was clean.
I jumped inside, backed it up, and drove it over to the side of Yoshiro’s house where Donald was working on my car. When I parked, I didn’t see him there.
I jogged to the main house, opened the door, and spotted Donald eating pie right from the tin.
“This sure is good.” He grinned.
The kids turned my way.
Smiles covered their faces.
Salt and Pepa kept a wall between Donald and the kids. The whole time the dogs stared at them.
“Hey, Mommy. What did you get from the store?” Kia jumped up. “Do you need us to help you bring anything in?”
“No. Like Donald tried to tell me earlier, the store was closed.”
“I told you.” Donald laughed and rose. “Either way, the SUV is in top shape. If you have any problems, let me know. There’s a warranty on my work for thirty days.”