The boys traveled east for a couple of minutes, arguing, and then decided to give up the hunt. It took them a while to find the path again, and more than once they seemed to be stumbling our way. I'd glance at Jack, to see if we should bolt, but he held steady. Eventually, they found the path and decided what they really needed was more booze. Maybe even some dope. One of them "knew a guy," and they all trudged out of the park to find him.

I bent beside our would-be attacker and felt his neck for a pulse.

"He's gone," I said.

"Fuck."

"He knew his choices. Either bring those boys over or win himself a quick death." I looked down at the body. "He got option two."

"And we got shit."

"I know."

I checked the man's pockets. There was a wallet with a few hundred in cash and the bare minimum of ID, out of state and probably fake. Unlike our first attacker, though, this one had a cell phone.

I turned it on and got a password screen.

"Fuck," Jack said, leaning over.

"Yep. I'm sure Evelyn can crack it. In the meantime, we have a body. Do we drag it farther into the woods?"

"Nah. There's a pond."

"I missed that."

"Didn't pass it."

"Ah, meaning you know from experience. All right then. Let's get this guy to water."

I started to turn.

"Hey," Jack said.

I glanced over. He was poised there, watching me, his gaze shuttered.

"Hmmm?" I said.

"Lousy timing, huh?"

"No kidding."

He relaxed a little, but his face was still tight as he said, "You okay?" and I knew he wasn't asking if I'd been hurt or if I was shaken up.

Before I could answer, he said, "Earlier . . . We okay?"

"We're fine, Jack. I had one glass of wine. I knew what I was doing."

"Yeah, I know. Just . . ."

"I knew what I was doing and I wasn't doing anything I didn't want to do. Everything is fine." I glanced down at the corpse. "Except for the dead body that needs to be taken care of. Very inconveniently."

"Yeah."

CHAPTER 37

Jack made me put my heels back on to move the body. Because, apparently, tetanus was a serious concern. He did most of the heavy lifting, but we did need to carry the guy, not just drag him across the park. And it was a bit of a hike. Still we managed it.

We weighed the body down and tossed it into the pond. That makes it sound easy. It wasn't. There's no sense hiding a corpse if you're going to be careless about it. By the time we finished, it was nearly two in the morning. And the night wasn't over yet.

Tags: Kelley Armstrong Nadia Stafford Mystery
Source: readsnovelonline.net