AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Alonzo’s?”
“He lost his head.”
Nico wrapped me up in arms I never wanted to leave, and apart from a few specks of blood and the glow of sweat, he looked as if he’d been out for an afternoon stroll. Matty was okay too, and I saw now that he was carrying Good Shelley. Maybe she was his lucky charm?
“Where’s Cesare?” I whispered.
“Gone. This time, he really is gone.”
I couldn’t hold back the tears. There was no sadness, only relief that my husband had finally shuffled off this mortal coil to meet his good friend Satan in person.
“Can we go home now?”
“Neither of the vehicles is functional,” the Good Samaritan said. “We’ll have to wait for a ride.”
Nico helped me to stand. “There’s also one small matter we have to discuss first.”
“Oh yeah?”
“We’re not alone out here.”
Well, no, but Cesare and Alonzo were both dead, weren’t they? Luigi too. When he hit the windshield, his skull had cracked like a watermelon. Someone should have told him to buckle up.
“There are more of these fuckers?” my rescuer asked.
“Not them. Our favourite neighbourhood vigilante is in the area.”
“The Bad Samaritan?”
“The one and only. Funny, I always assumed it was you.”
“Back atcha, but then at the Peninsula when you ran out to the road without a weapon or a plan, I knew I was wrong. So, who is it?”
“I still don’t know. He was wearing a motorcycle helmet. But he seems to know you, and he said that under no circumstances should I allow you to be questioned or fingerprinted.” Nico raised an eyebrow. “I’m guessing you have a history you’d rather keep quiet?”
“Something like that,” the Good Samaritan admitted. “But I just killed a man. There are gonna be questions.”
Now Nico smiled, and it wasn’t his usual sweet smile. This one was cunning.
“No, the Bad Samaritan just killed a man. You fired one warning shot, and it went wide. Give me your gun and take this one.”
“First, you had no guns, and now you have two?”
“In the Bad Samaritan’s words, it’s registered to a ghost. Kaylin, zolottse, when the police ask, you need to tell them that you didn’t see who shot Alonzo.”
Right now, I’d do anything for these men.
“I’ll say that. I definitely will.” But even if the Good Samaritan’s history didn’t come out, I knew mine was going to. There would be too many questions about what two NYC capos were doing in Oregon for my secrets to slide under the radar. “What will happen to me?”
“Just let me worry about that. I promise everything will work out.”
Fat drops of rain began to fall as we headed for the road, and I raised my face to the sky, letting the downpour wash the blood away and cleanse my soul. The rest of my life started now.
42
NICO
“I have questions.”
