AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I sigh at the inhumanity of it. “Can’tget involved?” Can’t take her body, leave it close to where someone will find it at the very least? “It’s desolate around here, no one will find her.”
“The body needs to be put back where we found it.” Jack’s serious. He fires his words at me like he’s using a bow and arrow. The pinch of his tone silencing me.
I take a pause. “And the boy?”
Jack frowns at me. “Wedidn’t find him. Dog walker did. He had no next of kin. No family. No nothing.”
My eyes meet Jack’s. “What did they do with him?”
“He was given a pauper’s funeral. Buried in what’s known as a common grave for those who die alone, unclaimed.”
Unclaimed. It’s sounds so… lost. “Where?”
“Why does it matter?” Jack asks sternly.
“Because it fucking does,” I quip. There’s no denying who the boy sounds like. A missing brother I promised I’d help find.
Sean steps forwards having not spoken a word since Jack and I were wrestling on the floor. “Here.” He shows me what appears to be a police report. The cemetery is close to home.
“Now what?” I ask.
“First, we put her body back where we found it. Then, you help me get someone on the inside of Costa’s organisation. We shut this down before it grows. I’ve gone as far as I can. I need you now, Deano.”
Staring at the heavens, I imagine my life away from this darkness. I can see it, just. But my fingers? They don’t reach the light. “Do either of you have a smoke?”
Jack grimaces, but Sean steps forward. He hands me the packet and a lighter.
Stepping outside, I draw the nicotine deep into my lungs, holding it in for the longest of breaths until it burns.
“Deano?” Jack says, as I throw Sean back his smokes and walk away.
No way I’m helping dump that girl’s body on a fucking beach.
Once back at the car, we make our way to the clubhouse. “Drop me off here,” I tell Jack.
He doesn’t bother to ask questions. He mounts the curb, pulling the truck to a stop. We sit in silence until he leans forward, jerking his thumb to the clubhouse up ahead. “What’s the cover story?”
I look up, pulling down the sun visor, assessing the damage to my face. “I’m going to tell them.”
Jack sighs. “You can’t,” he says sternly but flat.
I slam the visor shut. “I have to.”
Jack rests his hands on the wheel. “If we blow this… if we miss this opportunity to stop it right now, then they go further underground, and we never catch them.” He rubs his chin harshly with his hand. “We’re so close, Deano. So fuckin’ close.” Sitting back in his seat, he adds, “I didn’t lie to my dad, didn’t sacrificeeverything,for it all to go to shit now.”
I wait for him to stop breathing so heavy. “Is this reallyabout what Costa’s doing, or just your pure fucking desire to get the man we know killed Linda?”
“Fuckin’ both!” he snaps. “You saw it with your own eyes. We can’t let this shit continue. And as for…” he trails off staring ahead. “I want a normal life.”
I slowly turn my head to look at him.
“I had a normal life, I know that. I mean a family. A wife. Shit, maybe even a kid, you know?”
I look down, knowing exactly what he means.
“I have given up so much, worked so hard… and for what?”
Nothing.“You can still have all of those things,” I assure him.
