From within the trailer, the pair of dark eyes watched LuAnn’s hasty departure, taking in every detail. When she suddenly glanced around the man stepped back into the shadow of the trailer’s interior. LuAnn didn’t know him, but he wasn’t taking any chances at being observed. His dark leather jacket was zipped halfway up the front, the butt of a 9-mm visible sticking out of the inside pocket. He stepped quickly over the two men lying on the floor, careful to avoid the pools of blood. He had happened along at an opportune time. He was left with the spoils of a battle he had not even had to fight. What could be better? He scooped the drug packets off both the coffee table and the floor and deposited them in a plastic bag that the man pulled from his jacket. After thinking about it for a moment, he put half the stash back where he had found it. No sense being greedy, and if the organization these boys worked for got wind that no drugs had been discovered by the police in the trailer they might start looking for who took it. If only part of the stash was missing they’d probably assume the cops had sticky fingers.
He eyed the fight scene and then noted the torn fabric on the floor; recognition spread across his features. It was from the woman’s shirt. He put it in his pocket. She owed him now. He looked at the remnants of the phone, the position of each man’s body, the knife and the dents in the wall. She must have walked right into the middle of this, he deduced. Fat man got the little man, and LuAnn somehow got the fat man. His admiration for her increased as he noted the man’s bulk.
As if he sensed this observation, the fat man started to stir again slowly. Not waiting for the fat man to recover further, the other man stooped down, used a cloth to snatch up the knife, and then plunged it repeatedly into the man’s side. The dying man grew momentarily stiff, his fingers digging into the threadbare carpet, hanging on to the last seconds of his life, desperately unwilling to let go. After a few moments, though, his entire body shook for an instant and then slowly relaxed, his fingers uncurled and splayed out, his palms flush against the floor. His face was turned to the side; one lifeless, blood-filled eye stared up at his killer.
Next, he roughly flipped over Duane, squinting in the dim light as he tried to determine if the chest was moving up or down. Just to be safe he used several carefully aimed thrusts to make certain Duane Harvey joined the fat man in the hereafter. He tossed the knife down.
In another few seconds he was through the front door and around the back of the trailer where he plunged into the woods. His car was parked off a little-used dirt trail that snaked through the heavy woods. It was windy and rough, but it would deliver him onto the main road in plenty of time to take up his real task: following LuAnn Tyler. When he climbed into his car, his car phone was ringing. He picked it up.
“Your duties are at an end,” Jackson said. “The hunt has officially been called off. The balance of your payment will be sent to you via the usual channels. I thank you for your work and I’ll keep you in mind for future employment.”
Anthony Romanello gripped the phone hard. He debated whether to tell Jackson about the two bodies in the trailer and then decided not to. He might have stumbled onto something really interesting.
“I saw the little lady tearing out of here on foot. But she doesn’t look like she has the resources to go very far,” Romanello said.
Jackson chuckled. “I think money will be the least of her worries.” Then the line went dead.
Romanello clicked off his phone and pondered the matter for a moment. Technically, he had been called off. His work was at an end and he could just return home and wait for the rest of his money. But there was something screwy going on here. Everything about the job was somehow off. Sending him down here to the sticks to kill some hick chick. And then being told not to. And there was Jackson’s passing reference to money. Dollars were something that always held Romanello’s interest. He made up his mind and put the car in gear. He was going to follow LuAnn Tyler.