Adrian McKinty - The Dead Yard

“But you’ve murdered one of their agents now. Won’t that make things worse?” I asked, making sure I said the word murdered, not killed.

“No, they’ll never find her. Not where we’re going to put her. They won’t know what happened to her. It’ll fuck them up for weeks. And let’s say the feds are watching us, the last thing they’ll expect us to do is what we’re going to do next.They’ll figure we’ll be running scared. They’ll think that. Not us, mate. You’ll see, Sean, we’ll impress you yet. And if you go back to Ireland someday, you’ll say that the Sons of Cuchu-lainn were the baddest, smartest, coolest lads you ever worked with. You’ll see.”

Touched laughed. He was so excited and relaxed that it was making me physically ill.

“So what happens next, tonight?” I asked.

“Gerry, me, you, and Jackie are going to dig a hole in the salt marsh on Plum Island and dispose of that lass. Then me and you are going back to Gerry’s house and I’m going to have to question you like you’ve never been questioned before.And then, after that, as much as you were on probation before, you’ll be in purgatory now,” he said dispassionately.

“What about the mess upstairs?”

“I’m going to be busy with you. Gerry is not in the best physical shape, so I suppose young Jackie will have to spend most of the night doing that. I’ll swing by in the morning with my UV scanner to check it out. Be a job, but don’t worry about that, the hard work will be good for him.”

There was a knock at the back door.

“There’s the boys,” Touched said.

Touched kept me in pistol shot and opened the back door. Gerry and Jackie were dressed in old clothes, carrying a holdall and a huge plastic sail cover that presumably was to be the improvised body bag. Jackie limped over and shook my hand. Gerry, too, greeted me warmly.

“Sean,” Gerry said loudly. “I believe the shadow of suspicion has been draped over you. Not to worry. Macte nova virtute puer. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time.Kit told me about the little trick she pulled, no wonder you needed some refreshment after your long walk.”

“What are you going to do to him?” Jackie asked.

“We’re going to have to quarantine Sean a wee bit,”Touched said. “And check him out.”

Jackie looked upset.

“I don’t mind it, Jackie, really, better safe than sorry. I mean, I can totally see Touched’s point of view,” I said.

“Anyway, don’t worry. We’re going to have a grand few days. We’re going to switch to plan B and we’re going to go to the cabin,” Gerry said.

“I’ve filled him in already, Gerry, can’t let him know too much, though; I told him he’s going to be in purgatory for a wee bit,” Touched announced.

“Of course. We’ll have to keep an eye on you,” Gerry said, slapping me on the back a little too hard.

“Ok,” I said.

“These are difficult times,” Gerry said, his eyes tight and betraying nothing.

I nodded and Jackie came over and patted me on the back too. Not like Gerry. Gentle, affectionately.

“I believe in you. You were cool under pressure last night and as far as I’m concerned you’re a mate for life. And, for, for, for my part that shit between us is all in the past,” Jackie said, his cheeks reddening.

I give him a Gleason tap under the chin.

“Thanks, Jackie,” I said, trying to sound moved.

“Well, if the fucking lovefest is over, we have work to do,” Touched declared. “Gerry, since you are not the most physically able of the four of us, I’m going to have to ask you to keep Sean covered with the gun. I know it’s bloody distasteful but you’ll have to do it.”

Gerry nodded and gave me a sympathetic look. Touched opened Gerry’s holdall, removed overalls and gloves. We put them on. Touched grabbed the sail bag and led us upstairs.

We went into the Mediterranean blue bedroom, with the lovely pictures and new drapes. Jackie took one look at the bed and had to leave. We heard him retch into the toilet bowl.

“Make sure you bloody flush,” Touched said.

I looked at her again. Samantha was naked, cold, but she didn’t look dead. Even disfigured, there was, even now, a hint of the woman. That big personality who, if she could, would be telling me to keep a cool head and be careful.

There she was, still and lifeless, three men in her web, looking at her.

“Better get started,” Touched said.

Gerry didn’t say anything, which in itself was remarkable.

No “Oh my God, Touched, what the fuck have you done?”or “You’re a fucking animal, we need to get you help” or “This time you’ve gone too far,” nothing like that. Just a shrug and on with the bloody task at hand.

I untied her wrists and lifted her by the head, secretly caressing her frigid cheek.

“That’s the ticket, Sean. Hold her up. Get in here, Jackie,”Touched said, lifting her legs. We eased her into the sail bag and Gerry zipped it up.

“I don’t recognize her at all, are you sure about this, Touched? I mean, just because she drove past our house a couple of times,” Gerry wondered.

“No mistake, Gerry, I’m telling you she was FBI. I promise. I’m ninety-nine percent sure.”

Gerry nodded. That was good enough for him. It had to be good enough for him.

We carried Samantha to the stairs and as far as I could I made sure the passage down was gently done. Gerry checked that the coast was clear and we heaved the body outside to one of his big white vans. We shut the van and closed, but didn’t lock, the back door of All Things Brit. Touched drove us away from the scene of butchery, Gerry pointing the gun from the front, Jackie and me in the back with Samantha.

We hit the Plum Island turnpike, went over the bridge, and turned right towards the wildlife sanctuary. This was almost the very spot Samantha and I had been at last night. And here she was again in different circumstances entirely.

We easily skirted the barrier the Department of Fish and Wildlife had put up to stop people going into the reserve after dark and drove about a mile down the single-lane road, finally coming to a halt at a sign marked “Salt Pan.”

All four of us got out. A desolate part of the island, between barren sand dunes and the tidal marsh with no trace of people, birds, anything.

Gerry distributed shovels and Jackie, Touched, and myself began digging a hole in the weird, sucking, salty earth.

I began to get nervous.

Of course, they could just as easily shoot me and throw me down this hole too.

I could, at any moment, make a break for it, run off into the darkness. But Touched and Jackie were very fit. They’d track me and kill me for sure. And from what I’d read, Touched was a marksman.

I looked up at the waxing moon and the surroundings.

Not much cover in these dunes.

I decided to play it cool, for now. Though I’d have to give it a go if I twigged that they were going to execute me.

“Why bury her here, Touched?” I asked.

“It’s a good spot,” Touched replied. “The ground is so salty no big animals can stand it, so nothing’s going to dig her up.She’ll stay here undiscovered, pretty much until the end of bloody time. I found out about this place, when, uh, when, well, let’s just say, I had a similar problem about a year ago. Woman trouble. You know what’s it’s like. ’Course I had to do the digging all by myself. Gerry would not help me.”

“Damn right, Touched, you got yourself into that mess and no bloody mistake,” Gerry said and chuckled as if Touched had failed to pay his parking tickets or been caught sneaking into the cinema.

Touched wiped the sweat from his brow and took a breather. It was now a hot, sweaty night and naturally the flies were murderous. Gerry, keeping the gun on me and excused from digging, passed us a water bottle. We all took a swig.