Page 39 of Snow Blind
Helen swallowed hard and asked, "Get started doing what?"
"We have to break out his teeth, and you will need to burn off his fingerprints," Passion Fruit said.
"Nope," Helen said, "naw. Hell no. Not today, Satan's helpers."
"Cranberry, this is the job. You make it happen or you wash out," Passion Fruit said. "I have no tolerance for squeamish agents. Do the work, and we go home."
"Yeah, home sounds real damned good right now," Helen replied shivering at the thoughts of what needed to happen next. "How do I burn off fingerprints?"
"With this," the troll said, passing her what looked like a mini-iron. The gurney rolled into the main room.
Helen stood in horror as they stretched the man's mouth open. Passion Fruit took a small hammer and hit the man in the teeth. Helen gasped. Passion Fruit pointed at the iron which the troll had plugged in.
A dab of saliva went to her finger as Helen tested the heat of the iron. She heard the sizzle. Taking a deep breath, she lifted Barney's hand and pressed his index finger to the iron. The smell of burning skin nearly made her gag.
"Oh God. Oh, God!" Helen said, doing the next finger, followed by the next until she reached the thumb on his right hand.
A case of the icky willies hit her, and she began an unladylike dance in the middle of the floor, trying to shake off the colly wobbles. The sound of the teeth breaking, the smell of the burning flesh, and a naked Barney with a blue green bullet hole were almost too much. She danced more, looking like Flavor Flav not believing the hype.
"Cranberry, stop fooling around. We still have to get him dressed," Passion Fruit said, reaching into the man's mouth and pulling out molars.
"Father, forgive me for all of my sins," Helen said, moving around the table to start on the other hand.
She moved faster this time, feeling sicker by the moment. Passion Fruit, now on top of the gurney, straddled Barney and pulled out the last of the teeth. The troll disappeared, coming back with clothing that Barney had been wearing. All of it smelled like urine and alcohol.
"No," Helen said. "The victim wasn't a drinker."
"We're setting him on fire so it doesn't matter," Passion Fruit said. "We're going to set him on fire, toss him over the cliff, and hope the brush catches ablaze to alert the authorities. Then his body will be found with the ID in the left boot."
"I have died and gone to Hell," Helen said, burning off the remaining fingerprints. "If we are setting him on fire, why am I burning off his fingerprints?"
"Because you need to know how, that's why," Passion Fruit explained. "Plus, there is always some clever coroner who finds a bit of flesh that she hydrates and imprints. This way, we take no chances. Get him dressed, please."
Just as she had removed Bryan's clothing, she began to dress Barney. His socks went on first, then the stained, dirty underpants. She struggled to get on his pants, and Bryan's boots were a size too small.
“These boots might be too small,” Helen said aloud.
“Then you might have to break his toes,” Passion Fruit called back.
“The Devil is a liar, Barney, these boots are going on your damned feet tonight,” Helen said, determined to make the shoe fit on the cadaver. The boots were worked onto his feet, followed by the shirt. She looked at the man, saying a prayer for his departed soul.
The troll wrapped Barney in a blanket and carried him out to the truck. As the tailgate came down, an accelerant was poured over poor Barney tucked inside the plastic sheeting encapsulated him. Helen, sitting shotgun once more, remained quiet as they rode to the site where Bryan was last seen hiking. At the edge of the cliff in the black of night, they set Barney's body at the edge of the ravine. One click of the lighter and the body was on fire. Passion Fruit snapped a photo with her phone.
Passion Fruit gave the body a kick, and over the side of the cliff he went. Hurriedly, they ran to the truck, driving away in no real hurry, heading to her cabin where Bryan and Candy the Cane Corso awaited. Helen was near tears at what they'd done to Barney, but she was also at an understanding with Passion Fruit.
She asked Passion Fruit, "You're keeping him for yourself, aren't you?"
"What are you talking about, Helen?"
"Bryan? You're going to give him a new identity, and when he heals, you hope he will want to stay with you and write his book," Helen said.
"And what if I do?"
"You are so mean to him, Lashonda! You're basically his captor, and now you want to act as his liberator, making him beholden to you. Give the man a choice," Helen said. "Provide him everything he needs to start a life over, even moving the contract to his new name so he can write his book, but don't make it seem like he owes you. It won't work out in the long run."
"You talk as if you're speaking from experience," Passion Fruit said.
"I am," she confessed. "I had a boyfriend, and that's what he was, a boy pretending to be a man, pretending to be my friend. He saw himself as my liberator, and he was giving me this cool life by helping me, and every chance he got, he tried to gaslight me or spent time intentionally chipping away at my self-esteem."
