Daisy
“Bro,you are all over social media!”
“What? Why?”
“Look at your fucking social media. You are a person of interest in her disappearance and people are asking for tips on your whereabouts or hers. It’s been shared millions of times all across social media.”
“Mother fucker!” he screams.
I can’t see him. My eyes are swollen shut and I can’t move. I’m not sure how many broken bones I have. It’s hard to breathe, so he might have punctured one or both of my lungs.
“The fucking NFL is going to see this and there’s no way they’ll let me back in if they can prove we took her. How is she causing me problems even when she’s almost dead?”
“Let’s just leave before they find us.”
“They’re not going to find us. This rental isn’t in either of our names. It’ll be fine. Once she’s dead, we’ll wait until everyone is asleep and load the body up then drive it out of state and dump it in a national forest that’s too big for anyone to find it easily. Noone can prove we took her. We’re each other’s alibi. If we stick with the plan, we’re golden.”
“Look at her. She’s already dead, man. You’ve beat her to death. I don’t even think she’s breathing! What more do you want? Let’s just leave her and go.”
“You might be right. She’ll die without help and soon if she isn’t already. We need to wipe the place down of any prints. No one can know we were here. Let’s do that and then we’ll bring the tarp down and wrap the body up so we can bleach the floors.”
Their footsteps fade as they go up the stairs.
I’m dying. I feel it.
Closing my eyes, I say a prayer for Nana to be waiting for me. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell Hutch I loved him, that he helped me to understand there was good in this world again.
I’ll hold on for as long as I can, but it won’t be long now.
The pain has faded to numbness.
No, death won’t be long now at all.
CHAPTER 43
Hutch
The neighborhood isnondescript aside from looking like every generic suburb in the city. The well-tended homes are a decent size, each with a front yard, some of them littered with toys. It looks and feels like a safe neighborhood. Which is probably why it was chosen. No one would look here first.
And sitting right in the driveway, trunk up against the garage door is the same black SUV from the video. My body starts to hum with rage, but I curb it, remembering what Baas said. I will not be responsible for getting her killed.
“This rental is in Martin Cobb’s name, another football player from Texas. I have to wonder if he knew what Ayers was coming here to do.” Baas checks his phone and then makes a call. “We’re here. Are you ready to move in?”
He’s silent for so long even Barry gets a little antsy. “Baas?”
Baas sighs heavily and hangs up the phone. “Whoever is with Ayers came out to the SUV about five minutes ago and got a large tarp along with several bottles of bleach.”
“No,” I whisper. She’s not dead. They’re not cleaning up the mess.
“Barry, keep him here even if you have to bodily restrain him.”
He didn’t say she wasn’t dead.
“She can’t be dead. She can’t be,” I whisper brokenly, and Collin hauls me into a bear hug.
“She’s not dead. I won’t believe that.” Collin sounds so sure.
I feel the wetness of my tears as they travel down my face. A tarp. You wrap a body in a tarp.
