By Jessie Sweet
“Warn’t nearly this hard when yer pa were in charge,” Les Watkins said into the phone, wiping blood off his hands with an old dish towel. He was careful to use the old ones. The missus scolded him nigh to death every time he ruined the fancy towels she’d just got.
“I ain’t my pa, Les. Besides, things is more complicated nowadays.”
Les sighed. There wasn’t any way around it. There was a dead body in his kitchen that was leaving yet another stain on the linoleum. Another thing the missus wasn’t going to be happy about.
“Fine. Seven hundred. But you’d better get yer ass down here in the next half-hour. I mean it, Dan, or we’s gonna have issues.”
Les hung up and wondered what he was going to do for the next thirty minutes. His wife had gone up-county to see her sister and left him to babysit their six-year-old. What did he know about six-year-old girls, anyway? Not much. He knew about other things. He knew about making people do what they’d promised to do, and making them pay if they didn’t.
“Daddy!” the girl called from the living room. She was parked in front of cartoons, and Les had every box and bag of snacks imaginable tucked around her on the couch. What else could she need? But still, he finished wiping his hands, threw the rag into the sink, and went to her.
“What is it, darlin’?”
“Daddy, will you come and watch cartoons with me?” Her eyes sparkled, and she patted the brown and yellow plaid couch cushion.
Les mustered all the love he could manage and forced a smile, “Sure, girl.”
And there they sat until the doorbell rang, twenty-six minutes later. Les opened the door.
“Kitchen?” Dan asked, flicking the butt of his cigarette into the snow from where he stood on the porch. He carried a black vinyl body bag folded and tucked neatly under one arm.
He walked his slow, easy walk into the kitchen, and Les’s daughter didn’t look away from the girl and her monkey on-screen, running to escape the fox. When Dan saw the kitchen, he stopped in his tracks.
It hadn’t been an easy killing. Because of the girl in the living room, Les hadn’t dared to use a gun, and so he’d opted for a knife instead. The guy had gone down hard. It had taken him sixteen strikes. Sixteen strikes had made Les’s arm a little sore. He wasn’t as young as he used to be.
“Jesus, Les, this one’s a mess. It’s gonna be more than seven hundred.”
Les wiped his face with his thick hand. “Whatta we talkin’?”
“Thousand, least. By the time everyone’s got their fingers in the pie.”
“Fine, let’s just get him outta here. He’s ruining the damn floor.”
Dan and Les loaded the body into the thick black bag, their movements as practiced as surgeons. It didn’t take long before everything was concealed and the remains zipped into the body bag. Cleaning up the blood would come later.
“Where’s the money?” Dan asked.
Les hauled open a drawer and drew out a fat stack of cash, peeled off hundreds, and handed them to Dan.
Dan counted the bills again, just to be sure. “Pleasure doin’ business with you, Les.”
“Pleasure’s mine, Mr. Medical Examiner,” Les said.
Dan touched his hand to the brim of his invisible hat, gave it a little tip. “I’ll get all the paperwork squared away here on John Doe. I can get him sent a couple counties over. Maybe even ‘cross state lines. Don’t worry ‘bout a thing, Les.”
“Never do.”
“Good. Be seein’ you next week then?”
“I’m sure I’ll have another for you by then.” Les nodded and crossed his arms. No need to worry about next week’s business yet.
“Y’always do.”
Les smiled.
Dan tapped the bulk of bills in his pocket and tilted his head to the side. “Before I forget, the missus wanted me to remind you to ask your wife about dinner next Sunday.”
“I’ll see what she says, Dan. I ain’t runnin’ the show over here.”
“Jus’ lemme know.” Dan bent to pick up the feet. “Now, help me get this bag into my van.”
Les gripped the vinyl and grinned. The whole mess’d be cleaned up before the missus was due back tonight. Maybe he’d even wash the towels.
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How creepy! But compelling. I had to read it three times through just to process all the images running through my mind. Well done!
Wow! Well written. Such vivid voice and characters. And quite chilling!
I hope his daughter never goes into the kitchen.
Oh goodness, I have so many questions! But this was seriously a cool, hooking read.