Page 36 of One Kill

“Thanks for the ride, Riv. I’ll see you in nine months, I guess.” Smiling, I give her a wink and climb out of the car.

Other people being pregnant, having babies, has never really given me any huge feelings. My own tragic experience with childbirth is something I’ve never wanted to put on someone else, so I have always pushed my negative thoughts on the subject down. Locked them away. And while the image of the quiet baby girl I thought had died will always haunt my memories, it doesn’t mean I can’t be happy for my friend.

To be honest, the fact that Hallie is alive and well has eased the dull ache that has permanently flowed through me for the last thirteen years.

With a rev of the engine, River drives off and I’m glad I thought to grab one of Murphy’s hoodies to wear before leaving his house. Frost grips the leaves on nearby bushes and the chill in the air seeps into my aching bones.

I key in the code to the entrance and head inside the Reapers’ building. There are loud voices coming from the kitchen, so I follow them, knowing exactly what I’m going to find. Fizz has set up a lunch spread across the large dining table where we often eat together during jobs. We’re not always working on cleanup; Crank has his own garage, Shoo works in a tattoo studio, Tab owns a bar downtown, and Glitch is a web designer. Fizz and some of the others prefer to stick around the clubhouse when they’re not at their own apartments, keeping things running around here and making sure we all always have what we need on hand.

Every Reaper is valuable.

And they’re all here now. Completely ignoring me because they know I’d tell them all to fuck off if they made a fuss. It’s kind of nice, how well they get me and I them. The last time we were all together like this was when we accepted Binx into our ranks a few years ago.

“Made you a plate.” Fizz appears beside me, plate of food proudly in hand, and the pile of meat makes me smile.

“Thanks.” I accept as graciously as I’m able. None of us will say it, but she did this for me so I don’t get jostled as the others attack the food like starving men.

Fizz nods sharply, just the once, smiling before taking a seat at one end of the table while the others continue to fill their own plates. I follow, taking a seat beside her, and dig into my bacon and sausages.

Like this, it’s easy to imagine Murphy and Hallie being a part of my world. The fun family time we spend together, laughing and joking. But I know as soon as we’ve finished eating, I’ll be pulling some of them aside to find out what the fuck happened last night.

“Spare truck in the garage for ya, J. Came from a job about a year ago and it’s just been sitting there. It’s clean, so it’s all yours until we sort you out a new ride.” Crank continues to eat opposite me as he speaks, like he’s just discussing the weather and not the fact that I’m devastated about losing my bike.

“Thanks. Speaking of, did anyone go out after I called to see if it’d been called in yet and check the damage?” I finish off my bacon and wash it down with the coffee that was conveniently placed in front of me when I sat down.

“Yeah, I took Binx with me in the van. There was no sign of anything. No marks on the road, no debris, no police warnings, and worst of all, no bike. Glitch is on it though. He’s been doing what he can to hack into the CCTV in the area. Fizz made him come out for lunch though, so I dunno how far he’s gotten.” Crank scoops up the last of his eggs, shoveling them into his giant mouth before standing and taking his plate over to the dishwasher.

The hustle and bustle of cutlery on plates, raucous laughter, and a million conversations sounds through the kitchen, making me smile again. I find it so easy to drop my mask of indifference with these people.

When I see Glitch rising from his seat and cleaning up his dishes, I ruffle Fizz’s hair and head to the ground-floor office, otherwise known as “Glitch’s tech room, keep the fuck out”.

He joins me a few minutes later, sliding onto the deep-blue high-backed swivel chair in front of the wall-length desk. There are several screens, keyboards, and a few other things I don’t even care to figure out. This is Glitch’s domain and we all generally leave him to it.

“What do we know?” I get comfortable on the blue two-seater sofa against the opposite wall to the desk, behind Glitch, and he spins to face me.

“We know someone took your bike from the side of the road about an hour after you came off it. Whoever it was is fucking good. There is literally no trace of the person. They knew all the angles to avoid showing their face or anything incriminating on the CCTV and the vehicle they were driving is registered to a woman who died a year ago, two states over.” He takes a deep breath and I stay silent, waiting for him to continue because he’s obviously not done. However, my fists are clenched tightly by my sides at the thought of some fucker in possession of my bike. “The shooters, though, weren’t connected. They drove off to try and find you and never returned to the scene. I did get a hit on them. The owner of the car was Shane Brennan. They began tailing you within five minutes of you entering New Jersey.”

Fuck.

I hate to jump to conclusions, but I knew of a Shane Brennan when I was younger. He was a good few years older than me and well known for being a merciless cunt. He was also quickly moving up the ranks with the Irish mob.

Double fuck.

“Do we have an address?”

“Yeah, but, J… we’ll need to clear this with Marco first because they’re out of state. And…” He scratches the back of his head awkwardly.

“Spit it out.”

“Well, fuck. It’s just… I think we should discuss some things with the rest of the Reapers and I might need to know, because the Irish mob have put a hit out on you.”

Chapter Seventeen

Murphy

“Idon’tgiveafuck, ship it out!”

Riley throws the door open, deepening the indent from the door knob, and I can’t help but sit back and raise a questioning brow at his antics. When he yells back over his shoulder at Petey then slams the door like this day couldn’t possibly get any worse, I dart my eyes to the computer screen to check the time.

---