Page 285 of Evil Hearts

My brain is running a million miles a minute. How was I not careful enough? How did they find out? I took so many precautions.

“I have to finish this tonight,” he says as he sweetly kisses my forehead.

“Then let’s finish this. Where do we take the body to burn it?”

“There’s a clearing out in the national park. If we can tie it to a tree and light it on fire, I think we will be just fine as long as the body burns enough.” Victor shrugs.

He’s so nonchalant about it. I don’t know if I should be impressed or concerned.

“Okay. Follow me. We have a few to choose from.”

I grab his hand and take him downstairs to the morgue. I have my cooler wall organized. To the left are the upcoming services, and to the right are the Jane and John Does. I lead Victor over to the first Jane Doe.

“Will this one work? There isn’t too much bloat on her.”

“Given you usually take from females, this would be the best option.”

“Yeah, yeah. How do you want to load her up?”

“You could drive your truck around back, and I could wheel her out on a gurney and from there we just take her where we need to take her.”

The wheels in my mind are turning. Is this the best way? Why am I excited? It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like this.

“Is it just me or do you sound a little too excited about this?” Victor laughs.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I would never be excited to desecrate an unidentified body to secure my safety,” I laugh.

“You have a weird way of dealing with stress, Frankie. I’ll go get the car and meet you at the loading bay.” Victor kisses the top of my head and turns toward the stairs.

Something tells me I’m in for one hell of a night.

Chapter Six

Victor

I pull the flower van around back and knock on the loading bay door. After a few moments, I hear the door unlocking. The sound of rattling chains lets me know that the door is about to open. It takes Frankie a second to get the loading bay door open, but when she does she’s ready with the body. I’ve never been so attracted to anyone before.

Frankie has the Jane Doe zipped up into a body bag. We buddy lift the girl and put her in the back of the flower van. Frankie locks up as I start the van. It doesn’t take us long to get to the forest after that. Frankie looks around the van and then turns to look at me.

“Tell me you have an accelerant.”

“Of course, I have an accelerant. This isn’t my first rodeo,” I laugh.

“I’m not going to ask how many times you’ve burned a body, but I will say this is my first time burning one. It is a little exciting.”

“Look at you being a little macabre.”

“I know you should be proud,” she laughs.

I pull off of the main road and onto a gravel path. I drive until the gravel turns into nothing more than a dirt road. I parked the car and turn to look at Frankie.

“Are you ready?”

“Well it’s not like I have a choice now is it?” She laughs.

“There’s always a choice Frankie. I will never take your choices from you. This is the best choice. But still, you do have a choice,” I laugh.

She kisses my cheek and smiles. “Let’s get this over with. It’s definitely the weirdest first date I’ve ever been on.”

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