Page 100 of Past Due

“Get back in the car and lock the doors.”

“You’ll need my keys. They’re in my backpack.”

“I’ll get it.”

She slipped back into the passenger seat and shut her door. He popped the trunk, grabbed her backpack and brought it back to the driver’s side. He handed it to her before crouching down and reaching under his seat for the Ruger he kept mounted on a large magnet there. Her gaze jumped to the gun in his hand as she held out her house keys. “You keep a gun under your seat?”

“Where else would I put it?”

“Um, I don’t know, maybe somewhere that won’t shoot you in the ass if you’re in a car accident?”

“The safety is on,” he assured her.

“Is it rated for a car wreck?”

He ignored her snarky comment and motioned to the doors. “Lock them. If I'm not back in five minutes get into the driver’s seat and leave. Go straight to Aston’s house. Send Ben.”

“Uh, no. I’m calling 9-1-1 if you aren’t back in five minutes.”

“Marley.”

“Besian.”

He sighed in frustration. “Fine. Lock the doors.”

“The key with the blue cap is for the back door,” she called out as he shut the car door.

He waited next to the car until he heard the locks click. He flicked off the safety on his pistol and cautiously approached the trailer. It wasn’t very big, probably less than a thousand square feet. The closer he crept to the back door the stronger the nauseating smell grew. Something—someone—was dead in Marley’s house.

Please, God, don’t let it be her mother.

He climbed the stairs to the back door, wincing when they squeaked loudly, and tried the back door. It was still locked so he used the blue key. Even before he pushed the door open, the smell of decomposition was so strong that he had to cover his nose and mouth with his forearm.

The moment the door opened fully, he recoiled and fought the urge to vomit. He took one step into Marley’s house and flipped the light switches next to the door. He didn’t have to go any further to find the source of the smell.

There, face down on Marley’s linoleum kitchen floor, was a dead body. A woman. A blonde. Face down in a pool of congealed blood and piss.

Fuck.

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