Page 87 of Lethal Vengeance
He nods and heads to the kitchen.
The morning sun glints on a piece of glass. Somebody is watching us. The question is who? The owner of this fine establishment? A neighbor? One of Armando’s men? The possibilities are endless.
Cruz appears with several coolers. “She’s coming up now.”
I study the coolers. “Are those what I think they are?”
He gives me a look and an affirmative nod. “We need to drop off a donation at the hospital on our way out of town.”
“That’s generous of her. Personally, I’d have incinerated the bastard, but it’s her decision. Speaking of Armando, what’s the plan?” I ask Cruz.
“The last step is to leave him in the desert. In the same position as Sophia,” she says behind me. Her Texas accent is almost non-existent right now.
When I turn to face her, it becomes apparent why. Cold blank eyes meet mine.
“Okay. Why don’t you get a shower, and we’ll leave?”
She hesitates.
I flick my wrist to look at the time. “It’s almost noon. Plenty of daylight. Plus, I don’t think you want to walk into the hospital with blood and guts on you.” Not to mention, she looks like she went a few rounds in the ring with a heavyweight champ. Maybe I can get her to stay in the car.
She looks down in distaste. “Right.”
Cruz swivels around. “Are we good to place him in the trunk?”
“Yes,” her voice drifts off as she walks away.
“Now begins the hard part,” Cruz murmurs.
“Climbing out of the dark,” I confirm.
It takes us an hour to get everything loaded and ready to go, including the body in the back.
Quinn drops the keys on the kitchen counter and walks out the door. Not once does she look back.
In the car, my phone pings with coordinates, and I flick my eyes to the backseat. She’s looking forward, eyes steady, but blank. Without a word, I put the car in gear and follow the phone’s directions.
Thirty-seven minutes north of the house, we reach a desolate patch in the middle of nowhere. A stake sticks out of the ground with a black ribbon around it. We haul Armando out of the trunk to the designated spot.
She maneuvers him until he lies spread-eagle on the ground.
“Is this what he did to Sophia?” I ask softly, keeping the rising anger from entering my voice. The last thing I want to do is trigger her.
She stands back to assess the position of his body. “When I found her, I couldn’t fathom why someone would do that to her. She was already dead. Why display her?” Her lips compress. “I know now that he wanted to send a message to his brother. And he needed a public way for the body to be found, so I’d call off the search. Two birds, one body.”
A satisfied sigh leaves her. “I’m almost done. We just need to drop off the coolers.” She walks back to the car and gets in, leaving Cruz and me standing by the body.
My eyes catalog the damage done to the man in front of me. “Her work is precise and clean, almost looks like a surgeon did it.” I can’t help but be impressed.
A gleam of admiration shines in Cruz’ eyes as well.
Two vultures land nearby.
Cruz takes several pictures of the body. I spit on it and walk away, back to the car and Quinn.
Instead of pulling up to the hospital entrance, I follow her directions to the back parking lot nearest the morgue. We convince Quinn to let Cruz slip in quietly and deliver the coolers.
“Where do you want to go now?” I ask her while we wait for him to return.
