Verek (Savage Kings MC - South Carolina #3) - Lane Hart Page 0,11
neatly. I head over to the bathroom that has the standard sink, toilet, and bathtub with a clear shower curtain.
“Well, this is it,” I say when I motion for Tessa to come on inside.
“It…smells clean,” she remarks as she eyes the room cautiously.
“I doubt the sheets are Egyptian cotton, but we have to lay low on this adventure. No credit cards.”
“I get it,” Tessa says, placing the towels down on the foot of the closest bed. “But I think I may sleep on the towels rather than the sheets.”
Smiling, I tell her, “That’s probably not a bad idea. Are you sleepy?”
“Not really, no,” she answers.
“Good. Me either,” I say when I remove my cut and hang it up in the closet on the one bent metal hanger. I probably shouldn’t have worn it into the office, but I doubt the sleepy old man will remember it. Taking a seat on the bed next to the closet, I tell Tessa, “I was hoping we could do a little brainstorming. If you’re up for it?”
“Sure,” she says as she sits on the other bed with one leg underneath her. Finally in the light, I can see now that she’s wearing a thin black hoodie that’s zipped up over her shirt and a pair of jeans. It’s a lot of clothes for summer in the South but probably a good call for the ride. Although, I doubt that’s the reason she picked the outfit. Every time I would visit Tessa in the treatment facility, she would be wearing several layers of clothing and even have a blanket or two over her, like she’s trying to hide herself.
“So, where do we start?” Tessa asks.
“There are two men who work here in Warsaw. They’re not related but obviously close since one got a job at the funeral home and the other works at the cemetery.”
“Creepy,” she says with a shiver as she wraps her arms around herself.
“They are,” I agree. “The third man lives in Sneads Ferry and works at a pawn shop. But first, these two…”
“What’s your plan for…going after them?” she asks, rather than come out and say kill them.
“I’m not sure yet,” I admit. “If we could get them both to the funeral home late tonight or early tomorrow morning, I was hoping we could make use of the crematorium.”
I watch Tessa’s face to gauge her reaction to that idea. She barely flinches before she says, “That would be…convenient.”
“As long as there are no cameras, then it would mean a better chance of destroying evidence of whatever we do to them before. Or what I do.”
Tessa nods. “You could take out the employee at the funeral home first, then use his phone to call the other one over.”
“That’s a good idea,” I agree. “Best way to get them both there.”
“And I think we should leave early this morning, wait until he shows up to work, and then go for it.”
“This morning? Really?” I say in surprise. “That doesn’t give us much time to check to see if there are cameras or figure out how many other employees could be in the funeral home. It’s a family-owned business, but we need to be careful in case other people come through.”
“I know all of that, and of course we need to be careful. But we’re not that far from Myrtle Beach. Roman could be here by lunchtime, as soon as Charlotte realizes I’m not in my room.”
“True,” I agree. “So we go tonight. I’ve got a ski mask in my bag I could wear to look for cameras around the perimeter before going inside. The number of cars in the lot should give us a head count.”
“I could wait by the bike, keep an eye out for traffic.”
“Yeah, that could work,” I agree. “What about when I go inside? Are you going to wait then too?”
“No, I want to go in with you,” she says. “I’ll stay out of the way, but I want to be there.”
“Okay,” I reply. “Do you have any…preferences for how I take them out?” I ask as if we’re discussing what we should have for dinner and not how I should kill two men.
“No, not really. I don’t want them to suffer I don’t think, even though they should.”
“I can make it quick,” I assure her. “That’s probably better than dragging it out – less chance of getting caught. Maybe knock them out and then throw them in the oven?”
Tessa nods and looks away after that detailed description.