Page 10 of Killer Bones

“You know I am more than that. If you profit, I do. It’s why I am arranging for you to meet Kasimir Stern. If he wins the presidency and you are aligned with him, we all profit. Business will be good.”

“If. Hmmm.” He picks up a glass, swallows some wine.

Listening to this, I can’t help but think it through to an end point. If true, if Montez and Kasimir unite, and he wins the presidency, this would be a disaster for the country. The current president has often been rumored to have links to crime, but Kasimir Stern is mired in drug-running, murder, and the sex trade. The man dodges all prosecutions with bribery and is as innocent as a shark.

With Montez in his court… I close my eyes and shudder. The election will be rigged beyond recognition, and Kasimir will surely win.

“Prove it. Prove your loyalty. I will have you kill her in a moment, but first…”

I try to steel myself, try not to think on what my death will be like, but it’s impossible. My imagination throws up visions of blood, pain, me screaming.

Montez beckons. A side door opens, and two people are dragged in, also with their heads bagged. One woman, one man. My stomach tightens as their bags are untied. I am sure I know who the woman will be.

Alice. It is she. I recognize her from the one image she sent. I set my jaw, swallow, and ignore the leaden weight of my stomach.

They are both gagged roughly with cloth. Their noises make me think something is balled up inside their mouths. Victim One and Victim Two I will call them.

“Uncuff Mr. Smith and give him this.” Montez waggles my knife. “Shoot him if he does anything except kill the man. Show me your loyalty, Noah.” He smiles. “Don’t worry about the mess.”

I want to fall to the floor. My knees wobble. The man is pushed, protesting, to the middle of the room, between where we stand and the long table. His hands freed, with knife blade casually pointing downward, Dead Guy strides to Victim One. He grabs a handful of his hair, lifts him higher, then cuts his throat. One slice, one truncated gasp. The man drops to the floor and writhes there, spilling blood—thick red, blood that pools and spreads as his body twitches.

Soon, he ceases to twitch.

Forensics would have a ball in here. It was done so casually, so without drama, that I imagine this is a regular event. The red-haired woman grimaces but only drinks more. I’m surprised she isn’t scrolling through a phone and yawning.

“Good. Very good. Now you do her.” Montez nods at me. Me? “You will kill this woman, Miss Izabella, and I will make your death easier.”

This offer…

I gape at him. These are the first words he has addressed to me. “You expect me to kill her?” I’m shaking my head. An easier death? I believe him, not one iota, not one jot. Zero, zilch.

I will make your death easier… Knowing it will happen is not the same as hearing this announcement.

Dead Guy has wiped clean the knife and strolls over, flicking it closed.

He said he was a killer.

Nevertheless, he did that so easily my mind is churning, keeping my trembling hands company. He’s a businessman?

A guard uncuffs me then steps away, returns to his post. I hug myself, sure I will never be warm again despite the room’s heat. The two of us are isolated here, in the middle, and I feel as if a spotlight is shining down. No doubt we will be easily shot if I make a fuss. Alice has been brought over to kneel near Victim One. She stares at the floor, resigned. I guess she knows she will die anyway—by my hand or theirs.

I, too, am going to die, no matter what I do.

Why should I do this? Confused, I study the closed knife lying on Dead Guy’s palm. Is he afraid I might stab him instead, in some fit of anger?

“Do it. I’ll make sure he goes by his word, though it will be a pity.”

“A pity?” I lift my head. He places the knife in my hand and folds my fingers over it. “I don’t know how to kill.”

“Yes, a pity. I was looking forward to making you come while I fucked you.”

“Ahhh. Your hobby?” I whisper. He killed so easily. Was he therefore being truthful before, in the car? Of course he was.

Yes. Yes, he was. How do I know this? Intuition? I have nothing, no facts, except…

A businessman who gives a false name to the head of a criminal organization.

A man who sat in a bar beside the real dead guy and soaked up the words we used. He grabbed the silver bracelet. He knows too much. I remember. I remember the Night of Fire and running from the burning bar. Months after, an informant told me he thought my date had a wound in his head when they stretchered him out. Why was Noah there? To kill someone? He says he kills.