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Alone. Exposed. Risking everything for a single look.
How she didn't get caught, how the deputies didn't see her—even in all-black clothing—she had no idea. She held her breath the entire time, begging a God she didn’t believe in to make her invisible.
It was the longest one hundred and twelve seconds of her life. She counted each one beneath her breath, holding onto the numbers like a mantra. The tripod lights made the body easy to see except where the shadows fell off the back side. Shitty police work, yet again, not lighting the entire scene. There had been nothing between Teddi and the deputies except those shadows. Lucky for incompetence. So lucky this time.
Mouth dry as a bone, she slowed at the flash of brakes ahead. The sheriff’s vehicles turned down another road until the land opened up to a wide lot, the bare ground like exposed skin in the night. Sunrise was a couple of hours off and they could use it to their advantage. Reversing back to a small service road, she jerked the SUV to a stop. She turned to Teddi who hadn’t said a word.
“No more cowgirl shit, you hear me? We do this right or we don’t do it at all.” Teddi didn’t look at her, staring ahead. She needed to hear her say it. Her fear-riddled mind demanded the reassurance that she wouldn’t risk her life again. Not for a single piece of evidence, or a stranger on a rock, or even herself.
“Yeah.”
“Swear it, Teddi.”
Teddi turned, a small dark spot visible through the blonde hair at the back of her head. “I fucking swear.” She wanted to ask if she was alright but the fear roaring inside her head wouldn’t allow it.
Cutting through the thicket on foot, they stayed out of sight as the lot came back into view. Littered around the space, which had been used more frequently at some point, were a slew of abandoned items. Lawn chairs, rusted barrels, and what appeared to be a bucket off a backhoe.
About a hundred feet long and weather-worn, the deputies parked in front of a single-story wood building. A gaping hole on the pitched roof suggested it had collapsed at some point.
"Get the gate." Deputy Stocker barked the command as he parked so his headlights pointed at the only visible door. The clank of a heavy chain followed.
She tapped Teddi’s thigh. "C'mon." Keeping low, they broke out of the tree line and hunkered down behind the bucket, shoulder to shoulder. It was wide enough to hide four people.
The distinct clanks of the chain sliding through metal sounded and then a loud thud as it hit the earth. “Get that side, man.” Each of them pulled one of the high sliding doors. The wide black mouth of the building swallowed up the headlights.
“What is that?” Teddi whispered, her warm breath skittering across her cheek.
“Maybe an old shop or schoolhouse? It’s too big to be a house. I think they used to have fur trading posts here.”
“Want to just roll him out?” A grunt of assent and then something hit the ground with a flat, lifeless drop. Vera’s jaw tingled. A stomach of steel and even she couldn’t remain unaffected by the abuse the deputies cast upon the victim.
Whatever the men were discussing as they dragged the body bag in was lost to their ears. At an alarmingly easy rate, they moved the body inside and locked the chain back across the front doors. Dusting off their hands, they loaded back up into their respective vehicles.
“Find Butler, that little shit should’ve been here helping,” Deputy Gunson called out from his open window.
“We need a plan,” Deputy Stocker said over the rumble of his engine. Vera could just make out the nod of his colleague’s head behind the windshield.
“Sheriff doesn’t want us making noise but I don’t give a fuck at this point.” Deputy Gunson was a lot more ballsy when his boss wasn’t around. “I’m taking care of it. Whoever is fucking with us is going to pay, trust me on that.”
Ducking against the beam of their lights, Vera and Teddi watched them peel out, the spray of dirt kicking into the air until they disappeared.
“Are we going to look?” Teddi asked before blowing hot air between her hands. “Together?”
“Yes. I want to know what else they’re hiding in there.” With that, they hurried across the lot. The building was age-worn, the wood slats crooked and riddled with holes. At least twenty feet high, the main doors were slightly off-kilter, held together by a chain thicker than her forearm.
“Go around the back and see if there’s a way in.” Teddi did so silently, jogging off to the right side of the building while Vera pulled on the chain lock. Heavy and durable, there was no way she could break it open.
Pulling her flashlight off her belt, she peered inside the murky corner of the closest window. A few more barrels, boxes, and scrap metal. The wood floor was dusted with hay sporadically. It was eerie all on its own, let alone knowing they put a body inside.
Panting, Teddi returned victoriously. “There’s a broken window around the other side and a few boxes we can use to climb in.”
After Teddi’s foot broke through one of the boxes they stacked, they decided to hoist each other up. She rested her boot on Vera’s interlocked hands and heaved herself over the frame.
“There’s a table here.” Her voice echoed, belly balancing on the ledge.
“Good, hurry up. I want to get out of here before the full sunrise.” Pushing the backs of her thighs, she heard, more than saw, Teddi land on the table inside. At least it didn’t collapse in its age. When Teddi’s hands reached back outside to help Vera, she swatted them away.
“I’m taller, I got it.” With one graceful leap, she was halfway inside and quickly sharing the tiny table space.
