Act of Deceit

Chapter 63

Janie ran toward Donnally when he arrived at the front gate. He embraced her, then pointed at Corazon crossing the street and held up his palm, telling her to keep the gathering crowd outside the hacienda.

He grabbed Janie’s arm and they raced back up to Sherwyn’s office.

Janie gasped and covered her mouth as she stood in the doorway staring at the bodies, the blood of the dead now intermingled in a dark pool between them.

Donnally retrieved his 9mm from the floor, then wiped off the. 32 and put it into Sherwyn’s hand. It was better to leave a confusing crime scene than one that pointed to Donnally.

He crouched down and rubbed Sherwyn’s gun hand against Jago’s to transfer some powder residue, then flopped it into the blood.

He straightened up and looked around the office.

“Let’s grab whatever we can before the police get here.”

They searched Sherwyn’s desk, filling Donnally’s backpack and a cardboard box he found in the closet with the doctor’s laptop and every piece of paper they could find. Phone records. Bank records. Anything they thought might expose the network of men who sought the services of White Sands.

Janie picked up the hollowed-out book lying on the floor.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“I had Lalo arrange to smuggle in an extra gun in case I got caught breaking in. It’s got my fingerprints on it. Take it.”

After they searched the file cabinet, Donnally called his father’s cell phone. The helicopter rumbled in the background.

“Where are you?” Donnally asked.

“Are you okay?”

“I guess you could say that I’m healthy as a sunrise.”

“A what?”

“I’ll explain it later.”

“We’re on our way to land,” his father said, “so we can strip the lettering off this thing before we return it to the rental company. And then we’ll catch a charter flight back to the States before anyone figures out who we are.”

Donnally heard the scream of police sirens, rising in volume like incoming mortar.

“How soon can you get back here?” Donnally asked.

“What do you need?”

“I’m going to leave my backpack and a box of documents on the roof, on top of the air conditioner. Can you get close enough to snag them?”

Donnally heard a quick interchange between his father and the pilot, then his father’s voice.

“We’ll figure it out. How soon?”

“Two minutes.”

“I’ll have them waiting for you when you get back to California.”