The Dark at the End

9

Jack double-tapped Georges’s heart and put one through his forehead for insurance.

Then he heard his phone ringing back in the car. He holstered the Glock and went to retrieve it. The same number as before. He thumbed

“Weezy?”

“I’ve been calling Dawn but she doesn’t answer.”

Jack glanced back toward the Volvo. “Yeah… well…”

“What? What, Jack?”

He was on a cell, the signal going who knew where.

“Remember that movie with Bruce Willis?”

“ Die Hard? Listen, Jack, I don’t want to play movie trivia. Dawn-”

“Remember what Haley Joel Osment’s character could see?”

“Ohmigod! You mean-?”

“I’m seeing three… and a really ugly baby.”

“Dawn? Is she-oh, God, no!”

“Pull it together, okay? I- we need you to stay together. We’ve got big trouble. What street are you on?”

“Ju-just off twenty-seven.”

“Any landmarky place nearby?”

“I can see a farmer’s market across the street but it’s closed.”

“I think I saw the place on the way in. Forget the car and get over there and wait. I’ll pick you up ASAP.”

He cut the call before she could say anything else and looked around. Had to get these bodies out of sight. He wasn’t worried about anyone hearing the shots in this wind and weather. What few people were within earshot were inside.

He emptied Georges’s pockets and found nothing but a cell phone and the Volvo keys. He grabbed him by the wrists and dragged him around to the far side of the car where he loaded him into the passenger seat. Heavy son of a bitch. Then he moved to the rear compartment to deal with Dawn.

Poor kid. If she’d just done what he’d told her she’d still be alive. He tried to imagine what had happened since he’d left. She’d been with Weezy, and Weezy had walked down to the car… and then what?

He leaned in and went to grab her shoulders to pull her farther into the car when the baby’s deafening screech stopped him. He looked at the child-the Marty Allen hair and the scrunched-in features gave him a troll-doll look without any of the cuteness. Fury lit his beady little black eyes and Jack thought he was angry for taking his mother from him.

“Don’t worry, little guy. I’m not gonna-”

But then he saw the red smears on his face.

As he watched, the kid dipped his fingers into the blood welled in Dawn’s shoulder wound and then stuck them in his mouth, sucking greedily.