Chapter Twenty-nine
My first body dump. Jack seemed shocked when I said so, but after a moment's thought, he realized that with my specialty, it wasn't surprising. Half the reason for calling a mob hit was to warn others. A corpse in a subway car said "Screw us over, and we'll get you, anytime, anywhere" far better than a former ally missing, presumed dead.
Even last fall, the two bodies I'd left behind had stayed pretty much where they'd fallen. Hauling a hitman out of a motel would have been more dangerous than leaving him there. The second guy I shot was the killer we'd been chasing and we needed the authorities - and the public - to know he was dead. My body disposal know-how was pure theory.
Jack was the one who found a place to hide Fenniger - the still functioning trunk of a wreck. The police might find him when they investigated the death of his mark in the office, but we weren't giving them any help.
I'd hauled Fenniger to his resting place, Jack carrying his legs as best he could. As I arranged the corpse in the trunk, Jack returned to the site to double-check for any traces we might have missed.
"Did you look over where I was standing?" I asked. "The ground's hard, and I'll be trashing my shoes, but I should check - "
Jack grabbed my arm as I passed. "Got it."
"What about the mark?"
"Dead. Checked."
Still holding my ar
m, he started toward the fence.
"But there's a chance it's someone connected to this Byrony Agency - "
"It's not."
"How do you know?"
"I do."
He led me to the part of the fence Fenniger had scaled.
"Shouldn't we use the section we cut?" I said. "I can see headlights - "
"Couple miles away. Get over."
I hooked my gloved fingers in the fence links, then heard a sound that made my head jolt up.
"Is that a siren?" I whispered.
"No."
His answer came quickly - too quickly. He'd already heard it, and that was why he was hurrying me over the fence.
I hefted myself up, toes finding purchase. The wail came again and I instinctively stopped, head swiveling to follow it. If there was one sound I knew, it was a police siren. And this wasn't it.
It came again, and my gut went cold. I dropped to the ground and broke into a sprint, heading for the building. Jack lunged, catching my arm and wrenching me back.
"It's not - " I began.
He grabbed my shoulders and swung me toward the fence. "Climb."
"It's not a siren, Jack. It's a baby."
"Yeah."
I heard the voice inside the office again. Raspy. I'd presumed it was a man, but it could have been a woman.
Fenniger had indeed been in Kingston to kill another girl and steal another baby - it just hadn't been the one we'd thought. He'd been scouting that girl earlier as a potential future target while waiting until it was late enough to come here and kill the one he'd already targeted on an earlier trip, as he'd done with Sammi.