Antonio glanced over at one of the bodies near the front door as he asked, “How long do you think this is going to take?”
“I’ll have to take a better look around before I can say for sure.” I walked around to the back of the van, took out my duffle bag, and started putting on my gear as I continued, “But I’d say at least a couple of hours. Less if your guys give us a hand.”
“That won’t be a problem.”
Antonio had a word with his men, then turned and headed inside the house. Hop and Trip started putting on their gear while I took a moment to further survey the scene. I had no idea what, but something felt off. There were two bodies near the front door and another on the front steps—each of the men had been shot various times in the chest. Since most of the carnage appeared to be in his front yard, it was definitely an asset that his house was a good distance from any of the other homes and had the tall security wall.
I ignored that uneasy feeling in my gut and continued up to the front door. As I headed inside, that unsettled feeling grew even stronger, but I continued into the foyer, where I spotted two more victims. Like the others, they were lying face down in a pool of their own blood. From the looks of it, they were trying to make it up the stairs, but neither of them made it far before they were shot down.
It appeared to be a surprise attack, which lined up with my conversation with Antonio, but then I spotted another body just down the hall—one that didn’t seem to fit with the others.
As I got closer, I realized it was the young woman I’d seen several weeks ago in DeLuca’s office. I didn’t typically notice women, not like I used to, but the woman was stunning—young, with long, curly, blonde hair and soul-searching green eyes. I was instantly intrigued by her and wondered what she was doing with DeLuca, but she was ushered out of his office before I got the chance to find out.
Not that it mattered now.
She was dead, and clearly, Antonio could’ve cared less. If he had, he would’ve dealt with her body and burial arrangements himself. I was still looking her over when Hopper and Tripp came walking in the front door with two of DeLuca’s men. I was still trying to piece things together when Hopper came over to me and asked, “There a problem?”
“I’m not sure.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right.” I motioned my hand down at the woman as I told him, “She was shot in the back.”
“Yeah, so?”
I thought back to that day in Antonio’s office and the moment I first laid eyes on the beautiful blonde. There was something about the way she looked at me that got under my skin. I got the feeling that something wasn’t right with her—which made me even more curious about the way I’d found her. “All the others were shot in the chest like they were in pursuit, but it looks like she was running away.”
“Yeah, or it could be that she just happened to get caught up in the crossfire.”
“Maybe, but I got a feeling there’s more to it than that.”
“So, what if it is? Why do you care?” Hopper gave me one of his looks as he added, “It’s not like it’s our job to figure out what happened. We’re just supposed to clean the shit up and get out of here, right?”
He had a point. I’d walked away from the badge more than ten years ago. It was no longer my job to find out who killed who or to even care. I was there to clean and nothing more. I gave Hopper a nod, then said, “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. Let’s get this thing done.”
Without wasting any more time, we gathered the rest of the bodies and put them in the van, then started the process of removing any and all evidence from the grounds. It took some time to remove some of the heavier blood stains from the interior of the house, especially with all the shag carpets that had to be pulled up and taken out, but we managed to get it done. And we got it done sooner than I’d expected.
I took one last look around and was feeling pretty good about the job we’d done, so I turned to Hop and said, “I’d say that’s a wrap.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” He motioned his head over to Tripp as he asked, “You want us to start loading up?”
“Yeah, that’d be good. There’s an extra sprayer in the foyer. Be sure to grab that, and I’ll let Antonio know we’re done.”
“You got it.”
As soon as Hop turned to leave, I headed over to one of Antonio’s guards and told him we were done. He made a call to Antonio, and it wasn’t long before he was rushing down the stairs.
Antonio knelt down and studied one of the areas that we’d cleaned in the house, and after several moments, a satisfied smile crept across his face. “Damn. Grinder wasn’t blowing smoke. You really are good at this shit.”
“I do my best.”
“I appreciate a man who takes his work seriously.” He reached into his coat pocket, then pulled out a thick envelope and offered it to me. “Until next time.”
“Until next time.”
I took the envelope, then headed out to the van to join Hopper and Tripp. I got in, and moments later, we were on our way to my place. As soon as we pulled up, I got out and walked over to the basement door. I put in the security code, and once the door slid open, I headed inside and turned on the incinerator, giving it time to preheat while we got unloaded.
The flames had just started rolling good when Tripp came up behind me and announced, “Hey, boss. We got a problem.”