Once the door closes behind Cunningham and he’s shut off the car’s engine, Jace will wait to emerge from behind the SUV, where he lays in wait, and will come up behind Cunningham to subdue him.
My heart thuds in my chest as Carter joins me at the garage door to wait.
“Okay,” Jace calls out.
We rush into the garage where Cunningham lays facedown and unconscious at Jace’s feet. He won’t be out for long, so we have to work quickly.
I get the hair samples and press his fingers to the second glass, the box of condoms, bottle of lube, and to the outside of the champagne bottle, including around the neck.
Then I hurry inside and put the hair on one of the pillows in the master bedroom and on the damp towel. I leave the condoms and lube in the bedroom—both packages now opened—and carry the bottle of champagne to the kitchen, where I open it, pour it into the glasses, then dump their contents into the sink and let water run to clear the trap. I leave the glasses in the sink and the half-empty bottle on the counter.
Meanwhile, Carter and Jace load Cunningham into the back of the SUV, from which we’ve already stripped the carpet and laid down tarps. The inhalant Jace used on Cunningham is effective for about fifteen minutes, at the most.
Once I’m finished, I return to the garage. “Done.”
Carter hands me Cunningham’s keys.
Those I leave on the kitchen counter.
I return to the garage. “Done.”
Jace points at me. “Move out.”
Returning to the house, I shut off all the lights inside, strip the bunny suit at the front door, change my shirt, and pull on a realistic latex mask that makes me look much older than I am, and flesh-colored latex gloves. I exit through the front door, locking the knob behind me, and then walk hunched over and limping to the car we arrived in and drive off. Carter will lock the deadbolt behind me, and they will use the clicker to close the garage door upon their departure.
I can’t falter. I drive to the first waiting spot, where I pull over.
Ten minutes later, Carter and Jace pass me in the SUV. Jace taps the brakes twice, our signal that everything’s clear.
I wait two minutes, head the other way, then take an alternate route to intersect with their route. I leave the car in a movie theater parking lot and go buy a ticket.
Inside, I enter an empty theatre, exit through the doorway at the front by the screen, and walk to the back of the parking lot there.
It’s a quick walk through a narrow, wooded swale, where I remove the mask and swap shirts again, adding a plain black ball cap and hoodie jacket to my outfit from where they’d been stashed under the other shirt and added extra weight to my appearance. I emerge from the woods just behind a dumpster at a recreation field, where several kids’ soccer games are underway and the parking lot’s crowded.
I walk like I’m on my way to my car and climb into the backseat of the SUV.
“Clear?”
“Yeah.”
Still, I watch behind us as Jace drives, just in case.
Twenty minutes later, there’s still no tail.
It’s nearly eleven when we reach the kill site. Deep in woods, we don’t intend to be here for long. We’ve staged supplies to create a barbecue fire pit, so if anyone was to stumble across it, they wouldn’t get suspicious. It’s a hunting camp property we leased—online, thank you, technology—for six months.
Before they left the house with Cunningham, they dosed him with an injection of sedative. Now, we don the bunny suits again, and gloves, and drag him out to unceremoniously dump him next to the prepared hole where we strip him before Jace administers the reversal drug.
Cunningham comes to and sees the three of us standing over him.
“Remember us?” I say. “I told Elsa payback was a bitch. She’s dead now. Guess she never passed that warning along to you.”
Carter darkly smiles down at him. “This has been a long fucking time coming. Recognize us? Two Wilson brothers you didn’t kill, and one you didn’t fuck over your desk. And friend.”
Horror fills the man’s face. “Wh-what are you going to do to me?”
“Something that should have been done decades ago,” Jace says as he hands me the knife. “You get the honors, buddy.”
