The sight is so surreal, and because it all happens so incredibly fast, it doesn’t sink in.
The Hansons tried to kill me, but I killed them, all of them at once.
I stare at the scene, leaning out of the window of my car, and then everything Ennio ever told me crashes into my mind. The most important thing is safety, keeping your guard up, because at any moment another driver can appear on the road.
My car’s bumper has fallen off, so I jump out quickly, pick it up, toss it into the trunk, slam it shut, leap back into the car, and drive off.
My heart still gallops wildly, and luckily the road is empty. I drive fast, my hands shaking. Could it really have been this simple, did the Hansons hand me victory on a platter?
And if someone finds the car and the broken guardrail at the curve, how easy it will be to assume that the car simply flew off the road because it was going too fast.
Excessive speed and teenagers is a mix everyone understands.
I barely remember anything from the entire drive to Gurco’s house.
Only when I’m minutes away do I pull out my burner phone and call Ennio, my hands still trembling.
When he picks up, the first thing I say is:
"I killed them all."
"Wow, that’s interesting news. The question is, are you safe?"
I briefly summarize what happened. Ennio listens in silence, asking only the occasional question like whether any pieces of my car were left behind, whether any cars passed by, how long I stayed at the scene.
In the end he says,
"You really caught an incredible opportunity, but in situations like this there’s a lot you can’t control. If the police lock onto you now, they will check where you were at those hours, which towers pinged your phone, they will check the skid marks on the road… it could all lead back to you. And even worse, if they search the brothers’ phones and see they were planning something, if they talked about it in texts or on some messenger… what then?"
Damn, Ennio thinks of everything.
I stay silent, realizing how many things I didn’t consider. I acted in the heat of the moment, and it could have been insanely risky.
Ennio exhales lightly.
"Give me the exact location where it happened. Maybe I can do something about the marks on the road and the guardrail."
"What… what could you do?"
"That’s not important right now. Send me the pin and act like nothing happened, like you don’t know a thing."
"And what about the police? What if…"
"Calm down, Bay. I know people in the police. Plenty of them. I’ve done many… favors."
There’s a sarcastic edge in his voice.
"You’re… a serious player, Ennio," I sigh, swallowing hard. "I’m a damn amateur compared to you."
"The debt grows, remember that."
"Alright, I understand," I whisper. "I’ll send you the pin in a second," I say with a shaky voice.
"Call me tonight. I’ll tell you what we managed to do."
When we hang up I send him the pin, feeling waves of fear tighten in my stomach.
Damn, no matter how you look at it, murder is dangerous business, with so many ways to make a mistake, so many things you might overlook, and then… drop by drop, trace by trace, thread by thread, the police follow the string back to you.
