It took at least a full minute before his legs remembered how to move.
He staggered backward until his back met a tree, then he sat hard. The envelope was burning a hole in his pocket as the guilt hit as fast as the fear.
He shouldn’t have done the first job.
He shouldn’t have come for the money.
He shouldn’t have given Diego anything to latch on to.
Everybody’s got a price. Or a weak spot.
The common cliche wasn’t what bothered him—it was the second part tacked on that had him tense. What the hell had Diego meant by it?
With shaking fingers, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and deleted the number Diego had called him from.
Blocked it.
Deleted the text thread. Again.
None of it made him feel better.
A breeze kicked across the parking lot. He finally stood and grabbed the bicycle’s handles. He was too unsteady to get on, so he walked beside it instead. Each step was weighted, like his sneakers were made of cement.
His brain spun in frantic, looping circles—panic and denial and what-ifs crashing into each other like waves.
He wasn’t doing anything else for Diego.
He was out. Done. No more.
But with every step, one truth gnawed deeper—Diego wasn’t done with him.
Not even close.
Chapter 26
Tess wedged her sandwich wrapper into the trash bin behind the medical examiner’s office, wiped her hands on a napkin, and sat back down at a table in the shade to relax for a little while longer. Lunch breaks were never glamorous there—twenty minutes if she was lucky, thirty if the universe was generous.
Today, the universe seemed to be in a decent mood.
One of the two autopsies Dr. Hansen had handled that morning ran longer than expected—the cause of death for a forty-four-year-old man had baffled him, and they were both hoping the toxicology screens would shed some light. By the time they finished and Tess finally stepped onto the small patio with her lunch, everyone else had already drifted back inside.Her e-reader became her only company, which was fine with her.
Out there, the world sounded completely different. No phones, no gurneys, no clipped footsteps on linoleum—just the steady drone of the building’s rooftop AC unit, a few gulls arguing overhead, and the hum of traffic drifting from the main road.
It was just her and a stretch of rare, quiet midday air.
She checked the time. Enough left to call Bonnie. Ever since Tess had stopped at the woman’s boutique, they’d talked on the phone every few days.
She dialed and pressed the phone to her ear.
Bonnie answered on the second ring. “You caught me at a good time. Are you on a late break, or did you ditch the office and run?”
She laughed. “Late break. However, the second option doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
“Go for it! Chaos keeps life interesting.”
“Trust me, I get plenty of chaos.” It felt like she’d been living in a whirlwind for years, and starting medical school would only crank the speed higher. She wondered how Brian would handle seeing her even less—if he’d still want this, want her, when things got harder.
“Busy morning?”
