“I’m not used to being around death yet.” “Well, this is your handiwork. May as well be proud of it,” Eddie said.
Ness peered into the freezer and could see that Martin's face looked like frozen ground beef with hair on the top. She forced herself to look at the violence that she inflicted on him, and what she saw scared her. “Get his keys.”
Ness pulled a face and started patting his pockets. She was terrified that he was going to start moving, even though she knew that wasn’t possible. She remembered that he put the keys into his right jacket pocket when she was persuading him to come into the alleyway. She grabbed the lower end of his jacket and she could feel the keys in his pocket. She pulled them out and turned to leave, but Eddie caught her by the arm.
“Not yet. Before you get the car, you need to check and see if he needs to check in with anyone. Grab his phone out of his pocket.” Ness continued to pat him down until she could feel the phone in his jeans pocket.
“Is it still working? The battery may have died because of the cold temperature of the freezer,” Eddie stated. “No, it’s still on, but how are we going to unlock it?” Ness asked.
Eddie held up his hand and wiggled his thumb, “Most new smartphones have fingerprint sensors. You might as well try and unlock his phone with his right thumb.”
Ness grimaced as she held the phone’s sensor to Martin’s right thumb, but nothing happened. She looked at Eddie in trying to figure out what to do. “Try warming his thumb up.”
Ness’ eyes betrayed her displeasure, but she held his finger for about a minute, and even though she was wearing latex gloves, there was enough heat to adequately warm the thumb up. Ness tried again to unlock the phone. “It unlocked,” Ness exclaimed.
“Now check his messages and see if there’s anyone that’s tried to get in touch with him. There’s one from his dad, but it appears they were arguing about something—I won’t respond there. He’ll probably just suspect that Martin holed up somewhere for a few days.” Eddie nodded.
“But there is one from an Ashley asking him where he is,” Ness said.
“Alright, read through some of the past messages, and ensure that you write a message like Martin would. If you write a message that doesn’t sound like him, it can raise suspicions very quickly,” Eddie said.
“He seems like he’s a real dick to her,” Ness said, scrolling through the messages.
“No shit. I don’t think you would have done that to his face if he was a nice person.” Ness just gave him a sour glare and started typing a message and pushed send.
“What did you say?”
“Just said that I’d be away for a few days. Didn’t give a reason: he didn’t in any of his other messages.”
“Good. Go and get his Range Rover and reverse it into the alleyway. We’ll be able to move the body to the trunk then without being noticed.” Ness nodded, tied her hair up, and headed toward the metal exit door. She peered outside to ensure that the alleyway was clear and walked toward the vehicle. Fortunately, the street was relatively quiet, and she managed to get into the vehicle without being noticed. Ness donned a mask before entering the vehicle. She was heeding every word of Eddie’s advice—even if he was a violent psychopath. She started the vehicle up and drove it toward the alleyway before turning it around and reversing in. The breadth of the Range Rover made it a rather tight squeeze, but she managed to get it right to the door. Ness climbed out and grabbed the tickets off the windshield and left them on the passenger seat and headed back inside.
“Alley’s clear.”
“Grab his ankles,” Eddie said as he gripped Martin’s jacket; together they hoisted his body up and dropped him onto the floor. “Careful! He might shatter!” Eddie exclaimed.
Ness jumped back. “Really?” Eddie laughed, “No, I’m just messing with you.” Ness responded by rolling her eyes.
“There’s a body bag hidden in that duffel bag over there on the shelf,” Eddie pointed. Ness grabbed the body bag and they moved the body into it, zipping it closed.
“Check the hallway and make sure no one’s around,” Eddie said. Ness popped her head out, “Coast is clear.”
“Move the body to the vehicle.”
“By myself? He must weigh well over 200 pounds.”
“I won’t always be around, Ness. Let’s see how well you can work on your own.”
Ness grabbed the ends of the bag and started dragging it toward the door. Fortunately, the bag slid easily over the tiled floor, and Ness managed to make it to the main exit door in a matter of minutes. Ness peered out of the door, and once she saw that there was still no one around, she opened the trunk of the Range Rover, dragging the body bag toward it. She managed to hoist the top half of Martin into the trunk before pivoting his legs inside.
“I’m impressed.” Eddie said, standing at the door. “I’m stronger than I look. I did grow up with a jock for a brother,” Ness replied, closing the trunk.
“Give me your keys. I’ll follow you in your car,” Ness handed him her keys and climbed into the Range Rover. Two hours later, both vehicles pulled off the road on a sheer cliff on Devil’s Head, and Ness climbed out the car and walked to Eddie who was climbing out of her Civic.
“I’m going to need your help with this next part,”
