Exposed (Rosato & DiNunzio #5)(86)

“Stop with that. They’re lawyers.” Ray was getting testy, too.

“She’s a famous lawyer, isn’t she? She’s famous?”

“What are you talking about?”

“She’s famous.”

“She’s not that famous if you didn’t know who she was.”

Not-Ray fell silent, and Mary could hear some walking around. She remembered they were in a cabin. The floor must be made of wood. But the cabin seemed small. They were right outside her door. They weren’t worried about her hearing because they were going to kill her. She was going to die in some horrible way. She began to feel the emotion she hadn’t before. Stark, cold terror.

“Did she tell you she was famous?” Ray asked. “Were you talking to her?”

“No.”

“You were gone awhile. You were talking to her, weren’t you? What did she tell you? That she’s rich and famous? Did she offer you money?”

“Yeah, she offered me money.”

“How much?”

“She didn’t say. She just said that she’d pay if we let her go. Her and her partner.”

“She said that?”

“Yes.”

“Anything else?”

“She wanted to know how the partner was. She doesn’t want us to hurt her.”

Mary heard it clearly, more clearly than before. Wherever they had walked to was closer than it was before. They had said her partner. The other woman, the bigger woman, must’ve been Mary’s partner. Mary remembered in a flash. Her partner was named Bennie Rosato. An image materialized instantly in her brain, an image attached to the name. Tall, blonde, athletic. Bennie Rosato was her partner. She knew Bennie Rosato. She had known her a long time. Not as long as Simon but she knew her.

“She asked about her partner? That’s touching. She’s probably gay for her.”

“Why you gotta say that?”

“Say what?”

“That she’s gay?”

“It’s the way she acts. Bossy.”

“My sister is gay.”

“Is she bossy?”

“All sisters are bossy.” Not-Ray chuckled.

“Whatever. Listen. Go in and take a picture of DiNunzio.”

Mary knew that name. It was her name. She remembered that her name was Mary DiNunzio. She had a partner named Bennie Rosato. She had an old friend named Simon Something. She was a person. She started to feel more and more human. She existed as a human being because she knew other people. Otherwise she was just a bloody mess that could barely breathe.

“Why do you want her picture?”

“Just go do it.”

“Why? Why do I have to go take her picture? It’s disgusting.”

“That’s the point.”

“So why can’t you do it? She doesn’t know you. She won’t recognize you. Why do I have to do all the dirty work?”

“What’s gotten into you?” Ray raised his voice.

“I don’t like the way things are going. I think we should get out of here. I think we just should go.” Not-Ray raised his voice, too.

“And leave them here?”

“Yes. Just leave them. If they die, they die. But it’s not like we killed them. I killed them.”

“You’re losing your nerve. Sack up.”

“I’m being smart. We got away with Todd. We might not get away with these two. Why put ourselves back on the hook? We killed Todd to get off the hook.”

Mary pricked up at the name Todd. She knew that name. She couldn’t remember the details and something told her there were a lot more details. But Todd was connected to Simon. The police thought Simon killed Todd, but Ray and not-Ray had killed Todd. And they had been working with a third man whose name she didn’t remember.

“We’re not doing that. We wait for Mo. He’s on the way. Then we kill them. He’s going to help us get rid of the bodies. He’s bringing lye and all. He knows a place in the woods where no one will find them.”

Mary tried to breathe but she was starting to pant from fear. It was because Ray and not-Ray were talking about lye. About burying her. About her and Bennie’s bodies. Suddenly she realized what upset her so much. It wasn’t that she and Bennie would be dead. It was her family. She remembered she had a family. A mother, a father. A husband, Anthony. Their faces floated into her consciousness. She knew what they looked like. She knew what it felt like to hug them. To hug them back. She even knew the way they smelled. She had a family. They all loved each other. It would kill them if she died.

“I think people are going to find them,” not-Ray said, louder. “We’re gettin’ greedy.”

“Now you’re being paranoid.”

“It’s not paranoid. I don’t think it’s a good plan. I think we should just go. DiNunzio’s going to die. She’s bleedin’ out. Rosato’s never going to get out of the smokehouse. She’s going to die in there. No one will find them.”

“What about Mo’s hunting buddies? They own the cabin jointly. They’re coming up when black powder season starts.”

“That’s not ’til fall.”

“So?”

“So here’s my plan. We leave now. Then we wait a month or two, then we come up and clean up the mess. Then it’s all over with. By then, Simon will get convicted. We didn’t have to kill anybody else.”