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"No worries, prio

"Stay," I told Butch, hined at h I suspected he was doingChuch backed down the steps and we had the dead demon in the trunk before I saw a curtain twitch This wasn’t the kind of neighborhood where people stared out their s in search of trouble Around here,to make ends meet and keep their own problems at bay

I climbed in the car, belted in My body functioned on automatic, as I had come so far past shock that I didn’t knohat to call it Chuch cut me a sympathetic look as he backed the car onto the street, but when he spoke, it wasn’t about the mission at all "You still have the Pinto, I see I should’ve sold you a POS before"

"Yep It’s like the cheap sunglasses you never lose"

He laughed, angling our route toward the desolate country out near the border He didn’t volunteer information In his line of work, that was smart, but it also workedwas coht at the speed limit Chuch obeyed all traffic laws to the letter; no way he was giving a cop the chance to pull us over The he was a de to steal my unborn child defense would probably only qualify me for an insanity plea

We had been on the road for ten minutes when I couldn’t take it anyuess?"

"Don’t ask h Chuch was one ofuntil he laughed and added, "Relax, peke You’re wound so tight, it can’t be good for the baby"

"Wouldn’t you be in nant, and trying to get s would pose a huge proble it impossible for hter boiled out of me until I felt near hysterical, but it was such a welcoe of tears that I didn’t try to stop it, even when it ca Eva had really trained hiency a wohway, but drove away from the rock formation where I’d found Kel Once, Chuch checked the coordinates in his GPS, made another turn Then he said, "We’re almost there"

"There" turned out to be a rocky stretch of nowhere, kind of the point, I supposed Once ht I’d do I felt guilty that this guy’s family would never knohat happened to him, but most likely he was lost to thes, maybe, or a permissive lifestyle took the blame, and his family had already written him off

I’d tell ot the shovel

"Can I help--" I started to ask, but he cut esture

"I’ll take care of it Get back in the car, please"

I’d never heard quite that tone froentle uy who took care of business, who could sht In response, I slid back into s in the sidea shallow trench, unwound the tarp, then rolled the body into the furrow With quick capable rakes of the shovel, he smoothed sandy soil over the top and then he tossed a nu, not that I expected anyone to sturave site To my surprise, he put all the supplies back in the trunk

As he got in, he readand put it away Since there’s no connection between e"

That made sense If he left the tarp here and soht be trace evidence left behind Since neither of us had handled the corpse with our bare skin, there shouldn’t be anything left to find I’d bet there were all kinds of people buried out here in shallow graves

"Thank you It’s not enough, but--"

"You’d coht?"

"Of course" So far, I was the troublesome friend, however, and the uneven balance botheredback relatively little

Chuch went on, "And you pro for onna happen," I whispered

Even if it did, he had a huge extended family I suspected he and Eva had chosen Chance andbetween their massive respective clans But if the worst came to pass, yeah, I’d take Cami Get her out of the country and keep her safe, noin ht "Friends don’t keep a score sheet You should know that"

"Yeah, but they don’t take advantage either"

"It’s been a rough few years for you, granted But things will level outand then it’ll be ti when Eva and I desperately need to go on a cruise to remember what it’s like to sleep past five am"

"Deal," I said "Anytirinned "You say that now It’ll be a different story in a year when I call and you’ve got one of your own"

"I’ll still help you out Promise"

"Don’t think I won’t hold you to it either" By his tone, he was dead serious