Page 33 (1/2)

Joe leapt out of the car before it stoppedI shoved it in park and followed him

“Oh fuck”

I didn’t need to ask rong The man on the porch wasn’t a threat Soe whole His torso was covered in blood and gore, but he’d been tied to the chair so he appeared to be sitting upright and watching for us

I spun around, checking our surroundings, and Joe did the same “Donaldson’s out there”

I nodded as a shiver ran over me I had to protect my man

17

Joe

Donaldson had gotten way too close “We need to end this Now”

Devil pressed a hand to reed”

“What the fuck are we going to do about the dead guy?” When I was a cop, I would have called it in and started an investigation to discover his identity and everything we could learn about the ilantemore trouble

“We’ll move him to the shed for now, and once Donaldson is dealt with, I’ll get a cleanup crew out here to deal with this guy”

“But we don’t knoho he is or whether he was involved with Donaldson or an innocent bystander He looks really young” Jesus, he one into town, if I’d focused on hunting Donaldson—”

“No You’re not responsible for what that bastard has done”

“We could have tried harder to look for him”

“So could the people whose job it is to find him and lock him back up”

Devil started to pick up the body, and I pointed to his hat “Making out with you in a Santa hat is one thing, but it’s going to make it too easy for Donaldson to track us”

“Shit You’re right And I want you to associate it with fun, not dead people”

I stared at him “You’re…”

“Trying to lighten the mood”

“I love you”

Devil winked “I know”