Gin Palace 02 - The Bone Orchard

shots in the back of your head, not all this. But they won’t come, not right away, at least. We’ve got time to do what needs to be done.”
    His demeanor said just the opposite. He was almost jittery, and his eyes darted back and forth between Augie and me.
    “What did you give them, Frank?” I said. “How much did it take to buy the Chief’s boys? How much per man?”
    “Not as much as you’d think. You’d be surprised at how cheaply most men will sell out. But, of course, you don’t know anything about that, do you? Just like your dear old dad.”
    Before I could ask Frank what he meant by that, Augie said, “What do you want, Frank?”
    “I want things nice and tidy. If I’m going to get out of this alive, I can’t be bothered worrying about certain loose ends.”
    “Frank, I’ve known you my whole life. You’ve pulled more than your share of shit. But what did you expect us to do? She was a sixteen-year-old girl for Christ’s sake.”
    “It was necessary.”
    “She drowned in that pond,” Augie said. “Alone. The last thing she knew before she died was freezing cold and fear. She was trapped in a car, underwater. She must have been crazy with terror.”
    “Don’t expect me to feel bad, Aug. You know as well as I how the world works.”
    “Why was it necessary, Frank?” I said, cutting in. Augie’s eyes were on Frank now. He was coiled, ready to move. I was still too far away. “Was it a warning? Was it because Concannon found out what’s buried beneath our feet?”
    Augie turned his head fast and looked at me then. Though I only saw him out of the corner of my eye, I could see the shock on his face.
    Frank was no less surprised. He shook his head and laughed, but then the laugh died abruptly.
    “Someone’s been talking to you, MacManus,” he said. “Your old buddy the Chief, I bet. I can only imagine what a scene that must have been.”
    “It was touching, Frank, you should have been there.”
    “It’s easy to be cool, MacManus, when you have nothing to lose.”
    “This isn’t me being cool, Frank. I’m just tired. I’m so tired I just might do something desperate.”
    “I wouldn’t, if I were you, MacManus.”
    I said then to Tina in Spanish, “Do what I tell you to do when I tell you to do it.”
    Augie looked at me. Most of his twenty-five years in the DEA had been spent in Colombia. He knew what I was saying.
    “What are you doing,” Frank snapped.
    I continued, still in Spanish. “When I tell you to, just let yourself become dead weight and drop. Don’t worry about anything else. Augie and I will do the rest.”
    “That’s enough of your shit, MacManus,” Frank demanded.
    I said to her, “Do you understand?”
    She nodded. I looked at Augie, then down at the .45 under his jacket, at the small of his back. He was ready, he was primed.
    “I said that’s enough,” Frank sneered. He aimed the .45 at me, locking his elbow. He looked from me to Augie and back several times. “Now, you’ve got a lot of digging to do. You’d be dead right now otherwise. I’m sure as hell not going to do it. And I haven’t gone through all this just to leave your mess out in the open for everyone to find. So let’s get going, huh?”
    Neither Augie or I moved. Frank watched us. There was sweat on his forehead.
    “Start digging,” he said.
    “You’re going to kill us anyway,” I said. “So why should we cooperate?”
    “I could make things unpleasant for you both before you die.”
    Augie said, “What’s more unpleasant than digging your own grave?”
    “For one, watching your little girl suffer,” Frank answered. “She’s not the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen, but her body’s good. Sixteen-year-old girls are so firm. I wouldn’t mind having her show me just how firm she is right here. A piece of clothing at a time.”
    Augie and I each took a step toward him then. Frank shook his gun in warning.
    “Is that unpleasant enough for you?” he asked.
    “Leave her out of this,” Augie demanded.
    “It’s too late for that, don’t you think?” Frank nodded toward the ditch behind us. “There’s the shovel and pick, gentlemen. I suggest you get to work.”
    I saw something on the path then, behind Frank, some kind of motion. It moved slowly, silently, still several feet from where the path opened into the clearing, at the point in the path where it began to zigzag. I couldn’t tell what it was, it was just dark motion in darkness, but I knew that whatever