The Departed

screamed at him to run…run hard, run fast. But the last thing he needed to do was draw their attention like that.
    Especially when he didn’t have a place to run to . Especially when he had nobody to trust.
    “Dude. There she is.” Kyle punched him in the arm and leaned over, staring out through the window.
    Mark turned his head and found himself staring at the woman, watching as she lugged a suitcase out of the resort. Leaving—she wasn’t leaving, was she? No. Shit, no. She couldn’t leave—
    The air in his lungs felt like it was disappearing, being squeezed out of him by some giant fist. “You think she’s leaving?” he asked, trying to keep his voice casual.
    “Shit, she can’t ,” Kyle said, shaking his head. “She’s, like, got to be a material witness or something, I’d think.”
    Or something…
    Something. Shit. She couldn’t leave. If he wanted to talk to anybody, maybe the first person he should try talking to was her. Half the cops around here were too busy kissing Brendan’s ass—or his father’s ass. But that woman…somehow…she had connections or something.
    Yeah.
    She was the one he needed to talk to—he hadn’t missed the look that had passed between her and that mean-looking dude yesterday. Either she’d brought him with her or she’d called him here or something. If she left…
    Keeping his voice bored and easy, he looked away from her and stared at the back of the seat in front of him. “You know, for the hotshot forensics expert, you aren’t showing a lot of smarts.” He shoved Kyle back. “People can still see in here, you know. Don’t go staring at her so fucking hard, dumb-ass.”
    Kyle shoved back but settled in the seat. “Why the hell not? Everybody around here stares at everybody else—and she’s new .”
    “You still don’t want anybody noticing you doing anything different,” Mark muttered. Then he leaned forward, watching as Beau kept shooting glances out the window toward the lady. “We picking up the others or what? I ain’t got all day. Dad’s riding my ass and he’ll be calling me in an hour or so.”
    “Why?” Brendan twisted around and looked at him, his eyes cold and hard.
    “Because of this shit.” Mark jerked a shoulder in a shrug. “You know how he is. He’s going to want to check up on me nonstop and he already told me he wants me home by three. If I’m not, he’ll be hounding me until I get there.”
    It was a bald-faced lie but to his surprise, he managed to get it out without stuttering. His dad had been surprisingly calm about things when he came to the station the day before. When Mark had babbled an apology, he had just said, in that easy, quiet voice, “Now, Mark, it’s okay. It’s not like I think you’d ever have anything to do with this.”
    That solid, simple faith had all but gutted him.
    “Shit, just blow him off,” Kyle said.
    Mark opened his mouth to answer but Brendan beat him to it. “Fuck, Kyle, get your head out of your ass. This isn’t the time for any of us to change how we do things. Mark’s the ‘good’ boy,” Brendan said, his voice heavy with mockery. “If he doesn’t show up, what do you think his dad is going to do? He’s going to fucking call the cops. And what’s that going to do?”
    Mark slumped back in his seat, the adrenaline draining out of him, his heart banging erratically against his ribs.
    “Mark, we all need to get together and talk, though.” Brendan stared at him in the mirror and, try as he might, Mark couldn’t look away. “Maybe you should see if you can come over tonight.”
    Mark gave him a strained smile. “I’ll see what I can do. But you know how my folks are about Saturdays and shit. I’m supposed to be at church bright and early. Maybe next week.”
    “It could be too late then. We all got to do some talking.”
    “Then we try to meet and do it tomorrow,” Mark said, his voice flat. There was no fucking way he was putting himself in Brendan’s hands for the night. No fucking way. “I’m not pissing my dad off, upsetting my mom, all because you got your panties in a twist, Brendan. Deal with it.”
    Brendan’s eyes narrowed. Then, slowly, he turned around in the seat, staring at Mark. “What the fuck did you say?”
    “You heard me.” This time, his voice shook a little, but he’d be damned if he backed down. Where in the hell this inner strength had come from, he didn’t know, but he knew one thing—Brendan was scared. And if Brendan was