Part 64 (1/2)

”A little?” Sheila smiled. ”It's more than that.”

”Well, they get the picture,” Tom said.

”And what about Simpson and Baker? What are they-your hired muscle?”

Tom shrugged. ”No idea what those two idiots are doing.” He looked at Sheila. ”Didn't you say that Ellen said they were here to trap big foot?”

”Yep.”

Tom shook his head. ”d.a.m.n fools. There's no big foot in these hills.”

Jenny cleared her throat. ”There isn't?”

”Of course not. But it helps keep folks from buying up land and settling here. Plus, the state's real big on conservation land. That enables us to have a ready s.p.a.ce to store our product until it gets picked up.”

”How do you get it from the cavern to the hotel?”

”Nothing that a little hike can't help.”

”And no big foot?” Jenny asked.

Tom smiled. ”Sorry, sweetheart. I've been all up in these woods for years. I know every inch of the ground and I've never seen a big foot in all my travels.”

Jenny fell silent. Annja wanted to scream at her to forget the d.a.m.n big foot and concentrate on getting out of there alive, but she could see that Jenny's hopes were dashed.

”What are you going to do with David's body?” Annja asked.

Tom gestured with the gun. ”You two are going to drag him into the back so he's out of view in case someone happens to wander by.”

”There's a lot of blood on the wall and the floor. Anyone who sees that will know what happened,” Annja said, stalling for time.

”In that case,” Tom said. ”You and your friend had better be real good at using sponges to clean up. Because if it's not perfect, there will be two more blood splatters on that wall.”

”And two more bodies to clean up after,” Annja said. ”You're not that stupid, are you?”

”Don't try to find out,” Tom said. ”Now get to work.”

Annja glanced at Jenny. She's not going to cope well with this, she thought. But they walked over. Annja reached down and got her hands under David's armpits and pulled. Jenny vomited and Annja blanched, choking back the rising tide of bile in her throat.

”Hurry up,” Tom said. ”Drag him in the back.”

Annja tugged David's body into the kitchen. The corpse left a trail of blood behind, staining the floor a brownish red. It was all Annja could do not to heave her guts all over the place.

Jenny followed her into the kitchen with Sheila bringing up the rear, David's gun trained on them both.

Tom gestured with the shotgun. ”In the back there. Just leave him be.”

”The smell's going to let everyone in town know you killed him,” Annja said.

Tom shook his head. ”Don't matter. We'll be gone after tonight. And then as far as anyone knows, we just left.”