“How do you think you’ll get rid of him? Stuff him in the trash bin outside your house?” I asked.
“I have an idea.” Agitation thickened Britney’s voice.
Silence filled the car again. Why did they act so calm about this? My thoughts raced faster than the car as we traveled down the 405. Sights of the city faded into the distance as the highway stretched out endlessly in front of us.
“Are we really going through with this? Getting rid of a body?” I leaned forward from the backseat. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Britney smirked. “You’re the smart one, why don’t you figure it out?”
“Why should I have to figure it out? I didn’t murder someone.”
When Britney looked at me, I knew she was thinking of stuffing me into the trunk with the homeless guy. She tapped her perfectly manicured pale pink fingernails against the steering wheel as no doubt the fantasy played out in her head.
“If you have a better plan, I’d love to hear it,” Britney said.
I would offer no advice on this awful deed. If I told her where or how to get rid of the body, then it would be as if I had taken part in the crime, and that wasn’t going to happen. Besides, I had no suggestions. How should I know what to do with a body?
If Britney had just gone to the police and told them it was an accident all of this would be over. Her actions had made this infinitely worse. Why could I not convince her of that? I suppose I didn’t know her as well as I’d thought. We’d never had a meaningful conversation, only discussions of luxury items and which beauty procedure to have done next. I’d been just as guilty of this shallow life as her.
“I know where we should go,” Whitney said in a cheerful voice as if we were discussing hitting up a nightclub.
“Where?” Britney asked with the same amount of enthusiasm.
“We’ll take him to the desert. No one ever finds anyone there, and if they do, it takes years. They won’t even know he’s missing, so they won’t search for him. Even if they found him, they’d never know who he was.”
“This is just all levels of wrong,” I said.
“Shut the fuck up,” Britney yelled.
I’d never heard her talk like that before. Yes, she was a bitch, but at least she’d made attempts at hiding her attitude. The predatory glint in her eyes was new. Something had snapped in her, and now I was truly afraid for my life. I leaned back on the leather seat and shut up.
“That’s a promising idea, Whitney. I’m shocked you came up with it.” Britney tapped her fingers against the steering wheel again. “We should go to the desert.”
“That’s a four-hour drive,” I said, forgetting about my vow of silence.
“Do you have any other suggestions?” Sarcasm saturated Britney’s words.
Yes, my suggestion was to let me out of the car. This was living hell. An eight-hour round trip drive with these snotty bitches and a corpse in the trunk. This was not how I’d envisioned my life. And they thought Southerners were crazy. I’d made mistakes in life, but at least I’d grown up knowing some sins were completely off limits. I couldn’t say the same for everyone in my family, but they were paying for their crimes.
Britney tapped the side of her temple with her index finger. “Duh. Use your head, Alexsis. We don’t have to drive too far. As soon as we hit a desolate area, we’ll find a spot to get rid of him.”
Maybe it was my imagination, but I got the feeling Britney had played over this type of scenario in her mind at least a few times. With no protest from the others, Britney continued in the direction of the desert. Silence lingered in the car like a heavy cloud of cloying cheap perfume until I couldn’t stand it a second longer.
“Do you realize how cliché this is? Dumping a body in the desert?” I had told myself that I would shut up, but the words just came out.
“Oh, is that true?” Britney used her fake Southern accent in a mocking tone. “It’s not as if they’re searching for body’s out there.”
“It’s such a big space they can’t possibly check. That’s why it’s the perfect place to get rid of someone.” Whitney studied her lilac polished fingernails.
Once again, I couldn’t help but think how Britney could have avoided this if she had just gone to the police. But it was over and done with now. Obviously, she wasn’t going back to do the right thing. I hoped we didn’t get pulled over for speeding. How would we explain to the cops why we had a dead guy in the trunk?
We barreled down the highway at eighty-five miles per hour. Well over the speed limit of seventy. I figured the first rule of trying to go unnoticed by law enforcement was to obey traffic laws. Britney had missed that memo.
The endless blue sky faded into the backdrop of mountains. Highway signs popped up periodically and power lines stretched along the side of the road. Occasionally a billboard for fast food would pop up, although I wasn’t sure these places truly existed. Cacti, Joshua trees, and sand dunes dotted the barren landscape. We’d made this road trip to Vegas before, except this time it was much more sinister. It wasn’t just gambling and too many tequila shots. This was a million times worse.
When we came to a junction in the road, Britney flicked on the signal. Now she wanted to be a polite and courteous driver while hunting for a dumping ground for a corpse? The Bentley wasn’t exactly the type of car meant for this kind of terrain. At least this caused Britney to ease off the gas pedal.
The bright sun reflected on the smooth sand, like swathes of silk draped across the landscape. Desert spread out before our eyes. Nothing blocked the view of the mountains in the distance. The desolation and grimness made my soul shiver.
Britney rolled the car to a stop on the uneven, bumpy road. No other words were spoken as Britney shut off the engine. We sat there for a moment until after a few seconds the trio got out. I remained in the car. When I peeked over at the group, Britney placed her hands on her hips and motioned for me to get out. Obviously, she was unhappy that I was sitting there.
Britney yanked open the car door. “Get out now.”
An angry snarl curled her brutally sculpted lips. I thought of telling her that she wasn’t going to order me around, but with her cunning expression, I truly thought she would dump me in the sand too. Therefore, I climbed out from the car.
I couldn’t believe Britney was doing this to me. Through it all, as bitchy as she was, I’d thought we’d been friends. I should have known better. Britney probably wasn’t even friends with her own mother. She cared about one person and one person only. Herself.
Britney released the trunk and the lid popped up. The man was still back there. Did I really expect he was going somewhere? His lifeless body remained in the same awkward position with that shocked expression frozen on his face.
“Can you close his eyes or something?” Sophia rubbed her arms as if somehow through the scorching hot temperature she had a chill. “He’s creeping me out.”
“I’m not touching the body.” Britney said.
There was no way I was touching the body either, even if Britney threatened to leave me out here. She was responsible for this, so she shouldn’t ask anyone else to handle her dirty work.
Since I no longer had my phone, calling for help wasn’t an option. Regardless, how would I explain this to Patrick? He’d probably tried to reach me several times by now. He liked to know where I was at all times, claiming it was because he worried about me. In reality, he just liked being in control. Where would I tell him I’d been? It wasn’t as if I could confess to dumping a body in the middle of the desert. What had I gotten myself into this time?