Turning onto Peak Ave, he eyed her house at the end of the street. It stood two stories proud, the maples in the front yard bare, pumpkins placed along the sidewalk. A giant inflatable turkey floated in the yard between two inflatable pilgrims. The turkey looked terrified.
Soon as he parked, Candace flew out the front door, cursing when her Penn State hoodie snagged on the doorknob. She was a stout woman, a no-nonsense type with a pretty face as pale as his was dark. Wrestling her sleeve free, she waved him over to her garage with a frantic gesture.
“Let’s go, Karl,” she said. Her dirty blond hair was done up in a tight bun; her sweaty forehead glimmered in the morning light. “We’re taking a field trip.”
“Where to?”
“Banquet hall. I would’ve called the police from there, but I didn’t want anything on record.”
“No bear on the property, I see.”
“Wish it were that simple.”
Inside the garage she sidestepped some free weights and football pads and climbed into her Jeep. “Hop in the back. Stay low so nobody sees you.”
“Candace?” Sweat leaked along his spine. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s John MacReady. I stopped by the banquet hall to decorate and…” She shook her head. “Mac’s in his car. He’s dead.”
“Mac? No…” Karl grabbed a nearby tool cabinet to steady himself. Just last week he and Mac got together to watch the Steelers and grumble about their families leaving them behind in Hollow Hills. Karl had even invited him to Thanksgiving dinner. “How…how’d he go?”
“My guess is a heart attack.” She started the engine. “Regardless, we gotta cover it up.”
Karl rose from the floor mats when the Jeep rumbled onto the gravel lot outside the banquet hall. Through the streaky windshield, the lot looked as bare as scorched earth. They rounded the back and parked beside Mac’s faded Toyota. Before unlocking her doors, Candace checked every direction to ensure they were the only ones there.
Once she was satisfied, she nodded, and Karl stepped out. His gorge rose as he stared through Mac’s window and saw his old friend slumped sideways over the armrest, his face frozen in a grimace. A string of web-thin saliva drooped from the corner of his pale lip. Urine stains soaked his khakis, down to where his legs disappeared into the dark beneath the steering wheel.
“Good God,” Karl said.
Candace frowned. “Never should have asked him to work late. I’m a stupid, selfish bitch for making him close up last night. I just wanted extra time with my son, and look what happened.” She peered through the windshield, disgusted. “Karl, I’m sorry. I know he was your pal, but we gotta hurry.”
He thought about Mac’s wife and daughter. They’d left years ago, left Mac to waste away in town. Karl couldn’t help but wonder if he’d die the same way, without the company of those he cared about. A knot clogged his throat.
“Karl?”
“Right,” he said. “Investigating a bear complaint will only buy me so much time as far as alibis go.”
“You mind doing the messy work? I’ll grab the garbage bags.”
“What body part did he trade?”
She hesitated.
“Candace, he’s gone. You can say it now.”
“Kidneys.”
He cringed.
“Sorry, Karl. I’ll run inside and get a knife.”
“Make sure you—ugh!” He opened the driver’s door and nearly lost his breakfast. The stench reminded him of a suicide-by-hanging he’d discovered during his rookie year as a Pittsburgh cop. In death, the victim had emptied her bladder and left behind a two-day-old stink that could rip your nose off.
Holding his breath, Karl lifted Mac’s shirt to check the kidney area. Pale patches had bloomed across the small of his gray-haired back. Karl touched the soft, discolored skin and frowned. The body was too warm for someone who’d died around midnight. When he lifted the left arm, it flinched.
“Whoa, now!”
Karl blinked hard. Am I seeing things? Then it happened again. Mac’s arm moved under its own power. Fingers scratched his thigh. His throat gurgled.
Candace rushed over, covering her nose. “What’s wrong?”
“He moved,” Karl said, his heart jabbing his ribs. “He’s alive.”
“That’s not possible.” Candace pointed at Mac’s lower back. “His kidneys are gone. They’d only disappear if he died.”
“Or if he left the area.” Karl squeezed Mac’s arm. “Pal, can you hear me?”
Mac mumbled something. When Karl repeated the question, Mac muttered, “What? Who’s there?”
“It’s Karl,” he whispered, breathless. “What happened?”
“Jesus, Karl,” Candace said. “Let him breathe.”
Mac groaned, twisting his head gingerly. “Who’s there?”
Karl repeated himself. Mac didn’t seem to recognize him.
“This isn’t good,” Candace said.
“We gotta call an ambulance,” Karl said.
“Right, right.” She grabbed her phone and tapped franticly at the screen. Then she paused.
“Candace?”
“I don’t know about this,” she said. “I mean, look at him. Losing his kidneys must’ve fried his brain. Can we really save him?”
“That’s up to the doctors.”
“If they get involved, how do we explain his missing kidneys?”
He scratched his chin.
“Karl, once people figure out Mac’s kidneys are missing without any incisions, we’re in trouble.” Candace scratched her scalp. “Hell, we could have another Bobby Russo situation here. Do you want that? Want to put all sixty-six Traders at risk?”
He didn’t, but his friend was trying to shake free of death’s grip. It would require top-notch medical care, but if they gave him a chance, Mac might get to say goodbye to his family. Better yet, maybe hello.
“We can’t leave him like this.”
She squeezed his shoulder. “We’ve done worse to protect the group.”
“I know, but…”
“Do you honestly think he’ll make it?”
“He might.”
Sighing, she turned toward the banquet hall.
“Candace, where you going?”
“To get a knife,” she said. “When I come back, you’ll either have to stick it in MacReady’s back or mine.”
6
Throbbing. Stinging. Burning.
Three flavors of hell flooded Ash’s hand as the surgical drugs wore off. A headache prickled above her eyebrow. Her throat was dry, her eyes salty. Across from the cot she lay on, her guitar case sat on an exam room chair like a concerned family member. Without looking away from it, she asked the nurse, a cheeky guy named Eric, how long it would take to finish wrapping her cast.
“Almost done,” he said. “I’m being extra careful not to disturb any of the pins and screws they implanted.”
“Pins?” Ash winced. A tear fell to her check. It tickled and burned before it salted the corner of her lip. “Screws?”