Scarlet Angel Collection

7. A Magic Trick

The physical act of taking someone"s life is easy. Living with it, now that"s the hard part.

The physical act of taking someone"s life is easy. Living with it, now that"s the hard part.* * *

Ruby dabbed the washcloth on Scarlett"s arms and face, erasing the tiny splatters of blood. Scarlett knew she would always see those red spots, always feel their sick wetness against her skin. Even several minutes later, she could still feel the c***k of the man"s neck reverberate through her bones.

Scarlett stared off into the distance, reliving that moment over and over in her mind. “I can"t believe I did it.”

Ruby stepped over and rinsed out the cloth in the kitchen sink. “Oh sweetheart. Ya did what was necessary.”

“I know ma, but… Is this who I really am? Was I like this before you found me? A killer?”

Ruby sat back down next to Scarlett at the cherry table and wrapped her arms around her daughter. The older woman"s voice was tired but soothing. “Ah may not have given birth to ya, but I know ya well "nuff. Yer definitely not a cold-blooded killer.”

There was a long pause before Ruby spoke again, but when she did, a tiny bit of strength had returned. “He"s the one who tried to kill ya before, isn"t he?”

Scarlett just nodded as she reached up to wipe away the tear trickling down the side of her face.

“An" he was here to finish the job?”

Scarlett nodded again. The older woman patted her hand.

“Then ah"d say the bastard got wha" he deserved.”

Scarlett turned to look up at her mother. “Does that make what I did right, ma?”

Ruby stared for a long moment into her eyes. “I don"t know, sweetheart.”

The swinging door into the front room burst open and Cash strolled through.

“Yes. It does,” he said. “Yes, it absolutely does.”

Cash walked right up to Scarlett and pulled her to her feet. “Scar, that sonofabitch was here to kill us.”

“He came for me.”

“And we were just in his way. He didn"t care.”

The younger woman looked down, her hands hanging limp in her brother"s. “I just…”

“Cut the crap, Scar. That guy was walking garbage! He…”

“Cash!” Ruby interrupted.

“He was! He was a low-life hired thug. You saw the sores and the tracks on his arms.”

The older woman rose and stepped up to her son. “His life still matters, he was still a person.”

Cash"s gaze burned into his mother for a moment before he turned to Scarlett. “No. It doesn"t. He was walking sickness. But he"s dead now and we have to deal with that.”

thatScarlett looked over to her mother then back to Cash. “So, what do we do?”

“We call the police.” Ruby squinted and c****d her head to the side.

Scarlett felt small under her mother"s gaze, as if she"d asked the most ridiculous question ever.

“No.” Cash"s voice was firm and commanding.

“Excuse me? This is mah home. This man broke into mah house and tried to kill mah family. Why the hell not?”

Cash turned his head slowly to look at his mother again. “Mama, I know this is hard, but you gotta trust me. We need to think of the bigger picture here. So far, we"ve had no idea the circumstances of Scarlett"s amnesia. Now it"s clear someone, that man, tried to kill her.”

An uneasy feeling crept in at the edges of Scarlett"s mind. It was the same feeling she had when she left Rishabh"s. Her family was in danger, because of her own actions. “He"s right.”

Ruby looked between her children with a wrinkled brow. “Not sure Ah understand.”

“Whoever tried to kill her before, did it because she was a threat,” Cash continued. “Up until now they thought she was indeed dead. Now, they know she"s alive. And they"re going to make sure she does not stay that way for very long.”

“Won" they jes" send sum"mon else?”

Cash shook his head and leaned against the table. “I don"t think so. I heard this guy talking on the phone. He was just a hired killer. My guess is that he got Scarlett"s license plate number and had someone look it up. Scarlett"s current identity died with this man, for now.”

Scarlett spoke up. “Then we"re back to the question of what to do.”

“First, we get the blood cleaned up. Ma, I know you"re no stranger to blood. Can you take care of that?”

Ruby nodded.

“Good. Scarlett, I want you to stay here. Don"t come out of this room.”

Cash started to walk out of the room when Scarlett called to him. “What about you? What are you going to do?”

He stopped and turned his head, just enough to see his sister from the corner of his eye. “I"m gonna make a phone call and get rid of this body.”

* * *

The old car rumbled down the freeway. Scarlett was amazed that the beat-up machine could even reach fifty-five miles per hour. When they finally reached highway speeds, the doors rattled and vehicle shook like it was going to fall apart. One of the half-melted knobs for rolling up the windows fell to the floorboard with a thunk.

Instead of a media and navigation interface, the dashboard held a simple radio with a narrow slot. Two tiny, fading letters, CD, sat below the slot. Scarlett had to keep the windows down to air out the stale liquor and sunbaked vinyl odors. The damn thing doesn"t even have autodrive.

The damn thing doesn"t even have autodrive.They"d been on the road for more than an hour now. Scarlett had no idea where they were going, only that they were heading west. Every time she prodded him for a destination, Cash avoided a direct answer. Finally, she lost her patience and confronted him directly. “Where are we going, Cash?”

Cash sat in the seat next to her, a baseball cap pulled down over his eyes. “Just stay on this road. I"ll tell you when to exit.”

“C"mon, give me a little more than that. What"s with you anyway?”

“What do you mean?”

“Cash, you took control real quick back at the house. Clearly you"re no stranger to situations like this. Does it have something to do with your time in the military?”

“Something like that.”

Scarlett flipped on the turn signal but nothing happened. She laughed to herself and nudged the car over into the next lane. “Cut the BS. Ruby and Emma aren"t here, so there"s no point in avoiding it anymore.”

Cash eyed her from under his cap. “Avoiding what?”

“Do you think no one notices how you divert the conversation anytime it comes up? Do you think your own mother didn"t notice how you quickly and efficiently you took control back at the house? She didn"t argue or fuss.”

Cash lifted the front of his hat with a finger. “So?”

“Your mother plays dumb and doesn"t ask questions because she thinks it"s some form of PTSD. Emma just thinks that you"re too proud to talk about it. But that bullshit doesn"t play with me.”

Without looking, Cash pointed to a holo-sign ahead. “There, take Beach Street. Go on.”

“I may not understand everything you did, but I"m betting it wasn"t all rosy. I think you don"t talk about it because some of it you"re not proud of.”

He set his jaw. “I"m very proud of my service to this country.”

“I didn"t say you weren"t. You and I both know that sometimes the wrong thing has to be done to get the right result.”

“My little sis, when did you become such a cynic?”

She glanced at her brother. “When some asshole tried to kill me for a second time.”

Scarlett guided the car off the freeway and turned right. A quarter-mile further, they pulled up to the gates of an old seaport shipping dock. The chain-link fence was tattered and the docks beyond were long-abandoned. Hanging on one side of the fence gate was a rusty padlock. It was unlocked.

Cash pointed at the gate and waved his hand. “Just keep going slowly. Nudge it open.”

She inched the vehicle forward. At the first bump, the gate swung open, screeching with every inch.

Cash raised his hand and pointed to the left. “Before we stop I want to tell you something that I think you should know.”

Scarlett eyed her brother. “Go on.”

“It"s about your vision.”

She followed her brother"s instructions and stopped the car facing an empty pier. “Okaaay.”

“I had a friend look into what you described, into whether there was any kind of accident at Universal Dynamics, and it turns out there was. I"m not sure of the details, since they"ve done a helluva job at cleanup, but a lot of people died.”

Scarlett put her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God.”

“Only four people are listed to have survived the explosion. Of those four, only you and one other are still alive. The others died of mysterious causes.”

Scarlett stared at the undulating water in the distance. Her voice was soft and distant. “Derrick Martins.”

As she said the words, an image flashed through her mind. She saw his face above her, sweat beading on his brow. He wore a warm, passionate smile. In his eyes, she saw love.

“How?” Cash turned to look at his sister, his eyes wide. “How did you know?”

“Our unfortunate passenger told me,” she whispered.

“Oh. So you know who he is?”

Scarlett shook her head. “No. I mean, I know I know him, but I don"t know how.”

“Ah, well… He"s the new Chief Development Officer at Universal Dynamics.”

A knock on the window made her jump. Outside the car stood a man in a black wool coat, waiting patiently.

Cash nodded his head toward the man. “We"re here to meet him.”

They climbed out of the car. Cash walked around to stand next to his sister and shook the stranger"s hand. “Scarlett, this is Neil. Neil, Scarlett.”

This is what a man who disposes of bodies looks like? He looks so… normal. Do I still look that normal, now that I"m a killer? His grip was firm and confident. “Nice to meet you, Neil.”

This is what a man who disposes of bodies looks like? He looks so… normal. Do I still look that normal, now that I"m a killer?Neil was taller than both Cash and Scarlett by a full head. He looked down at her, his face expressionless. He nodded then turned to Cash. “This is the one you called me about the other day? Hmm. Are we all set? Did you tell her?”

Cash shook his head. “No, not yet.”

Scarlett"s brow furrowed. Her eyes darted between the two men. “Tell me… Tell me what? Cash, what"s going on?”

Her brother breathed in and let out a deep sigh. He looked down at his wringing hands. “Scarlett… Neil"s not really here to dispose of the body and the car. I mean, he"s going to do that.” Cash looked up and stared into her eyes. “But the real reason he"s here is to take you with him.”

Scarlett"s eyes widened. “WHAT?”

Cash"s voice cracked with fatigue and emotion. “Scar, you have to go.”