Page 73 of Time Served in New York
“Alright, everyone!” Santa shouted so everyone would look his way. He held his phone up and said, “Big City says that come hell or high water, we’re having a fucking wedding today, so I need all of you to put on your monkey suits. We’re going to be cutting it close to the wire, but apparently, she doesn’t mind making a grand entrance.”
“Fuck. Surely dead bodies are reason enough not to have to wear that fucking tux,” Preacher grumbled.
“You fuck up my girl’s big day by bitching, and I’ll add another dead body to the pile,” Santa threatened.
“Bitch, try me,” Preacher growled.
“Children!” Chef yelled. “Shut up and focus. We’ve got a wedding to get to!”
“Fuck. He’s starting to sound like Boss,” I heard Preacher mumble before he started flipping through the garment bags that were hung on a rack by the wall. “That’s the last thing we need: a salt and pepper set yelling at us all the time.”
There was laughter, but it wasn’t as exuberant as it usually was, probably because we were all worried about what was going on in the suite above us.
???
PAULA
Blue dropped my father’s foot, and it hit the carpet with a thump. She rested her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. “Shit. I need to start working out more.”
“It’s not that often you work up a sweat hauling around a dead body, but you did a great job,” Pandora said as she stared down at my father’s face. “You must look like your mom, Paula.”
“I do, thank God.”
“Should we put him in the bathroom?” Brea asked.
“No, Maylee’s in that one getting Boo cleaned up. We’ll leave him right here. They’re gonna have to replace the carpet anyway,” Frankie said as she studied the men on the floor. “That’s Stamp’s uncle. It’s been ages since I’ve seen the man, and the years haven’t been good to him.”
“Is he dead?” Pandora asked.
“Oh yeah. He’s most definitely dead,” Frankie said. “He couldn’t live for more than a second or two after that kind of injury. The amount of blood on my dress is more than enough to have made his heart stop, and there’s even more around him on the floor.”
“What are we going to do?” Brea asked. “It’s not like we can bury them somewhere.”
“We could stuff them in some luggage and leave them in Central Park,” Jenn suggested.
“I’m sure that the guys will call my brothers and . . .” I started to say just as the lock on the door clicked and someone pushed it open. It hit Stamp’s uncle in the head, and I couldn’t help but giggle right along with Jenn, remembering our first adventure in crime. It thumped against his head again and then Bug stuck his head in through the gap and looked down. “Well, that’ll do it.”
“Are your brothers gonna be pissed?” Jenn whispered.
“Believe me, they’ll be fine with it,” I assured her. “Grab his leg, Blue. We’ve gotta drag him in a little farther so Bug can come inside.”
The two of us grunted as we pulled him a couple of feet farther into the hallway. In unison, we dropped his feet, and it didn’t bother me at all when I heard him moan.
“Where is she?” Bug asked as he walked inside. He didn’t once glance down at the men.
I pointed toward the bathroom, and he pushed past me to find Maylee and their little girl.
“Are you serious about going through with the wedding, Frankie?” Bernadette asked from the kitchen where she was drying her hands after scrubbing off the blood that had covered them after she’d stabbed the man in the thigh.
“What’s she going to wear?” Jenn asked. “Look at her.”
“She can wear the second dress that she got for the reception. It’s not as elaborate as that one, but it doesn’t have any blood on it either.”
“That’s perfect!” I agreed.
Jenn nodded. “It’s beautiful too.”
“They’re right,” Brea told Frankie. “It’s perfect.”
