Page 171 of Malice and Surrender
Alex stood, his arms covered in blood, shaking. “Oh my god, oh my god, he’s dead. Jace, he’s really dead. What the hell are we going to do?” He was a wreck, sweat dripping off his forehead and mingling with the wetness already on his face. I didn’t know if it was sweat or tears.
“We need to call the cops. We can explain that it was self-defense,” Alex said, his voice shaking as much as his body.
I stabbed the shovel into the ground and gripped Alex’s shoulders. “Look at me.” His eyes found mine. “No cops. He got what he deserved.”
“Jace….”
“No. He was never going to stop. Watching Martin with you, I’m surprised he didn’t attack you before the camping trip. He was sick, Alex. He needed to die.”
Alex pulled away and stepped around Martin’s body. He paced in front of the car and jumped at the sound of a semi’s engine brake. I sighed and knelt down to stare into Martin’s eyes. Shaking my head, I decided what we needed to do.
“Alex, come here and help me.” Pulling the shirt away from his neck, I left it on the ground and picked up one of his arms.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m fixing the problem. From this moment on, we will never speak of this again. Now pick up his other arm and help me drag him to the water.”
“What? I can’t do that. Jace, please, we need to call the cops. We’re only thirteen, they’ll let us go, but if they find out we hid a body, we could go to jail for the rest of our lives,” Alex begged.
“The cops aren’t going to believe us. Look, I know you’re scared, but this is what we need to do. I have your back, always.” My adrenaline was pumping hard. I wasn’t as sure about this plan as I made it seem, but it was our best shot. I had a bad feeling about calling the police.
Alex sighed. “This doesn’t feel right. My Aunt Tilly and Courtney will be worried about him.” He held his hand out toward Martin.
“He’s dead, Alex, not sick. They can worry all they want. He’s never coming back. Now are you going to help me or not?”
“Fine.” As Alex bent over, I thought he would lose his nerve, but he grabbed Martin’s arm, and one slow step at a time, we dragged his body to the calm, black water. Daring to wade in up to my knees, I pulled Martin into the water, then pushed his body away from the shore. Pulling off my T-shirt, I looked at Alex, whose eyes were trained on the floating man.
“Quickly before a gator thinks we’re fair game. Soak your arms.” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Alex, do it now.”
He blinked as if I’d just appeared in front of him and then did as I asked. Forcing him to step away from the water’s edge, I used my T-shirt to wipe off the remaining blood, grabbed his arm, and marched us back to the car.
“Stand here.” I opened the car door and found the gym bag I’d seen Martin toss in here a few times. Unzipping the top, I found a couple of rolled white T-shirts. I tossed the bag back on the floor and closed the door. “Here put this on.”
“You want me to wear my dead uncle’s shirt?”
“He’s dead. It’s the least of his worries at this point.” We both turned at the sound of splashing, and I looked over to see a tail flick above the shimmering water bathed in moonlight.
“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Alex closed his eyes, his hand covering his mouth again.
“No, you can’t. Look at me. He deserved what he got, now focus.”
I ran over to the camera and stopped the recording. It felt like it took forever for the cassette to release. Picking up the bloody T-shirts on the way, I went to the garbage can and tossed everything in.
“What are you doing?”
“Destroying the evidence, do you not watch any crime shows? We can’t just leave it like this.”
“Shouldn’t we do that somewhere else,” Alex asked.
“No time.” Running back to the car, I pushed in the lighter and waited for it to pop before jogging back to the can. It didn’t take long for the shirts and other garbage to ignite, and soon the barrel was engulfed in flames.
“Bring me the shovel.”
Alex handed me the shovel, and I threw it in handle first.
“Okay, now for the car,” I mumbled.
“What are we doing here, Jace? Alligators just ate my uncle.”
