Page 19 of Death Kiss

Okay, I can’t quite move it myself, but I’m definitely taking more weight than usual. We drop him next to the well, my breath coming in puffs after going through the rough ground of the woods.

‘Feet first?’ I ask Liam as we unwrap the tarp.

‘Head first is easier, I think. Weightier.’ Liam slices the fingertips from the body. We knocked his teeth out earlier.

‘I think he’s pretty weighty all over, to be fair.’ Shivering in the cold evening air, I glance in the direction of my parents’ house. Do I even want it, or do I only want to keep the bodies hidden? ‘Do you think we can move the bodies somewhere else?’

Liam shakes his head.

‘Not since we added the concrete. We’d need power tools and some kind of crane system to lift the pieces. We could pour more concrete and just hope no one ever digs it up. Find a new place for the rest of them.’

Sitting against the mossy edge of the well, I rub my temples. Stress is giving me a headache.

Liam tosses the fingertips to be munched by the woodland creatures before we add this fucker to the well full of others. Another man who hurt the boy I once knew. Him and so many others. I know I should probably feel some sort of revulsion at spilling his blood, or at the crunch of his broken body as he hits the concrete deep below. There’s nothing.

They deserve it.

Liam rolls up the tarp into an impressively small bundle, packing it away with the knives to sanitise later. Not at home. Never at home.

We take a few minutes to wipe ourselves down with medical wipes to remove any further evidence, then add them to the rucksack.

My jumper dress is wholly unsuitable for the evening. Unfortunately, the teacher’s blood sprayed on my original outfit, so I had to rake around in the boot for an alternative dinner outfit.

And look at how well dinner went.

A balls-up from the start.

I really thought my parents would have at least shown a modicum of decency toward Liam. That some small part of their snobbish ways would stop them from treating him the way they did. But no. I expected too much.

And now I need to find a fuckload of cash to buy this stupid house I always hated so they don’t find out that I’m a murderer.

What a palaver.

Tugging my dress a little lower on my thighs, I sit next to Liam on the edge of the well. We still need to add the concrete, but we’ll need to go home and get the mix and the buckets.

‘I don’t suppose you’re hiding a couple of million somewhere?’ I say, leaning my head against Liam’s shoulder.

‘Oh yeah. Tucked in my back pocket, want to check?’

‘I have about half in my trust fund. I try not to use it because it feels like it takes bribery to stay in line, but I can use it for this,’ I say.

Liam nearly falls back into the well. ‘You have HALF? Jeez. I have less than a grand in the bank.’

‘I also have some jewellery my Nana left me that we might be able to shift, not that I think there’s much money in jewellery these days.’

Liam shifts uncomfortably beside me. ‘You can’t sell all your things.’

‘As much as I love my Nana, I don’t need the jewellery.’ Grazing my fingers over the heart stone necklace I wear, I smile. ‘This is the only one I need. And maybe a ring one day…’

Liam grins. ‘Say the word, baby, and I’ll have you to the registry office in the morning.’

It’s tempting.

To jump to our happily ever after.

‘I want nothing more than that. But we need to finish this. I see Sam in my nightmares. He’s begging me to make them stop. And I see you in that cottage, and I just can’t let them keep doing it. To go to death peacefully in old age, lauded as upright members of society. They don’t deserve that.’ The nightmares have been increasing in frequency and darkness as the months have gone on since Sam’s death. This is the only way to quieten them.

‘I have them too,’ Liam admits. It’s not news to me, though; I’ve seen him lashing out in his sleep. I’ve heard the whimpers and cries that never come to the surface in the day.