Page 101 of Exposed

“We’re not doing that. We wait for Mo. He’s on the way. Then we kill them. He’s going to help us get rid of the bodies. He’s bringing lye and all. He knows a place in the woods where no one will find them.”

Mary tried to breathe but she was starting to pant from fear. It was because Ray and not-Ray were talking about lye. About burying her. About her and Bennie’s bodies. Suddenly sherealized what upset her so much. It wasn’t that she and Bennie would be dead. It was her family. She remembered she had a family. A mother, a father. A husband, Anthony. Their faces floated into her consciousness. She knew what they looked like. She knew what it felt like to hug them. To hug them back. She even knew the way they smelled. She had afamily. They all loved each other. It would kill them if she died.

“I think people are going to find them,” not-Ray said, louder. “We’re gettin’ greedy.”

“Now you’re being paranoid.”

“It’s not paranoid. I don’t think it’s a good plan. I think we should just go. DiNunzio’s going to die. She’s bleedin’ out. Rosato’s never going to get out of the smokehouse. She’s going to die in there. No one will find them.”

“What about Mo’s hunting buddies? They own the cabin jointly. They’re coming up when black powder season starts.”

“That’s not ’til fall.”

“So?”

“So here’s my plan. We leave now. Then we wait a month or two, then we come up and clean up the mess. Then it’s all over with. By then, Simon will get convicted. We didn’t have to kill anybody else.”

Mary was remembering more and more. Bennie had helped her. They had worked together. They had figured out it was a conspiracy to kill Todd because he knew something. The men were going to kill her and Bennie because they had found them out. That was all she could remember. But it was enough.

Mary had to figure out a way to get out of here. She didn’t know where they had Bennie. She had to see if she could save herself and Bennie. She couldn’t just lie here and wait for them to kill her.

“You know what they’re going to smell like in two months, over summer? You know what they’re going tolooklike? Ernie, you up for that? I’m not.”

Mary heard his name.Ernie. Not-Ray was Ernie. Ray, Ernie, Mo. She wasn’t going to let them kill her or Bennie. She had to get out of here. She tried to move but it hurt too much. She had to think of another way.

“It’s a better plan, Ray. It’s easier. It’s no-risk.”

“Tell you what. We’ll talk to Mo about it when he comes.”

“Why wait? Call him off. Leave and tell him not to come up.”

“I’m not gonna do it without Mo. I’m not gonna change the plan without talking to him.”

“It’s not a change in the plan. It’s makin’ the plan. We made the plan on the fly.”

“Ernie, it’s not you and me that make the plan. It’s me and Mo that make the plan.”

“Oh really?

“Yes, really.”

“Then you’re goin’ to take her photo.”

“Fine. Give me your phone. It takes better pictures than mine.”

Mary heard footsteps coming to the door, then the door opened but there was no locking sound. So they hadn’t locked her in. Maybe there wasn’t a lock on it. It must’ve been a bedroom door. The footsteps walked right to her side, vibrating the wooden floor, and she stayed very still, terrified. These men were capable of murder. It scared her to be this close to him. She reminded herself he was only going to take her picture.

Ray pulled up her blindfold, but the blood made it stick to her eyelids. “Ugh,” he said, recoiling.

“I can’t see,” Mary said, weakly. She kept her eyes closed. She didn’t even try to open them. She was starting to get an idea. “I can’t see anything. I can’t open my eyes. Can you just wipe them? There’s so much stuff. I can’t see anything.”

“Shut up, you dumb bitch! I’m not touching you again!”

Mary heard the click of a smartphone camera, then thetread of footsteps as Ray walked to the door and shut it behind him. She blinked her eyes again and again, shifting onto her side so the blood would run out. It hurt her eyeballs to move her lids but she kept it up. She cleared her eyes enough to look around the room.

Everything was fuzzy but she could make out the outlines. There was a bed and nightstand with a lamp and an old landline phone. If she could get to the phone, she might be able to call 911.

Mary started to move.