Page 82 of Incompatible

During training I’m unusually unfocused, Luca has no problem taking me down, Gurco keeps scolding me, and after the sparring session I take the long way home, still feeling that heavy, lingering stress.

Finally that evening I step into the garden and call Ennio.

"I have good news for you. When we got there it looked like no one had noticed the accident. Yes, the guardrail is broken, but that didn’t seem to inspire anyone to check whether someone went over it. We fixed it up just enough so the spot doesn’t immediately draw attention, and we took care of the marks on the asphalt. Right now it will be hard to tell what actually happened there. That’s it for covering the traces. What worries me more is whether they talked to anyone about it, but I have a weird feeling they didn’t do it over social media. Very few idiots openly write about murder plans on a messenger that anyone can access, these things get discussed face to face."

Relief washes over me.

"The Hansons are stupid, but maybe not that stupid. You’re right, there’s a good chance they didn’t talk about it!"

"You know, nothing can be ruled out, but I’d be genuinely surprised if they laid out their plans in messages. More likely they told someone. My family had some… issues with them. They run a few bars with gambling machines on our territory and we…" Ennio hesitates, "sometimes required them to… hand over a cut. They didn’t like that. They have a patriarch, some Eugene Hanson. The guy is pretty clever and persistent."

"I met him at my hearing. Do you think they told him about the plan?"

"I doubt it. Eugene wouldn’t support a crazy idea like pushing someone off a cliff, too many things can go wrong, other cars might be nearby, most cars have dash cams, what if something got recorded on a rear camera?"

"Mine does. I already secured it."

"Exactly. That’s why it’s more likely they acted on impulse, some wild idea that came to them in the heat of the moment, maybe when they spotted you. But we still can’t rule out the small possibility that they told someone."

"The question is what happens with their phones."

"They’ll be hard to track, the water is really deep there and the phones must have flooded at the bottom, so they’re inactive now."

"But what if the police try to find them based on the last place their phones pinged?"

"Remember that a tower doesn’t give you a precise spot, especially along the coast, because you need three points for an accurate location, not two, and no tower stands out in the ocean to pinpoint anything correctly."

"How do you even know all this?"

"Stuff like this is life or death for a lot of my family, Bay. We have to think of everything."

"So it will take them a while to reach the bodies?"

"Well, eventually they’ll find them, that’s something you have to expect, but I’d advise you to fix the bumper on your car… paint residue is a strong clue, and I can help with that too, I know discreet mechanics who don’t ask questions."

"Thanks, Ennio, my debt keeps growing, you’re saving my ass."

I let out another breath.

"I’ll call you if anything changes, if there’s any news about their deaths."

A short pause.

"I take it that with that car going over the cliff three of your targets disappeared."

"Yep, I don’t have anyone on my list right now because Rob and Vin… well, besides the fact they pulled that stunt on me and snitched to their brothers, they still haven’t landed on my list of people to eliminate… but who knows what might happen."

"And maybe it’s better if they don’t land there, it would make for a suspiciously high concentration of deaths in one family."

"True. It feels strange. After all that waiting, planning, pacing, and suddenly, like a magic trick, everything resolved itself."

I grimace slightly at my own words.

"Well, now you can try to… live, Bay. Be free."

I chuckle. It sounds somehow incredible.

When the call ends, a strange kind of euphoria washes over me.