All The Way Down

Chapter 46

The sound of my footsteps on the driveway seemed amplified as I ran to the car. I got a trash bag from the car and dumped the bundles of cash from inside my coveralls into it. Then I knotted the bag and tossed it into the back seat.

I went around to the trunk and popped it open, picking up the utility knife and leather gloves from the trunk floor where they lay beside the black plastic bag. Silver duct tape crisscrossed the plastic from one end to the other, and the edges of the bag were double taped. It looked like a space-age, man-sized cocoon. I slid the utility knife into my back pocket, pulled on the gloves, and grabbed the near end of the bag with both hands.

I struggled with the bulk for a while before I managed to get half of it onto the lip of the trunk. Then I pulled hard at the other end, getting the tail end to go up and over the trunk lip before the whole thing fell to the driveway with a thud. I stood in the gray light from the street lamp and looked in both directions along the dirt road that fed the driveway. Bullard's desire for isolation from neighbors had given me the privacy I needed.

I got two fistfuls of the plastic and dragged the bag up the driveway towards the garage. By the time I reached the garage door I was breathing hard and I felt sweat running down my back under the coveralls.

I pulled the bag as close to the garage door as I could manage. Then I took the utility knife and cut the bag open from one end to the other before ripping the bag away, leaving the contents on the driveway. The odor of decay and rot made me cough and choke as I dragged the empty plastic bag back to the trunk of my car. I got a clean trash bag from the back seat and stuffed the foul-smelling plastic into it. After turning my head to one side to get a breath of fresh air, I tied the bag off and tossed it into the trunk.

I closed the lid, took several more deep breaths, held the last one, and I went back towards the garage.

Ray's corpse lay against the base of the garage door. I grabbed him under the armpits and pulled. The skin seemed loose under his shirt, as if it were no longer attached to the muscle. I rolled him upright and then I grabbed Ray's booted feet. I pulled them around to shift his body so that he had his back to the door. Then I stepped back and gasped for air.

Ray looked like he was taking a siesta against Bullard's garage door. Flies had already gathered and they circled and hummed insistently over the corpse. I took one last look at what I’d done, and then went over to the car to change into clean clothes.