نیواورلینز

Chapter suxteen

New Orleans

On Saturday the news was out. Everyone was looking for Mark. When Barry Muldanno heard, he was wild with fear. He went straight to tell his uncle.

‘The kid’s disappeared,’ he said. ‘What’s he going to do now? I need to move the body. Help me. Give me two men.’

‘You’re stupid, stupid, stupid,’ said Uncle Johnny. ‘I’ll give you two men, but don’t get caught.’

‘I’ll do it tonight,’ said Barry, ‘when it’s dark.’

Reggie and Mark reached New Orleans on Saturday afternoon. They drove all night, stopping only to sleep a few hours in the car. Reggie knew it was wrong. She knew the cops and the FBI would be looking for them.

They talked through the night, about Memphis and Mark’s life there, about his school and his friends. Then Mark said sadly, ‘If the body is there, I can’t go back to Memphis, can I?’ So they talked about the witness protection plan.

Reggie still had no idea where they were going.

‘We have to find Clifford’s house,’ said Mark.

‘The body’s there? Are you crazy?’

‘It’s there,’ said Mark, ‘under his boat in the garage.’

They found the house late on Saturday afternoon. The streets were quiet, so they parked the car and walked round to the back of the house. All was silent.

‘There’s the garage,’ said Mark quietly.

‘This is crazy,’ said Reggie. ‘We’ll wait until dark.’

Reggie looked at her watch. Midnight. They were hiding in the tall grass behind the house. She was tired and had pains in her legs. It was time to move.

Slowly they crawled through the grass towards the garage. Reggie was shaking. She was afraid of snakes. Suddenly Mark stopped. ‘There’s a light in there,’ he whispered. ‘There’s someone there. Stay here Reggie.’

He crawled silently to a window. There was the boat. And it was moving. He saw the shapes of three men.

‘Okay, Muldanno,’ said one of the men. ‘Where do we dig?’

Mark’s heart was in his mouth. He crawled back to Reggie. ‘It’s Muldanno,’ he whispered. ‘They’re digging up the body. What do we do now?’

‘Oh no’ said Reggie. ‘I told you this was crazy. Let me think.’ And suddenly she knew what to do.

She crawled in the other direction, towards the house next door. With her shoe she broke a window. Suddenly the night was no longer silent. Bells rang everywhere. Lights went on in the house next door. Voices were shouting. A man appeared with a gun. He shot wildly into the dark.

‘Look,’ called Mark, ‘they’re leaving.’ Muldanno and his men ran out of the garage and disappeared. Reggie crawled back.

It was another hour before the confusion ended. Police came to the house next door. More shouting, more lights. Mark and Reggie stayed hidden behind Clifford’s garage. Then all was silent again.

‘Come on,’ said Mark. ‘We have to look.’

The lock on the garage door was broken. In the dark, they moved towards the boat. Next to it there was a hole. In the hole was a plastic bag.

‘We have to look,’ said Mark again. And they opened the bag. The horrible, dead face of the senator stared up at them. The smell was terrible.

Reggie felt sick, but now they knew the truth.

‘Come on,’ she said, ‘I have to make a phone call.’