Shifting Life

22. Stash

Jacklyn peered out the window. Matt pushed the button on the driver's car key. Two houses down a dark car lit up.

"Any spidey alerts?" he asked.

Jacklyn shook her head.

It was crazy stealing Veronica's car. It probably had GPS trackers or mojo trackers or whatever white witches use to keep their stuff safe.

On the other hand, Matt was right. It would piss Veronica off.

They left the house the way they had come in. Crossed the backyard, jumped the fence and did a wide circle around two blocks. Same procedure, sneak up another driveway, jump a fence, cross a backyard and quietly pass the house. Veronica's house was two houses to the left and across the street. The house with the big red stain on the bedroom carpet.

Jittery, Jacklyn had packed.

Matt wiped the house clean of prints. He stole the bedding and the bathroom trash can. "Bodily fluids," he'd muttered. "Can't take any chances with that voodoo shit."

Matt carried the huge box with food, clothes and necessities. He wore clothes with the coat for a change.

Jacklyn carried the shower curtain with the heavy squishy content. They did not look suspicious. Not at all.

It was about 5:30 in the morning, getting lighter by the minute. Some people went to work early. They needed to get out of Daly City before the commuters.

Matt checked the street and nodded.

They rushed across a tidy front lawn. Matt used the key to unlock the trunk, avoiding another spectacle of lights. The trunk was full of boxes and with craft equipment. Weapons too; axe, knives, an old hemp rope. Small sacks with unknown content.

"Change of plans," Matt said and put their box in the trunk.

"I don't want him in the back seat," Jacklyn protested. "He smells really, really bad."

"Keep him in your lap then."

She glared at him.

Again she wondered how she had ended up with the grisly burden while he carried a nice clean cardboard box.

Matt had asked. That's how it happened. He asked and smiled and looked cute. Horsey obliged. She was such a sucker. Damn this hormonal heat.

Matt opened the back door. Jacklyn placed the remains of the driver in the backseat carefully. Spilling was out of the question. She had to clamp down on using her nose, but breathing with her mouth open turned out to be worse. She tasted dead driver, faint but nevertheless. She got out of the car fast, retching.

"We got to go," Matt reminded her.

Jacklyn took a deep breath and held it. She got into the passenger seat and looked for buttons to roll down the window. Finally, she found them. The window rolled down with a reassuring mechanical sound, promising fresh air, free of cadaver smell.

Jacklyn stuck her head out the window.

The car didn't move.

She glanced at Matt.

"Seatbelt," he said.

Bastard.

* * *

They headed back to San Francisco on the 280 freeway with a vague plan to dump the body. Because that's what you do.

Neither of them knew a good spot except for the Golden Gate. They were not going back there.

At the Highway 101 junction Matt got off the freeway and drove into an area of small mechanical shops, tiny warehouses and garages.

"I have an idea. You can drive, right?" he said.

Jacklyn nodded.

"The Visionary rents a storage unit here," Matt said. "I checked it out while I was scouting the job."

She stared at him. "We're going to break in and stash the body?"

"And Veronica's car. It's the perfect place. She'll think he got us."

She glanced at him. He looked so nice and wholesome on the outside. Where did he get the insane ideas from? Evilmastermind.com?

Matt winked at her.

Horsey forgot all about the cons of breaking into a dangerous Wizard's storage. She grew warm inside. There was no one in the world she'd rather stash a body with.

Matt pulled up to the curb behind an emerald metallic Ford pickup. The street seemed deserted. Work hadn't started around here.

They put the box and Veronica's stuff on the back of the pick up.

He gave her the address and told her to go ahead. It was only a few blocks he said. He'd be right behind her with the getaway car he said.

There it was again. Jacklyn could taste it. Excitement. Adrenaline.

It was risky move.

It was reckless.

This was the Venetian. There was no way she could talk him out of it. No way she could resist that voice and those eyes.

They were doing it.

By now, Matt and Jacklyn probably were San Francisco's Most Wanted with the supernatural set. Messing with two powerful mages was not going to make things easier.

Jacklyn got into the driver's seat anyway. Her hands were shaking and she held the steering wheel in a death grip in case it was falling apart, like her.