Between the Cracks and Burning Doors: Book 2 of The Extraction List Series by Renee N. Meland

off but he shoved them away.”
    I don’t know why, but I gently put my hand on her shoulder. “I just charged at him. I was just going to injure him, just enough to make him stop. But before I knew what happened, the knife ran across his throat and he just stopped moving.”
    I looked down at her to find that I had pulled her tightly against me. Even in the circumstances, she still smelled like roses and summer. I took a moment to glance behind her, and noticed that the dead man looked like he’d be at least six foot five, and had a neck as thick as a tree trunk. “That guy’s huge. I’m surprised she’s still alive.”
    Suddenly, she pulled away from me. “Help me get rid of him.” We both walked toward the body. When we were out of hearing distance, she smirked and whispered, “I figured you’d be the one to call, since you have experience in this sort of thing.”
    I could feel my face tingle, and probably turn red. I forced my expression to remain steady so that the girls wouldn’t notice. But I did need to tell her the truth, because it was about to become obvious anyway. I whispered back, “Actually, no. I don’t know what you think you know, but I’ve never buried anyone before.”
    Maureen looked at me quizzically. Then suddenly her expression changed. I guessed that she had picked up on my word choice. I said I’d never buried anyone, not that I hadn’t killed anyone. “Ah. Well you better help me figure it out then.”
    She still had the knife in her hand.
    I looked at the girls who were sitting on the couch and gestured to the injured girl. “Take her upstairs. One of you go first and make sure all the kids are in their rooms so they don’t see anything.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about taking the lead, but the idea of children as young as Nick seeing someone so swollen and bloody made me shudder, and the girls didn’t seem like they would be thinking that far ahead.
    Before they obeyed, they looked at Maureen. She nodded her consent.
    After we were alone, I finally had a chance to ask her. “Okay, so how do you know my name?”
    She laughed. “Not even going to try to deny it, huh?”
    “Would you have believed me?”
    “Not even a little.” She knelt down next to the man, studying him with her eyes. She didn’t seem to care that the long, satin red dress that she was wearing soaked up some of his blood. “When Nick brought you hear, I knew you looked familiar. Just couldn’t place it. Then I saw the news. You’re the spittin’ image of your father, you know that, right?”
    I felt lightheaded. “Wait, you knew my father?”
    She stared at me. “You didn’t know, did you?”
    “Know what?”
    “He used to come in here once a week. The girl in the green room, Esther, she was his favorite. He always had a thing for the black girls. If it couldn’t be Esther he insisted it be Johanna, my Hispanic girl. Racist prick.”
    I couldn’t figure out why, but Maureen started removing the dead man’s shoes. “When they said he was missing and I figured out you were using a fake name, I did the math. I gotta ask though, if you didn’t bury him, who did?”
    I followed Maureen’s lead and started unbuttoning his shirt. “Honestly, I don’t know. I ran out of there as fast as I could. Mom told me to go and never come back.”
    She finished with the shoes and tossed them in a pile a couple feet from us. “Aren’t you curious? What if she messed it up? They’re already looking for you.”
    “Trust me, I know.”
    After we stripped him, we took the clothes to the fireplace at the far corner of the room. Maureen was about to light a match when I stopped her. “You’re gonna have to burn that too.” I pointed to her dress.
    Her eyes locked on mine. “Damn, you’re right.” Slowly, she slid her sleeves down her shoulders, her long fingers caressing her skin as they went. The waist was fitted, and when she removed her arms from the sleeves, they hung loosely at her sides.
    She