Page 16 of Hellhound AU

I figured I’d better not touch anything, and I went through the house and wiped off anywhere we may have left prints. Rookie mistake not wearing gloves, but Rowan had totally distracted me.

I expected to have to go back down and help with disposal, not that I even knew what Rowan’s plan was, but he walked upstairs with the chair just as I finished wiping everything down. He placed it at the kitchen table, and I wiped it down.

“So, what’s the plan?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“The plan. For disposal.”

“Oh. Already done.” Rowan smiled at me, like he expected an atta boy. But there was no way he’d done proper disposal thatquickly. Unless he’d staged it as an accident? A broken neck could happen from falling down basement stairs, so that was feasible.

“I still wish we’d tortured him a bit. He sounded like a real piece of work,” I commented.

“My family is gonna love you.”

“Awww, we’re already meeting family? How fun. Should I go wipe down stuff in the basement before we plan the wedding?” I asked.

Rowan looked slightly alarmed, but he only shook his head.

“Okay, then, let’s go!” I skipped out of the house, Rowan following behind me. It looked like our torture and murder date was done (even if we didn’t get to torture anyone). I wasn’t really ready to say goodbye to Rowan, though.

“Let’s check in with my crew. Since you’re around, maybe they’ve got another project for us to complete.”

Rowan grunted, so I took that for agreement. The crew was gonna love Rowan, and I bet he was useful at fixing clogged drains.

7

Author’s Note:

If you’ve never tried a weighted blanket, then you totally should. Because they aresupercomfy. And I really did drop mine off at the dry cleaner, and then when I went back the owner was all mean and stuff, but mine wasn’t held hostage because I just sent my boyfriend to go take care of it, and he did his scary stuff, and ta-da! I have aclean weighted blanket. We are never using that dry cleaner again, though. I mean, it wasn’tthatmuch blood on the blanket.

I’m also banned from using sharp utensils to eat in bed. I mean, it wasn’treallymy fault. I swear I left the steak knife on the plate. How was I supposed to know it had fallen into bed? Anyway, my boyfriend is fine—head wounds just bleed a lot, he said, but the blood is all out now! So here’s your Rowan chapter!

ROWAN

Somehow I found myself with a plunger and a screwdriver, staring at a shower drain in a room in a retirement community. The toilet had a crocheted cover on it, and there were towels with cats and flowers. The entire space when I’d walked through it had felt very much like a grandmother’s house from a television show, complete with doilies and Beatrice asking if we’d like tea and cookies.

The sweet, innocent old lady vibes stopped there, though, because Beatrice and Milo were currently talking about dismemberment.

“Dear, I’m not saying that Trudy’s neighbor should bekilled, I’m just saying that maybe losing a toe or something would teach them not to block Trudy’s driveway.”

“I think that might be a little extreme, Bea,” Milo answered.

There was a knock at the door, and I heard the rustle of someone getting up to answer. I looked back at the drain. It didn’tlookclogged, but supposedly it wasn’t emptying correctly. I took the screwdriver and started to take off the thing covering the drain. There was probably hair or something stuck in the pipe.

I heard voices from the other room and could decipher the sounds of three more women and one man entering the apartment. I contemplated going out and introducing myself, but I did have a shower drain to deal with. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to eavesdrop and get the lay of the land before I met anyone.

Hellhound hearing was exceptional, and I only felt a smidge guilty at listening in on what they probably thought were private discussions.

What followed was some of the oddest conversation I’d been privy to in quite awhile. There was something about a Tommy who thought there were weird creatures in his yard, complaints about insurance claims being denied and discussions of torturing insurance agents, an entire conversation about a dry cleaner and someone’s weighted blanket (which Milo promised to retrieve), and someone’s sister’s cousin’s best friend’s husband being a deadbeat dad.

While they ran through those topics, I managed to pull out a wad of hair the size of a mouse from the shower drain. It was rather disgusting—almost as bad as eviscerating someone. I’m sure I made a sound of disgust, because Milo popped in at that point.

“Aww, boo, you didn’t have to finish this on your own. I’m sorry—I got tied up,” he stated.

I pointed to the garbage can, which held the wad of hair.

“Eww. Thank you, though. I know you hate the messy stuff.” Milo winked at that, and then added, “Wash up and come out and meet the crew. They’ve mostly gotten all the minor complaints out of the way, and I’m sure there are some major jobs they have for us to handle.”