11. Talon
Chapter 11
Talon
" J esus," I muttered, peering over the horror scene in front of me. Five bodies were knifed and bloody, some having their throats slit. The families didn't tell me which one did each murder to make sure I couldn't leak that sensitive information, but I knew this was the work of the Carnelli family. They had a thing for the theatrics when it came to blood spilling by blade. They usually didn't kill during the day, but something made this one happen faster than they normally reacted. Hell, they were lucky I lost my job to have the availability to waste my afternoon here, but I was mad I'd be away from home for a few more hours after what I left in the kitchen.
Lunch had been a nice break from my reality even though I didn’t eat anything. Vicki’s naked body kept finding me whenever I closed my eyes, so I scrubbed over my face before dealing with the gory scene in front of me. My burner phone the families contacted lit up during our lunch with Victoria, forcing me to leave before having lunch. It angered me I didn't get to enjoy peering at her sexy body for longer than my small lunch, and the other two got to have more fun in my absence, but I did know Kage had his own deadlines to meet, so he'd be in the basement until late evening. I did my actual contracts this morning like I always did. It helped keep my cover for the cleaning jobs that paid more handsomely. The money was why I put up with the slasher method of the Carnelli family.
I stepped into my white cleanroom garment, zipping it up before stepping into my rubber boots. The hood lifted over my goggles and mask to help contain my own DNA, and I got my rubber gloves last. I looked like someone dealing with a plague rather than a murder cleaner, but I didn't mind. No one saw me here, and the families made sure no one came in while I 'worked'. I placed everything I needed for this job on the ground before laying a protective mat on the floor of my van to prevent blood splatters that I couldn't explain.
Grabbing five body bags by my feet after, I hauled them over to each individual before bringing my folded metal gurney out to stack them on. I even had ramps to hook on my bumper to push this thing into my van easier. Metal was what I used because I could sterilize it, but I often had to hide my gurney in the garage just in case someone tried to see if a UV light or luminol could pick up blood.
There was no sure-fire way to remove blood completely from a crime scene, and I had to tell the families that when they hired me. While I could hide whose blood it was, the police would have their forensics do many different tests to pick up the iron from the hemoglobin. That's when I helped them get rid of the bodies. Without a body and DNA, it was hard to pin a crime on someone, and I ruined all chances of anything being detected other than what couldn't be masked.
Their clothes came off first, placing the articles of clothing in a garbage bag that I'd burn this evening in the woods behind my house. My hands helped roll each body into a bag, dropping my gurney to place them on with ease. Some thought my strength came from a gym, but it mostly came from doing this so often. I did help maintain my physique because I never wanted to be out of shape for this part. One of the men easily weighed over 250 pounds, so I had to use all my strength to tote his ass into the bag. He'd be one of my bottom bodies because of it. At least these were fresh kills, the bodies still warm. I couldn't imagine the repugnant smell this fat boy would give off.
I moved around, doing the same to the rest and loaded them in first to hide there were actual bodies here. My legs worked hard to push the gurney up the ramps, but I gained momentum to try and use that to aid me. It did for the most part because this wasn't my first dog and pony show. My mind recalled the first few times of trial and error, nearly wincing at how uneducated I was in all of this. Now, I was a professional. I was who the crime lords called to deliver their expected outcome.
The towels I needed were stationed in the bags by my feet, so I took them in and began cleaning the blood up first. Some made the mistake that you could clean and sterilize in one go, but that wasn't the case. Cleaning up the blood came first and then sterilizing came next. This way, it didn't get pushed around to make an even bigger mess. And if carpet was involved? I ripped it right out and had Kage help me lay s omething that matched the previous shade after treating the sub flooring for DNA evidence. I was thorough, and I knew now to mix my chemicals after being taught by my father. He was a professor at the local college and taught chemistry with some other sciences. He'd have a heart attack if he ever learned what his information did for my business.
Though, it couldn't have been worse than the time I found one of Leopold's exes at my cleaning site. She'd been a nasty bitch to him, and she told him she'd never speak to him again. When I told him who I had to handle, he snorted and said, "Even in death, she's giving me the cold shoulder."
We weren't sound of mind and even made dead body jokes often. It helped keep me sane from the shit I saw, and it was why I struggled sexually sometimes. No one came out unscathed after viewing this kind of thing all the time, but Victoria was helping me see something better, brighter. I didn't have any issues getting hard for her, and she let me enjoy sex the only way I knew how. My mind twisted after I entered this line of work, but she let me be deranged so far. We'd see if she was into the other things I liked, bu t it was a baby step at a time. She might read dark romance, but it was different off the page.
"Are you almost done?" My informant came to the entrance of the industrial garage that hadn't been used in over a decade. He was put in charge of watching my every move, but it always annoyed the ones tasked to do it. They wanted the cleaning done in a matter of minutes instead of the hours it took to make sure I had everything done right.
"I barely got the bodies out and the blood wiped up," I scoffed, reminding him of all the work I had to do for this to go off without a hitch. My words were muffled through the mask, but he heard them enough to roll his eyes and go back to his phone. He kept flicking his gaze to the mess I had to clean up, appearing not interested, but I could see he studied everything I did. I didn't like when people watched me work for more than one reason, so I stopped mixing my mopping solution to tell him to fuck off, kindly. "Can you give me some privacy?"
"Oh, sorry. This is just my first time actually seeing the aftermath get handled." He gave me his back and let his phone distract him again. This part of my cleaning wasn't done by most, so I didn't want his eyes to take note of it. I only ever did it on a scene this large. I then dosed the room with pig blood after cleaning the human blood up. It was mixed with some other things to help mask what I cleaned before repeating what I'd already done.
I began my next round of mopping once that was wiped up, getting all the red removed and into the bucket. The chemicals I had made the blood particles disappear in the pail I rolled behind me. This was just phase one of destroying DNA, so I worked hard and fast before finishing everything left on my to-do list, including phase two through four of chemical treatment. I even grabbed my newer evidence remover that sprayed a mist into the air that helped kill what might be able to be traced that way. My last step here was to use my own forensic tools to see what they'd pick up.
My hands worked the light to study where a spot might have too much. Some forensic teams were getting good enough to rebuild DNA strands out of enough bits left behind, so I stayed one step ahead of them with my final step after seeing what spots would stand out the most. I smiled when the team would only find traces of pig blood that I conveniently left in random spots to make it look like I didn't know what I was doing. Two spots did need an extra scrub, bu t my thorough cleaning was finally done four hours later.
I brought the man back to analyze it for his boss, and he nodded his approval before heading out the door in the slipcovers I made him wear over his shoes. These ones would leave a generic footprint rather than his expensive Italian shoes that could be traced faster.
I took pictures of the horror scene and left, closing the door for the garage with a black glove I wore below the rubber ones. Couldn't have a trace of blood or my prints on the handle I had to touch in my exit. The man stood by my van, waiting for me to finish undressing the protective gear before handing me the wad of cash.
"Good day, Mr. Cleaner." He saluted me, patting my van before walking away. Not one of them knew my real name, and I kept it that way for their crimes not to land on my doorstep.
Whipping out my phone, I needed Leo to run interference for the next part. I had access to a cremation burner, but I didn't like the traffic lights to see me. He made it look like natural static that glitched it long enough for me to drive through. It was nice to have friends in convenient places.