"Listen here Xavier, you are working my last nerves. Back off and go back to whatever it is that you do. The work's free you insensitive puta."

Merc turned his head to the side, watching her. Just the reaction he had expected, she was obviously a lot more attached to the deceased garage owner than he. He saw the incident as the loss of someone who could be trusted to hide his vehicle for little or no charge. Something that he would miss for the time it took him to find someone else who was willing to not ask questions.

"Nothing is free Iara," he stated, and while it sounded matter-of-factly, there was an odd hint of something else behind it.

Iara put Mick's head gently on the floor and stood toe to toe with Merc. She stared unafraid into his eyes and gritted her teeth at him.

"Leave. That is how you can repay me. That is your fee."

"I don't owe you a dime," he stated as he stepped around her, close but carefully without touching. "I pay Mick and Mick pays your check."

He picked his card up from the desk. He would run it out front, in the proper area. For now, he had Iara to deal with. "And even if I did, my fees run much steeper than his do."

She wasn't paying attention to him as she searched around for something. She snake her way behind the file cabinet and pulled out Mick's I.C.E. box. She flipped her hair and dialed the combination.

He flipped his card around in his hand for a moment, watching her. He was not aware that Mick had a secret safe hidden behind his file cabinet. Though it did not surprise him. It did, however, surprise him that he had given the combination to Iara. To each their own though, and it just served to reinforce the fact that no one was who they appeared to be, and that it is best to never assume you know everything about a person.

Merc left the office and headed to the front desk and began processing his credit card on the machine there.

He could hear Iara in the office on the phone who he assumed was Mick's wife.

"I'm so sorry Angela... I know... No, I didn't call them... Yea, I got the box... Yea, some otario named Sloven... You know him... after the shop? Damn... what do you want me to do... I understand... I'll be there in a minute."

Iara hung up the phone and walked out with the box before dismissing the other guys. She looked for a car.

Merc waited patiently as the machine dialed out, and billed his card. Technology was wonderful. He signed the receipt after it rolled out of the credit-card machine and left it on the front desk after collecting his keys and returning his card to his wallet and inside his pocket. He heard, but paid very little attention to the conversation Iara was having in Mick's former office. He picked up another set of keys from the hook and left through the front door and found Sherry there.

"Sherry," Merc looked down at the woman, it was obvious she had heard the gunshot as well. "Sherry..." he cooed until she looked up at him. "Go inside, clean yourself up some, and call the police. Mick's dead." The woman acted on auto-pilot, rising and going inside as he had directed.

Merc moved around the side of the Garage, which, by now, was empty of employees. Well, almost empty, outside Iara was looking for something. He moved along the side of the building, looking through the open garage doors until he came to his car. He put his key into the lock and called out to her. "You look lost."

"My keys. I need to leave."

She looked over at him.

"Give me those."

"And go where? You strike me as the mostly law abiding type, best to wait for the police here and help them apprehend the suspect. Or better yet, help the nearly broken Sherry collect her mind so she can describe who she saw come through the front door." Merc stated as he opened his car door. "It's not like you'll catch up to this fellow. He arrived on foot and left on foot, likely through the forest to the nearby subdivision where he caught his 'get away' ride. And, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look like the tracking type, especially given you are planning to hop in a car and drive off."

"Please save me the merda and quit thinking you know me, you don't. Shelly's seen more death than this. Like I said, leave."

She reached into her boot and pulled out a key. She dissapeared for a minute before a helmeted rider on their bike zoomed out the garage.

He shrugged some as she disappeared inside. He tossed the set of keys he had picked up from the front desk onto the hood of the nearest car and climbed into the driver's seat of his own vehicle. He started the engine as she zoomed out. Or at least he assumed it was she that zoomed out. He backed his car out of the space it was in and pulled out behind her, hmming for a moment, and giving into the impulses of curiosity.

Iara rode toward Angela and Mick's home as she snuggled the box tightly to her. Her bike was fast and low as she dodged between the cars. She stopped in front of the town house and dimounted her bike. She jogged up the steps and knocked on the door.

Merc followed as best he could, though lost her after the first few miles. Though just by that little bit, he guessed correctly, he could guess where she was heading and completed the rest of the trip far off in her wake. He pulled up in front of Mick's house, parking his car on the opposite side of the street.

A sad looking Jersey blonde about her mid-fourties opened the door. Iara smiled sadly and nodded to her.

"Hello Angela."

"Hello Iara. Thank you for coming."

Iara entered the home and tried to console his wife as she broke down. She handed her the box and rubbed her back.

"I'll handle this."