Feathers

19. Ladies and Gentlemen

Michael hoped that he was wrong, maybe it wasn't a car engine. Maybe it was the sound of the wind in the trees, or the crashing of the waves.

"Oh fuck," Gretchen said turning to look in the direction of the engine sound, which now spluttered into silence. She looked back at Michael.

"Did you hear that?" Gretchen looked wildly between the faces of Michael, Kobie and Spencer.

"Oh god, what do we do," Kobie looked like she was starting to downright panic.

Even Spencer looked less calm than he had all night. Michael took a slow deep breath in and out. There was no need to panic he told himself. The body was out in the ocean, probably being eaten by sharks right now. The carpet was burnt beyond recognition. Even if there were remains of cloth fibre there would be no traceable blood or other DNA evidence.

Spencer stood up and wandered away from the fire, looking carefully at the ground, as if he was searching for something. He returned a few moments later with a long, narrow piece of driftwood. He used the stick to poke at the carpet. It was still holding it's form in a few places but as he poked along its length some chunks of cloth broke away.

"It doesn't need much longer," he said, "Gretchen is there any WD40 left?"

Gretchen retrieved the can from the sand where she'd dropped it and shook it. The faint sound of liquid being shaken inside was audible.

"I reckon it's about a quarter full," she said.

"We need to give the fire more encouragement," Spencer said, "being very careful, can you spray some more over these areas."

He poked at the carpet in several places with his stick to direct Gretchen's flamethrower.

"Where the carpet is still the strongest," he explained.
Gretchen sprayed the can where Spencer poked with his stick, shooting a crackling cone of fire that ignited the carpet and sent tentacles of red and yellow flame dancing into the night sky.

"Guys, we've gotta hurry," Kobie said, 'I'm pretty sure that was a car, which means we could have company down here any minute. Burning a carpet at the beach is going to seem kind of weird right?"

"It's okay," Michael said, "They won't know it's carpet. To them, it's just going to look like a weirdly shaped campfire. And even if they did know it was carpet somehow, they're not going to think we killed someone right? I mean, that's not the first thing that would come to my mind if I say a bunch of people burning a carpet at a beach."

"It's probably the first thing that I'd think of," said Gretchen.

"Really?" Michael asked, surprised.

"Yep, definitely."

"Same," Kobie said.

Everyone looked at Spencer.

"I hate to admit it, but I would also potentially consider some type of nefarious activity if I saw a group of people trying to dispose of a carpet at a beach."

"Dammit," Michael was trying to stay calm but it wasn't working, he could feel his heart hammering in his chest. He was starting to feel light-headed from the petrol fumes coming off the carpet fire. He turned his head away and gulped down a breath of fresh salty, sea air.

It was then, when he turned his head that he saw the silhouettes watching them from above the tree line. Just the shape of heads floating above the top of the bushes growing up the sand dune. It must be from whoever just pulled up in their car. Michael counted at least three heads. And he presumed they were watching them. He turned back to the others.