Cozen
Legacy Name: Cozen

Cozen strolled out of the dark alley way. The crisp cold night air lent to the silence of the downtown area, normally bustling with shoppers, gawkers and tourists, but not tonight.
This January night left nothing but the sound of his own feet crunching on the skiff of hard snow yet to be plowed off the sidewalks.
Peeling off a pair of bloody leather gloves, he tied them into a dog poop bag and dumped it into the nearest trash receptacle. Half full already with the ick left over by scavengers - animal and human alike.
His cell phone jingled breaking the near quiet of the street, pulling up the lapel on his long heavy winter coat, he answered with "Right on time." The smooth voice sounding deceptively years younger.
"Hello boss." He waited a beat listening to the other end. "Of course, nice and clean. No witnesses and no more loose ends. You can rest easy." He hummed and rumbled in thought as the other voice talked. "I expect full payment in my account by the time I hang up. Excellent. Goodnight boss." Hanging up, he slid his phone back into his pocket.

A man, dressed in heavy clothing hurried towards him. "We're idiots to be doing this in the dead of night on the Coldest Night in the history of this city! Where's the body?" his clipped accented voice snapped.

"Easy Kaden. The body is in the alley back there. Hurry up though. I left something rather wet; I tried my best." Cozen replied glancing behind him.

"Did your boss know about it?" Kaden asked passing by his smaller relative.

"He knew about one, but that's okay it... didn't make it. I don't think it was alive... the other, he didn't. It's safe." Cozen grumbled.

"Twins?" Kaden hurried his pace.

"Yeah." Cozen hissed watching his brother hurry to save the child he tried to protect, he kept walking away at a steady pace.

****

Three days later, Cozen smiled as Kaden wandered into the pawn shop.

"Hey buddy." The uniformed police officer strolled towards the back counter of the pawn store.

"Hey how's the package?" Cozen asked pouring two mugs of coffee behind the security fence.

"Good. Really good. Nice save Cozen." Kaden nodded glancing around at all the cluttered junk lining the walls and narrow aisles.

"And the other?" Cozen passed the old mug under the metal mesh gate used for money.

Taking the mug with a nod. "The Medical examiner validated you, it was about 20 weeks, the others' estimated 29 weeks n' it'll be in NICU until released. Three families are lined up, just waiting for the bidding to die down before Karaline does the home eval." Taking a sip of the coffee and grimacing. "This is horrid," he raised the cup.

"What about the girls family?" Cozen asked with a smirk. “Yeah, I still can’t figure out how to use the fandangle contraption.”

Kaden shrugged. "Your boss was right about that, what family the kid did have, wasn't batting an eye at her death and hadn't heard from her for three years prior. Not one of 'em was broken up about it either. The pregnancy wasn't mentioned during the notification.” Glaring at his brother. “Your boss is lucky I am not going after him for taking advantage of a woman.”

“Hey, if it wasn’t Big D himself, I’d be right there with you Kaden. This time it just isn’t worth biting the hand that controls the city.” Cozen agreed. "You keep calling her a kid, you know she's 25 years old right?"

“She looked young. Damnit. I thought this was just a simple pay to bury an accident.” Kaden grumbled.

“Same thing, different caliber of client.” Cozen shrugged. "I don't want to get another hit like this, it’s disturbing enough for what it was. But baby brokers?”

“You saved a kid. However you look at it. That kid is going to grow up.” Kaden put his hand on the glass.

Cozen mirrored the action. “That it will.” He agreed with a ghost of a smile.

"By the way, body got found early this morning." Kaden lowered his hand.

Cozen paused. "It rained all yesterday."

"Oh? It did, darn. All that ice and snow after that cold snap?" Kaden smirked. “Guess all that evidence was washed away.”

"Mushy stuff bro. You saved me."

"Better believe it.” Kaden agreed setting the mug down still full of the crappy coffee. “Did you know you left her ID on her? Money too?"

"Of course, I was told to eliminate naturally and leave. No robbery and no sexual assault. Wouldn't do the latter but he should have let me make it look like a mugging. What’d they call the death?"

"Complications from a miscarriage. She was a sidewalk sleeper they didn't dig too hard once they found she had left the shelter on her own that day. You did your job well Cozen. " Kaden waved as he headed to the Pawn Shops door.

"Good. I don’t want to keep looking over my shoulder wondering if I’ll get caught.” Cozen grumbled picking up the discarded mug.

“You’re fine. There won’t be anything investigated into her death. We got lucky on this one.” Kaden said hands on the door.

“I'd rather stick to swindling customers out of money for crappy goods than murder." Cozen agreed.

Pushing the door open and leaving the small pawn shop. "You and me both. Stay sharp Cozen.” He called over his shoulder.

***

Thundercracker