ride.”
***
It didn’t take long to retrieve Leanne Mosely’s body once Agent Donaldson dropped me back at the house to get the Suburban.
All of the family had left except for Leanne’s husband, Mark, by the time I arrived. And to be honest, I was thankful to not have to see the grief on her children’s faces. It was hard enough looking at Mark, his face sunken and aged, and the devastation in his eyes unbearable to witness.
Death had always been a part of my life. It was always there, lurking in the corners of my mind, even when I was entrenched in life. But that didn’t mean I didn’t question it—didn’t wonder and speculate about what happened after.
I kno w better than anyone the cycle of life. What happens to flesh after we draw our last breath. How the organs and tissues break down, rendering us back to dust. Death is powerful. No one is immune. And it’s the living who must make their peace with it, because the dead don’t give a shit.
I made an appointment to meet with Mark in the morning, promising to take good care of his wife. I told him to go home and be with his children, and I told him how sorry I was. But I’m not sure he was really listening. He just stared as we loaded her up and I drove away.
By the time I got back to the funeral home it was well after dark and the businesses in town were long shut down. The porch lights were on; so was the light near the kitchen door where I brought bodies in and out. Jack’s cruiser was gone, as well as all but one of the black SUVs.
I saw Agent Donaldson sitting across the street. He still looked pissed, so I had to figure he was being punished by given the duty of watching me. I tried not to worry about Jack and if he made it home okay. I also tried not to worry about whether Lauren had given him a ride and if they’d talked more about their past in my absence. Oddly enough, that was harder of the two to block out of my head at the moment.
I went over to Agent Donaldson and he rolled down the window.
“Is everyone gone?” I asked.
“They left about an hour ago. I’ll be here to follow you home when you’re ready to leave.”
“I’ll probably be a couple of hours at least, but thanks for waiting.”
He nodded and rolled his window back up, so I guessed that meant I was dismissed. I didn’t bother asking him for help with the body. It was more difficult on my own, but I’d done it before and could do it again. The most difficult part was making sure the stretcher didn’t tip as I pulled it out of the back of the Suburban.
Le anne’s decreased weight from her sickness made things easier and I got her out and up the ramp with little hassle. I went through the ritual of unlocking the lab door and moving her to the elevator, and I made sure to pull the door shut behind me. It locked automatically, but there was a deadbolt from the inside my parents had installed when it had been their lab.
The elevator was old and creaky and it took time to get to the bottom floor. The doors slid open and there sat my father, big as life, in a chair with his back to the wall.
“Jesus Christ, Dad,” I shrieked, holding a hand to my pounding chest. He looked amused and stood slowly, sticking his hands in his pockets. He was dressed similarly to the way he’d been dressed the day before. His clothes were pressed and clean, and he was smoothly shaven.
“Are you out of your mind? The FBI is sitting right outside.”
“Hmm, I know.” He came over to help me pull the stretcher from the elevator and I was so surprised I let him. “Agent Donaldson needs seasoning yet. And of course I’m just very good.”
It was odd working in tandem with my father once again. We hadn’t done this since I’d been in high school, helping out on the weekends when I was needed. A morbid youth if ever there was one. We lifted the black bag from the stretcher to the sterile metal table I used for embalming.
My teeth wanted to chatter from either the cold or the
***
It didn’t take long to retrieve Leanne Mosely’s body once Agent Donaldson dropped me back at the house to get the Suburban.
All of the family had left except for Leanne’s husband, Mark, by the time I arrived. And to be honest, I was thankful to not have to see the grief on her children’s faces. It was hard enough looking at Mark, his face sunken and aged, and the devastation in his eyes unbearable to witness.
Death had always been a part of my life. It was always there, lurking in the corners of my mind, even when I was entrenched in life. But that didn’t mean I didn’t question it—didn’t wonder and speculate about what happened after.
I kno w better than anyone the cycle of life. What happens to flesh after we draw our last breath. How the organs and tissues break down, rendering us back to dust. Death is powerful. No one is immune. And it’s the living who must make their peace with it, because the dead don’t give a shit.
I made an appointment to meet with Mark in the morning, promising to take good care of his wife. I told him to go home and be with his children, and I told him how sorry I was. But I’m not sure he was really listening. He just stared as we loaded her up and I drove away.
By the time I got back to the funeral home it was well after dark and the businesses in town were long shut down. The porch lights were on; so was the light near the kitchen door where I brought bodies in and out. Jack’s cruiser was gone, as well as all but one of the black SUVs.
I saw Agent Donaldson sitting across the street. He still looked pissed, so I had to figure he was being punished by given the duty of watching me. I tried not to worry about Jack and if he made it home okay. I also tried not to worry about whether Lauren had given him a ride and if they’d talked more about their past in my absence. Oddly enough, that was harder of the two to block out of my head at the moment.
I went over to Agent Donaldson and he rolled down the window.
“Is everyone gone?” I asked.
“They left about an hour ago. I’ll be here to follow you home when you’re ready to leave.”
“I’ll probably be a couple of hours at least, but thanks for waiting.”
He nodded and rolled his window back up, so I guessed that meant I was dismissed. I didn’t bother asking him for help with the body. It was more difficult on my own, but I’d done it before and could do it again. The most difficult part was making sure the stretcher didn’t tip as I pulled it out of the back of the Suburban.
Le anne’s decreased weight from her sickness made things easier and I got her out and up the ramp with little hassle. I went through the ritual of unlocking the lab door and moving her to the elevator, and I made sure to pull the door shut behind me. It locked automatically, but there was a deadbolt from the inside my parents had installed when it had been their lab.
The elevator was old and creaky and it took time to get to the bottom floor. The doors slid open and there sat my father, big as life, in a chair with his back to the wall.
“Jesus Christ, Dad,” I shrieked, holding a hand to my pounding chest. He looked amused and stood slowly, sticking his hands in his pockets. He was dressed similarly to the way he’d been dressed the day before. His clothes were pressed and clean, and he was smoothly shaven.
“Are you out of your mind? The FBI is sitting right outside.”
“Hmm, I know.” He came over to help me pull the stretcher from the elevator and I was so surprised I let him. “Agent Donaldson needs seasoning yet. And of course I’m just very good.”
It was odd working in tandem with my father once again. We hadn’t done this since I’d been in high school, helping out on the weekends when I was needed. A morbid youth if ever there was one. We lifted the black bag from the stretcher to the sterile metal table I used for embalming.
My teeth wanted to chatter from either the cold or the
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