by K A Goodsell
“You’re seventeen.”
“I might die at thirty-four, you don’t know that.”
“Touché,” Curtis said. “I’m going to go get coffee. You chat.”
“Well, don’t have a crisis here. My schedule is already full.” Chance paused and then looked back up at me with a more serious look “You know your mother is thinking about adding onto the funeral home? A crematorium.”
I looked up at Chance and he looked back for a moment before cutting the thread with his scissors. He was wearing black eyeliner today; I liked it. Sometimes he had this My Chemical Romance look going for him that I desperately wished I could pull off. But it probably wouldn’t be best to be the Goth girl whose parents deal with death.
“That’s intense,” I told him, watching him review his stitches.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Chance explained. “I agree with her, cremation is the way of the future. If the funeral home goes out of business, we’ll lose the dead who want to have their ashes to scatter across fields, waterways, or made into vinyl albums.”
“You can do that now?”
“Hell yeah, you can,” Chance said, sliding the rolling table with his equipment out of the way. “It’s awesome. Can you imagine how metal that is? Playing your remains on the record player and it plays Black Sabbath or some Ozzy Osbourne? Hell yeah, that’s the way I want to go.”
I thought she was right to worry, though. A lot of people were getting “with the times” and no longer wanted to be buried.
At some point, Pine Grove would run out of room for traditional burials, too. Then we’d have to buy land outside of the town borders, which was tough, since a lot of the locals had been born in Pine Grove and wanted to stay, even underground.
“We’re part of a world where a relationship isn’t official for the majority of the youthful population until it’s confirmed on Facebook. So, many people want the new technology, the new innovations, and apparently to not get buried in the ground.”
“That’s interesting. I heard once that someone didn’t want to get buried because they were worried they would come back to life and then suffocate to death in their coffin. That’s happened before, you know.”
Chance shrugged. “My biggest fear is that years into my marriage my wife will turn and say, ‘Let’s cut cheese out of our diet’ and I must leave in the middle of the night with the kids.”
“Yours is much darker.”
“Totes,” Chance agreed.
I looked over at him. “I don’t know if I can find Lockwood. I think it was a drunk bet. But I will figure out who did this to Teddy.”
“Doesn’t surprise me the mayor would do something like make you find Lockwood,” He ripped off a piece of paper towel from the hanging dispenser. “Dude was always a drunk, even when I was younger.”
I straightened up. “Did Tag tell you about it?” How’d he known about the mayor?
Chance nodded. “He came down here earlier snooping around my body. I told him to GTFO.”
“What was he looking for?”
“He wasn’t looking, more just asking a ton of questions like did we see anything odd after we received him from the morgue, had I thought about the way he died, and if I knew him, which I didn’t.”
“Odd that he’d follow up after my father.” I looked at Teddy. “Yeah, it’s kind of bullshit. Right, Teddy?” I silently apologized for the cursing, which Teddy had hated. “But it is.”
“You’ll be fine with the investigation, by the way,” Chance reassured me as he took off his apron, throwing it into a hamper that was labeled as hazardous. “I believe in you more than anyone. You know these graves as if they were your own.”
I huffed at him. “Yeah.”
“You know your mom bought you a plot right at Center?”
I stopped in my tracks and my heartbeat rapidly increased. “What?”
“She told me the other day she bought it for your birthday and to not tell you, but I figured you should get that exact look off your face now rather than in front of people, possibly.”
I was going to buy my grave plot, same with my headstone. That’s a family tradition. I wanted to be buried near the oak tree right at the edge of the cemetery.
“It’s by the tree, don’t worry.”
I looked up at him. “Did you tell her that?”
“I listen to you more than you think.”
I ran over to Chance and threw my arms around him. He caught me. I could have made him fall to the ground and wouldn’t have cared. What he’d done meant a ton. “You saved me an eternity in the wrong place.”
“This conversation would be weird with anyone but you Grimes people. You know, that right?”
“I do, and I don’t care.” I hugged him tighter, and Curtis walked back into the morgue, this time without his hat on. I glanced up at his hair. “Ah, it’s purple this month. It doesn’t look like shit.”
“That was a bitchy thing to say. But I feel it.”
“Sorry, Teddy,” Chance, Curtis, and I said in unison.
Chance ripped off his gloves with a snap before washing his hands. “Hey, look at this.”
I stepped closer to him as he pulled a strand of Teddy’s hair away from his ear. There was significant bruising and staples where pieces of his skin and bone were broken. “Blunt force trauma?”
“Big time.” Chance and I leaned in closer to look at the area affected. It was small, but it looked like something sharp had hit him hard once, maybe twice. Chance shined a small flashlight so I could get a better look. When he moved the flashlight over Teddy’s ear, something sparkled.
“Wait.” I put my hand on his wrist and angled it back to where I’d seen the glint. “I thought I saw something in his—” The shine of the flashlight stopped just as it reflected once again.
“—ear,” Chance finished for me, as he saw it. He grabbed a pair of long, thin tweezers and reached inside Teddy’s ear, pulling out what looked like a diamond. “I know that you can find diamonds in a lot of places, but in a dead person’s ear? That’s a new one for me.”
The sun reflected off the polished oak wood of Teddy’s coffin. I was never one to love the way oak looked as the overall design of one’s coffin, yet today it looked rather perfect in with the early fall leaves scattered around the cemetery.
It only took about two minutes to end up at Hale Cemetery, the largest and newest one in Pine Grove. It was situated on the opposite side of the football field, maybe two miles north. It was a shit show at the town hall meetings when the Mayor told our residents that they needed a new cemetery and the only spot was there. Parents were upset that their kids would be so near the dead.
Get over it. You need a place to put the departed, don’t you? Otherwise, we’d have a bigger problem.
It was a gray and white day, a biting New England fall day. Perfect for a funeral.
You’d think I’d be more adapted to funerals considering what my family does. But it was still unsettling. After an hour, the real mourners and the fake (there were ten this time to make the group seem fuller) all vacated the gravesite.
In the midst of the movement, I noticed Rebecca facing me speaking with someone with his back towards me. When she caught my eye looking at her, she nodded toward me, and the person turned around: Mayor Maynard.
He smiled and walked in my direction.
Crap, turn around. I have no details or any idea of where Daniel Lockwood may be yet, and he’s definitely going to drill me about it. I wished Gage was here. He was a smoother talker than I was.
“I heard that you and Mr. Morrow are working together quickly. That’s promising.” He rubbed his hands together before putting them into his pockets. I couldn’t tell if it was from the temperature dropping in the last twenty-four hours or if it was the inner evil warlord inside of his chest coming out. “It should make finding Daniel Lockwood even more efficient.”
I squinted at him and pulled my sunglasses out of my coat pocket, half because the sun
was bright and half because I didn’t want him to see the shade I was throwing in his direction.
“I knew I’d see you again.” A leather-gloved hand landed on my shoulder. Andre.
I took in too much air when I saw who it was and coughed. I nodded an awkward hello. nodded towards him as if to say hello.
“Be careful. I know we’re at a cemetery, but I wouldn’t like to attend two funerals today”, he joked to the group. They all laughed politely except for Nat and me. Andre raised his eyebrows and patted me on the back heavily.
“Sorry.” I finished my coughing fit. “Something startled me. It’s nice to see you again.”
“Again?” Mayor Maynard asked. “Come again?”
“Paislee and I have crossed paths a few times in the last couple of days.” Andre put his hands in his coat pocket. “Odd, as we never see each other, but yet here we are.”
Mayor Maynard shifted his eyes. “Yes, here we are.”
Thank God I put my sunglasses on. Otherwise he’d see the look of shock in my eyes and throughout my soul. “Were you here for the funeral? I didn’t see you in the crowd.”
He shook his head. “I came to pay my respects, but I never stand in the crowd. I’m always over by the trees, out of the way. I prefer it that way.”
No one in the group replied, but the mayor made an awkward smile and gesture, as if he was going to say something but couldn’t find the words.
Andre tipped his hat before he walked off towards his car. “Say hello to your pilot for me.”
Pilot?
“He means Gage.” Velma was behind him, and I hadn’t noticed. “I heard you know my niece.” She waved over Rebecca, who was speaking with the owner of Meeker’s Hardware. For the first time today, she looked happy.
Velma put her hand out for me to shake, as she always did before she left the morgue or my father’s office when I was there. I took it and couldn’t help but feel a moment between us. Few adults listened or took the time to get to know me. She listened. Very rare for the teenager to be heard, at least in my town.
“I didn’t know you were related,” I told her.
She smiled. “My brother would have been very proud of the person she became, and Teddy,” she paused, looking at the grave, “who he was.”
“I agree,” I whispered.
Rebecca slowly walked over from the dissipating crowd. “It was good to see you earlier. Also, hello, Nat.” He responded in kind.
“It was,” I agreed. Rebecca turned her attention back. “Tell Tag hello if you see him. Your mother was telling me that he was at the funeral home earlier, but I didn’t see him.”
“He was probably assisting with the investigation. I’ll tell him you said hello.”
She nodded, reaching out and grasping my arm with her leather-gloved hand. “Thank you. For everything.”
“Sure.” I hadn’t done anything, but sure.
She said waved to Nat and me and then headed out toward the dirt road—where she got into a shiny Town Car. She didn’t even drive her own car here. There were so many questions, but I didn’t truly care for the answers.
The crew lowered Teddy’s coffin into the ground. Nat and I stood, watching the coffin descend farther and farther from where the alive live.
Nat watched the coffin being lowered slowly into the ground. “You coming home with me, or are you walking somewhere else?”
I could walk, as we were close to home. But, if I walked, I’d have to cross near the Barton Dine-In and Drive-In, and I didn’t want to risk seeing Gage, as I had hoped to have a few more pieces put together before I speak with him.
I smiled, relieved without knowing why. “Pass.”
“Thought so.”
Nat waited for me to finish watching as one of his crew members started up the engine of a dirt mover to cover up Teddy for the last time in the daylight. I was grateful for the escape.
“You ready for your birthday dinner tonight?”
I had completely forgotten about my birthday. Everything that has been happening has totally enveloped my life. “I heard mom bought me a grave plot for my birthday, did you hear about that?”
The cold tickled my nose as we walked back to the truck. He shook his head and then huffed out air, “She did that for my eighteenth, too.”
“I didn’t know that.” I told him. “Where is yours?”
“It’s at Center. On the backside of the oak tree. Way too close to the edge, but I think it’ll be okay.”
“Maybe it was on sale because of how much of a risk it would be to bury someone on the edge,” I teased.
“Funny, but I’d rather not roll out on someone like John Doe.”
I thought about John Doe, sitting on my desk at home. I couldn’t even imagine that. Just being buried and then one day, the earth just releases you back into society. Like, Good morning! I’m back!
“Mine is near the oak tree, too.”
We approached the truck. “Well, I’m off from one cemetery to another,” I told Nat as we climbed into the truck. “I have to meet up with Gage to work on more radar stuff.”
“Do you really think you’ll find him?”
I snap my focus onto Nat, who started the truck and backed out of the cemetery.
“Excuse me?” I asked him. “Yes, I think that I will find Daniel, if that’s what you’re talking about.”
He looked back through the windshield after shooting a glance my way. “I’m not saying you won’t. I’m just making sure you’re focused.”
“I’m super focused.” I picked at my fingertips. “Look, it will happen.”
As we pulled away from the cemetery, I caught sight of someone running toward the lone pine tree at the northwest corner.
“Whoa,” I breathed, realizing it was someone chasing another person. “Whoa, Nat, look!”
Nat slowed down and looked at the two people. “Oh, hell no. Not in my cemetery, and not on my grass.” He cranked the wheel of the truck and revved the engine. We sped toward the running people, and as we got closer, I realized Tag was the person being chased. In his funeral attire, running—no, hauling it—from the person behind him who I hadn’t identified yet.
The guy behind Tag leaped out and landed on top of him. He was much larger, so the tackle took Tag down like a ton of bricks. “Nat, stop the truck!”
Nat slammed on the brakes and the truck screeched to a halt, both of us thrown back into our seats violently.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door, jumping out and racing to the men. “Stop hurting him! I’m calling the police!”
I whipped out my phone to dial the Sheriff’s office. And Andre looked up at me. I’ve never seen him without his hat. I had no idea that he had long brown hair. That was why I hadn’t recognized him at first.
Sheriff O’Moore hustled over to the area from the funeral. “What the hell is going on here? This is a funeral. Tag? Really?”
Tag wiped sweat from his forehead. “I was the one being chased. Nat and Paislee saw it. They stopped him.”
“Andre, is that true?” Sheriff O’Moore caught his breath as he looked between the four of us.
“He accused me of illegal concealed-carrying—at a funeral—and then whipped the hat off my head,” Andre told the sheriff, his tone low but severe.
Tag pointed behind the Sheriff to where Andre’s hat was lying in the grass. “I thought he was hiding something in his hat. So I politely asked him to remove it. I showed him my badge.”
The sheriff headed for the hat, but I waved at him. “I’ll get it. You do this, whatever this is.”
He nodded, and I retrieved the hat as Andre and Tag continued arguing.
The cowboy hat was covered with dew from the grass. I wiped off the brim as much as possible and flipped it over to make sure no grass had gotten inside. No grass—but there was a pocket sewn into the lining.
I reached in and felt something sharp. Sure enough, it was a knife with a hefty handle. The handle was pointed at the end—and could e
asily inflict blunt force trauma like what I saw at the funeral home on Teddy.
“Sheriff O’Moore?” I called out, turning to the group. They all fell silent and still when the sheriff put his arm out to shush them. I pulled the knife out of the hat, and all of them looked at me in awe, except for Andre.
“Okay, Andre. You’re coming with me. We have a strict rule of not carrying any weapon at a funeral in this town.” He put his hand on Andre’s shoulder. I walked over to them and showed Sheriff O’Moore the weapon. There was a strand of hair stuck in the soft part of the pointy tip on the handle. That hair could be Teddy’s, and the sheriff saw it immediately.
“Put your hands behind your back, you have the right to remain silent. If you killed that poor boy, we’ll know later today.”
“What?” Andre yelled. “I would never! Tag—this is all your fault. You stay away from my Rebecca, and you stay away from my family!” The sheriff pushed him toward a deputy car that had arrived at the scene. “I will find out if you had something to do with this!”
The leaves in Center Cemetery had fallen drastically in a few days’ time. Then again, death can do that sometimes: come out of nowhere without warning. As I chugged past the location of Sarah’s grave, I lightly kicked some dirt off the edge of the gravestone, but then realized I’d made my boot’s heel dirty.
“Come on,” I whispered under my breath. Nat needed to mow this area immediately. I leaned on the next nearest tree to attempt to dust off my boot, which would be damn near impossible. A piece of leather that was coming apart. Everything stuck to it.
“It lives there now.”
“Kind of like everyone here, am I right?”
I looked up to see Gage walking into the cemetery from my driveway. He carried his backpack and another bag, most likely his drone equipment. It felt awkward to smile at him after what had happened at the cemetery earlier.
“Good one.” I nodded, smiling but looking at Sarah’s gravestone instead. Pulling a hair tie off my wrist, I tried to gather my hair into a bun. The messy bun is supposed to be effortless, so how come it takes me sixty-eight tries to make it stay up and look good?
