Page 60 of Grave Danger

People started to move, most of them heading toward the exit. Lucia and Zenona went off in search of the Widow’s sister, and Demetrius wound his way through the migrating crowd until he found Cody and the rest of the group, Jugs included.

“Have fun?” Cody asked.

“Not sure that would be the word I’d use, but she looks good.” Demetrius looked at Jugs. “Would you agree?”

“What?” Jugs was rubbing his forearms again. “Oh. Sure. Yeah. They managed to fit her and her hair in the casket. She’s good to go.”

“What’s going on with you?” Cody asked.

“My arms are itchy as hell,” Jugs said, making a face as he rubbed a hand faster. “Means they’re healing. That’s what my gramma always said.”

“Hello.”

The smooth, baritone voice from just behind Demetrius made him jump. The funeral director stood smiling at them, and Demetrius suppressed a shiver.

“Am I to understand that one of you is now the owner of Mrs. Monroe’s vehicle?”

Cody sighed and half-raised a hand. “That would be me.”

“I was wondering if you’d be open to joining the procession. So many people associate Mrs. Monroe with the car, and vice versa. I thought it would be a lovely tribute to have her beloved car follow the hearse to the cemetery.”

“Beloved?” Oliver whispered.

Cody shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, sure. We can do that.”

“Wonderful.” The funeral director smiled, but it still gave Demetrius a chill. “Just pull into the lot, and Connor will get you in line.”

As they headed for the exit with the rest of their group, Oliver said, “The day has finally come. Someone’s going to get Cody Bower in line.”

“Ha ha,” Cody said over his shoulder. “You’re a real comedian, Ollie.”

The group split up when they reached the overflow lot, each going to the vehicle they’d arrived in. Once in the Cadillac, Cody started the engine and pulled across the street to the smaller lot adjacent to the funeral home. Connor had to direct some other vehicles to move around to make room for the big car, but after a time they were lined up behind the police cruiser which held Lucia, Zenona, and Dottie, which, in turn, was behind the hearse. Demetrius stared past the cruiser at the gleaming black finish of the hearse’s back door. The casket was barely visible beyond the small white curtains gathered in the middle that hung over the back window.

“Why the hell do they put curtains inside a hearse?” Cody asked, then looked over at him. “It’s not like people don’t know there’s a casket inside.”

“We humans have a weird relationship with death. We know it’s there, but we don’t want to look at it too closely.”

“And yet, here we are, leaving an open casket funeral,” Cody said. “Makes no sense.”

“True. But the corpse had been made up to look natural. Well, natural as it applies to someone else.”

“What’s that mean?”

“She had this little smile on her face.” Demetrius made a face and shook his head. “It didn’t look right on her.”

“You missed her typical scowl?”

“I missed her scowl.”

Cody grunted. They sat in silence a moment, then he gave Demetrius an assessing look. “How do you feel about death?”

“Seeing as how we’ve both danced with it once or twice over the last several years, my answer is I’d like to avoid it as long as possible.”

“Yeah, me, too. And I definitely do not want to come back as a zombie. If that happens, please jam a screwdriver into my brain.”

Demetrius felt a clammy chill spread over him at the thought. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

The hearse eased forward from beneath the portico, and Lucia followed. Cody slowly trailed behind the police cruiser. He obviously felt a bit more light-hearted about their conversation, because he added, “Just, you know, make sure I’m really dead though, okay? I don’t want you to think I’m requesting you stick a screwdriver in my head tonight while I’m sleeping.”