Page 61 of Grave Danger

Demetrius thought his laugh sounded normal. “Thanks for clarifying. Guess I’ll have to change my plans.”

“Funny guy.” Cody glanced at the instrument panel and started tapping the steering wheel in a nervous staccato. “Dammit, I should have filled the tank before we arrived. I didn’t know they’d want us to drive this slowly through town. We’ve only got a quarter tank of gas.”

Demetrius had nothing to say to that, so he looked out his window and let his mind drift a bit. Cody asking him to promise to kill him had, it seemed, opened a door. Not much, but enough to give him an idea of what lay beyond, and it wasn’t something Demetrius wanted to think about.

A life without Cody beside him. How the hell could he ever manage something like that? Their sexual relationship aside, the quarter of a century of friendship had become an integral part of him, as if Cody had been imprinted on his DNA. All the details of and history with Cody lived inside him, coasted on his bloodstream, drifted like filaments in the passing of his breath. The marriage had, of course, deepened their relationship, but that had blossomed out of years and years of friendship, and all of that suddenly felt too big inside him. It was like the concept of him and Cody was too large for Demetrius to handle. And if all of that was gouged out from inside him, torn violently away, he’d be left empty and cold. He’d become a shell of himself, a sketch without the finer details that brought him to life. Without the strength of their relationship to keep him together, Demetrius would undoubtedly collapse into dust and drift away.

The gaping maw of loss opening inside Demetrius made him catch his breath and fight back tears. Was this what Cody had felt when he’d watched Demetrius swallowed up by Esther the lake monster? Or when he’d tried, unsuccessfully, to talk Demetrius out of offering himself up to Nicolae, the alpha werewolf?

“Thank God.”

Cody’s words brought Demetrius out of his thoughts, and he realized they’d arrived at the Hollow of Eternal Rest cemetery. It lacked the grandeur of the enclosing iron fence and grand gates of Buford Heights. Instead, the dead at Eternal Rest were secured behind cyclone fencing in need of repair in some spots, and which also seemed to catch all the windblown trash from town. A padlocked cattle gate secured the grounds at night, but today it was swung open, allowing the hearse and all the vehicles behind to pass through.

“I really hate that she’s going to be buried here,” Cody said, shaking his head. “I know she’s going to come back.”

“God I hope not,” Demetrius said with a sigh. He shook off the last of the emptiness that had washed over him. “She’s going to want to drive, and she was a terrible driver when she was alive.”

Cody grunted in acknowledgement and, Demetrius told himself, amusement.

The hearse pulled off the road, and the sheriff’s cruiser parked behind it. Cody stopped behind the cruiser and looked over at him.

“Ready?”

“Yeah. Let’s see this through and go to lunch.”

“I like the way you think.” Cody leaned across the seat and Demetrius met him halfway for a kiss.

Lucia and Zenona each held one of Dottie’s arms, assisting her to the chairs set up beneath a canopy. Cody and Demetrius joined the others picking their way between headstones, Demetrius flinching and sending out mental apologies each time he stepped on a grave.

The Widow’s plot was at the top of a small rise and looked down on the narrow ribbon of the Davenport Creek. Sunlight glinted dully along the muddy surface, and Demetrius turned a bit, looking past those attendees standing behind him as he squinted to try and find the mayor’s grave.

“Can’t see it from here,” Oliver whispered from directly behind him. “Either one of the graves. I already checked.”

Demetrius gave him a quick smile and turned around again.

The service was thankfully short. When Dottie squatted to grab a handful of dirt to toss on top of her sister’s casket, she almost toppled headfirst into the grave. Demetrius’s heart lurched. The entire gathering gasped as one. Lucia snagged Dottie’s arm and kept her above ground for a while longer, and everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

The pastor shaded his eyes against the sun and thanked everyone for attending. He added a reminder to be patient with each other when exiting the cemetery as the roads were only single lane. Cody, Jugs, and Agatha started talking with Amelia, Otis, and Eileen about lunch plans. Demetrius’s mind seemed determined to wander, however, and he stood nearby, looking around the grounds. He noted the placement of trees and benches, but he was also scouting for any sign of disturbed graves.

Motion from a short distance away caught his attention, but a tree blocked much of his view. He stepped a bit farther off to the side of their group to see better. A man stood near another open grave, a ball cap style hat casting his face in shadow. But Demetrius was able to make out a full, dark beard, and he could see the man wore a green polo shirt.

“Huh,” he said.

“What?” Oliver asked, coming up beside him.

“Oh, just noticing that guy up there. I’ve seen him before, I think.”

“Yeah? Like in town or something?”

“No, out at Buford Heights.” Demetrius looked at Oliver with a frown. “He climbed up out of a grave and scared the crap out of me. I got the impression he was part of the groundskeeping crew.”

“If he works at Buford Heights, what’s he doing here?”

“That’s my question, too.” Demetrius glanced toward their group and saw that everyone was still talking.

“Let’s go check him out,” Oliver said, nudging Demetrius with his shoulder.

“Think we should tell someone?”