Page 3 of Made to Be

“Found what?” I asked as I perused the baked goods section of the Eggsorcist Market. “A new brain? Sorry Ali Cat, that probably won’t help you much.”

I could practically see her scowling at me, feel her glare burning straight to my soul. If she’d been a witch, I would have long since been cursed.

“Do you want the body or not?” she asked, more than a touch of menace in her tone.

I full-on dropped the shopping basket in my hands with a dramatic gasp. My few meager groceries spilled across the polished supermarket floor.

“You found one?!” I exclaimed, earning a few shocked and concerned gazes from the shoppers around me. I ignored them all.

She replied slowly as if I was stupid, “That’s what I just said.”

I couldn’t contain my elation as excitement bubbled up in the form of a manic cackle. Alice knew exactly what I had been looking for. And handsome young men didn’t just happen to wind up dead around here.

“Look, everyone is heading out for the day,” she continued. “He’s scheduled to be cremated tomorrow morning, so it’s now or never Victor.”

I fell to my knees, scrabbling to pick up my scattered groceries and hastily toss them back into my hand basket.

“I’m on my way,” I announced, hastily shoving my glasses back up my nose. “Be there in fifteen.”

I promptly ended the call, abandoned the cookie isle, and rushed through the self-checkout. After loading my groceries – okay, chucking them into the backseat – I jumped in my car and drove straight there.

To the town morgue.

Once I’d arrived, I texted Alice letting her know that I had parked out back next to the employee entrance. I was literally bouncing on my toes as I repeatedly hit the button on the intercom for her to buzz me in. It was after five, so I knew the regular full-time employees had gone home already. That meant I couldbe as annoyingly insistent as I wanted. Even if more people were here, I couldn’t have been bothered to care. I had been waiting for this for so long! Excitement buzzed through me like I was a live wire.

“Satan’s thong, calm your tits Vic.” Alice’s fuzzy voice sounded through the little intercom speaker.

“These non-existent tits will not be calmed. Lemme in!”

She groaned as if this entire interaction pained her greatly. “I’m starting to regret telling you about this.”

The lock on the door clicked free, and I wasted no time in throwing it open and practically sprinting down the white halls. I had been here a disturbing number of times before, so I knew the way to Alice’s office. Once I was standing outside of the simple white door with the silver plaque displaying“Alison Monroe, MD, Medical Examiner,”I didn’t even bother knocking as I hurtled into the room.

“Where is he?” I demanded, gasping as if I’d just run a god-damn marathon.

I scanned the room and wilted when I saw no body as she had promised. I stood there clutching the door handle as I stared down my best friend.

She was sitting behind her desk, her violet hair pulled up into a messy bun and her thick-rimmed glasses resting on her pierced nose. She waved a fully tattooed hand in front of her,

“Please, do come in.”

My eyes narrowed. “Was this a trick?”

She barked a laugh and stood to pull off her pristine lab coat, casually draping it over the back of her desk chair.

“I’m mean but not cruel, Vic. Not like you witches.” She reached up and patted my cheek none too softly as she passed by me and strode out through the doorway. “Come on.”

I dutifully followed her petite form, too anxious to argue and too exhilarated to think clearly. As we made it to the fridge room – that was actually what they called it – I took in the long space lined by uniform rows of square, steel doors. Each floor-to-ceiling column held three little doors with handles I knew could be pulled open, each holding a table with its designated body.

“I had to wait our policy’s mandatory seventy-two hours before telling you. Didn’t want to get your hopes up,” Alice began. “And run a background check, just in case. But if anyone asks, you can claim to be his cousin or something.”

“You’ve been sitting on this life-changing news forthree days?” I asked, appalled.

“Well, it would obviously be a very bad thing if you reanimated this guy and, oh, I don’t know, hisspouseturned up and saw him. Or what if he was a wanted criminal? Do you want the BPD knocking on your door believing you’re hiding some fugitive and arrest you?”

I scratched my chin. “You make a valid point.”

“Of course I do.”