Page 22 of Bone’s Choice

He reached the coffin and looked inside. “Jesus fucking Christ. What the fucking fuck?”

That got me moving. “What?”

Myth looked at me, then back into the coffin. “You’re gonna want to see this.”

I stepped beside him and the smell hit me first.

Jesus.

Rotten didn’t begin to describe it. It was thick. Sweet and sour at the same time. The kind of smell that seemed to coat the inside of my nose the second I breathed it in.

I pulled my shirt over my nose and looked inside. “Fuck me.”

There was a body in the coffin. A man. Or what was left of one.

He was lying on his back with his arms down at his sides. His skin had changed color in patches, darkening in some places while taking on a sick, gray-green cast in others. His face was swollen enough that I wouldn’t have been able to pick him out of a lineup if somebody had shown me a picture of him alive. His stomach was bloated and his clothes were stained.

The smell rolling out of the coffin was enough to make my eyes water.

Behind me, Munch gagged again.

Taco turned his head. “If you fucking puke on me, I’ll kill you.”

“I’m trying not to,” Munch wheezed.

“Try harder,” Taco growled.

Munch closed his eyes. “I can taste the smell.”

“Why the fuck would you say that?” Bull demanded.

Munch gagged again, and now Bull looked like he might puke. “Jesus Christ, prospect.”

Humpty walked over, took one look inside, then turned toward Jackson. “The fuck, man? You brought us a coffin with the damn customer still in it?”

Jackson stared at him. “What?”

Humpty pointed. “Return to fucking sender.”

Jackson stepped forward. The second he saw inside, his face changed. “Holy shit.” He stumbled back. “What the fuck?”

“Good question,” I said.

“No.” He shook his head. “No fucking way.”

“You drove it here,” Dealer said.

“I didn’t know there was somebody in it!” Jackson insisted.

“How the fuck did you not smell him?” I asked.

“The truck’s closed up, Bone. I was in the fucking cab!”

“Nobody checked it before loading it?” Taco wondered.

Jackson held up his hands. “I didn’t. Why the fuck would I? They told me it was a damaged casket coming back to Grave Casket.”

Hose pushed through the guys. “Move.”