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“They left about an hour ago. I’ll be here to follow you home when you’re ready to leave.”
“I’ll probably be a couple of hours at least, but thanks for waiting.”
He nodded and rolled his window back up, so Iguessed that meant I was dismissed. I didn’t bother asking him for help with the body. It was more difficult on my own, but I’d done it before and could do it again. The most difficult part was making sure the stretcher didn’t tip as I pulled it out of the back of the Suburban.
Leanne’s decreased weight from her sickness made things easier and I got her out and up the ramp with little hassle. I went through the ritual of unlocking the lab door and moving her to the elevator, and I made sure to pull the door shut behind me. It locked automatically, but there was a deadbolt from the inside my parents had installed when it had been their lab.
The elevator was old and creaky and it took time to get to the bottom floor. The doors slid open and there sat my father, big as life, in a chair with his back to the wall.
“Jesus Christ, Dad,” I shrieked, holding a hand to my pounding chest. He looked amused and stood slowly, sticking his hands in his pockets. He was dressed similarly to the way he’d been dressed the day before. His clothes were pressed and clean, and he was smoothly shaven.
“Are you out of your mind? The FBI is sitting right outside.”
“Hmm, I know.” He came over to help me pull the stretcher from the elevator and I was so surprised I let him. “Agent Donaldson needs seasoning yet. And of course I’m just very good.”
It was odd working in tandem with my father once again. We hadn’t done this since I’d been in high school, helping out on the weekends when I was needed. A morbid youth if ever there was one. We lifted the black bag from the stretcher to the sterile metal table I used for embalming.
My teeth wanted to chatter from either the cold or the sight of my father again, so I went and grabbed a thick sweatshirt from a hook on the wall and one of the white disposable gowns to put over my clothes.
“You need any help?”
“Why, do you have something you need to smuggle out through her body?”
“I suppose I deserve that.”
“And much more. Jack knows you’re in town.”
“He’s got his own problems to worry about. I don’t think he’s going to have time to actively search for me.”
My head snapped up. “You don’t have anything to do with the deaths of Jack’s men, do you? Please tell me you don’t have any part in that.”
“It’s not me. I could probably dig around some and help find the source.”
I snorted out a laugh before I could help it. “Yeah, I’m sure that would go over well. Not to mention I’m sure you never do anything that doesn’t further your own agenda.”
“That’s not true. You’re my daughter. If you asked for help I’d give it. But you were always too damned independent to ask for your mother’s and my help.”
“And law abiding,” I said dryly. “Speaking of, where is Mom? I’m assuming she survived the fiery crash over the side of the mountain with you?”
“Yes, but she didn’t survive Kaliningrad.” His voice went hoarse and he cleared it once. “We had some problems there.”
I took in a deep breath and focused on setting up my equipment. She’d been dead for two years. At least to me. It shouldn’t make the hurt fresh again to hear she was gone for real, but it did.
“Who’s in the bag?” he asked.
“Leanne Mosely. Age forty. Cancer.”
“I remember her.Your mother and I were friends with her in-laws once.”
“I don’t think they’d invite you to any neighborhood barbecues now if they knew you were alive. They still won’t speak to me, much less look me in the eye when we cross each other on the street. I’m actually surprised I got the call to do the interment.”
“You’ve had a rough go of it the past year. I’m sorry about that.”
“Uh, huh. More likely sorry you got caught.”
“They still haven’t caught me,” he said with a half smile.
I pulled onblue latex gloves and then unzipped the black bag, stripping it away from the husk that was Leanne Mosely. I grabbed the spray bottle of disinfectant and sprayed over the eyes, nose, and mouth and her lids automatically opened.
