Pretty Poison

“We were lucky to get Jeff to help us,” Sam whispered. “He worked here a few months last year. He knows the place.”

Jeff shook Peggy’s hand, his long black hair hanging down in his face. “This is soo cool!”

“Uh—thanks.” Peggy took back her hand and smiled at him. “Does everyone know what they’re doing?”

“Obviously not, or we wouldn’t be here,” Steve whispered beside her.

Peggy frowned. “You didn’t have to come.”

“I didn’t want you to go alone.”

“We’re here. You don’t have to worry about it.” Sam sounded a little annoyed at Steve’s remark. “Peggy’s fine with us.”

“Thanks,” Steve said. “I’ll stay.”

Before they could get off on that tangent, Peggy reminded them of their jobs. “We only have a few minutes to do this. It’s the only chance we’ll have.”

Everyone sobered and nodded at her. Sam and Jeff and the other five frat boys piled into Jeff ’s purple hearse. Steve and Peggy got back in his Saturn.

“I hope you don’t think I go around doing this type of thing all the time,” Peggy defended.

Steve started his car. “I guess I’m new here and didn’t know what to expect. There are some strange things going on in this city.”

She sighed. Now he thought she was strange. People usually did, but she was hoping he wouldn’t. Oh well, it couldn’t be helped. She tried to talk him out of going before they left. He’d insisted. If whatever was between them ended even before it began, she supposed it was for the best. She put it from her mind and focused on her task.

Jeff told them there was no alarm system in the crematorium, a fact they corroborated earlier in the day with a visual scan for alarm signs. The only alarm system was on the building where the expensive urns and caskets were kept. That was about a quarter mile down the single-lane blacktop road that led into the cemetery.

Steve followed the hearse behind the crematorium, and they all climbed out of the vehicles. After a few minutes of standing there, looking at the building, Jeff pulled a key from his dirty shirt pocket. “Let’s hope it still works.”

No one breathed until the key slid in, the door opened, and no alarm sounded.

“Let’s go,” Peggy urged when no one moved.

“What now?” Jeff asked her.

“Now we find Mark’s body.”

It took a few minutes for them to find the file that led them to the refrigerated drawer where his body was being kept. Peggy insisted on all of them putting on gloves and masks as they moved the body into a black plastic bag Jeff had thoughtfully provided for their use.

They wheeled the body out to the hearse and loaded it into the back. Peggy collected the gloves and masks to be sure none were left behind. She asked if anyone closed the file on the desk.

“I did,” Steve responded, handing her his mask and gloves. “We should be covered.”

“Then let’s get out of here,” Sam advised. “This place is creeping me out.”

Jeff relocked the door, and the two cars slowly drove out of the cemetery. The fog closed in around the crematorium as they got back on the road. Peggy looked out the side window and shivered.

“Cold?” Steve asked.

“No,” she replied. “I think I’m in shock. I can’t believe what we just did.”

AT EIGHT THE NEXT MORNING, a young woman walked into the cafeteria at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. She got a carton of milk and some cookies from a machine. There were only a few other students half asleep at the tables. She chose to sit at a table with a man who appeared to be reading, his head was bent over a book. His floppy hat hid most of his face.

“You look like you had a worse night than me,” the young woman said as she sat down. “Finals?”

The man didn’t reply.

The young woman shrugged and opened her breakfast. She glanced at her companion. “Are you sick? My roommate has the flu. I hope I don’t get it.”

The man didn’t reply.

The young woman dropped one of her cookies. When she picked it up off the floor, she noticed her companion was only wearing socks on his feet. She brushed off the cookie. “Five second rule, right? It’s pretty cold to go without shoes. Did you lose yours?”

When he didn’t reply again, she moved closer and looked at his face. Shaking her head, she removed the man’s hat and watched as he slid forward to rest against the table. She raised her voice and said, “Okay. Someone call the dean. The frat boys are at it again.”

IT ONLY TOOK a cell phone call to 911 to set the wheels in motion. A squad car accompanied an ambulance that picked up the body and tagged it as a John Doe. It was taken to the morgue, where assistant ME Mai Sato began work on identifying the corpse, including a tox screen.

By the time the ME realized they were looking at Mark Warner’s body again, the tox screen was being processed.