It was strange.
Then it dawned on me. He might have put something in there with her. Something he couldn’t put on top where others could see. Obviously, that wouldn’t be jewelry, flowers, or a photograph. That was all stuff people normally placed with the deceased.
He looked around again, and then hurried off. I’d only caught the briefest glimpse of his profile as he’d turned his head from side to side, and while the man seemed somewhat familiar, I couldn’t place him.
But as suspicious as he was acting, I had to know what he’d put in the casket with Mercy. Unfortunately, as soon as he, the last person in the line of mourners, stepped away, the funeral home staff began to close the casket.
So, I did what any sane, rational person would do. I yelled, “Hey!” and started running toward them.
Everyone turned and looked at me. Someone got out their phone and started recording as I tried to run up and stop them from closing the casket while I was pushing Laney’s stroller.
Oh, and Meri was in the stroller too. At least most of the people there were probably witches.
Not the one recording my tomfoolery.
Not the one who called the police either.
The funeral home staff looked horrified by my actions, but they quickly backed away. Someone gasped as I began rooting around in the casket looking for whatever the man had dropped.
Someone else began to cry, and I felt horrible, but I also knew that I needed to find the mystery object. My intuition was pinging like crazy, and of course it would never lie to me.
Jeremy must have been nearby, because about the time that I pulled the key out of the casket, his cruiser turned into the cemetery. For whatever reason, law enforcement neve seem to get out of their car right away when there’s no emergency. So, by the time Jeremy was getting out of his cruiser, I’d pushed Laney’s stroller back over to my car and was putting her in her car seat.
“What on earth are you doing, Kinsley?” he asked me as I folded Laney’s stroller and stuffed it in the trunk. “I got a call that someone, whose description matches you, was tampering with the deceased at this funeral.”
I couldn’t tell him about the key. If I did, he’d take it and probably arrest me.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said as I closed the trunk. “Why would someone be messing around with the body at a funeral? That’s just weird.”
“Kinsley, I need to talk to you about this,” Jeremy said as I opened the driver’s door and started to get in.
“There’s nothing to talk about. Hey, tell Thorn to meet me at Samara’s house,” I said before shutting the door and driving off.
“What?” Jeremy called after me. “He’s already…”
But I was too far away to hear the rest of it. At the very least, I figured that if Jeremy didn’t call Thorn, he’d get in his car and follow me to Samara’s house. Which normally I wouldn’t want, but I knew at that point, I shouldn’t go there alone.
You see, the thing the man had dropped into Mercy’s casket was a small key, like maybe for a chest or trunk, with an address tag on it. Samara’s address. The man had wanted the key to be buried with Mercy, and I needed to know why.
Chapter Thirteen
There.
That’s the part I’d missed. Jeremy was trying to tell me that Thorn was already at Samara’s house. I saw his cruiser parked out front as soon as I pulled up.
He must have had some sort of break in the case, and I felt my heart leap with excitement. We could find the chest, open it up, and all of Samara’s secrets would come pouring out. The reason she died had to be there.
I took Laney out of her car seat and got her quickly settled in her sling. She began to fuss a little as we walked up to the house, so I quietly sang her a song.
“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” did the trick, and I could have sworn I heard her let out a tiny laugh as I hummed the tune a second time. That would have to be impossible, though, because she was far too young to laugh.
Samara’s front door was wide open, and I called out to Thorn as I walked through. “Sweetie, are you in here?”
That was the first time I picked up the faint scent of smoke. It was just enough that I knew something was burning somewhere but not enough to make me think the house was on fire.
For some reason, I pictured a fire going in the fireplace. “Thorn,” I called out again.
Laney fussed just as I heard a car pull up outside. Jeremy had followed me after all.
But when I went outside, it wasn’t Jeremy’s cruiser. My stomach clenched as the man from the produce section at the store, and later from the funeral, got out of a gray sedan.
“Just the people I wanted to see,” he said with an overzealous smile that didn’t reach his eyes. It was almost maniacal, and it made my blood run cold.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I have many names,” he said and stepped toward me.
“So, you’re a demon?” I asked.
“No,” he said with a chuckle. “Nothing like that. You can call me… Zane. Yeah, that will work. I like it.”
“Okay, Zane,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
Laney let out a loud wail, and Zane flinched.
“Well, looks like I chose correctly, but we’re going to have to move fast. She’s got a set of lungs on her,” Zane said.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Isn’t it obvious by now? You really must be tired if you haven’t put it all together yet.”
Meri had been standing quietly at my feet. He charged at Zane, but the man just kicked him and sent him flying off to the side. I knew Meri
