“We wouldn’t, sir!” Tom pleaded.
“Oh, shut the fuck up!” Gerald spat, waving at them to sit down. He took out his handkerchief and started dabbing his forehead. “Of course not. Neither one of you have the spine for subterfuge. Hmmph.”
Tom noticed Junior was absent but didn’t dare ask where he was.
“Now,” Gerald said, taking a deep breath, “we only have two new calls. One is a Mrs. Hudson, died in hospice last night. Aaron, you’ll take that one. The other is a Mr. Ross, pending release at the medical examiner’s office. I’ll call the family, see if I can find out what happened. Earl, you call the ME’s office and find out when the body will be released.
“I cannot stress the importance of not speaking to the press. Even if you feel the need to defend yourself or your place of work, don’t. We are going to cooperate with the authorities and let them handle this. We have nothing to hide, but this is an absolute nightmare for our reputation. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Tom and Aaron mumbled in unison.
“Get to work.”
Tom scrambled back to the prep room as quickly as he could, cleaning and sterilizing until Aaron brought him the embalming permission for Mrs. Hudson. She did well during the procedure, and he opted to do his paperwork in the prep room. He wanted to avoid the tense atmosphere of the office.
Everyone was on edge, and even Mr. Crosby’s benign confusion was beginning to border on agitation.
And still, Tom wondered, where was Junior?
Tom’s suspicion of his involvement in all of this was only growing, and he wondered if he should talk to Fox about it.
Hey, I think my ex-whatever might be breaking into all those people’s houses? Oh, why do I think that? Well, you see, he was making me sell embalming fluid…
No, that was stupid.
Besides, Tom had bigger problems to worry about, like whether or not he was going with Cypress to the party.
“I don’t know what to do, Mrs. Hudson,” he said with a forlorn sigh, glancing to the dead woman he’d prepped earlier. “I mean, should I just go for it? Life’s too short, all that?”
Naturally, Mrs. Hudson didn’t reply, but Tom decided to be bold. Cypress had said he was a tiger, after all. A tiger wouldn’t be scared about some party. It would be eager for the chance to hunt and play…
The mere thought of all the naughty possibilities made him shiver.
“Fuck it.”
He confirmed his plan to attend the party with Cypress and hoped his nerves would be in better shape by the end of the day.
It was just a party.
Asexparty.
God, when did his life become so insane?
Five o’clock came, and Tom left in a hurry. He had plenty of time to get ready for tonight, but he was antsy. He had to keep convincing himself that he’d made the right decision agreeing to go out tonight. He saw one of the news vans still waiting outside on the street, and he hurried into the rear parking lot before anyone could see him.
No sooner had he turned the corner, he felt a strong hand grabbing his arm, jerking him up against the side of the funeral home. He pushed back, gritting his teeth when he saw who had attacked him. “Junior!”
“Did you fuckin’ say anything, huh?” Junior demanded, reaching for him again. “I know you talked to that cop yesterday. I know you did.”
“Get the fuck off me!” Tom snapped, pushing Junior away again more forcefully.
It was enough to make Junior teeter, and Tom could see that he looked pale and his eyes were as big as saucers. He could only assume Junior was under the influence of something.
“Did you or did you not?” Junior got right in his face.
“No! Why would I?” Tom hissed. “Where the hell were you today? Have you just been waiting in the parking lot all of this time to jump me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” Junior sneered, stepping back and smoothing a hand through his hair. “Look, with all this shit going on, you better stay fuckin’ quiet about the embalming fluid.”
