Clark blew out air and stepped out of my car. “This is such a bad idea. We’re trespassing.”
I quietly exited the car and shut the door. “Don’t you want to know what’s going on?”
He looked at me over the convertible, and his eyes glowed in the moonlight. “Yeah. Doesn’t make it right, though.” He hesitated. “Isn’t this place also a crematorium?”
I gulped. “Yeah.” They couldn’t be burning bodies at night, could they? Dread and a terrible anticipation twirled through me as I walked out to the long driveway and headed toward the sprawling building. Crickets chirped around us and in the far distance, a coyote howled.
Clark kept pace next to me. “What’s our plan here?”
“Not sure yet,” I said, edging close to the building, which was quiet. Lights went on toward the back. “This way.” I hurried around the side, but the windows were fairly well protected with a shield of crimson pigmy all around the perimeter. The prickly and painful bush provided an excellent barrier to anybody trying to get close to the windows. “Shoot.”
Clark eyed the brambles. “Huh. I’ve never seen plants used as home security. That’s brilliant.”
“That’s Idaho,” I agreed. “You should see the bushes my dad planted around our entire house once we were old enough to sneak out at night. There was no way.”
Clark kept away from the bushes. “What now?”
The sound of a truck rumbled up the long drive. I froze for a second. “Um, hide.” I ran for the trees on the side of the building, and Clark hurried after me. We reached the grove and ducked down, watching as the truck drove around the other side to the parking lot.
“Crap. Come on.” I led the way through the trees around the perimeter and the back of the funeral home building to the other side, where the back of the truck was already half in the loading dock. We crouched down again and tried to see what was happening.
Clark leaned over my shoulder. “Are those coffins?”
I ducked my head to see better. Two hefty-looking men were unloading coffins, and both Saber and Rich jumped in the truck to help. “I think so?” Why would Walker’s be accepting coffins at night? “They have a display room to buy them, but don’t you think this timing is odd?”
“Maybe not, but having Rich and Saber here is weird.” Clark brushed some leaves off his arm. “Though they might be helping their girlfriends.”
It didn’t feel right. In fact, seeing coffins unloaded by a couple of burly guys late at night felt downright creepy.
We watched for about thirty minutes, and then the truck loaded up and drove away. A little while later, the lights went off, and everyone returned to their vehicles. Rich carried a large box to place in Krissy’s trunk before jumping on his bike. Krissy followed him and shut the loading dock door.
“That’s why they brought the car,” Clark whispered.
I really wanted to see what was in that box. They all drove off, and silence descended again.
“What now?” Clark asked.
I took a deep breath and studied the person-sized door next to the loading dock one. “Now we go check out those coffins.” Swallowing rapidly, I trekked toward the building.
Chapter 23
To his credit, Clark didn’t argue. It kind of surprised me, but then again, when you saw coffins being unloaded at night, even a straitlaced guy like Clark had to be curious. I crouched at the door and twisted the knob. Locked. I sighed. Then I twisted it. It was an old lock, no doubt in place for years. “Here goes nothing. Again.” I reached for my license in my back pocket and slid it into the vertical crack between the door and the frame.
“Does that really work?” Clark whispered. His eyes glowed a light brown against his darker skin in the moonlight.
I pushed the card in further. “Yeah. I’ve done it before.”
“Great,” he muttered. “This is crazy.”
“Only if we get caught,” I said, realizing that this was crazy. Crap. We couldn’t do this. We were attorneys and officers of the court. “You’re right. Let’s get out of here.” I started to remove the license when a bang came from inside.
Clark jumped. “Oh no. Were there people in those coffins?”
Another bump and then the sound of something falling over came through the building. Panic seized me, and I bent the card toward the doorknob, slipping it under the slant-latch and forcing it back into the door. I twisted the knob, and the door opened. “Hello,” I yelled, running inside the loading area, which was empty.
Clark hurried after me. “If somebody is here, yell,” he bellowed.
Thank goodness he was with me for this.
