Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
But no matter what, we all end up on that embalmer’s table. In the dirt.
Dust and ashes.
Fuck.
My father’s death was one thing. At least his was natural, the result of a heart attack. After the last year of his life, no one was surprised the stress got him in the end.
May didn’t come to her final resting place naturally. She had the life stolen out of her body.
I don’t know what kind of life she led. All we know is that she was brought over from Vietnam and worked at Aces for a few years.
But she met the same dark fate that awaits all of us.
She met it in a particularly gruesome way, and far too early, but she’s gone off to whatever waits for us after this life.
And she won’t get the fancy chemicals my father got. She won’t have a funeral.
You need a body for that.
6
ALISSA
Mum got her way. I’m not going to Northwestern.
Not this semester, anyway. I’ve deferred.
Her untimely death made sure of that.
We put together a nice funeral on a budget.
Correction. I put together a nice funeral on a budget.
Dad was already phoning his life in pretty hard the last few months, and he’s only become more distant since Mum died. He’s barely spoken a word since…
Since…
I can’t think about it.
I push the memory to the back of my head.
Like Mum would have wanted. Everything tidy and clean, in its proper place.
The church is outfitted in lilies, of course. I was able to negotiate a good deal with our local florist. We cremated Mum’s body and got her a nice urn. White with gold trim, a single heart on its obverse with her name engraved in it.
Her body was in no shape to be on display today, after all.
No. I’m not letting myself think of that.
I couldn’t help a macabre grin when we received her ashes, despite everything she put us through in the end.
Mum spent her whole life avoiding dust, just to become dust herself.
Maddox pumps the brakes hard, pulling me out of my thoughts. I jerk forward, and the seatbelt digs into my right shoulder.
“Maddox, what the fuck?”
He grips the steering wheel, his knuckles white as snow. “I think we just passed a cop.”
“Oh, Christ. You’re kidding.”
But he isn’t. Red and blue lights stream through the rear window of my car.
Maddox pounds a fist against my dash. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
“I told you to stop driving so erratically.”
He glares at me as he pulls the car over. “Not the fucking time.” He puts the car into park. “We have to play this cool. I really don’t need to explain to this cop why we have a severed human head in the back seat.”
The cop pulls up behind us and exits his vehicle, slowly walking up to the driver-side window. He knocks gently on the glass.
Maddox rolls down the window. “Yes, Officer?”
The cop leans down, frowning at Maddox. “Do you have any idea how fast you were going, sir?”
Maddox doesn’t respond.
He doesn’t want to admit fault. But I’d much rather he admit fault to speeding so we can just get this bloody over with. If he gives this police officer a hard time, he might think we’re hiding something.
Which we very much are.
And if Rouge owns the chief of police, then we’ll get saddled with May’s death.
My heart throbs, but I do my best to keep a cool head.
The cop narrows his eyes. “Did you hear me?”
“I did, Officer.”
He looks us up and down. He’s got a thick mustache and a round face, and I can see from his badge that his last name is Brillig.
Officer Brillig sighs. “License and registration, please.”
Maddox grabs his wallet and eyes me.
I reach into the glove compartment. “It’s my vehicle, Officer. I have the registration.”
I pull out the car’s registration and give it to Maddox, who hands it and his license to the cop.
Brillig’s eyebrows raise. “Maddox Hathaway? The Maddox Hathaway?”
I purse my lips. This isn’t the first time someone has recognized Maddox’s name. My neighbor, Mrs. Tulgey, seemed to think she knew him from somewhere. He mentioned growing up in the spotlight. Was he a local celebrity or something in the past?
Maddox nods. “The one and only, I’m afraid.”
The cop furrows his brow, and he looks like he wants to say something more, but he returns to his vehicle.
“Maddox,” I whisper. “Why did he ask if you were the Maddox Hathaway? Is there something you haven’t told me?”
He runs his hands through his hair. “Christ, Alissa. We’ve only been out a couple of times. Am I supposed to have given you my entire family history by now?”
I swallow. “No.”
He takes a deep breath in through his nose and exhales through his mouth. “Sorry. I’m not trying to snap at you. Yes, there’s a reason the cop recognized my name. I’ll be happy to give you a full rundown once we get our friend in the back seat taken care of.”