Cadaver Lab: Grave’s Anatomy (Graveyard Secrets #4)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

The hazy glare of the morning sun streamed through the glass of the shop’s windows, showing every stubborn streak that no amount of cleaning seemed to remove.

With a sigh, Natalie turned away from where she had just seconds ago flipped both the deadbolt and the sign to Open.

A sudden and aggressive jangling of the bells above the shop’s door startled her into a yelp. Or maybe it was more of a yip. Either way, she spun to see the mailman as he came stomping into the shop.

“Oh, hi. Good morning. You’re early today,” she greeted.

With a grunt of a reply, he shot her a less than friendly look and made a beeline toward the shop’s cash register. There, he slapped two thick stacks of envelopes bound with rubber bands onto the counter.

“Uh. Thanks,” Natalie said, trying to actually sound thankful for the delivery, which she most definitely was not.

“Yeah.” A scowl marred his already age-lined face.

Scowling seemed to be his default expression since the usual volume of mail coming into Once Upon a Vine Books & Wine had increased ten-fold. Or actually more like a hundred-fold.

The man pivoted toward the exit. His departure was accompanied by another cacophony of bells and the loud slam of the shop’s front door.

She understood his frustration as she stared at the piles of mail in front of her.

The increase in mail wasn’t new. It had been happening since Halloween when that darn reality show she’d agreed to be on had aired.

She knew what would be in those envelopes.

It would be the same as the day before and the day before that.

There would be letters from people who loved her. Fan mail, she’d call it if it were addressed to anyone other than herself. Having fans didn’t feel real any more than the hate mail from those calling her a faker and a fraud.

Then there were the countless requests from those who wanted her to travel to communicate with the ghosts in their home, office, grandparent’s mausoleum…take your pick. There was even a request from one supposedly haunted nail salon.

Still carrying his first mug of coffee of the morning, Liam wandered over, coming from the direction of her apartment in the back of the shop.

“I just don’t get it.” Natalie shook her head and stared at the messy stacks of envelopes dangerously straining the rubber bands that barely contained their bulk.

Liam lifted a dark brow high. “You don’t? Nat, what did you think would happen when you went on camera and talked to ghosts for the whole world to see?”

She lifted one shoulder. “I guess I assumed a few people would watch, but I never thought this would happen.”

Natalie hated when Liam was right. But even when she was annoyed with him, her boyfriend was still the most handsome man she’d ever had the pleasure of meeting in person, never mind sharing a bed with.

“Hey, Nat?” Gabe’s voice had Natalie spinning to find her ghost bestie had just entered the shop.

“Yes, Gabe.”

Her greeting had Liam frowning. “Oh, good. Gabe’s here.” His sarcasm wasn’t lost on her.

“Good morning to you too, big guy,” Gabe said, even though Liam wouldn’t be able to hear him.

“Was there something I can help you with, Gabe?” Natalie asked, ignoring the ongoing friction between them.

“Yes, there is, Natalie. Thanks so much for asking,” Gabe said with an edge to his tone that didn’t sound at all grateful. “Is your boyfriend getting a new cadaver for the lab? Because it’s already crowded enough in there.”

“I don’t know.” She turned toward Liam. “Babe, did you order a new cadaver?”

“Did I order a new cadaver?” he repeated. “No, Natalie, I did not.”

“Then why is there a letter of confirmation for one on his desk?” Gabe countered.

“Gabe said there’s some confirmation letter on your desk?” she relayed.

Liam’s eyes narrowed. “I put in a request for a brain for when one is available, which might not be for months. And please tell Gabe to stop reading my mail.”

Gabe crossed his arms. “Natalie, please tell Liam that I can hear him. And you can remind him that just getting a brain is no better than adding a whole body to his already extensive inventory. A brain can come with an attached spirit too, you know. Case in point, the last brain, which arrived along with the spirit of an angry boxer with CTE. He was real fun to be around.”

Ignoring Gabe, Natalie said to Liam, “That reminds me. I forgot to tell you. I found this article from the New York Times about the doctor in charge of the Harvard donor program who was selling body parts. To like normal people to make creepy displays and stuff. Teeth, skin, brains. It was pretty horrifying. He’s in big trouble.

You didn’t buy any of your parts from him, did you? ”

Liam’s dark brows rose. “I receive research specimens on loan from the Albany Medical College Anatomical Gift Program, which I will return to the college for a respectful burial. I don’t buy the parts. Jeez, Nat, it’s not like ordering an oil filter from AutoZone.”

Her eyes widened as a forgotten car-related item on her To Do list surfaced through the hundreds of other tasks rattling around in her brain. “Uh oh.”

“Uh, oh, what?” Liam asked, his voice lower, gruffer, sexier than usual.

“You’re in trouble,” Gabe singsonged.

Gabe was correct in that. Liam took automobile maintenance much too seriously.

“You mentioning AutoZone just reminded me. My car’s inspection expired on the first of this month.” She cringed and waited for the expected reaction.

Even Liam’s exhale sounded frustrated. “Natalie, dammit, just drop your car off and leave it there for the day for them to inspect. The garage is literally one block away. You can walk home from there.”

She glanced at the door, the open sign already flipped. The lock already unlocked. “I know, but I can’t leave now. The shop’s open.”

“Fine. I’ll drop it off for you before I head to the lab.”

His eye roll was adorable and irresistible.

She moved forward and planted both palms on his chest, staring up into the sea green of his eyes. “Thank you, baby.”

“Ugh. Gag. I’m out of here.” Still fake gagging, Gabe disappeared via the front window he’d entered through.

Now that they were alone, Natalie delivered a thank you kiss to Liam’s lips.

The feel of his scruff against her skin was like an aphrodisiac, heating her from the outside in. Sending tingles straight through to her core.

She pulled away before things got too heated for the middle of the open shop, but she did say, “You are the best boyfriend ever.”

“Yeah, I know.”

His grumble made her smile. Liam only pretended to be grumpy. It was like his suit of armor.

The truth was beneath that gruff exterior, he was a big old softie. It was irresistibly attractive. But even with as much as she’d like to lock that door again and drag him back to bed, it was time for work.

Reluctantly, she turned toward the counter to fire up the computer… and spotted that damn mail again.

Mood immediately shifting, and not for the better, Natalie tugged a single letter from beneath the rubber band.

“So now I get to spend the next hour going through all this.” She glared at the stack as she slipped her finger into the corner and tore into the envelope… and immediately sustained the world’s worst paper cut.

She hissed at the pain then sucked on the wound, tasting blood.

“You know you could just toss it all,” Liam suggested.

“I can’t. What if there are bills mixed in?” she answered, glancing at the offending letter that was now free from the deadly envelope.

It began with big bold words scrawled in all uppercase letters and punctuated by an irrational number of exclamation points.

HOW DARE YOU!!!!!

Hate mail. She tossed it aside and reached for the next.

This envelope she managed to open without bodily injury. Things were looking up. And unlike the last one, this envelope and the letter were typewritten.

That seemed far more promising, until she read, “We’d love to invite you to…”

She let the letter drop to the counter, not wanting to go anywhere they might invite her.

Liam let out a frustrated breath. “Seriously, Natalie. You can sort through the pile without opening them. Just keep any that look like they might be bills and toss all the rest.”

“I guess…”

As much as she dreaded what might be in the rest of those envelopes, not opening them at all felt… wrong. What if she missed something important?

“Want me to do it?” Liam asked, already moving toward the counter.

“No!” The control freak in her panicked. She stood between Liam and the letters, blocking him. “I can do it. Sort them. I promise.”

A smirk tugging at the corners of his lips, Liam shook his head. “Nat. I know you. You’re going to open and read every word in each and every one of those the moment I leave.”

“No. In fact, I wish I had a fireplace in here. Then we could burn them all. Make a night of it. A nice bottle of wine. A roaring fire of hate mail…” She moved closer to Liam and, hands on his rock hard chest, stood on tiptoe to press a kiss to his mouth.

“That would be nice.” His crooked smile revealed the dimple that had sealed her fate the first time she’d seen it. “If you meant it.”

“Oh, I do. One hundred percent.”

His smile widened. “Good. Because you do.”

“I do what?” she asked, confused as he planted his mug on the counter with a clunk and strode across the shop.

“I’m pretty sure you do have a fireplace,” he shot back over one shoulder before he disappeared through the doorway.

She followed him into the meeting room. Or at least that’s what the big empty space off to the side of the building had become after Natalie had gone into debt purchasing the old Mudville train depot.

It was now part book and wine shop, part meeting space for book clubs and such, and part her apartment.

She scurried after him. “What?”

“Did you never notice this building has a chimney?”

“Yes. Of course.” Not really, but he didn’t need to know that. “But I figured that would be for the furnace or whatever makes the heat.”

“Yes, but I noticed the other day, it’s got more than one flue.”

“You noticed that the other day? How?” she asked as she watched him press his ear to the interior wall that separated the shop from the meeting room.

“When I was cleaning last fall’s leaves out of your gutters,” he answered.

“You cleaned the leaves out of my gutters?” She felt herself crumble like a cookie over his sweetness. “Aww. Liam, that might be the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard.”

He shot her a frown. “Natalie, it’s just basic maintenance. And since you hadn’t taken care of it, I did.”

“That’s why it’s so romantic.”

“If you say so. Now hush up. I need to hear,” he said with his ear still against the wall.

Hear what? She didn’t know and was about to ask when he began knocking. First up high. Then lower, until he was squatting on the floor.

“Do you hear that?” he asked, looking excited.

“Hear what?”

“Listen.” He knocked up high again. “It’s solid.”

“Okay…”

“Now listen here.” He knocked down low then glanced at her expectantly. When she shrugged, he said with more excitement than she thought the situation warranted, “It’s hollow.”

She nodded, pretending she could distinguish a noticeable difference. “Mm, hm. Meaning?”

“Meaning this is where your chimney is for the oil burner in your basement.”

“Okay.” She’d never been down there in the basement and didn’t intend to ever go down there. God only knew what horrors there were.

She only knew the basement even existed because the oil she paid a fortune for all winter to heat the shop had to go somewhere.

Liam turned to stare at her. “Natalie, I think there’s a second flue because there was also a fireplace in here.”

“If you’re right, I would love that.” She envisioned a roaring fire starting from the first day of fall and continuing all through the long cold winter months until spring.

The book clubs would love it. Hell, she’d love it too, snuggling at night with Liam on the sofa in front of the fire instead of in her tiny apartment in front of the television.

And Christmas! A warm crackling fire was just what her holiday decor was missing.

But there still remained the problem of what looked like a very solid wall.

“How do we find out for sure?” she asked.

Liam turned from where he’d been running his hands over the wall. “Got a saw?”