4. Beatrix
4
BEATRIX
“ T here, you’re all ready for tomorrow,” I murmur to the young boy on the stainless steel table. Reaching out, I hold Marco Babble’s hand. “I’ll be with you the whole time, ok? No reason to be scared.”
I reach out to brush a strand of black hair off his forehead and back into place. He shouldn’t be here. At twelve years old, he should be home and tucked into bed right about now, thinking about all the presents that will be under his Christmas tree next week. His body is clean and dressed in the clothes his parents left with me. In the pocket of his little suit is a pocket square with tiny dinosaurs on it. I smile down at them.
The gesture aches a bit but the swelling from Patrick’s punch he’d gotten in two days ago has gone down significantly. I barely had to use any makeup at all today to hide the discoloration.
As I straighten, movement out of the corner of my eye captures my attention. Frowning, I look toward the double doors. Did someone just walk by? I could’ve sworn I saw the back of someone’s head in the small square window. That shouldn’t be possible. The funeral home is closed and locked up. The speaker system built into the ceilings would’ve sounded with a recorded bell if the doors had been opened. Pulling my gloves off, I toss them onto the table beside Marco and move toward the doors of the preparation room.
Pushing one of the double doors open, I step out into the hallway. There, just outside the door and lit up beneath the single emergency light, is a small vase with five beautiful black roses. A white ribbon is tied around the vase, and a white envelope sits beneath it. Rather than acknowledge them right away, I look down either end of the hallway for whoever dropped these off. There’s no one in either direction but the motion-sensor lights are on to my right.
My heart skips a beat.
“Hello?” I call out. “Is someone here?”
Straining, I listen for an answer or the sound of movement. Seconds tick by but the funeral home remains silent. My mouth dries as I take a step in the direction of the lights that are on to my right. Clearly someone has been here. But who? And why? Rather than call out again, I tiptoe toward the front of the business. Just as I get to the end of the hallway where it hooks left, the motion-sensor light flickers out, casting me into darkness.
I blink rapidly, trying to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness. As they acclimate, I swear I see movement further toward the front of the building. My gasp is loud in the silent hallway. Quickly, I wave my hand frantically to get the light to come back on. It flickers to life quickly. Whoever was there is gone now, and I can’t see which way they went. I bite my bottom lip as I consider my options. There aren’t many. Calling the cops is out of the question; most are friends with Patrick and that would get him involved. I really don’t want that. His presence will just make everything so much worse.
So that leaves me with the only other option: take care of the intruder myself. My hands curl at my sides as I turn and head back to the preparation room. Time to go get my scalpel and hunt down whoever is in my funeral home.
I pause as I get to the vase of roses. They’re massive, impossibly so, and absolutely stunning. I wonder if this was supposed to be a morbid gift. If so, whoever left them has missed their mark. Black is my favorite color. Before kneeling down, I check over my shoulder to make sure whoever was here isn’t lurking behind me. The hallway in that direction remains empty. Crouching down, I lift the vase and grab the envelope. On the front are two words written in chicken scratch: Little Viper.
What does that mean?
I turn the envelope around but find nothing on the back. Curiously, I open it. Inside is a card that reads:
Hello, Little Viper. What beautiful scales you have.
Little Viper? Scales? What does that mean? Is this some type of joke? A prank perhaps? I flip the card over but find the other side blank. How strange. I glance down at the flowers. If this is a prank, I’m not sure what the end goal is. I’m not scared. In fact, I’m almost flattered. I’ve never received flowers before. And for them to be in my favorite color?
I fight a smile as I grab the vase and note before standing.
“Let me set you down where I won’t trip on you, and then I need to go find my intruder.”