The Grim & The Dead

by Amanda M. Lee

  I was surprised he asked the question. I promised myself, after things went so far off the rails the previous day that I wouldn’t speak to any of my charges today. Even I didn’t have the heart to stick to that.

  “They’ll be okay,” I whispered as I moved away from the bed. “Come into the hallway with me.” It was an order, not a request, but David didn’t seem reticent to follow it. Once we stood together in the hallway, away from the bustling bodies on the other side of the door and out of earshot, we could speak freely. “I’m sorry this happened to you.”

  David, his blue eyes bright and keen, nodded. “Yeah. People say that all the time.”

  “Do you know what happens now?” I asked, briefly wondering if I should try to explain the process to him. He probably wouldn’t understand.

  “I go to Heaven,” David answered simply.

  I nodded. “You go to Heaven,” I acknowledged. “There will be people waiting for you there. You might not know them, but they’ll know you.”

  “My grandma. Mom said my grandma would be waiting.”

  “Then she will.”

  “Okay.” Since the end of his life was obviously lived under the shadow of fear and pain, David looked almost relieved. “Can I play outside in Heaven? I got sick and couldn’t play outside. I missed it.”

  The simple statement was like a punch in the gut. “You can play outside.” I had no idea if that was true, but it wouldn’t be Heaven if he couldn’t play outside, so I chose to believe. “You can play however many games you want. There will be other children there to play with you.”

  “And dogs? I wanted a puppy but I couldn’t have one.”

  “Dogs, too.” I definitely didn’t know if that were true, but I didn’t care. I would tell the kid he could live on the moon if it would make him smile. “You can have fifty of them.”

  “Yay.” David brightened considerably. “When do we go?”

  “Now.” I pulled the scepter from my pocket and extended it. “You won’t even know you’re traveling. Before you even realize it, you’ll be there.”

  “When will Mommy and Daddy come?”

  Tears burned the backs of my eyes. “I don’t know. When it’s their time. We don’t get a heads-up on stuff like that.”

  “Okay. I’ll wait for them.”

  “I know you will.” I absorbed David before I turned into a puddle of mush on the floor, pocketing the scepter and keeping the ring in place until I exited the building. Even ten minutes later I felt wrung out and wrecked. Blaming Aisling seemed counterintuitive, but I did it all the same.

  I was definitely setting the schedule the next day.

  THE REST OF MY morning collections went without a hitch and I was happy when lunchtime rolled around. I headed to my favorite downtown Detroit diner and snagged a booth. I had an hour and a half to burn before my next collection, so a burger and fries seemed a great way to spend the time.

  The woman who came to take my order wore a name tag that read “Jillian” and she looked as bad as I felt. Her dirty blond hair was pulled back in a loose bun. She wore no makeup, and she appeared fragile.

  “Do you know what you want or do you need a few more minutes?”

  “I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries,” I replied, closing the menu. “A large Coke, too, please.”

  “Sure.” Jillian finished scribbling on her notepad and reached out to grab the menu, her eyes going dark when she glanced over my shoulder and out the window. I followed her gaze, confusion mounting when I saw a man standing there. He didn’t look happy.

  “Do you know him?” I asked after a beat, looking back to her.

  Jillian swallowed hard. “I do.”

  “Is he giving you trouble?”

  “What?” Jillian snapped back to reality and shook her head. “Did you say something?”

  “I asked if he was giving you trouble,” I pressed. David Parker’s death had shaken me to the point I wanted to make myself feel better. If a random lowlife was giving some poor waitress a hard time, I was certain I would feel better after beating him.

  “Oh, that’s sweet.” Jillian offered me a distracted smile. When she’d first approached the table I thought she was in her forties. The smile lightened her face so much, made her look younger, that I readjusted my estimate to late thirties. “I’m fine. He’s not your problem. I’ll put your order in and be back with your Coke in a few minutes.”

  I watched her go, a mixture of annoyance and regret warring for supremacy in my busy brain. When I shifted my gaze back to the window, I found the man standing in the same spot. I had no doubt he was trying to intimidate someone. That someone was probably Jillian, and that didn’t sit well with me.

  When she returned, I didn’t miss the furtive way she stared out the window. She appeared afraid, and that was just about more than I could take.

  “Is he stalking you?” I asked.

  “Who? Him?” Jillian widened her eyes as she gestured out the window. “He’s not stalking me. You don’t have to worry about that.”

  All the same, I was worried. “I can talk to him,” I offered. “If he’s threatening you, I can talk to him.”

  “You don’t even know me.”

  “That doesn’t mean I’m not in the mood to talk to him.” I offered what I hoped would come off as a friendly smile. “I don’t like the way he’s looking at you. It makes me nervous.”

  “Yes, well, it makes me nervous, too,” Jillian admitted, letting loose a nervous titter that reminded me of a frightened bird. “He’s my landlord. I’m late with my rent. He thinks if he stands out there he’ll force me to come up with the fifty bucks I owe him, like it will magically fall from the sky. He’s a jerk, but harmless.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that. “That’s your landlord? I can still talk to him.”

  “That’s not necessary.”

  Jillian looked nervous, so I opted to let it go. “Okay. Thanks for the Coke. If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask before I leave.”

  “I’ll survive. I always do.”

  EVEN THOUGH JILLIAN was clearly mortified at the thought of me approaching her landlord, that didn’t stop me from giving her a large tip before heading out. I purposely gave myself enough to time to hold a quiet conversation with her landlord. My next charge didn’t need to be picked up for thirty minutes, and he was only two miles away.

  “Excuse me.” I tapped the man on the shoulder when he made a big show of staring at nothing as I exited the restaurant. Apparently he was only the intimidating sort when glass separated him from his prey. “I couldn’t help but notice you were staring inside the restaurant.”

  The man adopted what I’m sure he thought was an innocent expression. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  He was a poor actor, which only served to infuriate me further. “I understand you’re here because Jillian is late with her rent.” I dug in my pocket and came back with my wallet. “She owes you fifty bucks, right?” I didn’t wait for an answer, instead grabbing two twenties and a ten and handing them to the man. “Now she’s paid up. There’s no reason for you to bother her at work.”

  Even though I was in the mood for a fight, I was cognizant of the fact that I’d be messing with Jillian’s living situation if I went after the guy. That didn’t seem fair — even if it would’ve assuaged my guilt — so I did what I hoped was the honorable thing.

  “Take it.” I waved the money in front of his face. “It’s yours.”

  When he grabbed it, I refused to release it and instead leaned closer. “Don’t hit her up for more money. She’s now up to date on her rent. If you harass her, I won’t like it.” What I left out is that I would have no way of knowing if he harassed her because I was rarely in the area. I hoped he was a coward who would simply believe my threat. “Don’t make me come back out here.”

  Defiance flitted through his eyes before he smiled – showing off a row of yellow teeth – and nodded. “She’s paid up. There’s no reason to get all squir
relly or anything. I’m not a bad guy.”

  “Keep it that way.” I released the money and watched him go, waiting a long time to make sure he didn’t double back. When I was reasonably sure that he wouldn’t return, I headed toward the parking lot and my BMW.

  I was lost in thought. Helping Jillian managed to ease some of the burden I’d been carrying. Sure, it was minor in the grand scheme of things, but it made me feel better.

  I was distracted, my schedule for the rest of the afternoon shifting to the forefront of my brain, when the hair on the back of my neck stood on end and caused me to come to a standstill. I remained where I was, my finger on the fob to unlock my vehicle, and sucked in a calming breath as I slowly turned.

  I expected to find the landlord, perhaps with a friend or two, eager to jump me. That would be his way. I could tell that the moment I looked at him. Instead, I found nothing. There was no armed landlord waiting to take me out. There were no obnoxious thugs to intimidate me. The parking lot was empty ... and yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched.

  I scanned the parking lot a second time, looking hard at every corner. As far as I could tell, I was alone. The sensation that I was being watched refused to fade.

  My watch alerted to remind me that I had an incoming charge and I shook my head to dislodge the worry coursing through me. There was nothing I could do about the landlord. I’d helped Jillian as much as I could. I had other things to worry about, including a soul that needed reaping.

  Jillian was on her own, and I was back on the clock. I had to find a way to get through this day so I could beat Aisling home and handle the reports.

  6

  Six

  My plan to beat Aisling home worked like a charm. I’d finished all the paperwork by the time she and Griffin wandered into the office shortly before seven, and I was feeling haughty.

  “You’re late. I need your scepter so I can transfer the souls.”

  “Here, my liege,” she drawled, handing me the silver scepter from her pocket.

  “Thank you, serf.” I accepted the scepter and plugged it into the transfer portal. “Did you run into delays?”

  “No.”

  When she didn’t expound, I fixed her with a pointed look. “Then why are you late?”

  “Because I took her to dinner,” Griffin answered, throwing himself in one of the huge wingback chairs across from the desk and snagging Aisling around the waist to pull her onto his lap. It was a simple gesture, one he’d pulled off multiple times (even in front of my father), but I found it grating all the same. “You were at breakfast when I mentioned it.”

  “Oh. I forgot.”

  “Well, your sister didn’t. She stuffed herself with crab legs and cake.”

  “You know, I keep thinking you’ll learn, but you don’t,” I said as I removed Aisling’s scepter and tossed it to her. I replaced it with my scepter. “Sugar gets her wired. When she’s wired, she’s loud. You should give her salad to shut her up.”

  “I happen to like her wired.” Griffin poked Aisling’s side, causing her to grin and squirm. “She’s fun when she has energy to burn. Besides, if she gets all sugared up, then she crashes like a little kid when it’s time for bed.”

  “She also snores when she crashes,” I pointed out. “I know because I used to think she had a power saw in her bedroom when she was a teenager. Turns out those were just her normal sounds when sleeping.”

  Aisling was affronted. “I don’t snore!”

  “You snore,” Griffin countered. “It’s fine. I find it cute.”

  “I don’t snore!”

  “Fine. You don’t snore. Everything you do is dainty and ladylike.” Griffin said the words in a perfunctory manner, but his eyes were on me. “You look tired. Did Aisling stick you with more souls today or something?”

  Even though Griffin loved my sister he wasn’t blind to her faults. He recognized that she was likely to foist off the heavy lifting on me so she could coast, and he was appropriately worried.

  “I’m fine. It was a long day, but we had the same number of souls to collect. Technically, she had one more than me. Two of the souls were at a nursing home, though, so it wasn’t that much extra work.”

  “I was still selfless and took that job so you wouldn’t have to,” Aisling interjected. “You should be thanking me for being the world’s best co-worker and sister.”

  “You took those souls because they happened to be expiring at the same time a four-year-old boy was losing his battle with cancer at the children’s hospital,” I countered. “Don’t martyr it up.”

  Aisling pressed her lips together as Griffin slid her a sidelong look. “Is that true?” He asked after a beat.

  “I took two to his one,” Aisling replied.

  “Yes, but his job was clearly worse,” Griffin noted. “I’m sorry you had to deal with that, man. That had to be difficult.”

  For some reason, the simple acknowledgment was enough to ease the tension that had been building inside me all day. “Yeah, well, it wasn’t easy. He was a real champ, though. He was excited to be able to play outside in Heaven. When he got sick he wasn’t allowed to play outside.”

  “That is terrible.” Griffin tsked as he leaned back in the chair. “I forget that you guys get kids. The stories Aisling tells are usually about crabby old people or demented perverts, like when she collected that bag of porn. I tend not to think about the kids.”

  “Dad doesn’t give her the kids very often,” I explained. “She tends to talk to the adults, which is a time suck. I’m fairly certain he’s worried that she won’t be able to absorb a kid.”

  Aisling stirred, her eyes on fire. “I can do my job.”

  “Is that why you gave me the kid today?”

  “I gave you the kid because I didn’t want to spend time in Detroit,” she explained. “I took all the suburban jobs and left you the city jobs. I thought I was being smart, or at least safe, but I did more driving than you did and I’m exhausted.” She pressed the back of her hand to her forehead. “I think I’ll need a massage to feel better.”

  “Very smooth.” Griffin grinned as he tightened his grip on her. “I’m sure that can be arranged. Although ... .” He broke off and flicked his eyes to me, his expression thoughtful.

  “I love a massage as much as the next person, but I don’t want one from you,” I said hurriedly. “I’ll go to a spa like a normal person.”

  Griffin made a face. “I wasn’t offering you a massage. That’s gross. I was just thinking that maybe we should all spend some time together. You know, decompress.”

  “Why would I want that?”

  “Because you’ve had a long day.”

  “Spending time with Aisling only makes it longer.”

  “Fine.” He held up his hands in capitulation. “I was merely trying to be thoughtful. You obviously don’t want that, so ... don’t worry about it.”

  “Finally we’re on the same page. I ... .” I broke off when the computer signaled that I was receiving an incoming Skype call. “Hmm. It’s Dad.”

  Aisling straightened on Griffin’s lap. “What does he want?”

  “I won’t know until I answer the call.”

  “Wait! Don’t answer ... .”

  I ignored whatever Aisling was going to say and clicked the button, smirking when Dad’s face swam into view. He was clearly sitting at a bar, his tablet resting on the countertop as he perched on a stool and worked on what looked to be a glass of bourbon.

  “Hello, Dad.”

  “Braden.” Dad’s smile was warm. “I’m just calling to check that you and your sister haven’t murdered one another yet.”

  “Oh, sorry but you’re too late. I buried her in the backyard. I figured you could build a memorial to her when you got back.”

  “I know you’re engaged in your sense of a joke, but I want to see her anyway,” Dad pressed. “I tried calling her an hour ago but she didn’t pick up.”

  “I see your priorities,” I grum
bled as I turned the computer screen (which had the camera mounted on the top) so it faced Griffin and Aisling. “She’s still alive ... although I can’t guarantee that will be the case tomorrow. She’s good at pushing my buttons.”

  “She knows that, which is why she keeps pushing them,” Dad said as he waved at Aisling. “Why didn’t you answer when I called?”

  “I didn’t know you’d called,” Aisling replied as she dug into her pocket. “Oh, whoops. I have three missed calls. Griffin took me out to dinner and I turned my phone to silent. Sorry.”

  “Well, I don’t begrudge you dinner with Griffin — although there is no shortage of chairs so you guys don’t have to share — but you could’ve called. I was worried.”

  “There’s nothing to worry about,” Aisling supplied. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. The crab legs Griffin bought me didn’t try to steal my virtue, so you had nothing to worry about.”

  “I thought you lost your virtue on prom night, just like everything else,” I sneered.

  “I heard that, Braden,” Dad snapped. “You know I don’t like virtue jokes.”

  “Yes, I believe that’s rule seventy-two in the Grimlock family rule book. No jokes about Aisling losing her virginity or no longer being pure.”

  “I said nothing about being pure.”

  “Right. I added that last part.” I was quickly losing interest in the conversation. “So, how is Vegas?”

  “Your brothers are being drunken fools,” Dad replied without hesitation. “They’re having a good time.”

  “What about you?” Griffin asked.

  “He misses me,” Aisling answered for him. “He’s miserable.”

  Dad simply grinned. “Let’s just say I’m glad that Aisling isn’t here because I would spend all my time terrified she was getting into trouble. She’s safer back home.”

  “I’m reaping ten souls a day,” Aisling complained. “I’m not sure how safe that makes me.”

  “Yes, well, speaking of that ... .” Dad cleared his throat and collected his thoughts. “Which one of you took David Parker today?”