Chapter 2 - THE SECOND MESSAGE
The second message contained only six words.
DON’T TRUST PRESTON. GRANT IS AFRAID.
Evelyn read it twice.
Then looked up.
Grant was staring at the phone.
His face collapsed before she said anything.
Preston grabbed his brother’s sleeve.
“Don’t.”
Grant jerked away.
Evelyn whispered:
“Charles is alive.”
The church erupted.
Preston raised his voice.
“Everybody needs to leave.”
“No,” Evelyn said.
He turned.
She held the phone up.
“No one leaves.”
“You don’t know who sent that.”
“It came from his number.”
“Phones can be spoofed.”
“Then why is the coffin empty?”
Preston had no answer.
Grant did.
Barely.
“We lost him.”
The words were so quiet Evelyn almost missed them.
Preston spun toward him.
“Shut up.”
Evelyn stared at Grant.
“You lost him?”
Grant’s eyes filled.
“Mom—”
“What does that mean?”
Preston stepped between them.
“Not here.”
Evelyn laughed once.
A sound without humor.
“You held my husband’s funeral with an empty coffin.”
Several guests had their phones out now.
A funeral director entered from the side aisle, saw the open casket, and stopped dead.
Evelyn pointed at him.
“You knew?”
He looked horrified.
“No, ma’am.”
Preston snapped:
“Do not answer her.”
That was the wrong thing to say.
Detective Mara Chen happened to be in the church.
Not professionally.
She was Charles’s goddaughter.
She stood from the third row.
“Preston.”
He looked at her.
Mara walked forward.
“You should stop talking.”
The entire atmosphere changed.
She was not on duty.
She had no warrant.
But she knew what an empty coffin meant.
Evidence.
Possible fraud.
Possible false death filing.
Possible obstruction.
Possibly worse.
Mara looked at Evelyn.
“Save the messages. Don’t delete anything.”
Then at the funeral director.
“Lock the preparation room. Nobody touches records.”
Preston’s confidence faltered.
Grant sat down hard in the front pew.
Evelyn approached him.
“Where is your father?”
He covered his face.
“I don’t know.”
She grabbed his wrist.
“Was he alive when you last saw him?”
May you like
Grant looked up.
“Yes.”
