Chapter One

“What do you mean it’s gone?”

Stunned, Lily Reynolds sat at her desk on the first floor of the Reynolds Funeral Home and stared at her sister. “Zachary texted me as soon as he inserted it into the refrigerator. It didn’t get up and walk away.”

Shanna’s eyebrows shot up. “It didn’t walk away on its own, but it’s definitely gone.”

Lily stood. “Show me. I need to see for myself.” 

Both sisters barreled down the funeral home’s stairs all the way to the basement level where the newly acquired clients were kept. When they reached the refrigerators, Lily noticed the third door from the bottom had not been fully closed. 

“You left the door open?” Lily asked.

“I looked inside and saw that the body was gone,” Shanna said. “It could’ve been stolen. I wanted to preserve the scene.”

“Who’d steal a body?” Lily craned her neck to look inside the refrigerator. Empty. 

“Someone clearly unwell.” 

“Does the family know?” Lily asked. 

“I haven’t had time to tell anyone but you. We should call the cops.”

Lily glared at her sister. 

“I know you’re doing the detective thing on the side but you need help with this one.”

Lily allowed an obnoxious eye roll to do the talking. 

“The goal shouldn’t be to prove to your new detective husband that you’re as good as he is—we know that already,” Shanna lectured.

“I’m not trying to prove anything, but I also don’t want to call him every time we have an issue.”

“I would call this more than an issue. Did Zachary go out again?”

“I’m about to.” Their younger brother Zachary skipped down the stairs, heading in their direction. “What’s all the chatter about?”

“You can’t leave,” Shanna told him. “We have a problem.”

Lily gestured toward the open compartment. “This is the problem.”

Unlike his sisters, Zachary didn’t need to stand on his toes to see inside. He cocked his head at the empty tray. “Where’s Mr. Gusev? I just dropped him off.”

“You have no idea what happened to him?” Lily asked.

“I slid him in on the tray and even remembered to close the chamber door. Did one of you bring him upstairs and forget?”

“No,” Shanna explained. “I came down to check on him as I always do when we get a new client and found this door open with no one inside.”

“Where could he have gone?” Lily asked. “Was the family on board with moving him from the hospital after he was pronounced dead?”

“Completely,” Zachary replied. “All the paperwork was signed.”

Shanna pulled her cell phone from her pocket. “I’m calling the cops.”

“Fine,” Lily barked. “At least it’s not me dialing the numbers. They’ll be expecting you.”

Shanna stuck her tongue out at her.

****

Despite her initial reluctance, Lily’s mood brightened when Detective James Rivers showed up at the scene a short time later. She’d never get enough of his sun-kissed-tattooed biceps, pushing against the fabric of his rolled-up shirt sleeves and the brightness of his sky-blue eyes framed by silken black hair. The sight of him made her loins ache. How had she gotten so lucky?

He leaned in to peck her on the lips. “Mrs. Rivers, this is rather unexpected—getting a call from you for help on a case.”

His stare made her knees weak; the same went for her conviction. She looked away, hoping that would help. “I didn’t call you.” She pointed a finger in her sister’s direction. “She did.”

He turned to Shanna. “What can I do for you?” 

Lily looked at her sister, waiting for her to respond. After all, she wanted to call him. As much as Lily liked seeing her husband, she did not need his help with this. 

“It appears that one of our clients is missing,” Shanna said. 

He glanced at Lily. “You lost a body?”

Her shoulders went up immediately. “We didn’t lose a body. That’s ridiculous. It’s just…missing.”

“Someone stole it,” Zachary announced from his spot against the wall. 

“Is that your theory?” James asked.

Zachary’s hands went up. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

James cocked his head. “Stealing a body makes sense to you?” 

“It makes more sense than misplacing one. Plus, I don’t like how you’re judging us, Detective.”

James smiled. “I’m not judging. I’m trying to make sure the body hasn’t been relocated on the premises before we go barking up the stolen tree.”

“Well, it’s not here.” Zachary answered quickly. 

James approached the empty storage compartment. “Who was the first to notice the body had gone missing?”

Shanna’s hand went up as if she were sitting in a classroom. “Me.”

“You found the door open?”

“Yes, I left it the way I found it, in case there are fingerprints.”

“Good thinking.”

“Shouldn’t you call the team over to secure the scene?” Lily asked, arms crossed over her chest. “We’re pumping refrigerated air in here.”

James scrutinized her for a second. She knew her attitude sucked. She didn’t like it when they worked together; he stepped on her toes. After all, she wasn’t a real detective. Technically anyway. 

“Would you like to take over?” James asked. “I’m only trying to help.”

Zachary and Shanna had slowly inched away. Lily saw their discomfort. Only married a month, she and James were still in the honeymoon period, yet she pushed him away. Her behavior could only be described as ridiculous. The man of her dreams stood in front of her and all she could manage was a pout.

“I know you’re trying to help. I’m being unreasonable. I know. It’d be nice if Shanna wouldn’t jump the gun by calling you. I’d like to think that I have good instincts even if I don’t officially work for the police department.”

James tilted his head. “Maybe you should.”

Lily scanned his face carefully. Was he saying what she thought he was saying? “Can we do that?” 

He snatched up her hands from their position on her waist. “We can try.”

She hadn’t expected to smile much today given the unpleasant set of circumstances but leave it to James to turn it all around. “Do we ask the boss, Detective Abrams?”

“His relationship with Shanna helps your cause, and he’s my superior so we have to ask him. I’m not too worried about convincing him.” He brought her hand up to kiss it gently. “It’s you I’m worried about.”

“I know. I know. Dangerous situations, blah, blah, blah.” His toothy smile stopped her heart. “But I think it’s the right move. I won’t be happy waiting around for you to save the day. Don’t get me wrong, I want to work together but I need some authority. I can’t ride your coattails forever.”

He pulled her toward him. “But I want you to ride my coattails.”

She put her arms around his neck as he leaned down to press his lips against hers. Electric shocks pulsed through her body. It never got old. He had a way of turning her into jelly with one look. 

“Are we good?” he asked. 

How could she be anything but good? “We’re more than good.”

“I think we’ve scared away the rest of your family. Shall we call over some investigators to get this case rolling?”

“Sounds good, Detective.”

His eyes twinkled. “So you lost a body.”

Lily glared at him. It was bad enough a client had gone missing. She hated looking incompetent in front of her hot detective husband.

“And how do you know the body wasn’t cremated by someone?”

“We would know if the ovens were being used by someone else. Plus, it’s not an easy thing to hide as it takes several hours to cremate a body.”

“All right, someone stole it. Why?”

She shrugged. “Could be an argument between the various family members.”

James took out a small flashlight to see the dark crevices behind the appliances. “Have you seen that before?”

“Once—a disagreement among the relatives. Usually we make sure everyone is onboard with the final arrangements, but Mrs. Fisher was taken right out of the embalming room.” 

“How do you know it was a disagreement? What if they had plans to steal other bodies, including Mr. Gusev?”

“They left a note apologizing for their change of plan and they still paid the bill in full.”

James’s face scrunched into a look of confusion. “What did they do with it?”

“Hell if I know.” Lily shrugged. “The death had already been reported to the state. The note mentioned something about burying the body near a cousin. I hope they didn’t keep it in their back bedroom.” 

James flashed his light in her direction. “Tell me why you do this job again?”

“To keep Manorview PD busy.”

He pursed his lips. “Funny.”

“If it’s not a family member, then what are we left with? Some sicko interested in bodies?”

“Anything is possible. We’ll have to start with anyone close to you and the rest of your family. If you can pull your client list, we can start looking for any connections.”

“Could be random, I suppose.”

“Could be,” he said, continuing to check out the scene of the crime, “but I didn’t notice any forced entry when I got here. How would they have gotten in here?”

“So you’re saying it’s an inside job?”

He gave her one of his patented looks of husbandly patience. “I’m not saying anything. Yet. I’m calling the team over to take a look and collect evidence. Maybe there are fingerprints we can use. Who knows? We may have an expert lockpicker on our hands.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to make sure Chris and Marcia are here and know that we’ve hit a small snafu.”

“How has Chris Tuchman been doing as your new manager?”

“I have no complaints.”

“And Marcia Alonso? Are her makeover skills as good as yours?” With a wink, he waggled his brows. “Nobody brings a body back to life like you.”

“True. But she’ll have to fill in for me if I’m going to solve this case.”

James clenched his jaw. “We’ll see about that.”

“Hello!” A booming male voice could be heard from the main floor upstairs. “Anybody home?”

Lily’s eyes went wide. “Who’s that?” she asked in a whisper. 

“We’re down here in the basement,” James announced then glanced in Lily’s direction. “My old buddy, Rick Drakon, from The City. We worked together in the Bronx before I moved up here. He’d been staying at Riverside Bed and Breakfast, but I told him he could stay with us for a bit.”

“Here? At the funeral home?”

“Just for a few days.”

The steps leading from above stretched and groaned as a massive male frame bounded down the stairs. 

“Hey, buddy,” James said and leaned into the man for a guy hug. 

“Long time, no see. Thanks for letting me stay.”

Lily watched them embrace. The light from the fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling reflected off the man’s shiny bald head. 

“Lily, this Rick Drakon, an old friend,” James said, and gave his pal a playful slap on the back. “Rick, this is my wife, Lily. I’m sorry you couldn’t make it to the wedding.”

“Work does get in the way sometimes. I should have called in sick.” She smelled the aroma of musk cologne emanating from his black T-shirt. The gold chain hanging from his neck swayed as Rick leaned over, took her hand and planted a kiss on the top. “Enchanted.”

“Nice to meet you, Rick.” She didn’t know what else to say. James had sprung this on her at the last minute. “Welcome to my funeral home.”

She watched for his reaction. Not everyone wanted to sleep amongst the dead. 

He grinned. “Thank you for having me.”

She didn’t detect any trepidation on his part and could respect that. “You can stay in my sister’s old room. She recently moved out and got a place of her own.” 

“I appreciate that. I promise I won’t get in the way of business.”

“I’ll show him around town,” James said. “Obviously, this is not a big town but there’s some good fishing by Black River. We’ve got bass and pike.”

Lily had a thought. “Actually, we could use your help. It’d be nice to get an outside perspective on a case we’ve…stumbled upon.” 

James gave her a disapproving look, but she didn’t care. If she had more than one detective on hand, she wanted to use every available resource to help find the culprit. “The case won’t solve itself,” she told him. 

“I’d love to help.” Rick’s eyes narrowed. “What seems to be the problem?”

Lily pointed to the open refrigerator compartment. “One of our bodies was snatched.”