Chapter Seven
Lily’s original plan had been to watch Rick like a hawk and hope he did something incriminating in front of her, but instead she found herself staring at Zachary. She watched him grimace as he lifted boxes of inventory to stock up the embalming room with supplies. It’d been almost a year since he’d been brutally stabbed right outside the funeral home’s front door. His recovery had been fairly quick, but she wondered if he’d rushed back to work a little prematurely. Before she could offer some help, she noticed Rick had beat her to it.
“Hey, let me help you with those,” Rick announced as he entered the embalming room.
She wanted to hear more, so she figured organizing the hall linen closet right then and there seemed like a good idea. As she pulled out a couple of towels to fold a bit neater, she overheard their conversation.
“How’s it going?” Rick asked Zachary.
“Not bad.” He responded. “Trying to get some of this grunt work out of the way.”
“Isn’t everything you do grunt work?”
She heard Zachary laugh. “I’m glad you’re here, man. Things are less boring.”
“Oh, so I’m purely here for your entertainment,” Rick replied.
“Something like that.”
She also heard Rick’s laugh. Her heart sank. The man seemed to be filling the role of father figure for her brother. That’s all she needed, a detective with a gruesome ancient ritual side hustle, taking Zachary under his wing. It was happening right under her roof, and she needed to stop it.
“I’m glad I’m serving some purpose while I’m here,” Rick said. “We should play hoops later. You need to redeem yourself from last time.”
“You cheated.”
“That’s what they all say. But that’s fine. You need a little practice that’s all.”
“Is that right?”
“I’d be happy to offer you some pointers and share my expertise.”
“Wow, listen to you. Where’d you get all that confidence?”
“I was born with it.”
“Must be nice. Blind confidence.”
“Hey, stick with me and soon you’ll be making all the right moves.”
Lily snorted—all the right moves to jail. She shook her head in disappointment. Had she neglected Zachary? Was he really this easy to manipulate?
“Sounds good I guess,” Zachary replied.
“Are you sure you don’t need any help?”
“Yeah, I’m almost done with this. Next, I’m going to break down the cardboard boxes.”
“Seems like you need a promotion,” Rick said.
Lily seethed. Who the heck was he? Putting things in Zachary’s mind to win him over and go against her. Rick, for sure, needed to go.
“Yeah,” Zachary chuckled. “Maybe you can put in a good word for me.”
“I will. Listen, I’ll hit you up later for grub.”
“All right, later.”
Lily continued to straighten the linens in the closet as Rick walked past her. He hadn’t noticed her deep in the closet as he headed upstairs. She waited until she heard him shut Shanna’s door before she entered the embalming room.
“How’s it going, Zach? Need help?” Lily kneeled down to grab bottles of embalming fluid out of the box.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“How are things with your girlfriend?”
“Julie’s good. She’s always worried about me though.”
“Is she worried about your safety working here?”
Zachary glanced at Lily. The family business was a touchy subject. “After what happened last year, I don’t blame her. But now you’ve got even more security on hand to keep people in check.”
“More security?”
“Yeah. Isn’t that why Rick’s here? To help us out?”
“Sort of. James thought Rick could watch over the business while he and I went on our honeymoon. I’m not sure he really thought it through though.”
“Honeymoon? Where are you guys going?”
“Hawaii.”
“Wow. Can I come?”
“No, sorry. I’m not even sure if we should go.”
“Why not? It seems like James has it all figured out and you’ll have a good time getting away from everything here.”
“We would have a good time but how can I trust Rick with our business? I don’t know him from some random guy off the street.”
“He’s not a random person off the street. He’s a friend and a detective. Is there a better combo?”
Lily changed her tone. “You like him, huh?”
“What’s not to like? He plays hoops with me. The other day he showed me how to barbecue ribs on the grill with his secret sauce. And he listens to me. I’m not sure what your beef is with him but so far he’s been a pretty upstanding guy.”
Lily rubbed her temples. Hearing all this devotion to Rick brought on a headache. “You know you can always do that stuff with James. He’s always available.”
“James is not always available. I’ve never once seen him show any interest in sports or grilling.”
“All right, but I’m sure there are things that you two would both be interested in if you took the time to figure it out.”
“James doesn't have time. He’s always on call. The last time we went out to dinner he had to leave before he finished his entree.”
Lily bit the insides of her cheeks. He wasn’t wrong. She couldn’t argue with him, but she needed to push him in the opposite direction—away from evil. “True, but I think both of you can try harder. I’ll talk to James about it. But I get it. I don’t know Rick like you do.”
“Well, you should try harder to get to know him. Not everyone out there is trying to destroy the family business.”
A lump formed in her throat. That stung. But that was exactly how she felt, under attack. She tapped his shoulder. “Don’t you worry. Before we leave for our honeymoon, I’ll make an effort to get to know him and make sure we are all on the same page.”
She left her brother to his work, but she already knew more than enough about Rick. It broke her heart that Zachary had bonded with a criminal. Her job, along with Shanna, was to protect the family and the business and she would do it at whatever the cost, even if it made her the bad guy.