Page 117 of The Last One to Let You Down

Ha, right, and she totally used to be a bank robber, too.

Tom dismissed his crazy thoughts as he pulled into the funeral home parking lot, smiling when he saw Cypress’s big van. He parked next to him, waving as he got out of his car.

Cypress rolled down his window, saying firmly, “Thirty minutes. Do what you gotta do and come right back out. I’m staying right here. If I don’t see you in thirty minutes, I’m coming in there.”

“I’ll be fine,” Tom said, trying to believe his own words. “In and out, I swear.”

“Okay, baby. Go on. Sooner you’re done, sooner we can leave.”

Tom rubbed Cypress’s arm. “Thank you. I’ll be so fast you won’t even notice I’m gone.” He turned to go, walking quickly to the back door to punch in the code and step inside.

The hallway was only minimally crowded with two caskets and one stack of boxes today, and he was able to wiggle through to the prep room in no time at all.

He found Mr. Lundy dressed and casketed, and all the wax on his forehead had been smeared to reveal the stitches beneath. The wax Tom had used was pretty firm, and he had no idea what could have caused so much damage.

Brushing up against him shouldn’t have left more than a smudge, but this looked like it had been done on purpose.

“Fuck, I really am getting paranoid,” Tom mumbled to himself. He put on gloves and got to work repairing the wax, smoothing it back out to hide the stitches once more. It didn’t take him as long as the first time, and he was able to reapply the makeup quicker, too.

As much as he didn’t want to go into the office, he figured he needed to let Aaron or whoever else was here know that he was done.

In and out, super quick.

He peeked his head into the main office, spying Scott the removal tech snoozing at his desk, and Earl was on the phone.

Earl hung up when he saw Tom. “Thought you were supposed to be out on that doobiedigger, that vacation of yours.”

“Hey.” Tom waved. “Aaron called me to fix up Mr. Lundy. Just popping in for a quick second.” He frowned at Scott when he started to snore. “Long night?”

“Five new calls,” Earl replied grimly. “He was first up, and he’s back on tonight.”

“Nobody to cover?”

“Junior’s MIA, you’re on vacation, and none of my part-time guys are available. Scott is in no shape to work. He fell the fuck asleep trying to open his damn Pop Tarts a second ago.”

“I’m done with Mr. Lundy, so I’m headed home,” Tom said quickly. He didn’t want to be rude, but he could feel himself getting pulled in. He needed to get out of here.

“Ah, well. I trust your magnificent restorative efforts have been fruitful?”

“Yeah, all apple and oranges.”

Scott’s head suddenly shot up, and he loudly exclaimed, “Banana!”

Tom stared as Scott looked all around in sleepy confusion before dropping back down on the desk without another word.

“Wow.”

“See? Not fuckin’ fit for being on call tonight,” Earl grumbled. “Guess Bosco will have to fly solo.”

“What if you get a house call?”

“Fuck, I guess my old ass is going out there.”

“Maybe I could be on call for a little bit?” Tom offered hesitantly to assuage the creeping guilt. “I mean, Scott just needs some sleep, right?”

“Hey, I have a great idea.” Earl gasped. “How about you go on call for a little bit, just long enough for Scotty to get some sleep?”

“You’re a genius.” Tom cringed inwardly, already certain that Cypress was going to be angry with him over this. “Yeah, I’ll do it. Let’s say until what? Nine o’clock?”