Burnett looked at her. “Do you think we should take him in and let him spend a night regretting his behavior?”
Della glanced up at Burnett. He was really going to leave it up to her? She looked down at the pathetic excuse for a knife the were had pulled out of his pocket. “Nah, but I think he needs to know if he’s going to pull a knife on a vampire, it should be more than a pocket knife.” She handed the two-inch blade to Burnett.
Burnett nodded at the were. “Leave before I change my mind.”
The redhead ran away, his limber gait reminiscent of all weres. Suddenly, silence fell like a soft rain, and that silence seemed to echo inside Della. Toeing her shoe into the green manicured lawn, she watched the were fade into nothing but a speck on the landscape.
For the first time, she became aware of her surroundings. Silver moonlight spilled over the flat terrain. Tombstones rose from the ground like arms of the dead reaching for the sky, needing escape from the cold earth.
Every few feet, an aging statuary of a saint or an angel stood above the stones, as if guarding the graves. But were they protecting the dead, or keeping them entombed?
The sad and haunted environment brought it all back—the reason she was here. To bury Chan. But the ghostlike chill and the thought of being underground also brought to mind Natasha and Liam.
Heavy grief accompanied with a sharp sense of urgency filled her lungs. Della swallowed a shaky breath and wondered how and when Chan’s body would arrive.
A cold tingle ran down Della’s spine. Was it a ghost? Feeling dazed, she forced herself to look back at the live people standing to her right. Burnett took a step forward toward the pack leader.
The were, a good three inches shorter than Burnett, didn’t show fear, nor did his posture provoke aggressiveness. “Not to defend my ex-employee,” the were said, “but I must say, you showing up at a graveyard that is managed by weres is rather strange.”
Burnett stood a little straighter. Not to the point of defensiveness, but just enough to show he didn’t appreciate the man’s questions. “The FRU tried to contact the owner, Mr. Henderson, but was told by the receptionist he was out of the country.”
“And I was left in charge,” the were stated. “Why did you not contact me?” His words danced on the line of disrespect, but his tone held tight to caution, as did his posture.
“If you will look at your business phone, you’ll see the FRU has left three messages. And I personally left one this afternoon.”
The were brought his shoulders up a bit. “So you took it upon yourself to bypass legal procedures to obviously do something morally unethical. Is this the way the FRU regularly operates?”
Burnett’s eyes increased in brightness. But Della could tell he held himself back. No doubt, he was prepared to verbally spar to avoid a physical confrontation. “I’m not here to do anything unethical.”
The were’s brows creased in disbelief. “But that would depend on who you ask. It’s obvious you’re here to exhume a body for some form of evidence. Probably to try to pin a murder on a were, being that you’re vampire.”
Della couldn’t stop herself from speaking up. “And you make the mistake of assuming. No one is fairer than that man standing in front of you.”
The were shot Della a quick look, then refocused on Burnett as if she didn’t merit his attention. But damn, hadn’t Girl Toy already proven herself? She let go of a warning growl. The desire to move in, demand respect, bit hard.
Burnett’s gaze shifted to her ever so slightly. In that brief scrutiny, she could almost read his mind. Back down.
The pack leader adjusted his posture a little more defensively. “Do you know how much trouble this could bring down on my employer? Humans find desecration of the dead a big deal. It could cause a scandal.”
Burnett stood, feet slightly apart, arms resting at ease at his sides, and took the man’s verbal jabs without appearing insulted. He almost looked too confident—like a poker player who knew he held the ace.
“True,” Burnett said. “However, that would cause less of a scandal than, say, a graveyard accepting payoffs from a funeral home to entomb empty caskets. The whole mystery of where the bodies have gone would not only make local news, but could go national. I can almost read the headlines: Families of the deceased desperate to find the remains of their dearly departed.” He let his gaze shift around the graveyard. “How many empty caskets have you accepted from Craig Anthony and his stepfather?”
The were’s posture lost some confidence, as did the were standing at his side. Burnett obviously had the upper hand.
Though, the lead were didn’t want to admit it right off. “Seeing you’re vampire, you should know this practice is overlooked by FRU regulations.”
Burnett crossed his arms over his wide chest. “Not when the fresh turns were being turned into slaves.”
“We were not aware of that man’s actions. Our contract was with his stepfather.”
“Let’s hope that’s the way this shakes out once our investigation is complete. Yet, this brings me back to the reason I’m here,” Burnett said, relaxing his posture, as if letting the were know compromise wasn’t off the table. “I have the body of someone for whom you have the empty casket. I simply want to put the deceased to rest in his proper grave.”
The were must not have been big on compromising. “That’s not protocol. If we start that, we’ll be burying and exhuming graves constantly. Besides, if the fresh turn died, his family will never know. They already think he’s in the box. What they don’t know can’t hurt them. They’re just humans.”
Just humans! “I will know,” Della said, her tone one shade lighter than black, and her eyes two shades brighter.
The were actually took a step back. “Fine. Dig up whoever you want. I’ll even supply you with a backhoe. If the boss wants to murder someone over this, I’ll tell him to go to the FRU.”
* * *
Thirty minutes later, the grave dug, Della sat on green winter grass, running her hands over the manicured blades and watching the backhoe pull Chan’s casket from the ground. Before the two security guards left, the other agents had shown up. The zipped tarp they brought with them now waited to the right of the gravestone carrying Chan’s full name.
She knew Chan’s body lay inside that plastic. Closing her eyes, she tried to decide if she wanted to see him. Should she hold on to the last memory she had of his face? The last time she’d seen him was when she was being Reborn and had fallen into the coma. They’d been in the clouds and he’d been happy, smiling his silly grin and teasing her about something. But about what?