Perfect Night (Mason Creek)

When I got home, I called her. “I know you want me to stay out of your life, but I just saw Cory.” I told her about our conversation. The parts that had to do with her. She listened and didn’t comment.

“Is that all?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Thanks.”

And that was it. I hadn’t seen much of her since I’d been back in town. She was true to her word of doing her own thing and I had to let her.

Later that night, I couldn’t sleep. I sat on my bed with my laptop reviewing the security footage frame by frame to see just where the rental car had gone when my phone rang.

“Emma,” I said.

She sniffed. “They’re doing it now. I thought I could be here by myself—”

“You don’t have to. I’ll be there.”

I took off the shorts I’d been wearing, threw on some jeans, and grabbed my keys. I drove the long way avoiding a drive through town and pulled up behind Emma’s MINI Cooper ten minutes later.

There in the dark, a backhoe worked to remove dirt. I hopped out of my truck and went to Emma’s passenger side. I knocked. She turned and moonlight lit up her face. I took in her red-rimmed eyes before she unlocked the door.

It was almost comical how I had to fold myself to get into her car. I was tall and the car was low to the ground. Once in, it was semi-comfortable. Better than I thought. I reached out an arm and Emma leaned into me. I held her while she cried. This couldn’t be easy. I didn’t want to imagine the day I would have to say goodbye to either or both of my parents. She’d done it twice.

I stroked her hair and murmured things like ‘I’ve got you’ as her father’s grave was unearthed.

“It’s going to be some kind of awful tomorrow,” she said in my chest. “I asked them to do it late or really early, but people are going to find out.”

They were and there would be lots of questions. I was happy the sheriff was away. Though he’d hear about it even on the lake. Someone would call and he would call me. I wasn’t looking forward to it.

“Am I making a mistake?” she asked, on a hiccupping whimper.

“You want justice for your dad?”

She jerkily nodded without pulling away.

“Then you’re doing the right thing.”

“I hope so. This is costing me a fortune.”

I was angry then. “If the sheriff would have done his job, it wouldn’t have cost you a thing.”

She pulled away. “What do you know?”

“Not much. But he should have investigated it. The missing security disk was enough to question the circumstances surrounding your father’s death. Doing an autopsy then would have given answers that we might not get now.”

“You haven’t found anything else?”

Because we hadn’t spoken, I brought her up to date. “I have security footage of a car driving by the bar shortly after your father arrived.”

“It didn’t stop?”

I shook my head. “But it was driving slow as if the person was calculating whether or not to go in.”

“Did you get the license plate?”

“I did. But it’s a rental. Without suspicion of a crime, I won’t be able to get a judge to sign off on a warrant to get more information.”

“Will the autopsy help?”

“It could.” I was banking on it.

Emma would face backlash if she dug up her father and the medical examiner couldn’t label her father’s death as either suspicious or a homicide. And unlike wearing my shirt, that was something the town people would never forget.

When they brought up the casket, I held onto her tighter until the contractor came over with something she needed to sign. Then they drove off with her father in a van.

“I don’t want to be alone,” she said.

The only question was, “Your place or mine?”

“Yours,” she said. “I don’t care what anyone says.”

When we arrived at my place, I had her park her car out back in the garage while I parked my truck in the driveway. No matter what she said, she didn’t need the added scrutiny of the town. It would be bad enough when everyone questions why she dug up her father.

Back in my bed, she wore another one of my shirts. This time a favorite baseball tee I’d kept from high school. I hadn’t been as big, so this one barely covered her ass.

The sadness in her eyes kept me in check as I held her.

“You can always tell people it’s none of their business,” I said, after placing a kiss on the top of her head.

“About us or about my dad?” she asked before yawning.

That caught me off guard and I struggled with an answer. Before I could, her breathing evened out. She was tired, and probably not sleeping.

My answer would have to wait.