Page 45 of Confessions of the Dead

Gerald didn’t answer.

He didn’t have to.

Matt could see it in the coroner’s face.

They don’t like … what I do to them after … they pass, Gerald had said.They’re angry with me.

Gerald sat up, jerked upright so quickly his head smacked against Matt’s jaw with a painful crack. “They’re coming for me … every last one of them … it’s not safe here! Don’t you hear them?DON’T YOU HEAR THEM?!”

Pain shot up through Matt’s jawbone, where his teeth had cracked together, stunned him. If not for that, he might have gotten a better grip on the man before Gerald rolled off the side of the metal tray and dropped to the tile floor.

“Gerald, don’t—”

Matt grabbed for him, but the coroner shuffled out of reach, his bloody fingers leaving dark smears on the otherwise pristine white tile floor.

“They want to take me!” Gerald shouted. “Bring me back withthem! Make me answer for what I—” His voice cut off abruptly. His beady eyes locked on the door behind Matt. Still trembling, either from cold or fright, he raised his hand and pointed over Matt’s shoulder with a bony finger. “Tell her she can’t have me! I didn’t mean to hurt her! Stop her, Matt!STOP HER!”

Matt spun around, his hand back on his gun, and found no one.

They were alone.

“Ger, you need to calm down!” Matt told him. “I think the cold is making you—”

“Delusional? Crazy?” He shook his bloody finger. “She’s right there!” On wobbly legs he rose, stumbled, then steadied himself against the gurney Matt had used to bring in Norman Heaton. “Get back, Aubrey! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

With whatever strength he could muster, Gerald Furber pushed the gurney forward. It shot across the exam room, bounced off the edge of the door frame, and rocketed back toward Matt. Matt caught it, but not before it blocked his path as the coroner ran from the room. By the time Matt reached the hallway, Gerald was at the front door of the funeral parlor, fumbling the locks with bloody hands. “She’s right behind you!”

There was nobody behind Matt. He bolted down the hallway, but by the time he reached the door, it was open and Gerald was thirty feet down the sidewalk, his body jerking and stuttering like a car that didn’t want to start.

Matt would have chased after him if he had not seen Gabby standing kitty-corner across the street, in front of the now deserted Stairway Diner. Someone had managed to get plywood up over the broken windows. Gabby had her phone pressed to her ear, her face lined with concern.

When she spotted Matt, she waved him over. “Riley’s not answering!”

36

LOG 10/16/2023 21:18 GMT-4

TRANSCRIPT: AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING

Sordello:

Was he hallucinating, or do you believe he actually saw a dead person?

Maro:

Seriously? What kind of question is that?

---