LITMIR.BIZ

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      Still not a muscle moved in the man’s face. It reminded her of chiseled marble. “How did you come to work for Phil?”

      He looked at her, turned, poured two cups of coffee, handed her one, and took the other. Okay, he wasn’t going to answer. She decided to wait out the burn in the processing room. His hand latched onto her arm. Her stomach pitched upward. Fear tightened her gut, but she challenged him, looking down at his fingers before raising her eyes to look into his. Dead, onyx pools of liquid stared back at her. She almost jumped back. He’d snap my neck if Phil ordered it. She wondered if he’d killed the man she cremated today. Best not go there, Kyra.

      “It’s for your protection that you don’t know—don’t ask questions.” He released her arm.

      “Let’s check on our guy.” She exhaled.

      When they reached the back room, her cell phone started ringing. She checked her watch. Not much time to change into a different outfit for her date. Damn, I wanted to sex up my outfit. She looked at the number. Was fate making the decision for her? Did Jake want to cancel? It served her right if he did after what she’d done.

      “Jake?”

      Her eyes followed Phil’s man around the room as he poked his head into each room, lifting papers off counters. Nosy bastard.

      “Are we still on for tonight?” She heard apprehension in her own voice.

      “Yes, but I’m running late. I wanted to give you a heads-up. It’s not a problem, is it?”

      Problem? This is awesome. The gods must be working in my favor. “No problem. What time?” Kyra’s energy level took a boost. Jake was what she needed. “Eight?”

      “Yes.”

      “Are you still going to pick me up?”

      “Yes, I’ll see you later.” She hung up.

      “Who was that?” the guard asked.

      “My date for tonight.” She offered no more.

      After waiting the allotted time, Kyra pressed the button on the side of the chamber. The door glided open. Intense heat filled the room. The remains were a hot, glowing red. Grabbing her tools, she started to empty the chamber, pulling the rake back she hit the guard in the stomach with the handle. He groaned, but she wasn’t going to apologize. Aware he hovered behind her, she wasn’t going to let him interfere in her job.

      “If you wish to watch, it’d be better if you stood off to the side. It takes about fifteen minutes to get all the remains out of the chamber.”

      “What’s the metal thing there?”

      “If the deceased wore any rings or other gold jewelry, it will be the base metal the jeweler used to form the jewelry design before he dipped it in the gold. The metal will warp during the burn. The dental gold in the deceased’s mouth will have melted. If the person had a plate in his head or leg there’ll be a piece of unrecognizable metal at the end of the process. It will be removed and separated from the bone ashes. Sometimes, I even find remnants of the nails from the coffin.”

      “You mean my rings aren’t pure gold?”

      “No. Gold is soft. The higher the gold content, the softer the jewelry. A wedding band starts with a piece of metal formed into a circle. Next, the jeweler builds and bonds the gold around it. The metal doesn’t melt but it breaks down—though gold melts at those temperatures. Before we process or grind the remains, we have to remove the metal.”

      “What do you do with it?”

      “We discard it.”

      “You mean you throw it away?”

      Kyra turned her back to him as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Yes.”

      “I want the metal.”

      “Okay.”

      She didn’t question him. Who wore the ring was none of her business. The less she knew the better off she’d be—she wanted to live. After removing everything from the chamber, Kyra carried the remains to the processing room and scanned them for metal. After she removed the items, she put them in a separate box for the guard. She pulverized the remains in the grinder and dumped them in a plastic bag before loading them into the plastic cremation urn. Handing him the ashes, she escorted him to the hearse. He opened the back, took out a box and handed it to her.

      “What’s this?”

      “An urn.”

      “Okay, come back here.” Why the freak did he wait until after I was done, for Pete’s sake? I want to get the hell out of here.

      He followed her back into the processing room. She transferred the ashes from the temporary urn to the ornate one, handing it back to him when the transfer was complete. He reached into his pocket and handed her a thick envelope. She didn’t look inside. His smile surprised her—it brightened his whole face, revealing handsome features she had missed before. He should smile more often, he’d be less scary. She closed the garage after they pulled out, grabbed her keys and purse, set the alarm and locked up for the night.

      Kyra rushed across town. She’d burned a body for the mob. For God’s sake, the freakin mob. Though wrong, she’d now be able to afford a lawyer to fight Tom. But still, she’d burned her first body for the mob.

      When she got home, she locked the door and pulled down the shades. Then she counted the money. Phil was true to his word. In the envelope was one hundred thousand dollars. If she didn’t have a date she’d be on her way to the casino. Tonight after the date, she’d head there and try her luck. Now that she didn’t need the money, she’d probably win and go back to how it had been in the beginning. A lawyer would make all the difference in the world for her custody battle. Confused, elated, she now had money, but frightened with what happened next. She’d have to push today’s events from her mind before she went crazy.

      She walked into her bedroom. This was a cold room, not like the one she’d shared with Tommy. She hadn’t had time or money to decorate. A queen-size bed, with a white comforter thrown over it, and a dresser were all she brought for the room. She wasn’t planning on staying there once she got custody back and the house. The windows had shades and sheers covering them. She moved her bed, pried up a floorboard with a flat-head screwdriver as she hammered the end of it for leverage. When it popped off, she put ninety-five thousand dollars between the joists before she banged the board back in place. She slid the bed to its original position. Tomorrow she’d have to buy a safe. She wasn’t going to put this money in her bank account or safe deposit box.

      She shoved three thousand dollars into her purse. The other two thousand went into her suitcase in the closet. Kyra started to get ready for her date. Later, she’d have to figure out why her conscience wasn’t bothering her much. Who knew if any of her regular funeral directors had ever put an extra body in their coffins? Kyra never checked the contents, though she supposed the weight of the box was a dead giveaway. As long as who she burned was dead, her job was done. She’d have to research the law to determine if the disposal of a dead body fell in the category of a misdemeanor or a felony in the legal code. She had to be aware of the penalty if she got caught. Something she probably should’ve done before she agreed to it in the first place.

      Chapter 9

      Jake knocked harder than he’d intended. He hated when he ran late but he’d been searching for Guy Pollo for over a month for the overdose death of a teenager and today they had nabbed him. Louie had some family issues he needed to attend to. Jake had to stay to process the drug dealer.

      Kyra opened the door as he knocked. Stunning! She wore a form-fitting shirt in black with white stripes. It draped her bosom and gave him an enticing view of her cleavage. The black pencil skirt with the slit up her thigh sent his imagination into overdrive. Sexy, yet classic. He liked that she finished off her outfit with a simple string of pearls instead of clunky jewelry. And all that curly red hair she left loose fell over her shoulders.

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