The Remains Of The Dead Part 14

"And the worst part is you brought it on yourself by agreeing to have dinner with a lunatic!" he screamed in her ear.

Sadie pulled the cell phone away from her head and shouted back. "We were in a public place the entire time and I only went so I could ask him about Trudy."

"You're not a cop, Sadie!" he yelled and added a few more curses.

"I gotta go," she said and hung up.

The drive over wasn't easy. She couldn't find a song on the radio good enough to distract her from thoughts about her trip to the police station earlier, the slashed tires, the threatening message in dirt, and her argument with Zack. Obviously, that was a lot of pressure to put on a song.

Instead, twice she punched in Mrs. Toth's phone number and twice she hung up before completing the call. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for not calling the woman and blowing off steam. The only thing that stopped her was realizing the truth. Mrs. Toth had acted logically. Let's face it: The woman let a total stranger into her son and daughter-in-law's house to clean, and the result was that valuable jewelry went missing. The conclusion Mrs. Toth drew wasn't a stretch, and Sadie highly doubted she would believe the truth if Sadie spelled it out for her.

Sadie turned her wipers on high to combat the constant drizzle. She took the Bridgeport Way exit into Tacoma. The street she was looking for was only a few blocks from Lakewood Towne Center, but she wasn't in a shopping kind of mood.

A turn down a side street took her to an area of older, unremarkable homes in a middle-cla.s.s neighborhood with large lots and mature trees. She found the house, pulled into the long narrow drive, and pressed the remote provided to her by Mr. Yenkow. The door to the attached garage slid upward and she pulled her van inside and closed the garage door behind her. It was always nice to have a garage area as a safe zone where she could store her things and change. She also wouldn't have to cart her supplies through the rain to get them to the house.

The pungent smell of death hung in the air even in the garage. No matter how many unattended death scenes Sadie cleaned, the stench was never easy to handle.

Once she was suited up in full gear, she entered the house. First she would take pictures of the area to be cleaned, and then she'd search the home for the insurance papers needed to make the claim. Mr. Yenkow had said his wife took care of the bills and he had no idea where she kept such records, so Sadie expected it might take a while to find the doc.u.ments. The day was young, though, and she was confident that there'd be time to get down to the nitty-gritty.

Telltale flies greeted her when she entered the house. Since the body had been removed a week ago, many of the flies and maggots would have died off by now, but there were still enough of them to cause her to wave them away. At the end of the job, she would sweep up all the dead ones throughout the house and flush them down the toilet-although the idea of filling Kent Lasko's car with them was appealing.

The scene was contained in the living room, where Mr. Yenkow said he had discovered his wife. Since the woman had pa.s.sed a couple of weeks before he'd found her, there was no doubt it was an image he wouldn't quickly forget. At least Sadie's work would prevent this family from undergoing further trauma. When she was done, the place would be like new. Still, it was doubtful that Mr. Yenkow would choose ever to move back in. People seldom did.

Sadie had no problem locating exactly where the body had been. Small bits of tissue that had sloughed off it clung stubbornly to the carpet. Dried skin and yellowish fluid covered an expanse in the center of the living room and the surviving flies and maggots were having a drunken party in the residue.

Mrs. Yenkow had been a pet.i.te j.a.panese woman in her early sixties. She had a penchant for seductive lingerie, specifically fuchsia teddies. Sadie knew this because Mrs. Yenkow, or the essence thereof, stood before her now, worriedly wringing her hands.

"h.e.l.lo," Sadie said and the woman jumped.

"You-you can see me?" she stammered, her eyes growing large in her round face.

"Yes, although I'd rather not," Sadie said, referring to the ghost's scantily clad body. Most of the time it was a relief to see the body of a natural death as it had pa.s.sed, rather than its decomposing corpse. Today she wasn't so sure.

Sadie looked up at the ceiling instead of directly at the woman.

"I thought I was losing my mind," Mrs. Yenkow continued, giggling nervously. "I hid when George came home, of course, because I didn't want him to see me like this, but for some reason I haven't been able to change my clothes...." Her voice trailed off.

"George? Oh, right. Mr. Yenkow. I met him earlier today."

"It would break his heart to see me wearing this. He might figure out about me and Ted."

"Ted?"

"He's our neighbor."

"Ahh." Sadie nodded in understanding. "That's why the lingerie?"

"Yes. Please pardon my appearance."

First Trudy and now Mrs. Yenkow. Was n.o.body on this planet faithful anymore?

"I don't understand it," Mrs. Yenkow murmured. "People have been coming and going, but n.o.body seems to be able to see me. At least, not until you showed up." She shook her head slowly from side to side. "By the way, who are you?"

"George hired me to clean your house."

"Really? That's quite the getup you have on." She smirked and waved her manicured hand at Sadie's blue Tyvek jumpsuit. "I usually just wear a sweat suit when I clean. You must use some pretty powerful cleansers."

"You might say that."

"Oh, I get it!" Mrs. Yenkow clapped her hands together excitedly. "This is my anniversary gift, right? George did that before-you know, hired Molly Maid to come in and tidy up for my birthday. So sweet of him, really." She was wringing her hands again and began pacing.

"Mrs. Yenkow, I think we both know that's not why he hired me," Sadie said softly.

"Of course it is," she protested. "The place is an absolute mess and I've been working such long hours at the hotel it's been hard to find the time to get everything done. When I retire next year it'll be different, though. Why, just look at the dust that's collected on the furniture-and what's that sticky, disgusting goop all over the floor?"

"That would be you, Mrs. Yenkow," Sadie said evenly.

"What?!"

The woman had finally stopped pacing, but now she looked as though she'd been slapped.

"You had a stroke and died alone here in your house while George was out of town. It was probably shortly after Ted left you that first evening, because n.o.body noticed you'd pa.s.sed until George returned. For some reason, your spirit has held on to this place."

"No," Mrs. Yenkow whispered. Then she shook her head violently and her voice rose to a shout. "You're insane! You're a crazy person! How can I be dead? That's just not possible."

"I'm afraid it is."

"If I'm dead, then how come we're standing here talking?" she demanded triumphantly, placing her hands on her hips and thrusting out her chest, making her look even more ridiculous in her tight lace teddy.

"When I clean death scenes, the spirit of the deceased can sometimes communicate with me. I don't know why it happens, but it usually means they're in denial about their pa.s.sing, or sometimes they have a message that they want me to relay to those they've left behind."

"Noooo!" she screamed, and the shrill sound was a siren in Sadie's head that caused the fillings in her teeth to vibrate. Then, just as suddenly as she had appeared, Mrs. Yenkow was gone.

"She'll be back," Sadie grimly said to herself.

There'd been no shimmer or gradual fading to indicate that the spirit had made the transition to go beyond this world.

With her ears still ringing, Sadie began her search for the insurance doc.u.ments. She looked in all the usual places, like drawers and cabinets, and finally located them in a shoe box on the top shelf of the bedroom closet. She took the paperwork out to the van.

Then she made a few more trips back and forth to bring in supplies and waste bins. She needed emulsifiers to soften the dried tissue, cleansers, and scrub brushes.

Sadie worked hard and sweat soon ran down her back and pooled under her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She'd wanted to clean this job alone, to work through her day's frustrations, but after she and Zack had talked on the phone he had insisted on showing up.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gone off on you," he said.

"I'm okay."

"Okay, huh? Is that why you've been scrubbing the same square inch for ten minutes?"

"I hate that Sylvia Toth accused me of stealing." Sadie was surprised at how calm her voice was, since her heart was thumping so hard.

"n.o.body who knows you would call you a thief," Zack said.

"The cops found it in my coat, Zack. If word gets out, Scene-2-Clean could be ruined."

Zack's face grew serious. His dark eyes were hard and slitted, and Sadie could see the cop he used to be written all over his face.

"Let's start again-and this time tell me everything."

She told him about the tires then, using the same detached, calm voice that was contrary to the way her blood was boiling beneath the surface of her skin.

"I'm going to kill him," Zack snarled when she'd concluded her tale. "I'm going to rip his arms right out of their sockets and stuff them up his-"

"First you'd have to find him," Sadie interrupted. "And I want first crack at killing him."

They worked together then, ripping out the carpet and scrubbing the floor beneath.

"I can do what's left on my own," Sadie announced.

"Okay. I'll carry the bins out to the van and then be on my way," Zack said.

Once he'd left, Sadie was revisited by Mrs. Yenkow.

"I bought a card for George for our anniversary. I didn't get to give it to him," she said.

Sadness colored the woman's tone, and Sadie felt a surge of emotion. She knew it all boiled down to moments like these.

"I can help you, Mrs. Yenkow," Sadie said, suddenly eager to do just that. "You're still here because you wanted George to have that card. Do you remember where you left it?"

Sadie found the card in the dresser, where Mrs. Yenkow had said it would be, and at her insistence Sadie read it to the woman out loud.

"You'll always be my knight in shining armor," she read. The words were printed in glittery silver letters over a comical Adonis riding an equally funny stallion. Inside Mrs. Yenkow had signed it, "Forever, your Pooky-Bear."

"I really loved him." Mrs. Yenkow sniffed.

"And yet you were sleeping with the neighbor," Sadie couldn't resist adding. She immediately regretted her tone when she saw the injured look on the woman's face. "Sorry. That's really none of my business."

"Our s.e.x life may have been lacking, but that doesn't mean we didn't love each other deeply," Mrs. Yenkow said haughtily.

Although it was difficult to take a sixty-year-old woman in a fuchsia teddy seriously, Sadie got her point.

"Right. Again, I'm sorry."

"We were married for over forty years. That's not an easy thing to accomplish. Sure we had some rough times, but I a.s.sure you that most of it was perfectly fine."

G.o.d save me from forty years of "fine," Sadie thought.

"I'll make sure that George gets the card, Mrs. Yenkow. Is there anything else? I'm here to help you."

"It must be hard for you to be a sort of middleman," Mrs. Yenkow said.

"I sure fought it in the beginning," Sadie admitted. "I thought I'd been cursed." She chuckled. "But you know what? It's given me a purpose on this planet that I never had before."

"Don't tell me you actually enjoy this?" Mrs. Yenkow asked incredulously.

"When I can help, yeah, I love it." Sadie grinned. "Is there a message you want me to give to George with the card?"

"Can you just make sure that he knows that I loved him very much?"

"I'll tell him," Sadie said, her tone softening.

"Good." Mrs. Yenkow sighed. "I feel kind of funny."

Sadie watched as Mrs. Yenkow's edges faded and a soft flicker began at her fingertips and toes and worked its way inward.

"You're ready," Sadie said breathlessly. Sometimes the wonder of it all still amazed her. "Good-bye, Mrs. Yenkow."

The woman faded, her essence shimmering until, finally, she was gone.

Sadie broke into a laugh and fisted the air.

"Yes!" she cried. "I've still got it!"

She stripped off her gear in the garage and dumped it into one of the remaining bins before climbing into her van. She turned up the radio on the drive home and loudly sang along. She realized that this was what had been missing lately. The adrenaline rush of pure joy she got from helping someone go over.

At home, she did a triple rinse and repeat to wash away the stench of decay. Then she brushed her teeth and gargled to remove the taste of it from her mouth. It never totally worked. At least not as well as a few shots of sambuca.

With the tall dark bottle and a shot gla.s.s in hand, Sadie made her way to the couch and used the remote to flip on the TV. She was channel-surfing and on her second shot of the licorice-flavored liqueur when Dawn called, wanting to chat.

"You'll never believe the strange day I've had," she said.

"Did it involve the police or conversing with a ghost wearing nothing but a lace teddy?"

Pause.

"Never mind," Sadie said. "I've had a weird day myself but you go first."

"Well, our office received some letters that were to go to a company on the floor above us, so on my break I walked them up. I like to take the stairs as often as possible because it's good cardio."

"Hmmm." Sadie downed her second shot and poured herself a third.

"Anyway, to make a long story short, I got a new job."

"What?"

"Dr. John Irwin, who runs the office upstairs, offered me a job. Turns out his office manager quit on him this morning because of a family emergency, and he was pulling his hair out when I showed up."

"So you're going to walk out on your current job, just like that?"