The Queen Of Bad Things (Book 2)

Chapter 10. Exhumed

A few days passed since Joey asked me to help him. We hired a private investigator. We found out that the coroners that investigated the scene weren't on record anywhere. The person that viewed Jennifer and Andersen's body didn't work for the hospital. How someone could get away with such a thing was beyond me.

Depending on what we found after we exhumed Jenny's body would depend on what happened next. It seemed like things were spinning more out of control than ever before, and we had gone through an insane amount of shit.

Clouds filled the afternoon sky, hiding the sun. Thunder rumbled through the sky. My hair clung to my forehead and the back of my neck from the humidity. The hair on my arms stood up. I wasn't sure if it was because of what we were about to do or if it was the weather.

The casket rose out of the ground filled with dirt, grass, and vines from the dead roses thrown onto the casket months prior.

Luis looked at me and mashed his lips in a straight line. He shook his head. "This is the craziest shit that I have ever done. Burying someone is one thing, but raising them? This is a hundred percent insane."

"You're not kidding," Joey muttered.

"We need to know," Joanna said.

"They're going to open it. Stay back," I said to Joey and Joanna. Luis and I walked over to the casket. We figured that it was better for us to see it than for them to see it.

The investigator we hired came to stand beside us. Luis and I carefully cracked open the coffin — just enough to see the inside of it.

My heart felt like it had exploded.

Luis and I dropped the lid at the same time and stumbled backward in shock.

"I didn't get a look," the investigator said.

"Y-you don't n-need to," Luis choked.

"What is it?" Joey came up behind us.

Joanna peeked around me.

"Ace," Joanna said.

No doubt, I looked like a deer caught in the headlights. This can't be real. "The c-coffin—" I spluttered.

"What?" Joey and Joanna asked.

The investigator cracked open the coffin, then threw the lid wide open for everyone to see. The investigator turned to face us, and his eyes were wide. "In my thirty years, I have never—"

"It's empty," Joanna gasped.

Joey's knees buckled, and he fell to the ground. Joey stared at the casket in shock. "No," he breathed.

Joanna took the note that Joey wrote from the casket, which was the only thing inside of it.

Luis and I grabbed Joey and pulled Joey to his feet. The three of us stood over the empty coffin in shock.

"Damn, I guess we better dig up Andersen too," Luis said and looked at me with a horrified expression.

***

"We have to find them, Ace," Joey said. Joey paced back and forth in front of my desk. "We have to."

We found that Andersen's coffin was empty too. So, unless some whack job was robbing graves, they might not be dead.