Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 76000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
“Open her up,” Tanner urges. “It’ll be okay.”
“You got permission for this?” Apollo asks me as I turn the knob.
“I filed the papers with the city. It’s all taken care of.” I pull the door open and feel inside for the light switch.
“Whoa,” Tanner says, stepping inside.
“There’s got to be a few hundred people down here.” Wolfe follows behind his friend, saying, “It’s really creepy that they’re small squares and not regular sized.”
“These are all cremated remains.” I lead them down a row to where Daniel is. “Here he is.”
“Daniel P. Snow,” Luna reads, tracing the letters with her fingertips. “Wow, he was over eighty when he died.”
“Let’s get him out of here,” I say and raise my drill.
“You know, there have to be ghosts down here,” Wolfe says, and I whirl on him, shaking my finger at him. “Or not.”
“Don’t say that. I have to live here, you big jerk. There are no ghosts here.”
“Nope. Not a one,” he agrees. “Although, I live with Rose, and it’s not so bad.”
“No ghosts,” I repeat before turning back to unscrew the front panel. “It’s not even funny to suggest it.”
“I wasn’t being funny,” Wolfe mutters as I pull out the first screw and then move on to the next. It doesn’t take me more than five minutes to remove the front plate, and then I’m met with another one on the inside.
“I guess it’s good that they reinforced these in case water ever got in here,” I mutter as I start on plate number two.
“I’m going to keep this and use it as a marker for his grave until the new one is finished,” Luna says behind me.
“Good idea,” Sarah agrees.
“Okay, this one is off.” Before I pull it away, I take a breath and look back at the five of them. “Why am I scared?”
“Because there are cremated remains in there?” Apollo asks, making me scowl. “Do you want me to do it?”
“No. I’ll do it.” I take another breath. “I need more light.”
Suddenly, several phone flashlights shine over my shoulder, and I can see better.
I pull the plain panel away and find a simple, brown box with an engraved piece of brass that reads: Daniel P. Snow.
“This is him.” I pull his box out and turn around toward the others. “I don’t know why this feels a little anticlimactic, but I won’t complain.”
“Let’s get him out of here,” Luna suggests. “Do you want to replace that panel?”
“No, it’s fine. They’re all going to be removed eventually anyway. I want to get out of here.”
It isn’t until we’re back outside that I take a deep sigh of relief.
“One down, a few hundred to go.” I smile ruefully at the others. “We have to start somewhere, I guess.”
“You guys can follow us up to the property. We already dug the hole, so it won’t take long.”
“You ride with me,” Apollo says to me, and I nod, following him to the truck.
“She must be out of sorts if she didn’t argue about riding with Apollo,” I hear Sarah say to Tanner as they walk to their own vehicle.
“Yeah, we need to end the secrecy,” I say to Apollo as I get into his truck.
“Is it weird that we’re burying him to Rose’s left when her husband is to her right?” I ask as we all stand around the gravesite.
“They need to be together,” Luna reminds me.
“I know, it’s just…weird.” I shrug and gently lower the box containing Daniel’s ashes into the small hole in the ground. “We should probably say something.”
The others nod and look around at each other, no one volunteering.
“Okay, I’ll do it.” I blow out a breath. “We are respectfully laying the remains of Daniel P. Snow into his final resting place, here by the sea where he spent so much of his life and next to the woman he loved for his whole life. Due to unfortunate circumstances, Rose and Daniel couldn’t be together in life, so we hope to reunite them in death. May they both rest in peace.”
Wolfe shovels dirt over the box, and the others nod.
“Well done,” Tanner says with a wink.
“I really do hope they both rest in peace,” I reply, looking down at both graves. Luna places the panel from the mausoleum at the head of Daniel’s grave, right next to Rose’s.
“That’s it,” she says when the dirt is all filled in. “It’s done. I’m glad they’re finally together.”
I sniff the air and smile when I smell the roses. “She’s here.”
“She’s been here the whole time,” Sarah says softly, tears in her blue eyes. “And I think she’s happy.”
“I hope so.” I nod and reach for Sarah’s hand as her other hand reaches for Luna’s. For a long moment, we stand together, high on the cliffs with the sea wind blowing around us, waiting until the smell of roses fades away. “I really hope so.”