The Cool Room by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 62

It was less than a week that Emily knocked on Frank’s office door. After making a series of phone calls, she had been offered a position at the Albany County morgue. It wasn’t the industry she wanted to spend her life in, but it wasn’t a place about to be overrun by strangers whose goal was to use a funeral home as a drug den either. The pay was about the same, but Emily considered the move temporary until a position in her chosen field came along.

“Emily,” Frank said. “Come on in.”

With nervous steps, she walked into his office holding an envelope. His attention immediately being drawn to it gave him cause for concern. An envelope presented in such a way generally contained either a resume or a notice of resignation. “So, what’s up?” he continued.

Emily was visibly nervous. This was her first job out of college, and she was already leaving. She honestly enjoyed working there – the town was small and quiet. Set in the foothills of the Adirondacks, it seemed to give off an almost pastoral feeling. But the mood of the town had turned dark as Emily discovered what lay hidden in its shadows and back alleys. She knew that drugs had become a problem everywhere but having settled in a small town gave her the impression of being immune to that reality. With this change of perception thrust upon her, Emily came to the conclusion that nothing is sacred and the best she could do was to try to remain at a distance from it. “Um, I’m sorry,” she began. “But I’ve decided to move on to something else.”

Taking the envelope, Frank opened it and slipped out the single sheet of paper. Glancing it over, he looked up at Emily while sitting back in his chair. “Usually people give two weeks' notice,” he said. “Is something wrong? Maybe I can change your mind.”

There wasn’t anything Frank could say that convince her to remain, especially with what she knew. She tried with great difficulty to control her body language, but some things cannot be suppressed. Seeing her reaction, Frank strongly suspected that Emily may have overheard the conversation regarding the strangers about to take up residence. He could think of no other reason for her anxiety. But he also believed that she might be doing him a favor – leaving instead of getting caught up in what was about to unfold. It was quite possible that if she remained, she could become a liability, and drug dealers are not known for possessing a moral code. In fact, one of the rules outlined by Frank was that no one gets hurt. Yet, in a pinch, Frank did not believe that the unnamed man would honor that particular stipulation. “Actually,” Emily said. “I got a call from the Albany morgue. They want me to come back, and they offered me more money. But I have to start right away. I’m sorry.”

Frank understood that money is always a leading factor in what people choose to do with their lives. The decision he had made was certainly an example of that. Still, he remained suspicious of the suddenness and timing of her resignation but chose not to pursue the matter and treat it as he would with anyone else.

“Well,” he said. “It won’t be the same around here without you. Does Jonathan know yet? You might want to stick around and say goodbye.” Although they had worked together for less than a year, they had become close. Having repeated visits to his house for dinner with his wife also brought them together as family. Now, being forced into this realization brought a flood of emotions to the surface as she tried to hold back the tears that would eventually come forth. But this was not the time. It was enough that she was leaving under such sinister conditions but to embarrass herself might only compound matters.

“Is he here?” she asked.

Frank hesitated as he tried to remember if he saw Jonathan arrive.

“Um, yeah,” he said. “I think he’s back there. I picked up a new client this morning at the nursing home.”

Choking back her emotions, Emily nodded and asked if she could go back to the cool room to say goodbye.

“Of course,” Frank said. “Oh, anytime you want to come back you just give me a call, okay?” She nodded again and quietly left the office leaving Frank with the certainty that she had, in fact, eavesdropped on a conversation that should have been held in secret.

Walking down the hallway, Emily knocked on the stainless steel door and hearing Jonathan’s voice from the other side opened it and stepped in. Seeing her in street clothes left him puzzled, wondering if she would soon prepare for work. “Emily,” he said. “You going to get ready for work? I could use some help with this one.” He pointed out areas of heavy facial discoloration resulting from the position the body was in upon the moment of death. Pushing back the sheet, she noticed the same discoloration on the arm and hand – the same side of the body as that of the face. “It’s just lividity,” she said. “Come on, Jonathan, you’ve got this.”

Massaging the rigor from the muscles, Jonathan realized that Emily was leaving and would likely not return.

“So,” he began. “Why are you leaving?” Emily wasn’t sure what she should say, or if she should say anything at all. She certainly couldn’t tell him that his boss was about to begin trafficking cocaine from his place of work. But she couldn’t allow him to remain ignorant of what was about to develop, and struggled to find a way of warning him.

“Well,” she replied. “I got an offer from the Albany morgue.”

Jonathan was surprised at her decision to return there.

“But that’s not what you want to do,” he said. “Your place is here. This is what you love to do. Come on, Emily, what’s going on?” At a loss for words, Emily walked around the table and, kissing him on the cheek, whispered a vague warning.

“Find someplace else.”

With his hands still gripping the dead muscle, Jonathan paused and looking at Emily asked for an explanation.

“What are you talking about?”

With Frank’s office within earshot, Emily was unable to tell him what she had heard but hoped that once he began seeing strangers moving into the cellar he would remember her words. “Just be careful,” she replied.

From behind her, she heard footsteps as Frank walked into the cool room. The sound alone frightened her as she felt her legs became stiff and sweat beaded up on her forehead. Turning toward the door, Emily looked back and raising a hand said goodbye, leaving Jonathan both stunned and puzzled. He looked at Frank as if expecting an explanation but received only silence paired with a suspicious glare.

Stepping past Frank, Emily proceeded down the hall and grasping the doorknob hesitated. She thought about what she was leaving – her first job out of college, the ideal co-worker, and life in a small town. It was all so perfect. But in the end, it was too perfect, too comfortable, and it pained Emily to leave the life she had so quickly come to love. But knowing what was to become of Frank’s Funeral Home she had no choice and with eyes tearing up she turned the doorknob, opened the door and walked out. The truth of the matter was that there was never a phone call or a job offer. Emily left the funeral home without a job to go to, having made arrangements to stay with a former college roommate until employment could be found. But as she closed the door, she glanced up at Frank, who watched with a suspicious gaze. Given her behavior, Frank was again struck by the reality that Emily knew what had been said during the conversation in his office. Had the unnamed man arrived on the expected day, Emily might not be leaving for a job that didn’t exist. The question for Frank was would he be willing to hire a replacement for Emily? Should he pursue that course of action, his plans would risk discovery, and he didn’t need things becoming more complicated than he expected they would. Of course, this meant that Jonathan was on his own and having had Emily there, he no longer felt over-worked and was getting home at a reasonable time. Without Emily, those days would soon return.