Part 38 (2/2)
As anyone who ever took money to perform a hushed deed knew, the covenant was sealedin blood, or out of it
Warily, they crested a srown crypts with burnished plaques, or else nondescript plots, with headstones in various sizes and degrees of orna despite years of experience, skulking through the graveyard at this late hour, two shapes hunched with their profession, aelse was still, except the slow roll of shadows as night shi+fted overhead
They needed to be quick They weren't actually supposed to be here, for a very simple reason Death had been lax of late The exception obviously stowed in a burlap sack the leader pushed forward in his handcart
He stopped ”Do you hear so?” he asked
”Quiet as the toly They were in a hurry, and he didn't have tih himself to last a lifetime
”Not the toure bundled unco the hedhis eyes up to the heavens, before shaking his head He had a pair of spades over his shoulder he put down forcefully, striding froe
”I don't see anything wrong with him, other than the fact he's dead”
”Or she,” said the Leader ”After all, it could be a girl”
”It could be Or it could be nothing Actually it is nothing Not any we need is to be taken for a pair of grave robbers, by soly at the body ”Very tall for a girl What do you say we take a peek?”
”I don't like it Andre And I thought I heard so”
”What,” said Andre, ”a ain!”
Andre dropped down to his knees He had heard it Barely perceptible at first, but there, like a groan, but soft,voice, almost The body remained immobile
”You felt it, it was stiff as a board,” hissed the ht ”Bodies don't just reani hiical
The othersilently at first, before joining Andre with his nose pressed nearly to the outline of the head ”I have heard it said that they are marked, sos” They stood like that for so to move Nearly fifteen minutes had elapsed before either of them spoke It was Thierry who broke the silence
”Where did you say this body cahts seeh both men's minds What to do if their worst fears were true, if they had been charged with the burial of a living corpse?
Andre said, ”I didn't, and neither did you, remember? We're not supposed to be here”
”Because it could be him,” said Thierry, somewhat shakily
”Who?”
”You know, the one who's been in the newsPeter Panico”
”I don't buy it And I don't think this could be hi,” said Andre, ”you're either one or the other, but not both”
”There's an easy way to check that,” said Thierry, but fell silent at the look from his comrade
”For another, those were the work of a monster not easily quelled, I don't think”
”Look at the size of hi this place Besides, there are claw marks If we could just check”
”No”
Andre was adaureed upon without words They would dig Or, rather, re-dig The essence of the job was in secrecy No evidence, iht, thought Thierry, ti thought
It was al on Their business had never been this busynor Andre so on edge
It was arduous going, at first, the soil hard with the winter frost The age of the grave didn't help er Least he'd have conized that now Did they even come in females? He reckoned theyto deflect from the desecration Still, Andre was uneasy, and he couldn't help thinking Thierry had a point It would be wise to see who they were buryingif just for piece of mind; but the price said otherwise They had mind readers, after all The Lenoir would know
One h it may have sounded, Andre valued his reputation He wouldn't let Thierry lead the 4 am, the sun would be up in a few hours, when they found what they were looking for Throwing their shovels on top of the precariousall the while: hurry, hurryto brush back the dirt from the cheap pine lid of the coffin, which had lain undisturbed for nearly two decades A how it had survived intact all this tio this bit,” said Thierry, who had suddenly realized the time They had wasted too much of it with their consciences
Andre reht Thierry, taking it froreet theave in splinters and breaks At his rave Thierry pried with all hisin the freshly dug hole And he bent it back, going so far as to step upon the occupant within He felt the lace of her gown underfoot Now if somebody checked, there would be two corpsesthe woerburied here
”How much time do we have?” he asked They were al dawn A life of servitude had bestowed in hih to throw the dirt back on, I'd say, if ant to sneak out before the light”
He did not like to think ould happen if they got caught Apart froal acts, the identity of their reement They were referred by certain unscrupulous clients who did not forgive nificant compared to ould happen if they failed
”No! How much time do we have to do the rites?” Thierry hissed
Shaken, it was a moment before Andre could respond ”Well?” said the latter