Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2) (4 page)

Hannah rubbed her forehead with the palm of
her hand, unwilling to accept that she could just go on like
nothing happened. “But, the body … the rodeo grounds.” Eventually
they are going to figure out it was me.”

“You don’t know that,” James offered, in a
soft voice.

“Yes, yes I do. I work in morgue, remember.
I perform autopsies on the dead bodies of murder victims. I know
what they will be looking for and I didn’t have any time to cover
anything up.” She sat back in her chair and lifted her gaze to meet
her brother’s. “The cops will figure this out. I’m better off
turning myself in.”

Liv came around and sat down across from
her. “You are not doing that. We will think of something.”

Jack, who had been leaning against the
counter silently the entire time, finally spoke up. “Sorry, Liv,
but this isn’t the kind of thing where we can just ‘think of
something.’ We have to act now. Odds are that they
will
find
out it was her. So, we have to come up with a story for
why
she did it and everyone needs to stick to it.”

Hannah looked up at her sister’s boyfriend.
“Self-defense?”

He nodded, “Yeah, it’s your best bet. You
said it yourself, they are going to find out it was you. Technology
these days will somehow make the connection.” He shrugged. “You may
end up in jail for a while, but we can bail you out once they set
the bond.”

She shook her head. Jack had no tact
whatsoever, but tact wasn’t really what she needed right now. “All
right, so we have to come up with a reason to why I killed him that
isn’t Reaper related.”

Everyone was silent for a moment and then
Lucy spoke up. “How about if you basically tell the truth. This guy
attacked you.”

“I actually chased him first and they might
be able to figure that out at the scene.”

“Ok, then, how about if you tell them that
he had been stalking you since you went on a date with him a long
time ago, so when you came out of the senior center you saw him
lurking around in the trees and chased him down to demand that he
leave you alone. He refused and then grabbed you and tried to … um,
force himself on you, so you stabbed him with the knife that you
always wear for protection.”

“I think that sounds like a believable
story,” Jack agreed. “You have to tell them that you got scared and
ran off though.”

Daniel reached into his coat and withdrew
his flask. “This is bullshit. Hannah shouldn’t have to be the one
to deal with this. We are the good guys here.” He twisted the cap
off the silver container and gulped down some of the whiskey
inside.

No one chastised him for drinking so early
in the morning. In fact, Jack held out his hand for the flask.
Daniel passed it to him and let Jack take his own pull.

Hannah looked down into her lap. She had run
home and taken a quick shower to get rid of the mud and also put on
a new set of scrubs. “I have to go to work.”

James rocked back on his heels. “Hannah, let
them find you. Don’t go turn yourself in. There is a chance that
they may not figure out that it was you.”

Dammit, why was this happening. Daniel was
right. They were the good guys and now she may have to face jail
time for killing someone who would have done the same to her. She
looked to the rest of the family. “Vote? Those in favor of my
turning myself in raise your hand.”

Not one person raised their hand. Greg, the
oldest of the siblings was still in San Francisco, so he wasn’t
able to give his opinion, but she was pretty sure that he would
side with the others. She let out a sigh. These were the closest
people in her life and none of them wanted her to be convicted of
murder if it could be avoided. She didn’t want to turn herself in,
but she wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t the right thing to do
either.

“I guess that’s it then. We wait until they
come after me … and they will, eventually, so I want you all to be
prepared for when it does happen. Like bail money, none of us have
enough money to get me out of jail when they take me.”

Daniel raised his flask like he was going to
cheers someone. “Leave that to me. I think I can get the
money.”

“And where they hell are you going to get
that kind of cash?” Liv demanded. She set her hands on her hips and
turned to face her brother.

He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I can
get it and that’s all that matters right now.”

“You better not be doing anything illegal,
Dan,” Hannah warned him. “One of us in jail is more than
enough.”

“Calm down, it’s not illegal.”

Liv still wasn’t convinced. “Why all the
secrecy about it then?”

“Jeez Liv, just shut up. If we need money I
can get it, now get off my ass.”

Steph sat at the table beside Hannah with
her arms crossed in front of her chest. “We should probably let dad
know about all of this.” She glanced out toward the graveyard where
her father’s soul now resided.

“No.” Hannah shook her head emphatically.
“No, we don’t need to tell him anything yet. Not unless we have to.
He worries enough about us as it is since he is stuck to the
confines of the graveyard.”

“I agree.” Lucy paced back and forth in
front of Jack. “I don’t think we should tell him.”

Hannah wanted to slam her forehead into the
kitchen table, but at the same time she was scared shitless. None
of this was supposed to happen. It made her wonder how many Keepers
in the world were imprisoned for killing a Reaper.

Sometimes being born into the life she had
been was far from easy. She was a Keeper and nothing would ever
change that, it’s not like you could just quit seeing souls. “I
really do have to go to work now.” She stood and wrapped her
fingers around the handle of her purse.

Liv came around the table and embraced her
sister in a firm hug. “You are going to be all right, we are going
to fix this.”

Hannah felt tears spring up in the corners
of her eyes, threatening to spill over. “I know,” she replied,
giving Liv a tight squeeze before releasing her. When they finally
separated, the room had finally gone silent and every set of eyes
was trained on her. “You guys don’t have to stare at me. Like Liv
said, we will figure this out. Now, I’m going to work.”

The fact that she could possibly be arrested
before she saw any of them again was too much. She spun around,
without saying anymore goodbyes, and walked as quickly as she could
to her car.

The gravel parking area of their driveway
was crowded with vehicles, making it hard for her to maneuver her
little Kia around them. It wasn’t until she was on the highway
headed over the mountain that she was able to breathe a bit
easier.

The hospital hallways were busy, as always.
She kept her eyes averted, not wanting to lock gazes with anyone.
She just wanted to get down to the morgue and away from people. As
much as she complained to herself about being a Keeper, mostly she
appreciated only having to associate with dead people. Usually it
was a lifestyle without much drama.

Usually.

The morgue was cold, like it always was.
Becky, one of the other medical examiners on staff, sat in the
office space, which was a bit warmer, going over some
paperwork.

“There you are.” Becky looked up from the
clipboard when Hannah opened the door and slipped inside. “What was
the hold up?”

Hannah set her purse down on her desk. “Two
things. I slept in, and then after I dropped a dish off to Mrs.
Bradley, I ended up with a flat tire.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “Seriously, when it
rains it pours, right?”

“Totally,” she responded, without looking at
the other woman. “So, what’ve we got today?”

“This guy was just sent here from Lake
County, they couldn’t get him in fast enough over there.”

A slight chill ran down her spine. “What?
Why?” she moved across the room to look at the paperwork over
Becky’s shoulder.

“It was a murder and the morgues over there
are full.”

Hannah raised an eyebrow. “They’re
full?”

“Don’t ask me,” Becky tucked a lock of light
brown hair back over her ear. “We just get the bodies and do our
job.”

It wasn’t the first time that they had a
transfer from another county, but it was a rare occasion when it
did happen. She held her hand out for the paperwork. “Well, I guess
I better get to work so you can get out of here. Thanks for
covering for me.”

Becky handed over the clipboard. “No
problem. It’s not like you’re ever late. This is the first time
since I’ve been working here that you have been.”

Hannah swallowed the lump in her throat and
forced a smile onto her face. “Being punctual is sorta my
thing.”

“Well, don’t have too much fun,” Becky joked
and then swiveled her chair around so that she could grab her purse
from the floor beside her desk. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Unless I’m in jail.

“See ya,” Hannah waved absentmindedly. She
had already begun reading over the paperwork and slowly moving
toward the door into the lab area.

The guy’s record confirmed her suspicions
about him being the Reaper from the rodeo grounds.

Name: Unknown

Alias: Jeffery Myers

Place of Birth: Unknown

Date of Birth: Unknown

Home of record: Unknown

Place of death: Summer Hollow, California.
County: Lake

Shit.

She placed the clipboard on the table beside
her tray of tools and sighed. What were the odds of her having to
autopsy the same guy she killed? All she wanted to do was forget
about the whole damn thing and now she had to pick apart his
body.

Awesome.

The guy was prepped and ready for her. His
body lay on the table beneath a crisp white sheet, covered from
head to toe. The sterilized tools rested on the tray, glimmering in
the bright fluorescent light. Vials for samples stood in a holder,
lined up in rows of four. Last but not least, her phone was
automatically synching to the wireless speakers in the corner of
the room.

Before she went any further, she pulled her
cell out of her pocket and swiped until she found her work
playlist. Within seconds, ZZ Ward filled the room and she felt her
stress level lower just a tiny bit.

The souls were everywhere in the room. A
shimmering blue mist swirled around the vaults where the bodies
were kept. Some of the souls could solidify and appear as their
human shell had. Those who could solidify could usually speak as
well. Most of the souls simply remained a beautiful glimmering
cloud moving about the room.

That
was her real job … guarding the
souls of the dead until they crossed over.

After scrubbing up, she got to work, first
taking all the required samples before cutting into the body. It
occurred to her that working on the body of the same Reaper she
killed may not be such a bad thing. She could rig the reports,
eliminating any information that would lead to her.

My God, was she really thinking of
falsifying a report?

She thought of the Reapers and their
vendetta against the Keepers, their mission to find the Chosen One,
and knew that if she hadn’t killed him first, she wouldn’t still be
breathing.

Damn straight she was going to lie about
what was found on the body.

She heard the door behind her open and then
close again. “I’m working,” she announced over the music to whoever
had entered the room.

“Duh, so am I,” a woman’s voice
retorted.

Hannah looked up. “Kate!”

“Hey Hannah, I was in the area and thought I
would save you a trip by picking up any of the samples that you had
for me.”

“Awesome. I actually do have one for you. I
think Becky already sent the others up.” She reached over and
picked the appropriate vial up off the rack and handed it to
Kate.

She and Kate had gone to medical school
together and were roommates almost the entire time. While Hannah
always knew she wanted to be a medical examiner so that she could
look over the souls, Kate’s goal was to be a brain surgeon. She was
almost there too. Right now Kate was an intern and really, really
close to being able to perform the actual surgeries. Until now, she
had only assisted.

Hannah was extremely proud of her
friend.

“Thanks.” Kate accepted the vial, holding it
in her right hand. “So, are we still doing that girls night
thing?”

Hannah shook her head. “I don’t know. Things
got really busy the last month with my family.”

Kate frowned. “Well, we have to do something
soon. It’s been a really long time since I’ve gotten to go out,”
she paused, “and I don’t want to go out with just anyone. I miss
you.”

She didn’t have to force the smile this
time. A genuine feeling of happiness came over her. “I miss you
too.”

Kate threw her hands in the air. “I don’t
understand how we can work together and barely get to spend any
time together.

Again, Hannah smiled. “We’re in the medical
field. If we wanted much spare time we should have become something
else.”

“True.” Kate sighed and then looked at her
watch, “speaking of, I have to get going. I have a meeting in
ten.”

“Thanks for picking that up.” Hannah
gestured to the vial still in Kate’s hand.

“No problem.” Her friend waved at her and
then disappeared back out the same door she had come in
through.

Once Kate was gone, the happy evaporated as
well. She got back to work, the faster she got this guy done, the
faster she wouldn’t have to look her victim in his dead eyes.

It wasn’t five minutes later that she heard
the door again.

“Excuse me?”

The male voice was familiar, but she didn’t
care. She was working. No one bothered the surgeons during their
operations, but it was no freaking problem to bug someone just
because they were working on a body that was already dead.