Grim Reaper 01 - Embrace the Grim Reaper

and Bone? Or some other entity? Another group of bad guys. Or law enforcement.
    She stepped back to the double doors, putting her eye to the crack between them.
    Thomas stood with his back to her, hands flat on the stage, his head lowered. As she watched he pushed himself up, ran his hands through his hair, and turned around, straightening his shoulders and grabbing his briefcase before making his way up the aisle.
    Casey quickly walked out the front door, attempting a smile as Eric stood to meet her.
    “What did he want?”
    Casey hesitated. Should she tell him about the two men? Did he already know about them? Or should she let Thomas deal with his own problems without making Eric feel more involved, or even responsible?
    “Oh, nothing much.” Casey looked up at the sky, clear that night. “He just wanted to talk about how he perceives my role.”
    Eric gave her a questioning look, but didn’t push it.
    “Where’s Leila?”
    He shrugged. “Gone. You still want to walk home alone?”
    She jerked her thumb to the right. “My place is this way, and your car is the other. I’ll be fine.”
    “If you’re sure.”
    She glanced back at the theater, where Thomas remained, probably watching her through the large windows. She repressed a shiver.
    “I’m sure,” she said. “You go on home.”
    Eric nodded, his eyes darting toward the theater. “All right. You’d let me know if…”
    “I’m fine, Eric. He just wanted to talk about…things.”
    He looked at her for a long moment, then stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked away. “All right. Goodnight then, Casey.”
    “Goodnight, Eric.”
    He strode away, head bent, back arched.
    Casey turned and walked as quickly as she could in the opposite direction.

Chapter Twenty-eight
    Rosemary and Lillian were still sitting on the porch when Casey got to The Nesting Place. They must have moved at some point since the afternoon, because Rosemary was now in her normal clothes—if a bright purple velour tracksuit with rhinestones could be called normal—instead of her Dobak. Her phone was at her ear. “Yes, dear, she’s home now. Safe and sound. All right. Goodnight, sweetheart.”
    Casey gestured at the phone. “Eric?”
    “He just wanted to be sure…”
    Casey shook her head and turned, looking out at the street over the railing of the porch. “He didn’t have to worry.”
    “I know that. You have no trouble taking care of yourself.”
    Something in her voice made Casey turn. Rosemary had reached across to Lillian’s chair and grabbed her hand, and their hands hung there now, suspended between them.
    “What?” Casey said.
    Rosemary shook her head, her lips a tight line, and Lillian looked down at her lap.
    “Did something happen?”
    Lillian’s head rose slowly. “No. No, honey. Not since last week.” The lines on her face stood out in exaggerated hills and valleys, shadowed by dim porch light.
    Ellen, ultimately, had not been able to take care of herself.
    Casey took a step forward. “Ellen said the people here in Clymer would soon have work again.”
    The women exchanged a look, and Rosemary cleared her throat. “You know about that?”
    “Eric told me.” One of the few things he had told her. “At least that’s what he thought Ellen meant.” She looked at the women, so fragile in their wicker chairs, holding onto each other, facing their pain as a duo. She hated to cause them more. But they knew things. They had to. And if she could get it out of them, she might be able to make some sense of things.
    She pulled a chair around in front of them and sat forward, her elbows on her knees. “You don’t think Ellen killed herself.”
    “No,” Lillian said, her eyes sparking. “We know she didn’t. She wouldn’t have. We told Chief Reardon—”
    “I know. I talked to him.” Her face burned as she remembered the conversation, and hoped her anger wasn’t apparent in the darkness of the porch. “Ellen told Eric—and the manager of the Pizzeria—that a change was coming. People would be working and there would be no reason for Home Sweet Home to continue serving meals. Eric and I…” She hesitated, hoping the women could take what she had to say. “We went to see Karl.”
    Lillian inhaled sharply, and Rosemary’s eyes flashed in the contours of her face. “And he patted you on the head and told you everything was fine?”
    Casey could see that that kind of behavior was nothing new. “Pretty much. He basically said Ellen