Grim Reaper 01 - Embrace the Grim Reaper

do you want to call Jack from here?”
    He watched her for a few seconds before straightening. “Why don’t we just go over? It’s not far, and I’m ready to get out of here.”
    She couldn’t argue with that.
    It took only a few minutes to reach Jack and Aaron’s home. On the way, Eric pointed out a gray two-story house. Several beautiful large trees graced the yard, but the shrubs needed trimming, and the yard hadn’t seen a mower for just a little too long. Other than that, the place looked well taken care of. Not exactly inviting, but in basically good shape.
    “My place,” Eric said.
    Casey studied it as they drove by. “Nice.”
    “Yeah.” He gave a little laugh. “It’ll do. Not exactly House Beautiful, though, is it?”
    “You put your time into other worthwhile things.”
    He laughed shortly. “That’s the polite way of saying it needs some help.”
    “The thing is, I mean it.”
    He let it drop, and they drove the rest of the way to Jack and Aaron’s place, which sat on a street Casey had toured during her bike ride. The house was one of those with a flowerpot on the porch, and a Welcome sign on the door. Cheerful, well-kept. A not-so-subtle difference between their place and Eric’s.
    Jack was mowing the lawn, but turned off the machine when Eric and Casey got out of the car.
    “Hey!” Jack called. “What’s up?” He left the pushmower where it had stopped.
    Eric held up the box. “We were wondering—”
    The screen door on the front porch slapped shut, and Aaron came trotting down the steps. “It’s okay, Jack, I got this.”
    “Actually, Aaron,” Eric said, “we need him this time.”
    Aaron looked at the box. “I was wrong?”
    “Nope. You were right. But we’re confused.”
    “I am, too,” Jack said, with a grin. “What is it?” He leaned toward the box, as if to see inside the closed lid.
    Eric glanced at the neighboring houses. “Can we go inside?”
    “Oh! Right. Sure,” Aaron said. “Come in.”
    He led them into the front room, where they stood in a circle around the box. Eric held it out to Jack. “Can you identify this?”
    “Sure, it’s a box of pasta.”
    The rest of them didn’t laugh.
    “Sorry.” Jack took the box and opened it. “Oh, it’s a dryer door latch.”
    “I told you that.” Aaron frowned.
    “Yes,” Casey said, “you did. But we need to know exactly which dryer door latch this is.”
    Jack squinted into the box. “Can I take it out?”
    “Of course.”
    He set the box on the coffee table and sat on the couch behind it. Aaron took a place beside him, and Casey knelt on the floor. Eric perched on a close-by chair.
    Jack pulled the two pieces out, turning them over in his hands. He looked up at Eric. “It’s a HomeMaker piece. For sure. You checked inventory?”
    “It’s not there. Several that look almost like it, but none with that metal piece.” He pointed at the side of the catch.
    “Yeah. The ones we’re doing now are all plastic.” Jack’s eyes widened, then narrowed, and he set the pieces down on the table. “Last year. Last spring . We made these. And then all of a sudden they were gone, and we were making the all-plastic ones.”
    “No explanation?”
    He shook his head. “None was needed. They bring in the instructions, we make the parts. It doesn’t really matter to us what we’re making or why. We just put in our hours and come home. Everything goes to the all-mighty HomeMaker, no matter what it is, so what’s the point in worrying about it?”
    Casey sat back on her heels. “We didn’t find it in the computer at all. There were other parts that were either out of production or special order, but this was gone completely.”
    Jack shrugged. “Don’t know anything about it.”
    “So as far as you can remember,” Casey said, “you made this a year ago last spring?”
    “Yeah. Don’t know how long we made ‘em, but long enough it looks familiar. Why does it matter?”
    Casey glanced at Eric. He said, “We found this, and got curious.”
    Aaron frowned again. “But you said—”
    “—it could be dangerous. I know. And it could be. So please, neither of you mention this to anybody, okay?”
    Jack looked at Aaron, and back at Eric, half laughing. “What is this? CSI ? Law and Order ? ”
    Eric glanced down at his hands, and Jack’s mouth fell open. “It is . It is Law and Order.”
    Casey leaned forward. “Promise you won’t tell anyone.”
    “Except Aaron?”
    Aaron punched him on the