The Debt Collector by Chris Taylor

Author:Chris Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chris Taylor
Published: 2016-06-09T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Hannah removed the trocar and tubing from the man who lay pale and still on the table and carried it, along with the suction pump, back to the sink.

“Are you ready for this?” Toby asked, holding up a jar of embalming fluid from the other side of the room.

“Yes, thanks. Can you bring it over to the table and make a start? I really need to use the bathroom.”

Toby nodded, smiling brightly. It had been nearly a month since he’d started and his enthusiasm for the job hadn’t waned. As he’d become more and more confident, Hannah gave him additional responsibilities. Soon, he’d be competent enough to attend to the embalming from start to finish on his own. Her job as mentor would be done.

She let herself out of the embalming room and headed down the short corridor to the staff restroom, her thoughts still on Toby. He was an easy student. Quick to learn and eager to please. He asked questions when he didn’t understand something and never presumed he knew more than he did. It was a refreshing change from most of the assistants she’d had in the past.

Even Christopher and Edward had suffered from misplaced confidence. She remembered the time Edward had injected the wrong chemical into a body, mistaking it for formaldehyde. Though there was no harm done and Hannah was able to overcome the error, it was fortunate their clients weren’t relying on her assistants to save their lives.

But Toby wasn’t like that. He listened and observed and only attempted tasks once he was sure he knew what he was doing. He showed genuine care and respect for the people they labored over and for Hannah that was the most important thing.

With a flush of the toilet and a wash of her hands, she returned to the embalming room and stood by and watched while Toby injected liquid into the body cavities. Quietly and competently, he went about the task until it was finished. Setting the jar of liquid aside, he stared with fondness down at the man laid out before them.

“He sure had a decent head of hair,” he commented with a rueful smile.

Hannah smiled back at him. Kevin Lamb was a man in his eighties who still sported a mass of tangled, white curls. The formaldehyde had begun to work its magic and had brought a little fullness to his cheeks. Tastefully applied makeup would have him looking as good as if he were asleep.

It would be a balm to the spirit of his loved ones, to see him looking so at peace. It was the kind of outcome she strove for every time she pulled on her gloves and it warmed her through and through to know that she’d found a kindred spirit in Jacob’s twin.

At the thought of Jacob, her thoughts sobered. It had been two weeks since the evening at his apartment when he’d filled her in about prison and Bobby, and she hadn’t heard from him. Not that she expected to.

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