And Then You Die by Iris Johansen

Author:Iris Johansen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Psychological, Kidnapping, Adventure stories, Mexico, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Suspense, Adventure fiction, Audiobooks, Sisters, Women journalists
ISBN: 9780553579987
Publisher: Random House Digital, Inc.
Published: 1998-03-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven.

Kaldak and Bess left her apartment the next morning when it was still dark. They slipped down the back staircase to a waiting car and drove to the old St. Nicholas's Cemetery in Metairie, just outside New Orleans.

Emily was interred in an ancient moss-stained crypt overlooking a small, quiet pond. It wasn't dawn yet when the clergyman closed his Bible, nodded politely, and hurried out of the crypt.

Poor man, Bess thought numbly. Dragged from his bed and brought to a cemetery that resembled something out of an Anne Rice novel.

"We should go too," Kaldak said gently.

Bess looked down at the smooth stone sarcophagus in which Emily's coffin had been enclosed. Good-bye, Emily. I love you. You'll always be with me.

"Bess."

She nodded, turned, and walked out of the crypt. The air was damp and fresh. She took a deep breath, watching the cemetery custodian lock the iron gates of the crypt. Weak gray rays of light were now filtering through the cypress trees and illuminated the inscription on the tomb.

Cartier.

Kaldak's gaze followed hers. "I borrowed a place for Emily from an Etienne Cartier. It's their family crypt. Everyone has to be buried above ground here."

She knew that. But she hadn't thought even Kaldak would be able to persuade someone to relinquish his final resting place. "Borrowed?"

"I thought it likely that Tom Corelli would eventually want to take her home."

Take her home. The words were sweet and melancholy at the same time. Take Emily home.

"In the meantime, she'll be safe here."

Safe in that tomb. Weren't the dead always safe? They didn't care, they weren't afraid or angry.…

"Is that okay?" Kaldak asked.

She nodded. "I guess I didn't think. Emily wouldn't have wanted to stay here forever. She didn't really like New Orleans. She would have wanted to go home." She turned and walked away. Don't think about her. Don't look back. You're not leaving her alone. She'll always be with you.

Kaldak immediately caught up with her, and they walked in silence down the gravel path lined with crypts.

"How did you get them to let us into the cemetery this early?" she asked as they neared the gates.

"Oh, Ramsey has his ways."

"Are we trying to avoid a hit man? Is that why we're creeping around burying my sister in the dark?"

"Do you think she'd prefer it if you were an easy daylight target?"

"No."

"I don't either. That's why we're here at this time in the morning and eight agents are stationed behind those crypts."

Her gaze went to the row of crypts. "I didn't see them."

"You weren't supposed to."

She wouldn't have noticed anything on that journey from the car to the crypt. She'd closed everything out but the thought of Emily.

But it was done. All that was over now.

Kaldak stopped her as she started for the tan Lexus rental car parked at the curb. "Wait a minute." He glanced at a man in a checked sports coat climbing out of a sedan parked down the street.

She stiffened.

"It's okay. He's one of ours. He was watching the car.

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