Desperate Measures by John C. Dalglish

Author:John C. Dalglish [Dalglish, John C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-10-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

The parking lot at Hillcrest Funeral Home was overflowing when they arrived. After finding a spot on the next street, Jason and Vanessa joined a long line of people waiting their turn to go in and sign the guestbook. Not wanting to attract undue attention, neither of them wore anything to suggest they were detectives. Only people they had already interviewed would know who they were.

Eventually, they moved from under the canopy to inside the doors then waited another several minutes before getting to the front of the line. A member of the funeral home staff, wearing a gray suit and a gray tie, stood close by and handed them a folded leaflet. A photo of Melissa Chandler in her graduation gown was on the cover and the order of the service inside. The man smiled politely then went back to watching the line.

Vanessa signed in for both of them while Jason scanned the signatures ahead of them. Some names—Candice Welch, Judy Welch, and Anita Cho among them—were familiar, but some other names were still missing. Eddie Bishop, who was still in the hospital, and Dave Castillo’s. Jason hoped Castillo might have skipped the sign-in but was sitting in the chapel.

They moved down the hallway toward the open double doors at the far end. As with nearly all funeral homes, Hillcrest was decorated in subdued colors, in this case burgundy, tan, and brown. The furniture was mid-century grandmother but comfortable enough for its purpose. The chapel was large by funeral home standards, but the crowd filled nearly every pew.

Jason slid across a back pew, followed by Vanessa. He nodded politely to the people next to them then went to studying the leaflet. Of particular interest was the list of pall bearers. Some of the names were unfamiliar, but a few were friends of Melissa’s. Dave Castillo was listed as an honorary bearer, but Eddie Bishop’s name was absent from the program.

Jason held it out for Vanessa to see. “No mention of Eddie Bishop.”

“Understandable, I guess, considering Mr. Chandler didn’t like him. Wouldn’t surprise me if he was glad Bishop was still in the hospital today.”

He nodded. “Any sign of Castillo?”

“Not yet.”

Jason performed his own scan of the chapel. Flowers spilled away from both sides of a closed casket, seeming to overwhelm the wide stage with their sheer number. The closed casket was not a surprise, considering the location of Melissa’s wound, and in Jason’s mind, was a good thing. The awful sight of a someone so young lying in a wooden box was trumped only by the tiny white boxes used for infants.

In the front row sat Ray Chandler, Judy and Candice Welch, as well as some people Jason couldn’t identify. Even though Ben Nolan didn’t know Melissa personally, it was noteworthy to Jason that Nolan had not accompanied his girlfriend Candice to the funeral.

Music started up as the last few mourners found seats, and Jason recognized the strains of “Amazing Grace” immediately. At the end of the song, a man identified in the program as Melissa Chandler’s pastor got up to speak.

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