The Girl and the Deadly Secrets (Emma Griffin® FBI Mystery Book 22) by A.J. Rivers

Author:A.J. Rivers [Rivers, A.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Emma Griffin FBI Mysteries
Publisher: A.J. Rivers
Published: 2023-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

The memorial services held for Tricia are a stark contrast to Sherry’s funeral. Sam, Xavier, Dean, and I walk into a warmly decorated funeral home to the sound of music playing and the smell of food. We’re directed to a room with wide open doors and an enlarged portrait of Tricia with her eyes glittering and her mouth open in a wide laugh. She looks so happy.

Her laugh is silent, but voices from inside the room are providing the sound. I can’t help but smile when I walk in the room and see everyone in the vibrant colors requested on the memorial notice. No black. No gray. Wear something bright and add some sparkle if you can. That was the only guideline. A long table filled with food ends with another displaying an elaborate assortment of bottles of liquor. I watch several people make themselves drinks, then turn and hold their glasses up toward the urn presented on a pedestal at the far end of the room.

I go to the table and Pat steps up beside me.

“This certainly is different than Sherry’s funeral,” I note.

“Yes, it is. But it’s what she wanted. Trisha was never afraid of her mortality. She recognized that she was, as she said, getting on toward elderly. She wanted to make sure things were sorted, so a few years ago, she sat down with an attorney and drew up her last wishes. She made sure everything was written out clear and concise. No mopey funeral service. No graveside. No sad songs. She wanted people to eat, drink, laugh. That was her. Don’t be sad when you could be living just because I’m not anymore, she told me.

“I remember her telling me she had come up with the plans and it gave me the shivers. I just didn’t even want to think about it. It seemed morbid. I thought maybe she was feeling depressed or like she had gotten some sort of bad news from the doctor and didn’t want to tell any of us. But I realized that that wasn’t it at all. It wasn’t sad to her. She said she wanted to make the plans so that she knew her friends wouldn’t be stressed or worried when she left. Don’t you love that? When she left. That’s how she put it. She was just planning that last big trip. And now she’s on it and I’m doing the best I can to be happy for her the way she would want me to be.”

“That’s beautiful,” I say.

Pat finishes making her drink and holds up her glass. “Cheers.”

I smile and mirror her gesture. “Cheers.”

We both turn and hold our glasses out toward the urn, then take sips. As the liquid warms my throat and hits my belly, I notice four people standing off to the side. Each of them is holding a glass, but I don’t see any of them lift one to their lips.

“Have you eaten?” Pam asks.

“No,” I say, touching her arm to stop her as she makes her way toward the food.

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