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  Undead By Morning

  By

  Joyce and Jim Lavene

  A short story in the

  Taxi for the Dead Paranormal Mysteries

  Copyright © 2014 Joyce and Jim Lavene

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  Cover art by Emmie Anne Studios

  http://www.emmieannestudios.com

  Book coach and editor—Jeni Chappelle

  http://www.jenichappelle.com/

  Undead by Morning

  There was a steady humming sound beside me. It was punctuated by an occasional beep. It blended in with a nightmare I’d been having, but I couldn’t remember what it was.

  “Your turn to get the alarm, Jacob,” I muttered to my husband as I prepared to turn over and go back to sleep for a few minutes.

  “Thank God! You’re finally awake!”

  That was Addie’s voice—Jacob’s mother. We’d lived with her for the past few years.

  “I thought we had this conversation about staying out of our bedroom,” I managed to say, my mouth strangely dry. “What does it take to get some privacy?”

  Most of the time, living with Addie was okay. Just every few days she questioned me about something I was doing wrong raising our five-year-old daughter, Kate. Or she razzed me about not being the greatest cook in the world. Or she remarked on Jacob’s underwear not being as white as it could be.

  Okay. Living with Addie was a pain.

  I wished we could have our own place again. I understood that Jacob loved his mother, and knew she couldn’t run the Apple Betty Inn without him. His father was dead. There was no one else.

  It didn’t make it any better.

  Something wet plopped on my face. I wiped it off, forcing my eyes open to angry slits. “Are you spraying me with water? What the hell, Addie? Get out of our room. Jacob, tell her.”

  “Skye, you have to wake up. Come back to us.”

  I realized something was wrong, very wrong. This wasn’t any tone of Addie’s that I’d ever heard.

  Forcing myself to focus, I searched her face. She was crying.

  Addie is crying.

  I’d never seen her cry before. She was leaning close to me, staring hard into my face, and crying.

  I tried to be sympathetic, not just annoyed. “What is it, Addie? What’s wrong? Is something wrong with Kate?”

  If not, there better be some damn good reason why you’re in here.

  “Jacob?” She was his mother—he needed to deal with her.

  “I’ve been beside myself with worry.” She wiped tears from her plain face. “Let me get the doctor. Thank heaven you’re going to be all right.”

  Doctor?

  Like a bad segment from a horror movie, the machines around me slowly spun into focus. I seemed to be attached to all of them. I could barely move. I tried to look around, but all I could see were more machines monitoring my vitals—and Addie’s stricken face.

  “Wait! Addie!” I tried to reach out to her as she moved. My hands and arms were taped to boards that held them in place. “What’s going on? Where’s Jacob?”

  She didn’t have to answer. I remembered the nightmare I’d been having before I woke up.

  * * *

  We’d been out for our anniversary. Jacob had sprung for a really expensive restaurant, which was normally out of reach on our combined police officer’s salaries.

  We had a champagne toast. Jacob had offered to be the designated driver so I could have a few drinks.

  “You’re trying to get me drunk, aren’t you?” I grinned at him as I looked into his handsome face. “You know I’m a sure thing, right? Like in Pretty Woman. I don’t need the fancy extras.”

  He kissed my hand. “Maybe you don’t need them, but you deserve them. I’m sorry this is the best I can do in that department. You’d better take advantage of it now while you still can.”

  I smiled at him. My new, blue silk dress made me feel glamorous and sexy. I could see in his loving brown eyes that he agreed.

  “I’m glad Addie could babysit Kate tonight,” I whispered. “Maybe we should take advantage of that, and stay in the city overnight. We can tell her we had a flat tire or something.”

  “I like that idea—except Mom has three guests staying at the inn. I don’t think that would be fair to her.” He leaned closer, and kissed my lips. “Besides, we have the turret room. Wait until you see what I’ve done with it.”

  “This was carefully thought out, Officer Mertz. Another person might question your motives.” I ran my fingers through his crisp brown hair.

  “Well, Officer Mertz—I’d be glad to tell you my motives, and my plans for the rest of the evening.” He leaned close and whispered crazy, sexy things he remembered from movies and television.

  I laughed, and we kissed as the waiter brought the bill.

  It was only a twenty-minute drive to our home outside Nashville. It was fun thinking about flirting and talking all the way home. I couldn’t wait to see what he’d done with the turret room. It was on the third floor of the Apple Betty Inn—a big, stone fireplace in one corner—and a huge old claw-foot tub in another. It was Addie’s most requested room.

  “We’ve made it for six years, can you believe it?” I leaned against him as we left the restaurant, and headed for our practical, blue SUV. “Who knows what the next six years will bring?”

  Jacob held my hand to help me into the passenger seat. “Many more evenings like this. I love you, Skye.”

  “I love you too. Now, hurry up and get us home before Kate wakes up with a nightmare or a stomachache. I mean to get full value out of this evening.”

  Nightmare.

  It brought me spiraling back to wherever I was. Addie was there again, with a nurse and doctor beside her this time. They were looking at charts, and muttering over numbers.

  “Where’s Jacob?” My voice was stronger, but I felt so weak. Snap out of it! What’s wrong with you anyway?

  “Mrs. Mertz.” The doctor’s face was serious. “We need to run a few more tests on you. Your condition is very critical. We have to find out what’s going on inside you.”

  “What do you mean?” I stared at him, and then at Addie. “What’s going on? What happened? Where’s Jacob?” An uncomfortable feeling had lodged in my chest and was refusing to leave.

  “I believe we’d be better off having this discussion after we finish the tests.” He adjusted his glasses. “It won’t take that long. I promise. Just lie back and relax.”

  It was hard to breathe. I didn’t want to move, but I made myself lift my head and glare at him. “No tests. Nothing else until you tell me what’s going on. No more innuendoes. Just say it.”

  Addie started crying again, soft sobs that shook her stocky frame. The doctor squirmed.

  “What do you remember?” he asked.

  “I remember coming out of the restaurant, and getting in the SUV to go home.”

  That wasn’t exactly true.

  Something was coming at us out of the fog. There were two large headlights facing us on the wrong side of the narrow, mountain road. The pine trees and rocks beside us disguised a rugged drop off into a deep ravine.

  “We were in a wreck.” The words were flat. They felt like they’d been squeezed from my chest. “There was a truck in the wrong lane. There was nowhere to pull out of the way.”

  I searched the doctor’s eyes, and saw everything there. “Jacob. Where is he? Is he hurt? In surgery? Take me to him. No tests.
No more talking. I want to see him now.”

  “You can’t see him that way.” Addie’s voice was trembling, barely understandable.

  “What way?” I yelled. “Somebody give me an answer.”

  But they didn’t need to.

  I remembered Jacob frantically trying to find somewhere to get away from the truck that was bearing down on us. There was nowhere to go. The truck was coming up the center of the road. We were dead in his path.

  “I can’t—there’s no way,” Jacob yelled as he looked around. “This is the only chance we have, Skye.”

  “Do it. The SUV can take it. Go through the trees.”

  The words were barely out of my mouth when he jerked the wheel, and the SUV flew off the road. It plunged into the darkness, away from the road, as the truck screamed by.

  The trees beat against the sides of the vehicle as I held the strap on the door. It seemed we might weather the off-road experience—until something big and gray rose up before us.

  “We hit a boulder off the road,” I mumbled. “The SUV crashed into it.”

  “That’s good that you can remember,” the doctor commended.

  “The airbag!” I faced them with renewed hope. “The air bag went off! I remember it smashing into my face.”

  “The impact was too much for the airbags, I’m afraid,” the doctor explained. “The crash caused severe head trauma, several broken bones, and internal bleeding. You’ve already had surgery since they brought you in. We haven’t been able to stop the bleeding. If they’d found you sooner—”

  “And Jacob?”

  He shook his head. “The trauma to his head and neck was . . . impossible. I’m sorry, Mrs. Mertz. Your husband was found dead at the scene.”

  I tried to take it all in.

  I couldn’t.

  Jacob couldn’t be dead. Airbags and seatbelts saved lives every day. I’d seen it myself as a cop dozens of times. There was no reason for him to have died in the wreck.

  “You’re wrong,” I disagreed. “I don’t know why you’re saying that, but Jacob survived the accident. What’s going on?”

  “It snapped his neck,” Addie said. “My son, my Jacob, is gone.”

  “No way. I want to see him.”

  “I don’t think that’s wise before we finish your tests,” the doctor said. “You’re barely with us, Mrs. Mertz. We need to attend to you before you begin the grieving process for your husband.”

  “I don’t care what you think,” I growled my displeasure. “Take me to see him right now. Then we can talk about tests and grieving.”

  There was absolutely no doubt in my mind that Jacob had survived. Maybe he was in such bad condition that they were afraid for us to see each other. I didn’t care. I wanted to see him for myself.

  “Oh, Skye,” Addie moaned. “Don’t do this. Let them make you better. Kate needs you. You have to survive.”

  “Not without Jacob.” My voice broke. “I want to see him. Please.”

  The doctor shrugged, and whispered to the nurse. A few minutes later, I was disconnected from everything but the IVs. We headed into the hall like a parade, with the nurses pushing the IV racks, and a hospital attendant pushing my bed.

  “This can’t take long.” I heard the doctor mutter to Addie. “She’s in no condition to be off of the monitors. We need to do those tests.”

  Her usually gruff voice was soft. “Let her be. She may need to do this to survive. Can you promise she’ll live if she doesn’t see him?”

  “No.”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  That bothered me.

  Am I dying?

  I didn’t feel like I was dying, whatever that felt like. I wasn’t in any pain.

  I can’t die.

  With Jacob gone, there was only me and Addie to raise Kate. Addie was in her seventies. She might not make it to Kate’s adulthood.

  That couldn’t happen.

  I’d never known my parents. I’d been raised in the foster care system, shuffled from house to house, family to family. I couldn’t let Kate grow up that way.

  I couldn’t die. Not yet.

  The green and white hospital walls flashed by as my convoy moved. I tried to focus on them, but I could only make myself stay with one thought—I couldn’t die.

  I heard an elevator chime, and the attendant pushed my bed into the enclosed space. One of the nurses gave someone the intern a nod. The door closed, and the elevator started down.

  I felt a little nauseated, and closed my eyes. The bright lights and movement were almost too much.

  Remembering made my head hurt, but I forced myself to face what had happened.

  “Stay with me, Skye.” It was Jacob’s voice calling me.

  I opened my eyes. The front of the SUV was smashed flat against us. I could see blood pouring from my leg. Jacob’s face was a mass of cuts. He wiped the blood away with a careless hand.

  “Have you called 911?” I asked.

  “A few minutes ago.” He cursed his cell phone. “There’s not much signal out here. I’m not sure if the call went through. The woman on the other end kept asking for my address.”

  I started to laugh, but it hurt too much. “I think I may have some broken ribs.”

  “Me too.” He groaned as he tried to move.

  “We should stay here,” I told him. “We don’t need to be out in the woods bleeding and attracting bears. We’re safe and dry where we are.”

  “I might be able to get better cell service if I walk up to the road.” His hand was already on the door.

  “No. Stay here. They’ll find us, Jacob. Give them a few minutes.”

  “It’s already been an hour, Skye. You’ve lost a lot of blood. I don’t think we can wait much longer.”

  I shook my head. “You’re always so impatient.”

  “And you’re always such an optimist.” He kissed me, and pushed at the door. “It won’t take long. I’ll be back before you know it.”

  It took him a few minutes to get the mangled door open. He smiled at me one more time, and was gone.

  * * *

  “This isn’t a good idea, Dr. Wayne.” A doctor argued with my doctor at the door to another room.

  “I didn’t say it was,” Dr. Wayne replied smartly. “She won’t let us proceed until she knows the truth. This will only take a moment, if you would kindly step out of the way.”

  “For the record, I’m against this, but do as you will.”

  The other doctor moved out of the way, and my entourage proceeded into a large white room. The smell was terrible here even though they’d tried to mask it with bleach.

  I knew that smell. I’d been a Nashville police officer for ten years—long enough to have been to the morgue a few times.

  No! It can’t be. Jacob can’t be dead.

  The attendant pushed the bed to one side of the room. Dr. Wayne opened a stainless steel drawer. I caught a glimpse of myself in the shiny surface—face swollen and purple, short, blond hair sticking up on my head like a fright mask.

  Addie grabbed my hand in a tight grip. It hurt, but I didn’t ask her to let go.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Mertz.” Dr. Wayne slowly peeled back the green sheet. “If it’s any comfort, we believe he died immediately following the crash. He didn’t suffer.”

  I vomited. There was nothing left of the wonderful dinner we’d shared. I gagged and choked as a nurse came to wipe my mouth.

  No! Please God, no!

  I looked into Jacob’s dead, white face. There were deep lacerations in his skin, one whole side of his head nearly pulled away from his skull. I could see the collarbone sticking out of his shoulder.

  “No. This isn’t right.”

  “It’s not your husband?” Dr. Wayne frowned.

  “It’s him.” I faltered, barely able to admit it. “But he wasn’t hurt this way from the crash. We talked after it was over. He walked up to the road to get better signal for his phone. I would’ve known if he was in this condition before
he left the SUV.”

  “You were probably hallucinating,” the doctor said. “It happens with head trauma. This is how he was found.”

  Addie tried to soothe me. “Hush now. He’s dead and gone. Long past this veil of tears. The doctor says he died quick. He knows what he’s talking about.”

  “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about! I’m telling you, Jacob got out of the SUV by himself. He had to push the door open. He wouldn’t have been able to do that in this kind of condition. Something else happened, Addie. We have to find out what really happened.”

  “Calm down, Mrs. Mertz,” the nurse closest to me advised. “Your body won’t take the strain.”

  “Never mind that! Get the medical examiner. Hell, get the FBI! Jacob has been murdered. We need better answers.”

  “She’s hysterical,” Dr. Wayne decided. “Let’s get her back upstairs.”

  “No. I’m not going anywhere until I know what happened. Was he mauled by an animal? This isn’t a result of the crash.”

  I didn’t see the nurse stick a needle into the IV, but I felt its almost immediate effect. I closed my eyes, and went back to sleep.

  * * *

  Back upstairs again—I’d missed the trip this time—Addie and Dr. Wayne were murmuring quietly near the end of the bed. My vision wasn’t clear, but I could see him pointing to the chart he held. Addie was wiping her eyes and nodding.

  “Tell me.” My voice wasn’t as strong now. It was harder to draw a breath. I heard the death rattle in my chest. That’s what my first partner on the job, before Jacob, had called it. “I don’t want her making decisions for me.”

  Dr. Wayne moved to the side of the bed. “Is there anyone else we should call, Mrs. Mertz? Another family member, perhaps?”

  “No. It’s just me and Kate now.” The words caused a sudden stab of pain. “Why?”

  He took a deep breath. “We’ve evaluated the new tests.”

  “New tests?”

  “While you were unconscious,” Addie explained.

  “Okay.” I tried to shake off the deep lethargy that threatened to overwhelm me. I could feel it dragging me down. I could move my head and arms, but only with intense concentration. There was pain now, too. I couldn’t find a place that didn’t hurt.