Chapter 12 - THE FUNERAL DIRECTOR’S SECRET
Harold Bishop had directed funerals for thirty-two years.
He had never seen a living person emerge from one of his coffins.
He had also never been so frightened.
Two detectives interviewed him for nearly four hours.
At first, Bishop repeated the same story.
He received sealed paperwork.
He trusted Dr. Vale’s certification.
Paul Mercer handled the delivery.
The coffin arrived closed.
Then Detective Ortiz showed him the photographs from the warehouse.
Bishop began sweating.
“Paul told me it was legitimate.”
“What was legitimate?”
Bishop lowered his head.
“The camera shutdown.”
Ortiz leaned forward.
“You knowingly disabled security footage?”
“For less than an hour.”
“Why?”
“Paul said Claire’s family requested privacy.”
“Did Claire request it?”
“I never spoke to Claire.”
“How much did Mercer pay you?”
Bishop closed his eyes.
“Five thousand.”
That confession nearly ended his career.
But it also gave investigators the first direct witness connecting Mercer to the funeral plan.
Then Bishop revealed something no one expected.
He had lied about the missing video.
The main security system had been erased.
But Bishop kept a private backup camera in his office because the funeral home had suffered employee theft the year before.
Mercer did not know it existed.
The footage showed the hallway beside the preparation room.
At 11:52 p.m. the night before the funeral, Mercer appeared.
Four minutes later, Richard entered.
Then two men rolled Claire’s coffin down the hallway.
Richard placed one hand on the lid.
Mercer said something.
The camera had no audio.
Richard laughed.
Then he tapped the coffin three times.
Ethan watched the footage once.
Only once.
He left the room immediately afterward.
Richard had known about the three knocks.
He knew exactly what they meant.
He had mocked Claire while she lay trapped inside.
That detail destroyed something inside Ethan.
Until then, some tiny part of him had still searched for the man who used to make Sunday pancakes.
That man was gone.
Maybe he had never existed.
Ortiz kept watching the video.
Thirty seconds after Richard left, another person entered the hallway.
A woman.
She wore hospital scrubs.
Her face was partially hidden by a surgical mask.
She opened the preparation room.
She looked directly toward the camera.
Then she removed the mask.
Claire gasped.
“I know her.”
Ortiz paused the image.
“Who?”
Claire stared at the screen.
“Her name is Vanessa Cole.”
“Friend?”
Claire shook her head.
“Richard’s accountant.”
Rebecca stood abruptly.
“The accountant who created the shell companies?”
Claire nodded.
Vanessa Cole was not simply handling Richard’s money.
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She had been inside the funeral home while Claire was trapped in the coffin.
And bank records showed Vanessa had purchased a one-way ticket to Costa Rica departing that evening.
