Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN IN THE COFFIN
For several seconds, nobody moved.
The funeral hall had been filled with soft organ music and whispered condolences only moments before.
Now every eye was fixed on Richard Parker and the handgun trembling in his hand.
Ethan stood beside the damaged coffin.
Through the narrow opening in the lid, Claire’s terrified eyes stared back at him.
She was alive.
“Mom.”
Ethan’s voice cracked.
Richard swung the gun toward him.
“Step away from the coffin.”
Ethan didn’t move.
A man in the second row slowly raised both hands.
“Richard, put the gun down.”
“Stay where you are.”
Richard’s voice had changed.
The grieving widower was gone.
The calm husband who had spent three days accepting sympathy from neighbors was gone.
What remained was a desperate man watching his plan collapse.
Claire struck the inside of the coffin again.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Ethan’s fear disappeared beneath something stronger.
Anger.
“You knew.”
Richard’s jaw tightened.
“You heard her too.”
Richard said nothing.
“That’s why you told me not to talk about it.”
Several guests turned toward Richard.
Murmurs spread across the room.
Ethan grabbed the broken edge of the lid.
Richard raised the gun higher.
“Ethan.”
A woman screamed.
Then a funeral employee named Marcus Hale stepped from behind a column.
Marcus had spent twenty-three years handling funerals.
He had never seen anything like this.
“Boy, move away.”
But Ethan refused.
“My mom is in there.”
“I know.”
Marcus kept his eyes on Richard.
“And we’re getting her out.”
Richard’s face twisted.
“No one is opening that coffin.”
A siren sounded outside.
Richard froze.
Someone had called the police.
For the first time, real panic appeared in his eyes.
He backed toward a side door.
Ethan saw it.
Richard wasn’t planning to surrender.
He was planning to run.
“Stop him!”
Three men moved forward.
Richard pointed the gun toward the ceiling.
“BACK OFF!”
Everyone stopped.
Richard reached the side door.
Before disappearing, he looked directly at Ethan.
There was no apology in his expression.
Only hatred.
“You should have listened to me.”
Then he vanished.
Ethan immediately turned back to the coffin.
Marcus rushed forward with two other employees.
Together, they forced the damaged lid upward.
Claire lay inside wearing the blue dress Richard had chosen for her funeral.
Her hands were bound in front of her.
Tape covered her mouth.
Her eyes were open.
She was breathing.
Barely.
Ethan climbed onto the platform.
“Mom.”
Marcus removed the tape carefully.
Claire gasped.
Her first word was not Richard’s name.
It was Ethan’s.
“Run.”
Ethan stared at her.
“What?”
Claire gripped his wrist.
May you like
Her voice was weak, but the terror in her eyes was unmistakable.
“Richard isn’t working alone.”
