Raising the Dead by Mara Purnhagen Read Free Book Online Page A

but the moment I approached Dad at his computer, I had to cover my nose. “You smell worse than Mom,” I choked.
    “Yeah.” He was focused on the thumbnails of over a hundred pictures.
    “Dad, please wash up before dinner. No one will be able to eat with that stench in the air.”
    “Sure.” But he didn’t take his eyes from the computer.
    “Dad.” I pulled on his arm. “Please.”
    “Hold on.”
    I hated when he became focused like this. Whatever they’d found in the recovered coffins was now more important than personal hygiene or communicating with more than one-syllablewords. The doorbell rang and Avery, probably eager to escape the stench of death, rushed to answer it.
    “Dad. Trisha and Noah are here with dinner. You have to change your clothes or disinfect or something.”
    “Right. I’m going.” He reluctantly left his computer and went upstairs. I made sure he was really gone before walking into the kitchen.
    Trisha was standing at the counter, opening the flat pizza boxes. Avery stood next to her, breathing in the hot garlic goodness.
    “Does she always sniff her pizza like that?” Noah whispered to me. He was at my side and watching Avery with a confused expression on his face. I felt tingly with him standing so close to me.
    “Only when she’s been exposed to formaldehyde,” I whispered back.
    Now his confusion was directed at me. I tried to ignore the fact that he looked good. How could he transform a simple blue T-shirt into a statement of casual confidence? He wasn’t allowed to look this perfect. I couldn’t overcome my crush when Noah was sauntering around like a magazine model.
    “Where’s Shane?” I asked aloud, hoping it would break the nervous tension that was building in my brain.
    “He said he needed to clean up before he came over,” Trisha answered. “I don’t know why. It’s not like this is a fancy dinner.”
    “Trust me,” Avery told her. “You’ll be glad he did.”
    We went ahead and served ourselves. I was on my second slice of cheese and meatball when Mom emerged, freshly showered and sporting damp hair, into the kitchen.
    “That smells like heaven,” she sighed.
    Dad was right behind her. His hair was also wet, and I pushed the possibility that they had showered together out of my mind. Although, I reasoned, maybe it was a good sign. Maybe they had gotten over last night’s argument.
    Shane showed up, took a seat next to Trisha, and we were finally settled and ready to hear about their amazing find at the morgue.
    “Most of the coffins had shattered,” Dad explained in between mouthfuls of pizza. “The wood was so old to begin with that it was mostly decayed even before the storm. We were only able to recover shards.”
    “What about the insides?” Avery asked. “You know, the people? What happened to the people?”
    “Nothing but a few scraps of cloth and pieces of bone.” Dad wolfed down another slice, but Mom picked up on Avery’s concerned tone of voice.
    “There was nothing left that could be identified,” she explained kindly. “We’ve arranged for everything—the wood, the bones—to be cremated. Then we’ll bury a little bit of the ashes at each grave site. We’ll use urns and only bury them where the ground is most stable.”
    Avery nodded, satisfied.
    “What about the caskets that weren’t destroyed?” Noah asked. “Can you identify the people in those?”
    Dad wiped a strand of melted mozzarella from his chin. “The coffins that were totally intact?” He smiled. “That’s where it got interesting.”

Chapter Seven
    William was waiting for us at nine sharp the next morning. He waved from his front porch, a thermos of coffee gripped in one hand. Trisha pulled her car into the driveway, gathered her purse and laptop, and turned around in her seat.
    “You two ready?”
    “I think so,” Noah replied. With my parents and Shane busy at the morgue, Noah and Trisha were helping us out with the project. I was nervous about