My Brother's Keeper #7

          Todd dropped the lid as Blair fainted and fell towards him.“Blair!” He managed to catch her, hugging her close.

She began stirring quickly as the rain hit her face. Opening her eyes, she saw Todd’s face close to hers and realized she was in his arms. She wrapped her arms around him and the memory came flooding back. “My God, Todd, what is that in Victor’s casket?”

“I don’t know what the hell it is, but it’s certainly not Victor.” He set Blair back on her feet. “Are you okay? I know it was a shock.”

She shuddered and hugged him tighter. “Shock doesn’t begin to cover it. Todd, we have to let Tea and Bo know. There’s no way that thing is Victor. So that means his body is missing or you truly are in contact with a very much alive Victor.” She stepped back as Todd reached to open the lid once again. This time the shock was less as they viewed the thing lying in Victor’s casket.

The shape was that of a man but no man alive. It was shriveled and melted around what appeared to be some sort of metallic skeleton. Parts of what remained of Victor’s face could be seen on one-half of the skull, but the rest was sunken and misshapen. The chest and shirt looked like it had been exposed to some sort of interior fire leaving crisp blackened edges of the skin or whatever the shell had been made of. “Todd, what could have burned or melted it that way?”

“My guess is some sort of device must have been triggered to destroy the shell, once the body was buried. This thing is burned from the inside out.”

Blair looked in shock. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Hey, I’ve watched some sci-fi movies in my time. Besides, look, obviously, there was a fire of some sort,” he gestured to the gaping hole in the chest and the other ones down the arms and legs. Todd carefully reached in and touched the contents. “This is some sort of artificial skin. The unburned portion feels like the real thing. Only an organization like Irene’s or another like hers would have the technology for something like this. They wanted us to believe Victor was dead.”

“I’ve seen enough, Todd. We should call John or Bo.” Blair felt a little squeamish as Todd peeled a piece of burnt skin away and dropped it in a small plastic baggie. Then she reached into her coat pocket for her cell phone.

“Don’t move. You’re both in a lot of trouble,” said an unfamiliar voice.

Blair looked around to see a security guard holding a gun on them. Todd stood up, pocketed the baggie, and turned to face the man.

“Look,” said Todd. “There’s a reason for this. I’ll give you a thousand dollars to walk away and tell the police you found the grave disturbed but the ones who had dug it had disappeared.” Suddenly a light flashed in Todd’s face and he held up his hand trying to make out who was holding it.

“It’s a little late for that, Manning. We’re already here.” Bo replied.

“Did you hate the guy so much you had to desecrate his grave, Todd? You almost had me convinced you didn’t kill him, but this beats all.” John moved up and stood next to Bo.

“Bo, John, it’s not what you think? We were about to call you.” Blair took off her cap as the rain had stopped and ran a hand through her hair nervously. “I know this looks bad, but Todd’s right, we had a reason for doing this.”

“I expected something like this from Todd, but Blair, I thought you were smarter,” Bo said.

“Don’t do that Bo, you don’t have the vaguest idea what this is about. Todd’s different, but not one of you is even willing to see that. He’s trying to find out what happened the night Victor supposedly died, but all of you just want to tag him as the culprit. Well, guess what? You‘re all so high and mighty. Do you think we desecrated Victor’s grave? How can you desecrate a grave if there’s no corpse?”

At that moment Todd felt he was truly back home. Blair was standing by his side defending him, the way she used to. He wanted to stop the world and just sweep her into his arms, but he realized they still had to get out of their current predicament.

John looked at Bo and back to Blair. “What do you mean there’s no corpse? Blair, I was there. I saw the body and watched the paramedics remove it from Tea’s house. You were at Victor’s service and watched the burial. The coroner said he was killed with a nine-millimeter weapon. My God, you’re standing on top of his body. Of course, there’s a corpse.”

Blair looked at Todd. “You tell them. It’s your right. Go ahead, show the oh-so-smart-police of Llanview just how dumb they really are.”

Todd smiled at her and then looked back up at Bo and John. “She’s right. We’re standing on top of something, but it isn’t Victor. I doubt it even has a name. Come forward and see what we found.” He made a big flourish and a wave of his hand as Bo and John stepped forward and looked down. ‘Ta Da! Meet the late great Podd Manning!”

“What the hell are you pulling, Todd? What did you do with Victor?"

“Come on, Bozo. Do you think I switched bodies? Look around you. Do you see Victor anywhere? Take a look at the casket. It’s scorched on the inside. The thing, whatever it is, burned inside it. I had nothing to do with this. Perhaps I should be asking just what kind of coroner can’t tell a real body from a fake one.”

John stood staring down at the sight in front of him, then asked. “Todd, why did you and Blair come here tonight?” He looked into Todd’s eyes, waiting for an answer. From the moment he had met Todd, he had gotten the truth from him. Would he continue the trend?

Todd met John’s eyes. “I came because I don’t believe my brother is dead. It’s hard to explain and I’m not sure you would understand. But this, this tells me I might be right. Something is going on.”

John reached out a hand. “Come out of there, Blair.” She grabbed hold and John pulled her up to ground level. He then jump down and joined Todd. “Move aside, Todd.”

Todd let John slip past him and watched as John checked out the thing in Victor’s grave. “Well, do you see what I mean, John? Someone went to a lot of trouble to make us think Victor was dead.”

Bo knelt down, his light focused on the grotesque visage staring blankly toward the sky. He flinched at the recognizable portion of the face that identified the object as Victor Lord, Jr. His flashlight fell across the rest of the exposed body and he noted the structure. Todd was right. There was no way the coroner would ever have identified this monstrosity as being human, much less, Victor. He must have been paid off. How many other people had been in on the fraud and where was the real Victor? Bo turned round to tell the security guard he could put down the gun, but the man had disappeared. “That’s strange. Did any of you see the guard leave?”

“I did. He got this weird look on his face when John jumped in with Todd. I saw him pull out his phone and look at what was probably some sort of message and then he just melted back into the darkness.” Blair looked at Bo and saw his frown. “What? I just thought he got some message from his wife or something.”

Bo got his own phone out and call the police department. “Fish, get hold of the cemetery groundskeeper and find out who was working security tonight and get back to me. Also, send the meat wagon here, and don’t say anything to anyone else about it. Do you understand?”

Down in the grave, Todd smirked at John, “I guess old Podd here is going for a ride. What are you going to do, Bo? You can’t take it back to the Llanview morgue. They can’t be trusted.”

“We’ll take it to Pine Valley. I intend to get some answers.” Bo looked around again. it bothered him that the guard had just left without even an explanation. His phone rang and he answered. “What did you find out, Fish?” He listened and found himself getting angry. “Thanks for the info. I hear the van coming. Remember, keep this whole conversation to yourself.” He leaned over and offered his hand. “Get out of there, you two.” He hauled John up and then they helped Todd out. “You’re a mess, Todd. We’ll try and get you something else to wear. Blair, you should go home.”

“Wait a minute, I’m not letting you put Todd in jail without me.” Blair had moved to stand beside Todd, putting an arm around his waist.

“Blair, he opened a grave without permission. That’s a crime.” Bo could see she was going to be stubborn. “I’m giving you a chance to be out of this. You have kids at home.”

“I came here to help him. If you arrest Todd, you arrest me. I want to point out that Todd opened the grave of his brother. He’s a relative and has as much right as Tea to find out the truth about Victor.”

John looked at the both of them standing united in front of Bo. Something had changed between the two of them. He had thought Blair was leaning toward Tomas, but it was clear now where she had settled. She had loved Todd long before she met Tomas and it looked like she had discovered her love for him again. Something had led them to the cemetery, and after seeing what they found, it looks like they might have been right. “She has a point, Bo. We can arrest them, but a good lawyer would probably be able to make a case considering Victor is Todd’s twin. Blair’s also right about another thing. There really is no body being desecrated.” He heard movement behind him and swung his flashlight to reveal the forensic team from the department standing there. Natalie was in the front.

Natalie took in the scene. Her Uncle Bo was standing with John. Next to them stood Blair, her arm wrapped around the waist of a man covered in mud. There was a gaping hole behind them. “My God. Uncle Todd, what have you done?”

Todd grinned and put his arm around Blair. “Nothing much. I just thought I would visit my brother. It’s certainly been interesting.”