Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (27 page)

“
About twenty years,” the
Coroner said. “Based on the history of the building, the soil and
the condition of the body, we can’t be more exact. We wanted to
tell you as soon as possible.”

“
She died that night!” the
woman said. “Oh God…”

The woman tucked into the man and began to
cry. The coroner glanced at Delphie. She had identified nineteen of
the twenty-one bodies they had found. So far, she’d only been
unable to identify the two bodies they now called ‘The Lovers,’
found under the Castle together. The Coroner’s office had matched
the dental records, descriptions and dates of disappearance on
fifteen of the bodies. Seth believed they would confirm the
identification of the remaining four by the end of the weekend.

The man and woman were the fifth family
they’d talked to today. They had ten more to go. The entire
building reeked with grief.

“
May I see her whole body?”
the woman asked. “I…”

The coroner pulled back more of the sheet.
Every family had insisted on seeing the remains. Some families had
waited decades to find out what had happened to their loved one.
They needed the physical body to make their loved one’s death feel
real. The woman’s hand moved toward the body on the table and then
retreated. She shook her head and turned tucked into the man again.
The Coroner covered the body.

“
How?” the woman asked from
her nest in the man’s chest.

“
Due to the condition of
the remains, we haven’t determined the cause of death yet,” the
Coroner said.

The woman grabbed the Coroner’s arm.

“
You will find the person
who killed my sister,” the woman said. “You won’t let her become
one of those cold cases that I read about in the Denver Post.
Promise me.”

“
We are doing everything in
our power,” the Coroner said. “Detective O’Malley will keep you in
the loop on this investigation.”

“
Who?” the woman asked. Her
eyes flicked to Delphie for the first time.

“
Detective O’Malley,” the
man said. “You remember, Louise, we spoke to him yesterday. He
picked up the dental records. We have his card at home.”

The woman nodded before her shoulders
hunched again. Her tight fists moved near her face.

“
Thank you,” the woman
said.

The man negotiated the woman out of the
morgue. When the door closed, the morgue attendants came to move
the body. Across the morgue, the Coroner pointed at Delphie.

“
Yes?” Delphie
asked.

“
You will figure this out,”
the Coroner said.

“
We will figure it out,”
Delphie said. “Together.”

“
These
families…”

“
They’ve waited a long
time,” Delphie said. “They can find peace now.”

“
And the dead?” the Coroner
asked.

“
We’ll find peace for
them,” Delphie said. “It helps knowing that their families are
treated with respect and kindness. That’s the first step to letting
go of this world.”

The attendants brought out another body.

“
Ready?” the Coroner
asked.

Delphie nodded.

“
You may send the next
family in,” the Coroner said.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and
SIX

Men with plans

Saturday evening — 5:45 P.M.

“
There you are,” Sam
said.

Delphie entered the door to their second
floor Castle apartment. He helped her with her coat and kissed her
hello. Still wet from a post-work shower, he had a towel wrapped
around his hips.

“
I was getting worried,” he
said. He walked back to the bathroom.

“
Worried?” Delphie
asked.

Delphie went into the small galley kitchen
and opened a bottle of red wine. She’d just poured two glassed when
Sam came out wearing jeans and a T-shirt. He took the glasses and
wine from her.

“
All of this.” Sam carried
the wine to their sitting area. “I worry that it’s too
much.”

Sam waited for her to sit down and he gave
her a glass of wine.

“
I’m having a great time,”
Delphie said. “I mean, not a great time… People are dead and their
loved ones… But I like feeling useful.”

“
Yes, I know,” Sam
said.

“
What are you worried
about?” Delphie asked.

“
So much death,” Sam said.
“There are… How many bodies?”

“
Twenty-one bodies so far,”
Delphie said. “They span the last three decades.”

“
That’s a lot of death,”
Sam said.

Sam looked away from Delphie. They sat in
silence for a moment.

“
You can just say what you
need to say,” Delphie said. “I’m not reading your mind.”

Knowing the effort it took to for her to
stay out of his head, Sam smiled at her.

“
You’ve been happier, more
active, and involved with everyone since this whole thing
happened,” Sam said. “Like marrying Aden and Sandy. I don’t think
you would have done that before. You would have left it up to the
Goddess or waited until someone asked you.”

“
I wouldn’t have married
them like that before,” Delphie said. “I’m glad I did
though.”

“
I’m glad too,” Sam said.
“It makes me happy to see you so alive. Especially after all that
happened and after almost losing you…”

“
Why are you worried?”
Delphie asked.

“
You’re very sensitive and
this is so dark,” Sam said. “I worry the dark will…”

“
I have lots of experience
with darkness, Sam,” Delphie said.

“
I know.” Sam looked away
from her. “I know.”

He fell silent. Delphie touched his chin and
he looked over at her again.

“
I understand what you’re
saying,” Delphie said. “And I hear the wisdom in it. I am
sensitive. I’ve always walked the line between dark and light. It’s
been a rough journey.”

Sam nodded.

“
I don’t think I was aware
of how much Levi had affected me,” Delphie said.

“
He had a hold on you all
this time,” Sam said.

“
I wasn’t aware of that,”
Delphie said. “I always discounted his influence.”

“
You used to talk as if you
knew he was affecting you.”

“
I knew and I didn’t,”
Delphie said. “Now that he’s gone, I feel as light as a feather.
There’s nothing in the way of the light now. I wake up every
morning flooded with joy and light. I’ve never had so much energy
or been as happy. I’ve wondered if it’s something Jill did to
me.”

“
Have you asked
her?”

“
I have,” Delphie said.
“She said she can only restore what is there, not create something
that wasn’t there.”

“
Levi took a lot from you,”
Sam said.

“
Yes he did,” Delphie said.
“He also kept me from enjoying a lot of my life by blocking me from
the light. I belong in the light.”

“
Will you tell me if it
gets too much?” Sam asked.

“
I will,” Delphie said.
“But I may not know. I have a pretty high tolerance for darkness
so… Your concern is a helpful reminder to me.”

“
You’re not a police
officer,” Sam said. “You never said you wanted to work like
this.”

“
I don’t,” Delphie said.
“But I’m not quite sure what I want to do with this half of my
life. With the girls helping out at the Castle, I have more time to
do other things. The freedom and light is new to me.”

Sam put his arm around her and she rested on
his shoulder.

“
I’ll tell you,” Delphie
said. “I love helping these families. We met with fifteen families
today. It was hard work, exhausting, but at the end, I felt like I
had made a real difference in people’s lives. The Coroner said that
without my help, they might have never figured out these kids’
identities. Their families would have been in limbo
forever.”

“
I always feel really good
when I help people,” Sam said.

Delphie nodded.

“
It’s hard to be out in the
world though,” Delphie said. “I’ve lived most of my adult life
within these few blocks. I walk a block to work and come home. The
dogs and I walk to the park every day. Outside of three or four
trips to Maine, City Park was the farthest place I ever went. In
the last week, I’ve been to all kinds of places. It’s uncomfortable
and a little scary.”

“
Do you want to learn to
drive?” Sam asked.

“
I was thinking about it,”
Delphie said. “Would that be all right?”

“
Sure,” Sam smiled. “You’re
like a new Delphie.”

“
Is that bad?” Delphie
asked.

“
I think it’s pretty
normal,” Sam said. “I’m just excited to get to know this new
adventurous Delphie.”

Delphie laughed.

“
Shall we join the kids for
dinner?” Sam asked. “Jill said we’re having…”

“
Val’s Green Chili stew,”
Delphie said. “I’m not
that
far out of the loop!”

“
Sandy made homemade
tortillas,” Sam said.

“
Sounds wonderful,” Delphie
said.

Setting down his empty wine glass, Sam
stood. He held his hands out to her and pulled her into his
arms.

“
Just promise me you’ll
take care of yourself,” he said.

“
I promise,” Delphie said.
“One near death experience is enough.”

He kissed her forehead. Taking her hand,
they walked toward the door.

“
Does this new Delphie want
to get married?” he asked.

Delphie laughed.

“
I had to ask,” he
said.

“
I love that about you,”
she said.

Smiling, he opened the door to their
apartment.

“
This Delphie says…” she
said.

“
You’re so traditional!”
they said in unison.

Laughing, they went down the hall to join
the others for dinner.

~~~~~~~~

Sunday evening — 5:50 P.M.

“
We’re just waiting for
your Dad,” Sandy said. “Val made her fabulous green chili and Jill
ordered the cake. You can go down if you want to.”

“
We’ll wait with you, Mom,”
Nash said.

“
Can you check on Noelle?”
Sandy asked.

Noelle had a rough afternoon. Around three,
Noelle had a lack of sleep meltdown. Sandy, Jill, and Katy had
persuaded Noelle to take a long nap. Noelle had been sleeping since
then.

“
I’m here,” Noelle’s eyes
were swollen from tears but her smile was bright. “I feel
better.”

Sandy held out her arms and Noelle came to
give her a hug.

“
Where’s Dad?” Noelle
asked.

“
I don’t know,” Sandy said.
“Sam got home about an hour ago. Your Dad was supposed to come with
him. Let’s go down to dinner. I’m sure he’ll show up. Can you help
me carry the tortillas down?”

Sandy loaded Nash up with a stack of flour
tortillas wrapped in aluminum foil. She gave another stack to
Noelle.

“
These smell yummy,” Noelle
said.

“
They are!” Nash said. “I
helped Mom make them.”

“
I miss everything!” Noelle
whined.

“
We’ll have plenty of time
to do everything,” Sandy said. “There’s never enough time to rest.
Ok, let’s go before we’re late.”

Nash opened the door and started down the
hall with his stack of tortillas. Noelle was about to follow when
they heard: “Dad!” Nash followed Aden back to the apartment. Noelle
hugged her father. Nash joined their hug.

“
Sorry I’m late,” Aden
said. “I got called in to Department of Corrections for a drug
test. I’ve been there for the last couple of hours. I tried to call
but you didn’t answer.”

“
We had the phones off so
Noelle could sleep,” Sandy said. “Sorry.”

“
I had a meltdown this
afternoon. That’s what Sandy, I mean Mom, calls them. A
‘meltdown’,” Noelle said. “Mrs. Jill told me that Katy gets them
when she doesn’t sleep enough too.”

“
Sorry sweetie.” Aden
kissed the top of her head. “What made you so upset?”

“
I was upset because I
thought Sandy married another guy,” Noelle said.

“
Instead, she became our
Mom!” Nash said.

Aden flushed at his words. He looked at
Sandy and she nodded.

“
They’ve been calling me
Mom all day,” Sandy said. “Now, we don’t want to be late for dinner
because Big Sam loves green chili. We might not get
any.”

Nash started out the door with his
tortillas.

“
Wait!” Aden
said.

Nash turned around.

“
I had to get my drug test
because I got permission to take your
Mom
to dinner,” Aden said.

“
Fancy dinner?” Noelle
asked.

“
Kevin Taylor’s fancy
dinner,” Aden said.

“
Nice,” Sandy
said.

“
Then we’re going to stay
the night at the Hotel Teatro,” Aden said.