“Hey Barry. You know who this is. Don’t play games with me. Yes, of course, it’s your father. You got a minute? There’s something I want to talk to you about,” Roland Bridges groaned.
He walked over to his workbench, mustering up the confidence to address this issue with his son. Roland was not a fan of conflict by any means which made what he was about to say very difficult.
“Good! Can you hear me? Just checking. I wanted to ask you first if you are free tonight. I know it’s late notice but I’m going to need help with the Sampson and Sons Funeral Home account. Well, to be honest, it is becoming to much to clean on my own. Your father is getting old, you know. Terry? Well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Roland let out an exasperated sigh before continuing the conversation.
“Look, here’s the bottom line. I know he’s your friend and all, but he is not working out. I can’t rely on him. Well, he hasn’t been showing up for work. Maybe he did but last week he didn’t show up for one of the jobs and there have been complaints about his work. He is quickly becoming a liability. So I guess what I am telling you is that either you fire him or I will. I can’t go on like this. I need reliable people. Yes. I am going to leave this up to you. Don’t worry, I’ll clean the funeral home tonight. I break it up into sections to east the workload. Listen, I know what I told you but I’m not in the grave yet! Let me know how it goes with Terry,” Roland ended the conversation and finished preparing for work.
He was soon on his way to Sampson and Sons Funeral Home, mentally preparing himself for the long night ahead. The large Victorian House with all its additions and alterations was a behemoth among funeral homes. The building was so massive it could easily accommodate multiple funerals simultaneously. He let out a big sigh as he pulled into the parking lot in anticipation of the workload he was about to encounter.
Roland parked his van as close to the entrance as possible and began to prepare his cleaning equipment. Before he began his work for the evening, he needed to check the perimeter of the property like he always did when he arrived at the job. The routine inspection that he was about to conduct on the property began as usual. It wasn’t until he arrived at the back of the building that something was amiss.
As he inspected the foundation which happened to contain several windows that he noticed something that required further inspection. Roland knelt down by the cracked foundation and observed a breach. One of the windows was broken and it was obvious that something or someone had broken into the basement.
It didn’t take long before his suspicions were confirmed. His attention was diverted to the cluster of bushes nearby the row of basement windows. A voice suddenly was heard coming from behind the shrubs.
“Hey you! Come here!” Roland turned towards the sound of the voice with a nervous and slightly frightened look.
“Who are you? Where are you?’ Roland asked as he cautiously approached the bushes.
“Tell me who you are first!” the voice demanded.
“I’m the guy that cleans this place. Now that you know, I need to know who the hell you are!” Roland ordered.
“I’m not sure I want to tell you. I don’t know if I can trust you. How am I going to be sure you won’t call the police when you leave me?” the voice cracked under the notion that exposure of his hiding place could be imminent.
“Well, what would you expect me to do? You are trespassing on private property and it is my responsibility to report this or I could lose my job,” Roland briefly explained.
“What if I gave you some money not to say anything?” the voice asked.
“Why would you be hiding in the bushes of a funeral home if you had money? Go and get a hotel room for Christ’s sakes!” Roland was starting to feel a little frustrated.
“Let’s just say I need to keep a low profile. There are some very bad people who are looking for me and this money,” the voice explained.
“This sounds very fishy. I think you should get out of here before I call the police. I’m too old to deal with this shit,” Roland shook his head, irritated that he had to deal with this with all the work he had in front of him.
“What do you say I give you like, 500 dollars?” the voice proposed.
Roland paused and contemplated what the man in the bushes just told him. He sure could use the money but he quickly came to the conclusion that he could probably get more if he just asked.
“How about 1000?’ Roland expected the man to refuse so he began to turn around and head back inside the funeral home.
“Ok. But you have to promise me one thing,” the voice asked.
“What’s that?”
“You can’t spend the money around here. It could get us both in trouble,” the voice from behind the bushes requested.
“Sure. Yeah. Ok. What do I call you if I have to come and find you?” Roland asked.
“Luther. Call me Luther. Hold on a second,” Luther said. Roland waited for a few moments while he looked over both shoulders to make sure that he nobody was watching.
“I’m Roland, nice to meet you,” Roland said.
“Likewise,” Luther replied.
A few moments later, 10 one hundred dollar bills were sticking out from underneath one of the bushes. Roland quickly reached down and grabbed the money before Luther changed his mind and took the money back.
Early the next morning, when Roland had finished his work for the night, he loaded up his cleaning van and started the journey back to his house. As he was on the highway, he realized that he hadn’t gone shopping in awhile and there was no food at his house. The only place for him to stop before he reached his house was a Shell gas station that also doubled as a mini convenience store. Roland yawned as he pulled into the parking lot and parked his van as close as he could to the entrance.
Roland slowly walked around the store, trying his best to put together some items that could pass as a somewhat nutritious offering until he had enough time to visit the grocery store. When he was finished shopping, he placed all the goods on the counter. While the clerk was ringing up all the items, Roland took out his wallet and looked inside. His heart sank when he noticed that there wasn’t any money. Before he let panic take control of the situation, he put his hand in his pocket and smiled. He pulled out the ten one hundred dollar bills that Luther had given him and placed one on the counter. He apologized to the clerk about the denomination, and luckily everything worked out. Smiling, feeling like he just scored a rare victory, Roland headed out to his van.
The next time he returned to the funeral home, he headed around back to check on Luther. Apparently he had been waiting because he summoned Roland as soon as he arrived. Roland rushed over to the bushes to check on him. He asked Luther if he needed anything and he said he did.
“Roland I need you to do me a favor!” Luther sounded rather desperate so Roland moved as close as he could to the bushes.
“What’s that?” he asked..
Suddenly, Luther emerged from the brush. He didn’t look like he had been hiding in the bushes. He was wearing a clean shirt and jeans that should have been dirty but for some reason they seemed clean. Before Roland could ask how this could be possible, Luther tossed him a garbage bag.
“What’s this?” Roland asked.
“I need you to hide this money in a place nobody will find it. After you do this, let me know immediately. I know that it is only a matter of time before they find me.” Luther said as he handed Roland the garbage bag.
“Who will find you?” Roland asked.
“Don’t worry about it. Can you do this?” Luther demanded.
“I know a place. It won’t be til later tonight but I will tell you as soon as it s done,” Roland took the bag and turned to head inside the funeral home.
“Hey Roland!” Luther exclaimed before he retreated back into the bushes.
“Yeah?”
“ Make sure you tell me immediately after you hide it!” Luther asked.
“Sure!” Roland grabbed the bag and headed inside. Luther watched him for a few moments before disappearing into the bushes again.
Roland carried the bag into the morgue. There was a body that was going to be buried the next morning. Roland knew that some of the caskets that the Sampsons sold their customers had bottoms that could slide out from underneath which had more than enough space to hide something that you didn’t want anyone to find. Roland smiled as he checked underneath this particular casket and noticed that it did indeed possess this particular feature. He proceeded to stash all the money from the garbage bag under the casket. When he was finished, he felt more than satisfied that he had found the perfect spot.
The next morning, when he was done, he headed straight to the van. He was so tired he forgot to tell Luther where he had hid the money. While he was driving home, he was yawning and not paying attention to the road at all. The minute he took his tired eyes off the road in front of him, disaster struck.
An abandoned couch was sitting in the middle of the road, which had recently fallen off a truck. For some reason the driver left it and never turned around to reclaim the missing furniture. Roland looked ahead and swerved right before he was about to collide with the couch. As a result of trying to avoid this obstacle, he lost control of the van and crashed into a phone pole. The force of the collision resulted into an explosion that ultimately cost the tired janitor his life.
After waiting as patiently as he could for at least 48 hours, Luther was starting to panic. He wondered why Roland hadn’t came and told him where he had hid the money. At first he worried that he might had taken the money and run but he remembered he told him not to spend the money around here. Praying that Roland didn’t leave with the money, he lamented the fact that he was dumb enough to trust him.
“I had no choice,” he told himself, hoping that would somehow reassure himself that he didn’t make a foolish decision.
Luther carefully searched the area, trying to remain incognito. He eventually entered the funeral home in hopes of finding Roland. After searching some of the rooms and realizing due to the massive size of the establishment, it was going to take a lot longer than he anticipated.
He walked down a staircase that he found behind an open door and headed downstairs into the morgue. The minute he entered, he knew something wasn’t right. The stale smell of death hung in the air, making him feel nauseous. Then he looked over at the metal tables and saw something that made his blood run cold.
Laying on one of the tables was Roland’s burned body. Luther walked over and stared at the deceased janitor and began to shake. Before he could process the reality of the situation, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.