Ryan and his family are mourning the loss of Ryan’s father when his dog suddenly races into the church and starts barking at the coffin. Ryan’s suspicions are roused when the dog shifts into an alert position. He opens the coffin and discovers it empty, prompting him to seek answers about what really happened to his father.
“Bella, stay,” Ryan sighed as he climbed out of his car outside the church. He paused on the sidewalk to smooth his dark suit. His heart was not prepared for the ordeal that awaited him behind those pale, wooden doors.
How does a son say goodbye to his father? Especially under these circumstances…by God, they couldn’t even give Dad a typical funeral. Bella interrupted his thoughts with a sharp bark.
He turned back to his car and frowned when he saw the Malinois pawing at the back of the driver’s seat. Although Bella was still young, it was unusual for her to behave like this after he’d given her a clear command. “Bella.” Ryan gave her the hand signal to lie down.
She obeyed instantly, and he reached through the open window to pet her head. “Now, stay, Bella.”
Ryan walked away then, ignoring Bella’s whine, and entered the church. The casket was already in place, closed, and the funeral director had discretely cordoned off the immediate area with a white ribbon.
This was per the doctor’s advice since Dad had died of a highly infectious disease. It all bothered Ryan immensely. He sat beside his mother and took her hand.
He had to be strong, for her sake, but his foot tapped out his agitation against the marble floor as he stared at the casket. Father Riley appeared then and stepped up to the pulpit. “Thank you all for coming today to bid a final farewell to Arnold, beloved father of Ryan and husband to Emily.
Arnold was a good man and will be sorely missed by everyone who knew him.”
“…the deceased will now proceed to the crematorium,” Father Riley informed the mourners at the end of the mass. The mourners rose to sing the final hymn, but Ryan’s heart wasn’t in it. Dad was supposed to have been buried in the family plot, but the doctor had suggested cremation was a better option due to the circumstances of his death.
Ryan wiped at the tear rolling down his cheek as the funeral director and his employees approached the casket. This was all wrong! How could he honor his dad when he wasn’t even permitted to carry his body from the church…he never had a chance to say goodbye when Dad was alive, and now he couldn’t even give him a proper farewell in death.
He hung his head as he struggled to get his emotions under control. Then Bella’s bark echoed through the church. Ryan stared in horrified disbelief as his dog jumped up against Dad’s casket, knocking the elaborate arrangement of white lilies to the floor.
Her entire body jerked as she barked furiously at the coffin. The funeral director rushed forward and tried to shoo her away, but she ducked beneath the bier and growled at him. “Bella, heel!” Ryan strode forward to confront the spectacle of his dog barking at Dad’s casket.
“Stop this! Heel, Bella. I said, heel!”
Bella pricked her ears at him but didn’t obey his command.
She barked at the casket once more and then turned to Ryan as she sat in her alert position. The hair at the back of Ryan’s neck stood up, and an icy chill settled in his guts. Something was wrong.
He stepped over the white ribbon and approached the casket. Bella immediately started barking again and raced around the bier. “Is this your dog?” The funeral director snapped at Ryan.
“Open the casket,” Ryan said, ignoring the man’s question. “What? Sir, no.
With all due respect, we can’t do that. We were specifically advised—”
“I said, open the casket!” Ryan snapped. “Ryan, what are you doing?” Mom sobbed behind him.
Ryan turned and was greeted by the astonished faces of the mourners who’d come to bid his father farewell. Two of his aunts whispered together, and his uncle looked ready to explode. But the face that stood out was that of his mother, who stared at him with heartbroken confusion in her eyes.
Ryan didn’t know how to explain to them that Bella’s unusual behavior was a sign that something was wrong. All he could do was prove it to them. Ryan turned his back on his shocked family, shouldered past the funeral director, and opened the casket.
Mom shrieked behind him. Several people called his name, but all of it faded into a background buzz as Ryan gaped at the white satin lining his father’s empty casket. A heavy hand landed on his shoulder.
“Ryan, have you lost your—oh my God.” Uncle Thomas made the sign of the cross as he backed away from Ryan and the casket. He turned to the funeral director. “What’s going on here?
Why is my brother’s casket empty?”
The funeral director rushed forward. His jaw dropped, and he reached into the casket as though he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. Pandemonium broke out in the church.
Distressed relatives rushed forward to see the empty casket for themselves. One of Ryan’s younger cousins started screaming. “Where is my Arnold?” Mom keened, her voice trembling with emotion as her desperate cry echoed through the church.
As Ryan watched, Mom’s eyes rolled back in her skull, and her knees buckled. He rushed forward and caught her just before her head hit the marble floor. Ryan lifted Mom in his arms and carried her away from the chaos of the church.
As he shouldered through the doors, Bella appeared at his side. She dashed ahead and jumped back into his car through the open window. Right now, Ryan was more concerned about his mother than his dog’s odd behavior.
He settled Mom in the passenger seat and drove her to the hospital. “Yes, you heard me right, Detective Bradshaw, the casket was empty.” Ryan glanced at the detective as he continued to pace the sitting room in his mother’s house. “There has to be something illegal going on here, right?”
Detective Bradshaw flipped through her notebook.
“It certainly bears investigation, sir, but I can’t say more than that at this juncture. We’ve already interviewed the funeral director and have found no evidence that he did anything untoward with your father’s remains.”
“Do you think…I know it sounds crazy, but is it possible that this is all a big mistake and my dad is still alive?” Ryan asked. “At this point, all we know is that the coroner confirmed the cause of death and released the remains to the funeral home,” Detective Bradshaw continued.
“Tell me, sir, was your father involved in any activities that I should be aware of as I continue my investigation?”
Ryan stopped dead. That particular question came out of nowhere. It got him wondering if the detective had uncovered something she wasn’t telling him.
“No,” he replied. “Honestly, I haven’t been involved in the business since I decided to open my dog training and rehabilitation center, but I can’t see my father doing anything that would place his or the company’s reputation at stake. Why do you ask?”
“It’s always better to be thorough.” Detective Bradshaw smiled politely at him.
Detective Bradshaw rose and offered him her business card. “I’ll be in touch if I discover anything but please don’t hesitate to call me if you remember any information that might be pertinent to this investigation.”
Ryan nodded and showed the detective to the door. Despite her assurance about the coroner’s report, Ryan felt sure there was something amiss.
He’d seen the funeral director’s reaction to the empty casket firsthand, and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the man was just as shocked as he was. He slumped onto the sofa as he tried to organize everything that had happened into some sequence of events that made sense. Bella rose from where she’d lain down to chew on one of her toys and set her head on his lap.
Ryan looked down into her intelligent, brown eyes as he scratched behind her ears. Her tail thumped against the floor. “You’re a good girl, Bella.” He whispered to the dog.
“How did you know? It makes no sense…why would you alert for an empty casket?”
But, of course, Bella couldn’t reply even if she wanted to. Ryan sighed and set those questions aside.
It was no use pondering Bella’s inexplicable behavior when he faced the more serious question of what had happened to his father. Sitting on the sofa with his jumbled thoughts was driving Ryan mad. The hospital was keeping Mom overnight, so he fed Bella and let her out into the yard with some of her favorite toys.
Then, he set out to find
