Monsters Got Blamed for Murder, So I Relived the Victim's Last Hour novel · Chapter 26 of 32

Chapter 26: Directive Nine

The Director's office filed two hundred and twelve cremation orders at 4:55 on Tuesday afternoon, and every one of them carried the stamp I-4471.

Reiss read them standing in the church kitchen on his tablet, scrolling with one thumb.

"They're mine again," he said. "She doesn't need me in the room. She needs my number on a screen."

The judge's hold would run out at midnight, and Directive 9 started the clock a minute after.

Fourteen refrigerated rail cars stood on the Joliet spur.

A locomotive and a contract crew waited to take them to the Bureau's crematorium in Whiting, Indiana.

Reiss swore out an affidavit at the kitchen table, in front of a notary from the Fellowship, revoking inspector number I-4471 as of 5:07 p.m.

Then he took the rubber stamp out of his bag and set it on the steel counter.

For six years it had marked four thousand one hundred orders, and for ten days it had been a key.

The deacon's wife handed him a pair of kitchen shears.

He cut the stamp through the handle with both hands, and the halves dropped into the Marine's bucket.

"That's one number nobody uses again," the Marine said.

Reiss did not smile, but he looked a little taller.

← Chapter 25 · All chapters · Chapter 27 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend