The Death Agreement by Kristopher Mallory

seen anything like
this before. None of the pieces fit together. I can say that you're
officially off the suspect list. At least for now."
    "Is that so?"
    "Timelines don't match. We've got
hospital staff claiming to have seen you on campus." He reached for
a bag by his side. "You hungry? I brought a few
burgers."
    "No, the beers will be
fine."
    "Suit yourself." Yang reached into
the brown bag and pulled out a cheeseburger. He unwrapped it and
took a bite. "Tell me about this guy, Goodtime. I saw that he
signed the register."
    "Not much to tell, really." I
pressed the bottle to my lips and finished off the second beer. "He
showed up and said he knew Jesse. Did you find anything on
him?"
    "I did actually. Well, found a few
people listed with that name. I'm going to look over the records
tonight. Thanks for the tip. Taylor's computer might help now that
I have a lead."
    "So, Yang, why are you
here?"
    "I still want you to help me
figure this out."
    "I've been trying."
    "Yeah, but I think we've been
ignoring the elephant in the room for far too long. At first we had
our sights on you. We had a theory that you cut off his leg because
you felt that he was somehow responsible for what happened to you
in Afghanistan."
    "That's bullshit."
    "The staff members at the hospital
claimed you were angry, more than most. Some even said you were
vindictive. You scared them."
    "Maybe I did." I sighed. "So did a
lot of other guys. You don't know what it's like being in that
place, in that situation. It does something to you."
    "That's exactly what I'm saying. I
don't know. You do. Let me put it another way. While the department
was convinced that you were involved, you were convinced someone
else was involved. No one asked the right question: Why would your
friend sever his own leg? I've seen crazy, Jon. This is well
beyond, trust me."
    "It's true," I said. "I don't want
to admit he did it to himself."
    Yang nodded. "When the medical
examiner figured out his leg wasn't the only part missing, I was
able to see it from another angle. It isn't about what we know or
what we have found. It's about the missing parts. This case has a
lot of missing parts, and I doubt we'll ever solve it."
    "Speaking of missing parts," I
said, taking another beer from Yang. "What's missing?"
    "I'm sorry, I can't tell you. We
never thought we'd find them all anyway. It's a big pond, too big
to search it all, but we now know those parts aren't
there."
    "How so?"
    "I can't say."
    "Damn it."
    "I know."
    Yang and I both looked up at
Taylor's body. The service would be ending soon and there was one
last thing left I needed to do.
    I stood up. "I agreed to say a few
words. Another part of the agreement we had."
    Yang nodded. "Would you like me to
go?"
    "Only if you want."
    Yang sat still. I mouthed the
words thank you as I walked to the podium. I looked out at the room and did
my best to pretend it was filled with grieving people, those who
had known Jesse Taylor, those who had loved him.
    My imagination failed me. Only
Detective Yang sat alone in the empty room, his head bowed, his
hands folded neatly in his lap.
    In my jacket pocket, my copy of
The Death Agreement contained the eulogy I had written for Taylor
months before his death. The words were heartfelt and truthful,
just as we both had planned them to be.
    Standing there in the cold funeral
home, the body of my friend resting next to me, having fallen so
far from the man I cared about…it would have been an insult to read
those words. Even if the only ears to hear were Yang's and my own,
those words were wrong. So I needed to say something else,
something which was just as true.
    I cleared my throat and spoke:
"Taylor and I used to joke about dying young. It isn't funny
anymore."
    I stepped down and walked out the
door, leaving Yang alone with Taylor's corpse.

 
    SECTION V - SHARE FINAL
WORDS

     
    I lit a cigarette and
walked into the alley between Hardesty's Funeral Home and a small
flower shop named Maria's