He pushed through the wide gate with a clang. Ranger trailed a few feet behind, his head hung low. He’d been waiting by the freezer when Dekker rose and had refused to leave his side. Every few minutes he whimpered and nudged Dekker’s leg. “I’m going as fast as I can,” said Dekker. He had tried to pet him, but the dog had moved back, out of his reach. “I smell that bad, hey?” The headstones nearest the entrance stood like guards on either side of the path. He left the narrow road that traversed the grounds and walked up a side path toward the back of the cemetery, where Aunt Primrose had said the funeral would be. He had timed it so that he arrived at the end of the service, before the gravedigger lowered the coffin into the ground. As he crested the hill, early-evening light shone through the crypts and statues that ringed the oldest part of the graveyard. Dekker crouched behind a stone angel and looked down to where Mrs. Conquergood’s small gathering was beginning to break up.
