Free The Frighteners by Michael Jahn

ill.”
    “See you, Hiles.” Frank turned his back on the strutting little spirit and walked confidently toward Ray’s funeral service.
    “My contract runs another eighty-five years,” Hiles yelled at Frank’s back. “There’s a piece of dirt here with your name on it! I’m waiting for you, Bannister.”
    Hiles was still ranting and raving when Bannister made it across the cemetery to the funeral, but was now too far away to be heard. When Frank got there, Lucy was standing next to her parents, sobbing quietly. Her boss, Dr. Kamins, stood nearby. George Zmed scowled at the sight of Frank, and several mourners whispered among themselves at the sight of him.
    Frank watched from a distance as Ray tried to put a comforting arm around Lucy, but it simply passed right through her. Bryce Campbell, Ray’s best friend, was saying a few words.
    “There were times when people have accused Ray of being less than generous, but I am sure that deep down, the man possessed a heart of gold and a generous spirit,” Campbell said.
    Ray burst into tears. “It’s all true,” he said. “He wouldn’t lie—not at a time like this.”
    George Zmed pushed the button to start the coffin on its journey into the ground. As it began its descent, Lucy stepped forward and tossed a flower on top.
    “Good-bye, Ray,” she said tearfully.
    Ray moved to Lucy’s side again, and this time said, “Oh Jesus, what a waste! It’s a goddamn tragedy.”
    He reached out to touch her, to comfort her, but tumbled straight through her and fell into the grave. He passed right through the coffin and landed at the bottom of the pit. His back made a thud that Frank could hear even where he stood outside the ring of mourners.
    Lying on his back, Ray screamed as the black shape of the coffin descended over him. Hearing the screams, Frank pushed his way through the crowd. But by the time he got there, the descending coffin had passed right through Ray. Lynskey found himself sprawled on top of his own dead body.
    He screamed again and sat up, and as he did so his head and shoulders rose through and above the top of the coffin. He saw Frank standing there looking down, and called his name.
    “Frank! Get me outta here!”
    But Bannister was preoccupied with another voice, that belonging to Sheriff Walker Perry. He had sidled up to Bannister, who was looking at his emanation friend seated sticking out of the top of his coffin. Frank was trying not to attract attention, but he got it anyway.
    “Hiya, Frank,” the sheriff said.
    Frank turned to the sound of the voice. “Walt!” he said, caught off guard.
    Perry was a friendly-faced man of forty or so, slightly overweight a few years back and now seriously heavy. If he had, in fact, asked Ray to help him get back in shape, Lynskey’s death was doubly tragic. Bannister’s relations with the sheriff had been cordial over the years, although Perry remained one of those Fairwater citizens who were more than a little suspicious about him.
    “I’m surprised to see you, Frank,” the sheriff said. “I guess you’re here on business?”
    “Not exactly,” Bannister replied.
    Perry put an arm around Frank’s shoulders and took him off to one side. “You’re not handing out your little business cards, are you?”
    “Not today, Walt.”
    “George Zmed complained about that after Chuck Hughes’s funeral. It looks bad, you know? Kind of like those lawyers that hand out their cards at car wrecks.”
    “I’m innocent,” Frank said.
    “I heard you had a run-in with Lynskey, the night before he died,” Perry said. “The fact is, apart from his widow, you were the last person to see him alive.”
    Bannister gave the sheriff a wary glance. “It sounds like you’re the one here on business, Walt.”
    The sheriff chuckled. “Lord, no,” he said. “Ray and I met at the gym. In fact, he’d just become my personal trainer. I guess now I got to find someone else.”
    The sheriff looked around furtively, then