Free The Body Mafia by Stacy Dittrich

myself choking up. “It’ll be good for me to have him here. Please.”
    She breathed deeply into the phone. “I’ll have him there by three.”
    As I hung up, it dawned on me that this was the most cordial conversation Vanessa and I had ever had. After the blackmailing incident, we’d hadn’t spoken so much as one word to each other.
    My next call was to Eric. I would pick up the girls the following morning, but I wanted some time alone with Sean. I became an Academy Award–winning actress when he put Selina on the phone, trying to sound cheerful, until she asked about Michael.
    “Can I talk to Michael? I want to tell him about the FBI movie I watched last night!”
    I was shaking like a leaf, and my heart sank. “Oh, honey…He—he had to run some errands and go pick Sean up.” I held my breath. “He’ll be back later.”
    “How come you sound funny?”
    My daughter never misses a beat. “I think I’m getting a cold is all. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
    I had to be strong for all of my children, Sean included. If they saw me in pieces, they surely wouldn’t be able to cope.
    Looking at the clock every fifteen minutes in anticipation of Sean’s arrival, I both welcomed and dreaded his visit. Being around him, a smaller version of Michael, would both comfort and sadden me. I had sent Naomi home, assuring her I would call later. After she left, I noticed she had taken all of my guns with her. I’m sure she thought she was being careful, but if I truly wanted to commit suicide, there were certainly other ways…not that I had any intention of doing so.
    Vanessa arrived half an hour early, and by the time I got outside, Sean was already out of the car, and she was standing in the driveway looking at the blackened roadway where Michael’s car had exploded. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she was starting to fall apart. The last thing we needed was for Sean to put everything together while watching his mom stare at the road. I let the door slam so Sean would get distracted. It did the trick.
    “CeeCee!” He came running to me at full speed.
    Seeing the tears well up in his eyes while his face was scrunched up, I caught him and fell to my knees, holding him tightly and sobbing. He cried right along with me.
    “My daddy’s gone! He’s in heaven, CeeCee!” he wailed.
    I squeezed him tighter, and he buried his face into my shoulder. Vanessa stood quietly, watching us, herown tears still flowing. Holding Sean was the closest I could get to Michael, and I didn’t want to let him go. Nonetheless, both Vanessa and I needed to keep ourselves together for Sean’s sake.
    “Vanessa,” I sniffled, “do you want to come in for some coffee or something?”
    “No, thanks, CeeCee…” She wiped her eyes. “I need to get going. I have my own grieving to do.”
    I responded with only a nod, and Sean and I watched her drive away before we went into the house. We sat, talked, and cried for hours. Sean was the best medicine I could’ve asked for. I knew I had to be strong for him, so I suppressed my own grief enough that I felt able to function. It was a long night, but at least we had each other. The next morning would be another horrible affair, when Selina and Isabelle arrived.
    They, like the rest of us, didn’t take it well when Eric and I gave them the bad news, Selina especially. She was the oldest and had never experienced the realities of life and death. Michael was the first person she had ever known who had died, and it took such a toll on her I had to put her in counseling within a week.
    Michael’s funeral was an entirely different issue. The FBI, for reasons they refused to discuss with me, insisted on a small, private service, instead of the full-blown law-enforcement burial. I was furious, to say the least. Alan Keane called me several times and tried to explain. He insisted that while they were searching for Michael’s killers, they thought it best to try to give the impression that Michael