The air in the crematorium was thick, smelling of ozone and the suffocating perfume of lilies

Chapter 1: The Movement in the Coffin

The air in the crematorium was thick, smelling of ozone and the suffocating perfume of lilies. My wife, Clara, lay inside the polished mahogany coffin, seven months pregnant with our first child, while the Vale family moved with terrifying efficiency to erase her before sunset.

No one cried properly. No one trembled.continue reading …