Chapter 13

The two of us sat in silence for an undetermined amount of time while we struggled to absorb and understand what was happening.  As the official county coroner, I’d declared Jacob dead along the roadside.  He’d been transported from the scene of his death to the funeral home and then from the funeral home to my examination lab without showing any signs of coming back to life.  How could he come back to life?  He was dead.  He really was.

I finally came to my senses enough to check his vitals.  He had none.  He wasn’t breathing, he had no heartbeat, he was as cold as one would expect a dead man to be and his skin was a pale gray like a dead man’s would be.  Since he was barefoot, I could even see the black around his ankles that happens when the person’s blood stops

circulating and settles in pools. 

I looked at Max with unbridled confusion. “He’s got no vitals.  He’