Josef! Behave yourself. Skyler was somewhere between laughing and crying with nervous tension.
Varga stepped back to the coffin and peered in, beads of sweat visible on his forehead. He cleared his throat. "He certainly looks robust for a man who starved himself to death."
The least you could have done was make yourself look emaciated if you wanted him to believe your preposterous story, she scolded.
Skyler pressed a handkerchief to her mouth. "They did such a good job at the funeral home. I particularly asked them to make certain he looked good for our mother."
Varga pressed his lips together and studied the body. He was suspicious, but she wasn't certain of what. Clearly there was a dead body in the coffin. Did he suspect her of running drugs? Guns? If so, that didn't bode well for what she had planned. She needed to look like a naïve, young teenager who might be slightly ditzy.
She held her breath as he reached for the lid of the coffin and slowly closed it.
"Is someone coming for you?" Varga asked as he locked the coffin lid and glanced at his watch. "I can't stay. You were the last plane coming in."
"My brother's friend arranged for a truck to pick us up. He'll be here any minute," Skyler assured him solemnly. "Thank you so much for all your help."
"You can wait in here," Varga said in a kind voice. "I'll come back in a couple of hours and lock up." He looked around the dilapidated building. It was nothing more than four metal walls, mostly rusted, some so badly there were holes. "Not that there's much to lock up." He glanced again at his watch. "I would wait with you, but I have another job to go to."
She sent him a wan smile. "It's all right. Really. He'll be here any minute."
Varga gave her one last look and exited the rickety building, leaving her there alone with the locked coffin. Skyler waited until she saw his car drive off and the lights disappear completely down the road. She took a careful look around. She appeared to be alone.
"Josef, you can quit playing dead," Skyler said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She banged on the coffin lid with her fist. "Died of a broken heart? Really? You couldn't think of anything else, anything, say, more realistic?"
The lid of the coffin opened with the same series of ominous, horror film creaks he'd used when Varga had opened the lid. There was silence. Skyler's heart beat steadily. She leaned over the coffin and glared at the young man who lay as if dead, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed. His skin was pale porcelain and his black spiky hair with the dyed blue tips stood out starkly against the white backdrop.
"You look amazingly robust for a man who starved himself to death," she said sarcastically, mimicking the official. "You could have blown everything with your absurd story."
Josef's eyes snapped open dramatically. He faked an accent as he slowly sat up. "I could use a drop of blood or two, my dear."