“Robert. One of your people over there.” I swung the flashlight over to the gravestone, where, of course, Robert was not. “Oh, you turd!”

“You . . . fine, go through with it. You’ll see you aren’t cut out for this job.” Corb brushed past me, leaving a trail of that very fine cologne he wore. I couldn’t quite pinpoint it, but I liked it. Part of me wanted to bury my nose in the crook of his neck and just breathe it in. Then again, I was single for the first time in twenty-plus years, and my hormones were off the chart.

Like, I’d never wanted to get laid so badly in my life, and I had nobody to jump. Sucked to be me.

“I like your cologne,” I said. “What is it?”

He paused. “Night.”

I nodded because it figured. “You don’t put too much on. Unlike the other young guys who seem to think they’re going to waft out a circumference of smell that will draw the ladies in,” I said as I turned.

Corb had disappeared just like that Eric guy earlier. I blinked and swept the flashlight around me, seeing nothing. “Going to be like that, is it?”

Fine. I swung back toward the gravestone, and there was Robert, his skeletal hand right where it had been before. “Really? Make me look like a loser, will you? Some friend you are.” As I walked toward him, something my gran had told me bobbed toward the surface of my mind. I tapped at my head to encourage it. “What was it? Give a skeleton food or drink, and they’ll stick around to help you?”

He leaned forward and his swaying picked up speed. I felt like there was something else I was forgetting, but I couldn’t remember it. Damn it.

The food trick was worth trying, anyway. I dug in my purse and pulled out a nougat-filled chocolate bar, unwrapping it quickly, then holding it out to him. “You want a bite?”

His long-haired head swung my way as he rocked side to side, giving me a few glimpses of bone under the darkness. “Friend?” He reached out, took the bar with one hand and shoved it into his mouth, chewing noisily.

There was a thud and I looked down at the ground to see chunks of the chocolate bar sitting between his feet, chewed, but not digested. He gave a low moan like he could really taste it.

“You with me then?”

I think he said yes, but the chocolate and nougat were giving his teeth a bit of a hard time. The aroma of chocolate was strong, and I tried not to think about the smell it might be masking on the dead-who-knows-how-long skeleton.

“Come on then, let’s go see what we can find, okay?” I flicked the flashlight forward, impressed that Robert could stay crouched at my side as he shuffled along.

Bones clacking.