She took a slow breath. “There has to be a jemmy bar in the casket with each of us so we can pry open the lids. That, of course, only works if Dominique alters the coffins and whoever nails the lid shut uses the right kind of nails.”

“We’d each pry open our coffins?” he asked.

She nodded. “I don’t know how long it’ll take to resurrect from the inside. I’ll likely be a bit faster than you and can help if you’re not out yet. But we have to be fast. We cain’t just hop out and leave the coffins open. We have to weight ’em, so the pallbearers’ll be seen having to work at carrying their load. The lids have to be nailed back down, and they cain’t show any damage.”

So many bits and pieces. So many chances for failure.

Baz kissed her cheek, her jaw, her neck beneath her ear. “I believe in you, Gemma,” he whispered. “We can do this.”

“You’ll keep your arm around me while I sort through this?” she asked.

“With pleasure, love.”

And he did exactly that. He kept his arm about her waist or rubbed circles on her back with his hand. At one point, he fetched a bit of tea, but he gave her a quick kiss before he left, and he returned his arm to its place of comfort upon returning. And with his strength buoying her, she created her list, her instructions, her only hope for saving them all.

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Gemma stood a bit to the side of the table in the safe house, biting her thumbnail as she watched Fletcher and Stone read over her plans. There were so many things that could go wrong, she knew her mind wouldn’t rest easy about any of it unless someone else thought it could work.

“Every hearse I’ve ever seen had windows on either side,” Fletcher said. “Glass is devilish bad at hiding things.”

“We’d a damber bloke who drove the hearses when we did a spot of coffin fishing inside. He’d make certain the funeral flowers were placed against the windows.” She emptied the air from her tight lungs. “Worked well enough.”

“Two caskets, a heap of flowers, the two of you breaking your way out of coffins without leaving a mark, and then hiding elsewhere in the hearse.” Fletcher said. “Is there room enough?”

“It’ll be tight as teeth,” she admitted.

“Making it even more likely that your uncles won’t suspect what you’re doing,” Stone said.

They were gabbing over important problems. A lot of them. It ought to’ve reassured her. It didn’t.

Baz came and stood beside her. “They are a couple of the cleverest people I know,” he said. “Their minds spinning on this alongside yours will see this sorted.”