Chapter 21

Carlton walked through the door, and as usual, said, “Something smells good.”

“You mean, besides the cook?”

“Yeah.”

Eric gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Go get cleaned up,” he said. “I have a surprise for you.”

“Give me a few minutes.”

“I’ll be right here.”

When Carlton returned from the master suite, he found dinner on the table; and there was a small stack of papers beside his plate.

“We’re eating early, aren’t we?” he said.

“I have two classes to teach this evening,” Eric said.

“Is this the surprise?” Carlton said, looking at the papers.

“Yeah. I spent the last couple of hours transcribing the paperwork you found at the funeral home.”

“You’ve been a busy boy. I guess I’ll have to reward you later.”

“In this case, much later, because I’ll be kind of late coming home this evening. By the way, I finally tracked down a supplier, and my crew will begin working on the hedge around this house in the morning.”