Life According to the Dead

Tony

Tony Rodriguez hiked up the five narrow flights of stairs to Jim's apartment, wheezing all the way. Tony was the kind of person who exercised regularly enough to be able to tell people he exercised, but not quite enough to be considered athletic. His relative lack of fitness did surprisingly little to affect his weight, for Tony had always been a naturally slender person. But it did annoy him a bit every time he had to force his legs to carry him all the way up to Jim's place. It was probably the equivalent of a good few minutes on a StairMaster.

He didn't knock, simply because he never did. He found Jim sprawled face-first on the floor.

He nudged him with the toe of his shoe. "Why are you lying on the floor?"

Jim groaned and rolled onto his back. "Couch was too far away," he replied.

Tony smirked. And he had been feeling lazy. "Get up. I need to talk to you about something."

"Please tell me it has something to do with chili cheese fries," said Jim, getting to his feet. "Or Truth or Dare. Or a weekend in Miami. Or anything besides–"

"Amanda Easter," said Tony.

Jim swore.

Tony shrugged apologetically. "I need you to tell me where her body is."

"How should I know?"

"Well, can't you" – Tony lowered his voice to a whisper – "talk to her?" For all he knew, Amanda could have been in the room with them.

"There's no need to whisper. She's standing right next to you," said Jim carelessly, confirming his thoughts.

Ah. Tony edged uncomfortably to the side.

"But I'm not going to ask her," Jim added firmly.

"You're not?"

"No."

"But this could really help them find Searcy," Tony protested. "Why would you pass that up?"

Jim squinted at him through skeptical eyes. "Anna-Claire put you up to this, didn't she?"

Tony blinked. "No..."

"She did. I knew it."

He threw up his hands. "Well, you can hardly blame her! Chances are, if they find the girl's body, the whole thing will be solved."

Jim spun abruptly and faced the empty air a few feet away from Tony, evidently speaking to Amanda. "Yes, I know you can't remember. Stop trying." He turned back again. "It's like last time, Tony. It's exactly like last time."

Tony's shoulders slumped. "You mean Peter."

"Of course I mean Peter. I've got to do this thing for a reason, okay? I don't know why I'm the one who does it, but after so many years, I do know that it helps them. And I can't help them if I'm trying to figure out stuff like who killed them, where their body is, what time they died. I can either solve the death, or I can fix it. I solved Peter's, which turned out to be a colossal mistake, so now...the least I can do is fix Amanda's," he said.

Tony paused. It was hard to argue with his best friend, especially when Jim felt so strongly about it. Even so, he kept pressing: "It wasn't all bad, Jim. This Searcy guy might have killed more people after Peter. You probably saved lives, and you could save more if you catch him again."