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Josephine stared at Eddie's body in the wooden casket as things were set into it with him. Everyone stood around him, even Sonja was there. Josephine didn't like it but she didn't do anything because Eddie wouldn't have wanted people fighting - not over his dead body.
Her stare was interrupted by Seth handing her a shot glass full of whiskey. She took it and stared down into the copper tinted liquid.
"To Eddie Cruickshank." Seth announced when everyone had their glass and held up his.
"Uncle Eddie," Both Richie and Josephine said raising their glass too.
"Rest in peace," Sonja said quietly raising her glass, Santanico did the same.
Everyone took the shot and set the empty glass aside.
"Someone should say something," Josephine said when the silence and staring returned to the group.
"Richard, say something," Seth suggested.
"What do you want me to say?" Richard asked his brother in a slightly annoyed tone.
"I don't know. Something, anything." Seth replied.
Richard sighed staring at the corpse, "He never got his Shangri-La. Son of a bitch would never admit it, but we had more in common than he knew."
Seth spoke up this time, "You know, from the moment he took us in, all I ever cared about was making sure he didn't regret it. Man, did I screw that up. I should've been straight with him. I should've stood by him. And we should've remembered the code that he taught us, 'cause without that code, we'd be long gone right now."
"Amen," Richard said.
Seth walked away from the wooden casket, "Which is why we are going to do this job. For Uncle Eddie. We're gonna kill the son of a bitch who did this. And then we're gonna rob him blind."
"Yeah, well, first things first." Santanico spoke up staring at Sonja.
"What?" Sonja asked Seth when all eyes were on her.
"We're gonna do this we get it all on the table. Full disclosure. You can't be a part of this crew unless you know everything," Seth says to Sonja, "Go ahead, you two, show her what you really are."
Richie's and Santanico's eyes turned to their yellow snake ones then their skin turned to scales. Rather than watching them transform, Josephine was watch Sonja reaction. It honestly brought a smug smile to her face, watching her emotion change before her own eyes. Showing how scared she really was brought Josephine joy.
Sonja gasps taking a step back, "What?"
For Josephine, that night felt weird, coming back to Eddie's place knowing that he wouldn't be there to have their late night chats. Not being able to handle being there, Josephine ended up tagging along with Seth to Jacknife Jed's. It was the first step of their plan. They needed to convince Malvado that they were on his side and they wanted to make a deal with him.
