Chapter 8
The bright morning sun glistened across the large pond, casting streams of reflected light into the green canopy of the large oaks above. Two children sat upon a small jetty; their feet dangled in the shallows of the water as they cast out their fishing poles. A red kite danced across the crystal blue sky in the warm breeze; the young girl it was tethered to squealed with glee as she ran along below it. It was a perfect summer's day and Daria couldn't care less.
She sat in the shade of one of the oak trees as she bided her time before her next reap. She withdrew the small piece of crumpled yellow paper and glared at; she knew the hit, she knew the address; it was her mother's law firm and her care factor was hovering around zero.
There was a little over half an hour before the death and it would take her almost that long to get there. Daria stood and brushed off her short black denim skirt and adjusted her dark green vest as she set off toward her mother's law firm.
Daria sat in the small waiting room as she plotted her next move. She ignored the occasional scrutinizing looks she was given from her mother's assistant. Daria had had no trouble convincing Marianne that she was a witness to the high school 'mishap' and she had been called in to give her report on the event. She hadn't lied; she was a witness, and had inside info to boot. A slight smile ghosted her lips as she imagined the outburst if her account was given.
"Yes, I saw the accident; I was the accident. I'm really Daria Morgendorffer in someone else's body, and if you don't believe that, wait it gets better; the cause for the accident wasn't negligence. It was caused by these little purple creatures called Gravelings, but they're invisible and only me and a few of my new friends can see them. So you're going to have to trust me on that..."
Daria stood and walked around the perimeter of the room. She glanced at the photos and news article cut outs that had been hung on the walls; most of them boasted the firm's excellence. She winced at the sound of her mother's voice permeated the adjacent room.
"MARIANNE!"
The high strung woman jumped and frantically rushed to Helen's beckons, Daria followed and listened through the slight crack of the door.
"I need you to go into Eric's office and retrieve the two files for the Marcus case, then call the school and have Ms Li send over the agreement she had with the Evlon company, then I need you to have that police woman that was in here yesterday fax over the statements she took from the students the morning of the accident at the school. Oh and Marianne? Refill the toner in the fax machine first." Helen ordered.
Daria stepped back from the door and followed Marianne to the supply room. Once Marianne was clear of the door, Daria pulled the door shut and barricaded it; trapping the frazzled secretary inside. Daria glanced at her watch there were five minutes to go.
She walked down the hall quickly as she found the right door and knocked, an invitation to enter was called and Daria entered the room.
Eric Schrecter cast his eyes upon the young female that had entered his office and he raised a hand to his ear piece.
"I'll have to call you back." He said uncertainly, and removed the hands free head set from his ear. "Can I help you?"
"I, ah... I need the files for the Marcus case." Daria's voice faulted slightly. "For Helen, I'm...her new intern." She affirmed.
Eric studied Daria, and raised an eyebrow. He turned toward his desk and retrieved two thick manila folders. He walked over to Daria and held them out; Daria saw her chance and brushed a hand over his, taking his soul with the files.
"At least your prettier than the last one, but do yourself a favor and lose those boots; they do nothing for your ensemble." He flicked his fingers and motioned toward her outfit.
"Hmm. sure." Daria suppressed the urge to bite back and slid out the door to wait.
Eric watched the young female leave the room; a pursed smile donned his face as he checked out the woman's backside. He proceeded over to his desk and sat in the large office chair and unlocked his bottom draw. He retrieved a small silver tray, covered with a fine white power and retrieved two silver, custom made implements from his breast pocket.
Daria waited patiently at the door of Eric's office she hoped that no one would feel the urge to stretch their legs and walk around the office block. She heard a muffled gurgle and a high pitched squeal of a male's voice and slid over to the door. She slowly turned the handle and slipped inside.
"Whoa, this is weird, that stuff is awesome. I've never had an out of body trip before." Eric looked in amazement around the room and rested his eyes on Daria.
"Hey, What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Um, you're dead," Daria informed him and waited for his reaction.
"What? Dead? I can't be dead. No. We just landed a huge case; I can't die yet. This is horrible." Eric moaned as he slumped at the table.
"There, there. Now, now." Daria dead panned as she patted his shoulder with unenthused force.
"Wait, that girl, was she? I mean, did she...Kill me?"
"That girl was me and no, no one killed you. You did that all by yourself." She pointed towards his corpse.
Eric's lifeless body sat in the large chair behind the desk; his head slumped forward and rested against his shoulder. An off-white sludge, oozed out of his slightly ajar mouth mixing with the river on blood that seeped from his nose.
"I OD'ed?" He asked incredulously, as he turned to Daria.
"Looks that way, doesn't it. So now you've accepted your death, you can go now."
"No, no, no, no. I'm not going anywhere I have to get the case from Morgendorffer. If she submits it by herself and I'm not here she'll get partner, and I've worked her too damn hard for her to be one."
"You better choose your next words carefully..." Daria warned.
"Why would you...Oh oh, I know who you are now. Helen's eldest. The smart, ugly one."
"Hey." Daria interjected.
"So, you're doomed to collect souls for eternity? Ha!"
"You know you really are an asshole." Daria muttered as she walked over to Eric's body and dug into his breast pocket.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
Daria pulled out Eric's wallet and waved it at him. Eric's eyes went wide.
"You can't steal from me." He protested helplessly.
"Too late, just think of it as severance pay. For three years of shitty frozen lasagna and forced family bonding time." She smirked at him as she pulled out the wad of hundred dollar notes, threw the considerably lighter wallet at the body, and strolled out the room.
