Read Jamie Brodie 01 - Cited to Death for Free Online

might have a virus.”
    “Oh – well, I use protection. I’m sure I won’t catch it.”
    “Ha ha.” I logged out of the PC and we left. It occurred to me that I’d caught Diane behind my desk twice now. Could she be involved in my computer issues? She was the only person I could think of that had had access to it besides me. But why would she do that?
    I was still thinking about that as Diane pulled out of the parking garage. But I didn’t think long; Diane was her usual chatty self. She filled me in on all of our classmates, giving me way more than I wanted to know about any of them. “How do you know all this?”
    “Facebook, duh. And speaking of, when are you going to get on there?”
    “I’m not. I value my privacy.”
    “Oh, come on. How are you going to know what’s going on with your friends and family?”
    “Well, see, I have this great new device. It’s called a cell phone. You can actually talk to people live, and not have to wait for them to update their status online. It’s fun.”
    Diane glowered. “You’re such a smart ass.”
    “It’s a gift.”
    “Seriously. Don’t you have nieces or nephews or something? How do you keep up with them?”
    “I talk to them. On the phone. No one in my family is on Facebook or any other social media. We all talked about it, and none of us are comfortable with it. Especially because my brother frequently causes people to go to jail for a long, long time, and some of them get disgruntled and might try to track us down. Besides, it’s not like my nephews are in Timbuktu. They’re in San Diego.”
    “That is just weird. It’s practically un-American.”
    I expressed my opinion through sign language. She snorted. “You know, you and Dan had that in common. He wasn’t on Facebook either.”
    “No surprise there.”
    “I guess not. Oh, look! Is that Lindsay Lohan?”
    “Oh, for God’s sake…”
    When we got to Forest Lawn, Diane parked in the main lot by the mortuary. “There’s a viewing inside first, and then they’re going to hold the graveside service.”
    “A viewing? I didn’t know anyone did those anymore.”
    “Well, I guess they do. We don’t have to go in if it skeezes you out.”
    “No, it’s okay. The more time I spend indoors the better.”
    We walked inside and into the odor of dozens of bouquets of flowers. I groaned inwardly. The air quality was almost as bad in here as it was outside, as far as my lungs were concerned. We were directed into a small room, with a couple of dozen people standing around. One guy seemed to be the funeral director, and another a clergyman. A youngish man in a tailored suit was standing by himself, seemingly as far away from the casket as he could get. Someone from the hospital? I wondered. He didn’t look like Dan’s type. There were a couple of tattooed guys who did. An older couple, a woman around 40, and a couple of young teenage girls were sitting in folding chairs, perpendicular to the open casket.
    “That must be the family.” Diane elbowed me. “Let’s go give our condolences.”
    We introduced ourselves. Dan’s parents were both wispy and gray, holding themselves stiffly. His sister was overweight and harried-looking; the nieces looked bored. Dan’s mother held onto my hand when I offered it. “Thank you both so much for coming. It’s nice to know that Danny had friends who cared about him.”
    Diane stepped in smoothly. “Dan loved library work. It was a pleasure to have known him. We’re so sorry about what happened.”
    We moved away from the family and approached the casket. I looked at Dan. He looked peaceful, much more so than he had in life, or at least as I remembered him. When I knew him, Dan had sported piercings in nearly every spot possible, but I didn’t see any evidence of them now. Dan was dressed in a suit and tie. It looked wrong on him.
    Diane was surprised. “He had more piercings than me. Where’d they go?”
    “I don’t know. Maybe his parents didn’t