Cadaver Lab: A Romantic Comedy with Corpses

He's a former Army medic. She owns a book and wine shop. It's all the makings of one steamy small-town romance… except he runs a cadaver lab and she sees dead people.

Strange things are happening at the Once Upon a Vine Book & Wine Shop in Mudville, New York.
Is it the sky clad Wiccans meeting on the roof? The book club drinking "magic mushroom" tea in the meeting room? The black cat who moved uninvited into the shop? The sudden run on Tarot card sales?

Maybe it can be traced to the downed power line that rendered the bookshop owner technically dead making her the new conduit to the local ghost community. Or to the cadaver lab next door and the hot but mysteriously secretive doctor who runs it.

All Natalie knows is she can’t ignore him or them anymore now that one of the hot doctor’s cadavers insists his death was the result of foul play and she's the only one who can bring him justice.

Cadaver Lab features a grumpy hero, amateur sleuth heroine, small town shenanigans, mystery, murder & mayhem.

“This is Lucy Sunshine from WBNG News. Binghamton New York’s finger on the pulse of the Southern Tier. I’m coming to you today from Mudville where one local shop owner has a shocking tale to tell.

“Here with me now is Natalie Chase, owner of Once Upon a Vine, the book and wine shop behind us. But the store is not Ms. Chase’s claim to fame. That stems from a recent event that will really spark your interest. Ms. Chase, can you tell us about it?”

Thrusting the microphone in front of Natalie’s mouth, the pretty dark-haired woman waited expectantly.

The reporter’s smile remained large, frozen in time, as the seconds of silence ticked by.
Lucy Sunshine finally shifted her gaze from the camera lens to Natalie, also frozen where she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the reporter.

“Ms. Chase?”

Next to her, Once Upon a Vine’s part-time employee Jules—short for Julia—stomped hard on Natalie’s foot while smiling for the camera.

That was enough to yank Natalie’s attention away from the large—as in large—crowd of people circling her as her mind turned to the pain in her foot.

But still she couldn’t help wondering. Were there even this many people living in this town? Was Lucy Sunshine so famous her fans had flocked here to see her?

Maybe WBNG had bussed them in for the shot.

“Can you tell us what happened to you on that electrifying night last week?” the reporter repeated her question with her ever-present smile in place and her eyes on the camera lens.

“Uh…” That was all Natalie managed.

She probably looked like a deer in headlights as she too stared at the camera while trying to ignore the hoards that seemed to be closing in on her.

The crowd pressed closer, but Lucy Sunshine’s smile didn’t waver as she continued, “Two nights ago, during the storm predicted so accurately by our own precision weather forecaster Stormy Jones, you exited your shop and then what happened?”

The reporter had stopped talking again.

Panicked, Natalie shot her a sideways glance. Had there been a question in there? Oh, right. What happened. What had happened?

“Um…”

“Didn’t you, while you were outside of your shop in an attempt to rescue your cat and dog from the storm, sustain a severe electrocution when a downed power line hit the puddle you’d stepped in?”

“Not my cat. Or my dog,” she managed, realizing she was sounding like a crazy cat lady on TV.
Ignoring the mumbled comment, Lucy Sunshine forged ahead undaunted. “And according to the first-hand account of your employee, you were technically dead for approximately three and a half minutes. In fact, she reported to rescue workers upon their arrival that it was only the efforts of Doctor William Walsh, who’d seen the incident occur and performed CPR to restart your heart, that enabled you to be standing here with us today.”

“Hmph. I guess,” Natalie grunted begrudgingly since Doctor William Walsh had proven to be a self-centered a-hole.

But she couldn’t worry about him now as one of the onlookers, an elderly woman in an outfit that had to be vintage, reached out and touched her sleeve.

Natalie pulled her arms closer, closing in on herself protectively. Meanwhile, some of the onlookers had started to mumble among themselves.

The din surrounding her grew louder.

Why wasn’t the crew asking them all to stand back and be quiet? And why were these people so interested in her anyway?

“Dr. Walsh was unavailable for comment. Probably out there saving more lives,” Lucy Sunshine said directly to the camera. “So there you have it, folks. A tragedy averted thanks to one good Samaritan. Remember to watch WBNG for the most accurate storm reports and avoid those puddles. This is Lucy Sunshine. Have a sunshiny day.”

“And come to Once Upon a Vine for ten percent off a bottle of wine with any book purchase,” Jules shouted that rapid fire promo offer toward the camera while leaning in front of Natalie.
“And we’re out,” one crew member said.

The on-air smile gone, Lucy Sunshine of WBNG shot Natalie a distinctly judgmental glare before strutting toward the news van.

That censure was probably meant to shame Natalie for being such a bad interviewee, but she couldn’t worry about that. The press of people around her had become unbearable.

Meanwhile, Jules was speaking to her. Something about how the reporter could have talked about the shop more, but at least she’d be able to post the interview on their social media.

Natalie was only partially listening as the crowd parted and an attractive, middle-aged man possibly in his late forties, maybe early fifties, stepped directly in front of her. He was so close that his nose was barely a few inches away from hers as he stared directly into her face.

He was dressed in brown cargo pants and over a blue shirt with its sleeves rolled to the elbows he wore a vest that had at least as many pockets as his pants.

Completing the outfit were hiking boots and an Indiana Jones-style hat from beneath which intense blue eyes peered at her.

With forty breathing down her neck while she was woefully single, she wasn’t opposed to dating an older man, especially an attractive one, but this aggressiveness on his part was too much.

Even if the most male-female action she’d gotten in far too long was the annoying but hot doctor giving her CPR while she’d been dead, she didn’t go for pushy men. This guy was being just that.

Tired of wondering what was going on and even more tired of having her personal space invaded, she took a single step back as she said, “Can I help you?”

His eyes widened. “Oh my God. She can see us!” He’d directed the last part of his statement to the crowd behind him.

A cheer went up through those assembled.

Meanwhile, Jules replied to Natalie’s question meant for the stranger, “Thanks. I don’t need help. I’ll just go see if they can email the link for the interview to me, then I’ll post it.”

“I need your help,” the man said, stepping closer again as Jules headed in the opposite direction, leaving Natalie alone in this disturbing encounter.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“I’m Gabe. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that I was murdered and you’re the only person who can help me find who did it.”