A bang on the first-floor door startled Shane awake. Fisting his eyes open, he shoved the thin sheet aside and staggered down the metal stairs. Akron Oil had upgraded their shitty rundown FEMA trailers from Katrina to brand new stackable modular buildings. Too bad, only four months later they looked and smelled like a boys’ high school locker room.

Shane kicked a pair of whitey-tighties from the bottom stair before opening the door.

“Mornin’ shithead,” the shift supervisor, Lawdry said. Wearing a navy dress jacket and matching slacks, he looked ready for Easter Sunday service, if only Easter could fall on a Wednesday.

Shane looked at the blue LCD clock on the nearby counter: 5:15 AM. “What’s the deal?”

“Pack your things, Baker. You’re outta here.”

“What about the piss test?”

Lawdry opened his mouth but hesitated. He glanced around the room and lifted his gaze toward the second floor. “Anybody else awake?”

Shane shook his head.

Steve Lawry said, “Rig’s shutting down. There’s been a situation. Kevin Deeks was found dead on the platform this morning. Asphyxiated on his own vomit.”

Shane leaned against the wall, hands on his thighs and blew out a breath. “Shit.”

“Deep shit is more like it,” Lawdry said. “OSHA is capping us off ‘til an official investigation can be completed. An autopsy is scheduled to test for blood alcohol levels. We’ll contact you when you should report back—that is if we’re even authorized to reopen operations.”

“I understand.”

“I can tell a straight shooter when I see one,” Lawdry said. “Did you know anything about Kevin drinking on the site, Baker?”

Shane’s face tightened. “No, sir.”

Lawdry nodded. The supervisor glanced at the second floor again. “Let the rest of the guys know for me, will ya?”

“Yeah,” Shane said.

“You and your buddy Birch need bus tickets home?”

“We’ll just drive the Jalopy back to Buckeye this time.”

“Buckeye, huh? I took my nephew there a couple years back to do some hunting. Some coonass at a bait shop tried to sell us silver bullets and a wooden cross. We decided to get our bait and beer at K-mart.” Steve shook his head. “Didn’t see a damn thing the whole time we were out there.”

Fucking Abe.

Lawdry left and Shane went upstairs. When he sat on the edge of Birch’s mattress, the sleeping beauty stirred and frowned.

“We’re going home,” Shane said.

Birch raised up, and rubbed his eyes. “So much for taking a piss test and everything being hunky-fucking-dory, huh?”

“Not my fault this time. But I wish it were.”