Affiliation: Civilian - though not untouched by gang influence. The Mercer family funeral home has discreetly served everyone from local syndicates to the NYPD. Not that she is overly aware of the goings on of this.
Job position: Mortician & Restorative Artist at Mercer & Sons Funeral Services
Education: Degree in Mortuary Science from SUNY Canton. Licensed in embalming, restorative arts, and grief psychology certification. Interned at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner during college
There’s something about the youngest Mercer child. Something unsettling. People had been talking about you since you first came into this world, bright eyed and big lunged. There never seemed to be a reason for you to cry, but you were one of those babies desperate to be heard. You came rocketing into the world begging for attention, between you and your just as loud older brother your parents never got a break.
But then you dimmed as the years went by. Your brothers passing changed you, sudden, unexpected as too many deaths are, and at the hands of a source you are desperate to find. Everything had always just felt so empty to you after. The houses lined up one after another. Straight like the teeth every one of your parent’s ‘friends’ seemed to smile at you with. Everyone seemed to be trying so hard to cling onto the façade that they were happy. They might have been, You yourself were happy enough but you never understood why it just felt so ungenuine from everyone else. Your life was silver spooned perfection, but you always felt like a dove in a cage.
Your brothers passing was a spark as much as it was the snuffing of a light. The family business was once something avoided, but with no first son to pass it down to, you stepped up to join your father.
The Mercer family business has long walked a fine line between legitimacy and quiet favors. You learned early to ask no questions when a body came in with no ID, when the police dropped off an unmarked bag, when a man in a tailored suit asked for a service after hours and handed over cash in a sealed envelope. You dont like it, but you understand the math of survival. It might be unsettling to most, but theres peace in your work now.