A Repo Angel: A Novel

Observing some of their social disasters, we learn that Maureen Palmer and Stan Broderick are both nice young people with really lousy luck at finding romance. Through coworkers acting as matchmakers, the two meet and have a pleasant first date. Each is afraid to get too excited about long-term prospects but wants to pursue this. Stan arrives for their second date, lunch at the mall, but is pulled aside by an attractive woman who says she is Cherubim C18-A3 acting as a repo angel and his soul is about to be repossessed for failure to pray daily as he promised in an emergency. He asks about her body – the corpse of recently dead Karen Flynn that no one has discovered yet so the Angel assumed it could use it with little chance of that causing trouble. Stan got a first notice about his failure to pray as he promised in the mail but assumed it was a joke. The Angel says he really needs that form to get arrange things like time payments and a long-term extension. He promises to try to find it and get things fixed and is granted a one week extension. Stan tells Maureen exactly what happened. She thinks he is crazy. He also tells it all to his coworkers, saying he can't blame her for not trusting him and he can't prove it happened so there goes that possible good thing with her. He searches and searches for the form but can't find it. He truly believes that his soul will be repossessed if the time runs out but admits he doesn't know exactly what that will entail. Flynn's body is found and Detective Adams investigates. He learns of suspicions that Flynn was an industrial spy so maybe she was killed to either stop or punish her for that. Because Stan was seen with Flynn not long before she was found dead (and when the M.E. says she must have already been dead) he is arrested on suspicion of murdering her. Convinced he is doomed anyway because he can't find the paper form, Stan doesn't fight that but denies it and tells his story. Mutual friends convince Maureen that Stan isn't crazy and really likes her and is very distressed about this separation but is respecting her order to stay away and not contact her. Maureen realizes that something she noticed about Flynn whom she saw from a distance at the mall could prove that Flynn was already dead so Stan couldn't have killed her but she knows that won't sound sane. Released on bail, Stan finds the missing form but it is officially too late by then to do him any good. When Maureen hears of this she is finally convinced this is all real at least to Stan, not an elaborate joke. Maureen then goes through the prescribed complicated ritual to meet with Cherubim C18-A3 (who shows up using the body of construction worker Homer who died minutes earlier and hasn't been found yet). She gets the details from the Angel of what happened to Flynn. As Maureen leaves the mall, Homer's wife confronts her asking why she was talking to her husband - so Maureen more fully understands Stan's weird situation. Maureen passes the information from the Angel to Adams (who is desperate to find answers, although he'd prefer ones that don't involve an Angel). That tip leads him to proof that Flynn died in an accident when alone. So Stan wasn't involved in her death - even if it doesn't explain how she was seen walking around at the mall hours after she was medically dead. Stan, with the form, and Maureen meet with Cherubim C18-A3, this time using the body of R.D.J., a recently gunned down street crook. Arrangements are made to mark Stan's account settled for good due to the confusion the Angel caused. So Stan won't have his soul repossessed after all. But people who know that R.D.J. was shot only minutes ago see the pair talking to the seemingly resurrected guy. The Angel offers new apologies and hurries off to deal with that. Stan and Maureen decide they need to seriously consider if they don't belong together after all they've been through. Let the happily ever after begin.