Cole considered offering help, but before he could even take a step forward and try to formulate the words, Archer had lifted the bag and began to struggle with the task of getting the body into the trunk. He watched uncertainly, occasionally making forward movements when it looked like the other man might need some help. Ultimately he managed on his own, and he just nodded as he got into the driver's seat and started the car.
The ride to the cemetery wasn't very long, but it was overlain with nearly suffocating silence. He tried not to focus on the familiarity, or on the body in his truck or what the shovel in the backseat was going to be used for. Instead he focused on stoplights and not driving into a pole or speeding or anything that might get them pulled over by a cop car that could appear out of nowhere.
After what seemed like an hour, Cole pulled up outside the cemetery's front gates and turned the car off. "This is it." It was clearly abandoned, with ivy overtaking the iron fence and many of the broken-down gravestones and chipped stone angels that dotted the ground. The grass was overgrown and unkempt, the few trees that were there were twisted and dead, and graffiti marked much of the stone that wasn't broken or toppled over. Even after all this time he still knew where they'd buried Jude, and he pointedly avoided looking at the spot, which lay near the winged graffiti-less angel in the middle off all the destitution.
After making sure no one was around, he got out of the car and opened the trunk. He collected the shovel and the bag holding the portrait, pausing to look at Archer. "I can help you carry the body. It's too heavy for just one person."