A feeling that quickly turned from mere intellectual curiosity into something more urgent as she pulled up to her new home and stepped out of her car. Anna looked in disbelief at the grisly sight waiting on her doorstep. A circle of carefully placed tiny bones and in the center, what appeared to be a blood-soaked pile of feathers. Anna's eyes followed the smear of blood leading up her door to a grainy black and white blowup of the very treasure safely nestled in her pocket. On the door above it written in paintbrush strokes of blood were the words "Memento mori".
Careful not to touch anything, Anna looked more closely at the photo. Yes, it was her treasure. Yet in the photo, the pin, her pin, appeared to be embedded in the flesh of whoever it was in the picture. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck start to rise, her anger too. She turned on her heel and jumped into her car, determined to find Deputy Kaelin.
Driving down Main Street, she spotted the police car parked in front of the donut shop and the Deputy and Buzz in the midst of loudly wrestling a screeching crazed monkey out of the bar next door. She parked her car next to the police cruiser and waited until they had managed to get Stan under control, something which seemed to consist of waving a bottle of V.O. under his nose and humming Bob Dylan tunes. Stan seemed to be mesmerized by the rye whisky and lost somewhere in his thoughts with the Dylan songs and soon started rocking himself and keening to the music.
"Deputy Kaelin", Anna called. "I need to talk to you, and I don't think this can wait until this evening". "What's up?" he replied with a grin. "Not that I mind seeing you earlier, you're a breath of fresh air in this town". His grin faded as Anna quickly described what she had found on her doorstep. He opened the door to his car and said "Get in, we're going out there to take a look, and I'll fill you in on the story on the way."
Eyes on the road, he started "As I mentioned earlier, both the husband and wife were found dead and the daughter Sara disappeared at the same time. The young man who was working for them was named Anthony and it was he who found the bodies of Rose and Clyde. It was a poorly kept secret at the time that he and Rose were having an affair, and that he had been begging Rose to run away with him back to New Orleans where he came from. "
"New Orleans?" Anne interrupted, "That's odd, that's where I come from, and visibly whoever left their message on my doorstep must have spent some time in those parts too."
"After hearing your description, that thought occurred to me too" said the Deputy. "Anthony was brought in for questioning, but the police didn't have enough evidence to charge him with anything. He was released and shortly thereafter disappeared, leaving behind everything he owned. The police went through his belongings and found the receipt for the pin that you bought today. On the same receipt was another item, a sister piece if you will. No trace of that was ever found."
(to be continued)
Posted by captainhoof
at 5:01 AM CDT
Updated: Tuesday, 21 September 2004 11:26 AM CDT
