The Haunted Bones by PM Weldon Page A

before she decided being pretty was a lie made up
by the cosmetic industry to sell more products.
    Jewels opened the diary and started
reading.
    "'January
12 th .
I've decided I'm not going to tell him. There's just no way he'd
understand and I don't want to hurt him. And yet every day I pray
to God to forgive me for my sins. I can't believe He would allow us
to love so deeply and yet condemn such a love to die in the fires
of perdition. I can't stand the thought of giving her up, and yet
everyday I refuse to look into the mirror because I am ashamed at
what I've done.'"
    "Who is that?"
    "It's just signed with initials. B.C." She
pulled the top letter out from the back and carefully opened it.
"'My dearest B., it's getting harder to see you every day and not
be able to hold you, or assure you life will get better. Your
father is a monster and he should be stopped. You must go to the
police and tell them what he does to you. He killed your mother,
and now he's going to kill you. Please, let someone know. I love
you, B.C.'" She stuck the letter back into the diary and the diary
back into the bag. "I need to get this into an evidence bag."
    I followed her with the camera so as to keep
flow. She pulled a red-stripped plastic bag from her purse and
sealed the top. She pulled a pen out of her pocket, signed the bag,
dated it, and wrote down the location. With one hand I grabbed her
purse and my bag and followed her to the parked
black-and-white.
    The officer immediately got out of his car
and opened his trunk. Jewels handed the bag to the officer and he
signed the bag and put it in his trunk. "Get that to Captain Vale
as soon as you can. Hand it directly to him."
    We stood just outside The Alley Haunt as the
car pulled away. That's when I noticed a blue sedan easing its way
down the street. Jewels brushed past me to head back into the
building as the car came closer. I could see their face as they
suddenly accelerated—only it wasn't a face. It was a mask like the
ones I'd seen in New Orleans at Mardi Gras. Then he reached his arm
out of the driver's side window…
    And fired a gun.

 
     
    Ten
     
    She sat in her rental and watched the blue
sedan cruise by and shoot at McNally and his lady cop friend. Yes,
it was something she had dreamed of doing, but she wasn't stupid.
She had planned on getting rid of them and putting an end to his
snooping in the old bar, but she made calls to learn how to do it
quietly.
    So…who the hell was this?
    The second the sedan sped off and the two
people stopped moving, she pulled out and headed in the opposite
direction. Was this a hit? Did someone want McNally dead as much as
she did? Or was it the little cop? She glanced in her rearview
mirror as two police cars raced past her, lights flashing. That was
fast, but they had probably been close by to begin with. She didn't
speed. She didn't panic—or at least she didn't on the outside.
    Instead she pulled her car
over and got out to join the other gawkers as they rushed back
toward The Alley Haunt to see what the commotion was all about. An ambulance arrived
a few minutes after she did, but she couldn't see what happened.
Did the shooter get him? Did they hit the girl?
    Too many people and more
cops arriving. And there came the news crew. Great. This was
just…great. More attention on The Alley
Haunt . This was everything she didn't want
to happen. Another ambulance could be heard in the distance, coming
closer. Two? Were they were both hit?
    As the EMTs hustled people out of the way,
she got a glimpse of the front step. They had the girl on the
stretcher and McNally was on the other side, surrounded by a few
cops. As the second ambulance pulled in, the crowd parted to allow
the new EMTs to drag another stretcher to the curb.
    People were talking and yelling around
her.
    "I seen him, officers! It was a white
guy!"
    "No, it was one of them gang things. Drive
by shootin'."
    "Naw, man, I seen the dude. He had on a
hoodie and a mask. I was standing