Here Lies Linc (24 page)

A thick veil of clouds drifted past the moon. I tugged the collar of my jacket up around my ears and bounced on the
balls of my feet to keep warm. The temperature must have dropped at least ten degrees in the last few hours. I jogged up Claiborne Street a little ways, then jogged back, trying to distract myself by thinking about the next step in my training plan. I wanted to run the trails in Hickory Hill Park, where the terrain would be more like a real cross-country course. The dogs would love it.…

Just when I was beginning to feel the first tickle of doubt—
They aren’t coming
—a pair of headlights raked their way around the corner and bobbed toward me. As I lifted my arm to block out the glare, I caught a glimpse of four shadowy heads and the flick of a ponytail inside the dark Mustang.
Good
. Delaney had made it.

Beez’s brother parked along the curb where the road ran out and cut the engine and the lights, plunging the street into blackness again. After a pause the car doors opened, and Delaney and Beez and Mellecker quietly popped out like some sort of nocturnal animals crawling from their den. I fought back the urge to laugh. “I was starting to think you guys weren’t coming,” I whispered as I hovered next to the Mustang’s ticking hood.

“Sorry,” Delaney said, keeping her voice low. “That was my fault. I heard Mama get up to go to the bathroom. I couldn’t sneak out till I was sure she had gone back to bed.”

“We almost left without her,” Beez added. Then he leaned down to peer at his brother through the passenger door. “But don’t get any ideas, bro. You’re gonna stay here and wait for us, right?”

Through the windshield, I could see his brother crossing
his arms over his chest and sliding farther down into the bucket seat. “Yeah,” I heard him answer in a tired mumble. “Might as well catch a few Z’s. How long are you guys gonna be, anyway? You’re just headed over to the Black Angel, right?”

“Right,” Beez said. “We’ll be back in a jiffy.” He lifted his head for a second and winked at the rest of us. We had all agreed the Black Angel would be our alibi. “I can’t tell my brother what we’re really doing at Oakland,” Beez had told us that morning in the hallway at school. “Are you kidding? He’d love having that kind of ammunition the next time he wants something. At my house, one good blackmail deserves another.”

Beez leaned down to give his brother final instructions. “If we don’t show up here in half an hour, you’ll know something went wrong … and you better come looking for us.” Delaney told him to hush. Beez grinned and pushed the car door shut.

As we set off into the cemetery, a giddy rush of power welled in my chest. Tonight
I
was in charge for a change—the only one who remembered to bring a flashlight and the only one who knew this territory like my own backyard. I couldn’t resist pointing my beam at all the eeriest spots along our path—the tall crooked cross off to the left, the big beech with gnarled branches at the bottom of the hill, an old tomb up ahead with crumbled stone sides. Something scuffled in a clump of bushes nearby. Delaney grabbed the tail of my jacket, and Mellecker and Beez jumped a few feet sideways.

“What’s that?” Beez croaked.

I had to bite back another laugh as I aimed my light at the shrubs and then, for good measure, skimmed it across the tops of the pale tombstones in the distance. “Could be a squirrel,” I said lightly. “Or maybe a raccoon … or a ghost.”

“Very funny, Crenshaw,” Mellecker said.

Delaney had let go of my jacket almost as soon as she’d grabbed it. When I glanced back to check on her, she pursed her lips and gave me a small, grudging smile.

“Hey, which way’s the Black Angel from here?” Mellecker asked excitedly.

I waved my flashlight toward a row of cedars off to our left. “It’s over there—through those trees.”

Mellecker stopped. “Let’s go take a look, you guys. C’mon—we’re so close.” He turned to Beez. “And your brother’s probably going to ask us about it later.”

Beez backed up a few steps like a stubborn horse. “Ohhh, no. The Black Angel was only supposed to be our cover story.”

“Hey, you were the one who was talking about cutting her fingers off a few nights ago,” Mellecker said. “What happened? You gettin’ cold feet?”

“Not just cold feet,” Beez spluttered from underneath his hood. “Cold feet. Cold hands. Cold everything! If we don’t hurry up and get over to the Ransom vault, I’m gonna freeze to death.” As if to prove his point, a puff of Beez’s icy breath billowed into the air and hung in the middle of our huddle.

“Oh, suck it up, you big baby.” Mellecker laughed. “This’ll only take a minute.” Beez let out a resigned groan.

“Wait a second,” I stalled. Half of me wanted to delay heading over to the Ransom vault as long as possible, but the other half didn’t want to go anywhere near the Black Angel that night, especially after all the spooky stuff I’d been learning about Theresa Feldevert. I tilted the flashlight toward Delaney, hoping she might give us an excuse not to go. “What do you think, Delaney?” I asked. “You mind making a detour?”

The fabric of her coat rustled as she lifted her shoulders in a little shrug. “I don’t mind,” she said. I should have known. Ever since the day we’d first met at my locker, Delaney had never once turned down the chance for an adventure—even with all her worries at home.

“Hear that, Beezy?” Mellecker said. He reached out to give Beez a punch. “Delaney will protect you. Lead the way, Crenshaw.”

Past the line of cedar trees, the rolling lawn was even more crowded with gravestones. Beez weaved and dodged among the markers like a drunkard, trying to keep up. “Geez!” he complained. “I keep stepping on dead people.”

Then he yelped when I switched off the flashlight. “What’d you do that for?” he rasped. Mellecker and Delaney halted in their tracks.

“Sorry,” I whispered. I pointed to the dark shape looming at the bottom of a shallow hill in the distance. “The Black Angel is right over there. We just need to make sure nobody’s standing guard.”

“What do you mean?” Mellecker asked, searching the
darkness down the hill. “I thought you said they never patrol except on Halloween.”

“They usually don’t,” I told him.

Beez took a jittery look back over his shoulder. “Are you saying that Kilgore dude you were telling us about might be out here somewhere?”

Delaney was starting to look nervous too. “Nobody’s here but us,” I reassured them. “I only want to scout things out a little bit. So wait here a minute, okay? When you see my flashlight go back on, you can come down.”

I scampered ahead, ducking behind the largest stones and peeking out, until I had scanned the entire perimeter surrounding the Angel. More than once Jeeter had shown me exactly where he and Old Nick used to park the truck for their stakeouts on Halloween. They’d pick up carryout pizza and sit waiting in the shadows for hours, telling jokes and stories. “Then these kids come along trying to stir up trouble,” Jeeter had told me, “and we flip those headlights on high and scare the patooie right out of ’em. You should see ’em scatter. Just like cockroaches!”

I squinted up and down the empty sweep of driveway.
Relax
, I told myself.
Gene
was probably at home snoozing away right now. And even Kilgore wouldn’t be paranoid enough to keep up midnight guard duty after the thrill of the Halloween hunt had come and gone. I stepped out of the shadows and stole a quick glance up at the Black Angel. The moon, small and hard as a dime, had slid from behind the clouds again. Its light gleamed against the black bronze of
the Angel’s face, illuminating cracks and crevices that I had never noticed before.

I fought off a little shudder. If I didn’t keep moving, I’d start obsessing over that stupid curse again. I switched on the flashlight and waved it defiantly through the air. Soon the others were scurrying toward me down the hill.

“Whoa,” Mellecker breathed as he took the flashlight from me and circled around the statue. “This lady is
not
happy.” Beez observed from a safe distance while Delaney stood at the foot of the Angel, gazing up into her moonlit face.

“Okay, guys,” I said once another minute had passed. “Ready to go?”

Mellecker’s smile flashed in the darkness. “Hey, we can’t leave yet. Not without cheering her up first. Somebody’s gotta give her a kiss.”

My breath caught in my throat as I tried to laugh. “No, come on. Really. We need to get going.”

Mellecker wasn’t listening. “Go ahead, Beez.” He swept his hand up at the Angel. “Climb up there and kiss her.”

“No way,” Beez said brusquely. “Why don’t you do it if you think it’s such a great idea?”

“I would, but she’s not my type,” Mellecker told him.

“What about you, Crenshaw?” Beez asked. He took a couple steps forward, unable to resist the chance for a little goading. “You and the Angel must have gotten pretty close these past few weeks.”

I was shaking my head when Delaney suddenly chimed in. “Lift me up,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

“Well, well, well.” Beez’s voice swooped up in surprise. “Sorry we didn’t ask you first, Delaney.” He lumbered over to help hoist her up. “I guess we figured she wouldn’t be your type either.”

“No!” I said, rushing forward. “Don’t do it, Delaney. This is stupid. We don’t have time.”

But Delaney was already gripping the granite edge of the statue’s base, stepping into the little hammock Beez had made with his fingers. “What’s wrong, Crenshaw?” he grunted as he boosted her higher. “You jealous?”

“I just—” I could hear my voice rising as I floundered for words. “I just don’t think this is very smart—”

I watched helplessly as Delaney reached out and clutched the bottom edge of an upraised wing to steady herself. She looked tiny pressed against the massive statue’s shrouded skirts. Even on her tiptoes, the top of her head barely reached past the Angel’s torso. “Please, Delaney,” I said quietly, trying to sound calm. “Come on down.”

But it was no use. Beez was shushing me, and Mellecker was training the flashlight on Delaney as if she were some kind of high-wire performer in a circus act. And we all seemed to fall into a trance as she inched along the pedestal’s ledge and carefully leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the Angel’s cold bronze hand.

A
S WE ALL MADE OUR WAY
over to the Ransom vault, I couldn’t help keeping an ear out for Winslow and his grumpy crew. But their voices were strangely absent tonight—as if what I was about to do had shocked them into silent disapproval.

Mellecker had kept my flashlight, and now that he had his bearings, he was up ahead with Beez, leading the way. Delaney gave me a nudge as we hiked along the driveway behind them.

“What’s wrong?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know,” I waffled. “I was surprised, that’s all.… You know how spooked I’ve been about the Black Angel lately. Were you making fun of me back there when you climbed up and kissed her?”

“Of course not,” Delaney said, letting out a frosty puff of
air. “I don’t know why I did it.” She flopped her hands to her sides. “I guess it was mainly because those boys always try to act so tough, but they’re such sissies underneath. I wanted to call their bluff for once.”

I smiled into the darkness. Then the mischief faded from Delaney’s voice. “And I did it ’cause … this is gonna sound silly, but when I was looking up at that Angel, I felt so sorry for her. To me she doesn’t look evil—she looks sad, with those wings of hers drooping down and her poor fingers chopped off. For a minute it almost felt like she was real.” She paused for a second, embarrassed. “Does that sound crazy?”

“Not really,” I told her.
Hey
, I was tempted to admit,
that’s nothin’. I’m the one who listens to talking tombstones
.

But Beez had turned around to squawk at us. “C’mon, you two! What do you think this is? Some kind of date or something?”

Mellecker veered off the drive, leading us into the heart of the graveyard again. I tried to pick up the pace, but my feet had felt like anchors ever since we’d left the Black Angel. I reached into my jacket pocket and let my fingers curl around the cold shaft of the key, hoping I would feel something—anything to spur me on. But all that burning anger I had been storing up for Kilgore and Jeeter had suddenly sizzled away. Now I just felt empty—and
scared
. Breaking into a vault went against every sacred rule that Jeeter had taught me about respecting the dead. What had possessed me to come this far? What if those stories I had invented were true and
there really
was
something horrible hidden inside the Ransom tomb?

But all at once the dim shape of the mausoleum was jutting up in front of us, and the others had stopped, waiting for me to speed up and take charge. I swallowed hard and pulled the key from my pocket, reminding myself to think like Lottie.
Just pretend you’re on another research trip, gathering facts, making notes
.

All the way to the vault Mellecker and Beez had been goofing around, sprinting and cutting between the headstones like they were punching through an army of defensive linebackers. But not anymore. No one spoke as I approached the tomb and climbed the three steps to the door. Mellecker followed close behind, grazing the light over the front entrance—the name
RANSOM
etched in the mossy stone. As he pointed the beam of light at the keyhole with its rusted edges, I looked over my shoulder one more time. Delaney was watching intently from the bottom step, but Beez had planted himself a few yards away. Somehow seeing him act like such a coward made it easier for me to push the key into the weathered slot and give it a turn. I sucked in my breath. At first the key snagged, but then there was a small screech of metal and a clunk as the ancient lock gave way. I stopped, staring down at my hand suspended in the light. “It worked,” I whispered in amazement.