Here Lies Linc (25 page)

I could hear Beez nagging behind us. “What’s taking so long? Go on. Open it!”

“Shut up, Beez,” Mellecker snapped under his breath. I slowly lowered my hand to the knob.

The smell hit me first when I shoved the door open—a draft of damp earth and age like a whiff from the deepest corner of a root cellar. I reached back for the flashlight, using my toe to push the door open even wider. Then I took a few tiny steps forward and scanned the vault’s inner room. Mellecker and Delaney hovered in the doorway, trying to peer in. “What do you see?” Delaney whispered.

“Not much,” I answered with a shaky sigh of relief. I edged a few more feet into the icy space, aiming the flashlight to the left, then the right, at the long granite panels lining both sides of the narrow room. I could feel the tension rising from my muscles like steam. The vault looked a lot like the pictures in the books I had sneaked out of Lottie’s office last night—nothing more than a simple chamber made entirely of stone, with a built-in granite bench at the far end.

Mellecker ducked under the doorframe. “No bodies?” he asked, sounding surprised.

“Well, sure, corpses are in here, but you can’t see them,” I said. “See those bronze things on the wall that look like decorations? They’re actually bolts, and if you unscrew them, the panels come off and the coffins are stacked behind there on shelves.” I used my flashlight as a pointer, underlining the names and dates carved across the panels. “Looks like six people were buried in here.”

Delaney shuffled along the wall, reading the inscriptions out loud. “Letitia Halsey Ransom … Born 1862. Died 1920.… William Michael Ransom …”

Beez appeared in the doorway, still looking skittish. His gaze darted around the murky corners of the burial chamber.
“You mean to tell me this is it?” He pushed his hood off his head in disbelief. “There’s nothing here?”

Mellecker had crossed his arms over his chest. “Nada.”

Beez’s eyes popped open wide. “Unbelievable, Crenshaw,” he burst out, full of bluster all of a sudden. “You dragged us out here in the freezing cold, in the middle of the night, for
this
?” He waved his arm at the barren space.

“Give me a break, Beez,” I scoffed. “A minute ago you were shaking in your shoes. And now you’re gonna stand there and—”

“Y’all be quiet,” Delaney broke in excitedly. I whirled around with the flashlight. At some point she had wandered over to inspect the far end of the tomb. “There
is
something here. Look at this!”

Delaney’s discovery sat in the recess of the stone bench, tucked so far back in the shadows that none of us had noticed it before—a small wooden trunk with metal straps and a curved lid, the kind you would find in an antique shop. Even more amazing, there was no sign of a lock on the latch.

The three of us hurried across the chamber to cluster around Delaney. “Hey, it’s just like one of those pirate chests,” Beez exclaimed in a rush of breath. “Sorry, Crenshaw. Looks like I owe you an apology.”

Mellecker was already reaching down to lift the metal clasp on the trunk. “Remember, Beez,” he said with a crafty grin. “I’m the one who picked the Ransom vault, so don’t be getting any ideas about splitting things evenly.” I raised the
flashlight higher as he hoisted the lid and we all leaned forward to peer down inside.

Delaney shrank back.

“What in the—?” Mellecker croaked, and Beez stumbled away, covering his nose. “It’s bones!” Beez cried. “And they stink!” I stood cemented to my spot, too confused to move. They were bones all right—piled like crazy Pick-Up Sticks at the bottom of the trunk. But something was different about them. I pushed the flashlight closer. Then all at once I realized where I’d seen bones like that before. In a field near one of those roadside cemeteries Lottie had dragged me to years ago, we had stumbled across a bleached rib cage hidden in the tall grass … a long, slender skull exactly like the one lodged in the corner of the chest. I still remembered my mother putting her arm around my shoulders and bending down to explain.

“Wait a second, you guys!” I cried. “These are just deer bones! See?” But Beez and Mellecker had already run outside.

“… so foul!” I could hear Beez ranting out on the steps. “I mean, geez! Let’s get out of here.”

“Crenshaw!” Mellecker barked. “What are you doing in there?”

“C’mon, man,” I overheard Beez shout from the distance. “Who cares if they’re coming or not? Just leave ’em. Let’s go!”

“Can you believe that?” I said to Delaney. She had stopped halfway to the door. “They ditched us. What cowards!” I wasn’t a bit surprised that Beez would run off like that, but Mellecker too?
Talk about lello!

But Delaney wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention to my tirade. “You’re sure those bones aren’t … human?” she asked in a thin voice.

“I’m sure,” I told her as I turned to shine the light on the chest of bones again. “But I still don’t get it. Why would there be deer bones in here?” Delaney edged closer. She had just started to peer over my shoulder when we heard the noise. We both froze in place, listening. It sounded almost like a laugh, low and muffled, coming from somewhere across the chamber … 
no …
from behind the open door. Then we heard it again, and Delaney gasped and grabbed my arm. She must have knocked me off balance—who knows? It all happened in a blur, like we were in the middle of a fun house, but somehow the flashlight flew out of my hand. It smacked against the floor and clattered away, and we both went rigid as the light flickered off … back on … then off for good.

“What was that?” Delaney whispered, still clutching my arm.

“I don’t know,” I said. I braced myself for another laugh to come creeping from the far corner. All I could hear, though, was my own breathing, heavy with fear, echoing against the stone walls.

“Beez, you jerk!” I shouted into the blackness. “Mellecker? This isn’t funny! Is that you?”

No answer.

I started to pull Delaney toward the entrance. That’s when something sprang to life in the corner and the door
swung shut with a rusty creak. Delaney let out a small scream, and both of us staggered back.

“Beez!” I shouted again, loud enough to scrape my throat raw. I was straining to hear his reply when a tiny burst of flame lit up the form blocking the entrance to the tomb.

“Boo,” Kilgore said, holding his cigarette lighter high.

I
KNEW WE WERE
in trouble when I saw what he was wearing. A blue uniform jacket like the ones the Union soldiers used to wear in the Civil War. He had unfastened the row of buttons, and the jacket hung open, showing a plain white T-shirt underneath.

Kilgore leaned against the door to the vault, sizing us up as he took another long drag from his cigarette. At first I had been relieved when he had reached down and held his lighter to the small propane lantern at his feet. But now the flickering light had carved his sharp face into shadows, into sunken cheeks and hollowed eyes like a cadaver’s, and he looked as though he could lounge that way—blocking our only exit—for hours.

Delaney stood shivering beside me. Even though she had never seen him before, I could tell she knew right away—this was the nasty cemetery warden I had told her about.

Kilgore slowly blew out a plume of smoke. “Well, I gotta admit, kid,” he said, pointing his cigarette butt at my chest, “I’m impressed. I didn’t figure you’d know the difference between a pile of deer bones and a pile of human ones. But you caught on right away. Unlike those yellow-bellied friends of yours.” He picked a piece of tobacco off his tongue, and his wiry frame shook with a quiet chuckle. “So that’s who you brought along to protect you?”

Kilgore dropped his cigarette butt on the floor. I stared down, barely breathing, at his boot twisting back and forth, grinding the ember into the stone. Experience had taught me it was better to keep my mouth shut. Trying to defend yourself with Kilgore only made things worse.

“And who’s this?” he asked, exploring his luck with Delaney. “Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you’re his girlfriend?”

Don’t answer
, I pleaded in my head.
Don’t answer
. Delaney stayed silent. But then Kilgore took a step toward her. “You might as well start talking now, darlin’. The police will be asking you all sorts of questions for their report.”

Delaney stiffened beside me. “The police?” she repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.

It was like throwing gas on a flame. I could see Kilgore’s face light up. “You’re dang right, the police. I’m the warden here. You think I’m not gonna report a case of grave robbing?”

“But we weren’t planning to steal anything,” Delaney said in a breathless rush. Her eyes glistened in the light from the lantern. “We only came here to look, to find out more about the Ransoms for a project at school.”

Kilgore sneered. “You’d almost have me convinced with that sweet little accent of yours … that is, if I hadn’t been standing right there behind that door the whole time. I heard everything, honey. I heard how disappointed your boyfriends were when they thought this vault was empty, and I heard ’em talking about splitting up whatever was in that treasure trunk over there.”

Delaney’s mouth opened in dismay.

“And if all you wanted was a little look inside, why didn’t your ringleader here just ask his good friend Gene to give you a tour?” Kilgore demanded. “Why’d he have to steal the key and sneak in here in the dead of night?”

His gaze raked over me with disgust. “You think you’re so smart, but I knew it was you. I knew as soon as I realized the key to Vault Number Four was missing. Gene wouldn’t believe it. ‘No, sir,’ he kept saying.” Kilgore’s face contorted as he mimicked Jeeter in a sugary falsetto. “ ‘Lincoln would never do such a thing. He’s a fine kid, that Lincoln.’

“That’s when he crossed the line,” Kilgore said, dropping his voice back to its husky pitch. “That’s when he told me if I wanted to go after you, I’d have to go through him first.”

Something lurched inside me. Jeeter had said
that
?

Kilgore must have noticed me flinch. He leaned closer, and I couldn’t help wrinkling my nose.
What was that smell?

“How did that feel?” Kilgore needled. “Getting your old friend fired from the job he’s had for fifteen years?”

I felt my jaw go loose. “You fired Jeeter?” I asked in astonishment.

Kilgore drew back in mock surprise. “He didn’t tell you? Awww, isn’t that sweet? He probably didn’t want to make you feel guilty.”

“When?” I asked weakly. “When did you fire him?”

“Same day I got rid of
you
. I was taking one more inventory of the keys that afternoon just to be sure nothing else was missing when, lo and behold, who comes wandering into the office? After you left, Gene wouldn’t back down, so I gave him his marching orders too, right there on the spot. Haven’t seen him since.”

Kilgore nodded to himself. “But I knew you’d show up here eventually.… Good thing we keep duplicates of all our keys,” he rambled. “I thought I’d give you a scare if you ever came sniffing around Number Four. I planted those bones from my last hunting trip, but I never figured I’d be lucky enough to catch you in the act.”

He let out a scornful snort. “Not too smart, coming in here on a Friday night with your buddies, right after Halloween. You might as well have set off a flare gun over by the Angel, the way you were waving your flashlight around, blabbing about the Ransom vault.…” Usually every movement of Kilgore’s was tight as a spring, but now he swung his arm in the air like a rodeo rider, imitating me with the flashlight, and that’s when it all started to make sense—the smell on his breath, the mushy endings to his words.

I sneaked an urgent look at Delaney. We had to find a way to escape soon, especially if he’d been drinking.
But how
? Even though Kilgore had stepped away from the door, I knew
he was too riled up to let us get past him without a fight. I glanced around, searching the dim corners of the tomb for some sort of solution.

“You know what they used to do to soldiers caught for stealing in the Civil War?” Kilgore leered. He made a chopping motion at one of his wrists. “They used to cut—”

“Listen,” I said, “if you’re going to call the police, go ahead and do it. Call now and tell them to come and get us.”

Kilgore narrowed his eyes and smiled as he scratched at the stubble on his chin. I could tell I had caught him off guard. He wasn’t ready to let us go. He wouldn’t be done until he had watched us turn desperate, like flies batting against a windowpane.

My mouth was so dry, I could barely talk. “If you don’t have a cell phone, you can leave us locked up in here while you go to the office and call. I just need to get my flashlight.…” I started angling toward the spot where the flashlight had landed in the corner. “Here it is, right here,” I said, keeping up my nervous chatter while I bent down to pick it up. Something in the shadows had caught my eye. I crouched for an extra second, trying to make sense of the round shape on the floor and the wet stain spreading out on the stone.

“Wait,” Kilgore said, moving toward me. “What are you doing over there?”