NaNoWriMo | Mystery | Fiction | Maine | Coast
Grave Secrets (NaNo23 — Pt. 29)
In which the story reaches a conclusion… with only minor injuries…
Jack and Anna ran for the clearing, keeping close to the left edge of the path. Once they reached the clearing, they ducked around the edge of the trees, hoping to shield themselves from view by Tony and Tommy as they rowed ashore. Ducking behind a thicker cluster of trees, they stopped, gasping for breath.
Anna spoke after a couple of minutes. “We need to get Millie and Joe and get out of here.”
“Where are we supposed to go?” Jack asked, rather astutely, Anna thought. “Look around… there’s no way out of here other than back down that path. And we know who will be on it all too soon…”
Anna looked around, alarmed. Jack was right! There were only woods surrounding the clearing. She had assumed there was a road leading to the cabin. She looked back down the path. Tommy was out of the boat and pulling it through the shallow water onto the sand. They didn’t have much time!
In a panic, she looked at Jack, fear etched on her face. She hadn’t counted on this. “What are we going to do?” She asked. “What are we going to do?” She was grasping at any thought. The Coast Guard would be here soon, but they needed to get Millie and Joe and find somewhere safe to stay until they arrived.
“We’re going to get Millie and Joe out of there and find somewhere safe to wait until we can get away,” Jack replied to her rhetorical question.
Anna looked at him and smiled, nodding. He was definitely a clever boy. “That’s right, Jack. That’s what we’ll do… but how?”
“There’s no road, but that works against them as well as us. Plus, we’ll have a head start. We get them, head into the woods and skirt around to the boat through the woods. They’ll have no way to follow us,” Jack replied.
Anna nodded. “That could work… I’m worried when they find the empty cabin, they head to the boat and take off. What if they get away before the Coast Guard gets here. We can’t risk it, can we?”
“You’re right,” Jack agreed. But we don’t have time to think it out now, he thought. “I’ve got to get her out of there, mom… now!”
Anna winced. He was right. There wasn’t time to be precise. But he also made one thing crystal clear, Millie needed him, and he needed Millie. “Go to her Jack! Get them out of there any way you can, but stick to the woods and go deep. And don’t stop for anything. You’ve got a head start, keep it. I’ve got an idea…” and she started into the woods along the path, headed back toward the beach.
“Wait, mom!” Jack hissed after her. “What are you doing?”
She shot him a stern look that said “don’t argue,” waved him away, and disappeared into the underbrush, moving rapidly.
Jack thought of going after her in case she gave herself away, but remembered Millie. What if Joe had her tied up or had attacked her. He’d need to rescue her before they could get away. Wishing he’d brought the bat with him from the boat, he picked up a hefty two foot length of branch of the ground and headed for the cabin.
The door was open slightly and a pale, flickering light could be seen inside. He moved to the edge of the door frame and listened. He heard muffled conversation from somewhere inside. What if Joe wasn’t alone? They’d only seen three people, but that didn’t mean there couldn’t bet be an accomplice waiting in the cabin. He realized that meant Millie was on her own against two people instead of one. She needed him more than ever!
He let out a deep breath, then shoved the door open and charged inside, club raised. The low light given off by the lantern stopped him in his tracks as his eyes adjusted. He saw an open door to his right with a trace of light coming out of the room beyond. In the doorway were Millie and Joe. When Jack burst in, Joe grabbed Millie and shoved her through the doorway, closing it behind her. He then started forward, reaching for the lantern on the table as he came.
“Millie,” Jack cried out. “What have you done to her, Joe? You’ll fucking pay for it!” He came forward fast and hard swinging the club as he moved. Joe blanched white as snow before the onslaught as he raised the lantern above his head for protection as his knees buckled and he dove for cover under the table.
Jack’s swing went wild as he stumbled on the uneven cabin floor. He clipped the lantern, smashing it and spraying kerosene out in a broad arc as it exploded and fell in a clatter of broken glass. Joe screamed as the club caught his forearm with a sickening crack. He crumpled into a ball of writhing, kerosene soaked screams.
Millie burst out of the back bedroom. She looked in shock at the scene. Jack was standing in an aggressive stance with a tree limb in his hand. There was kerosene everywhere, the scent making her eyes water. Joe lay under the table rolling and screaming in a pool of the fuel and broken glass, clutching his right arm, whose hand hung out to the side in a gruesome, unnatural contortion.
Millie felt light-headed and clutched at the door frame to steady herself as she vomited from the horror of the sight. As she did, she noticed, in agonizing slow motion, that the light in the room was coming from the lantern wick, still burning, dangling from Jack’s club. Dangling and swinging. She watched it slip free in horror and arc to the kerosene soaked floor. Fear replaced her nausea and she looked up into Jack’s eyes with her own wide in abject horror as she screamed.
“Run!”
Even Joe’s attention was arrested by the force of her command, and his eyes turned to focus on the falling wick. In horror, he lurched to his feet, knocking the table up and over with the force of his movement and turned for the door. Jack dropped the club, stepped forward and grabbed Millie, half-dragging her with him toward the door. The wick landed and nearly went out before catching the kerosene on fire. As they ran out the door, the pool of fire burst into flame with a soft whoosh that sucked the air out of the room and filled it with a black cloud of thick, greasy smoke.
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Anna’s heart nearly crumbled to pieces when she heard yells and a loud crash, but she dropped to the ground and crawled behind a bush out of sight as Joe’s agonizing scream split the night in two. Her skin tingled as the shockwave ran through her. She fought back against a wave of nausea and panic, knowing that she had to trust her son and Millie to act responsibly on their own. What have you done, Jack? She thought to herself.
Her attention was brought back to the path but hurried footsteps and Tommy and Tony came running forward to see what was going on.
“What the hell was that?” Tommy cried out in fear as he ran forward at Tony’s heels.
“It was Joe, wasn’t it?” Tony replied. “What has he done now? Jesus, we can’t be rid of him too soon,” he muttered.
They rushed past as Anna held her breath and crouched low. It was hard to resist the urge to rush out and try tackling them, but she had a plan and meant to stick with it. Once they were past, she got up and started for the beach. Deciding that they were properly distracted and time was critical, she fought her way out of the woods onto the path and hightailed it for the beach. She heard more yells and shouting behind her, but didn’t look back.
Joe, Jack, and Millie ran out of the cabin into the clearing then pulled up short as they saw Tony and Tommy run into the clearing from the path. The heat of the flames biting into the wood behind them, made them want to keep moving away, but the dread of seeing Tony and Tommy before them held them in place.
“Well, well, well…” Tony said, stepping forward slowly toward the three of them. “You are even more resourceful than I had imagined, Millie. Kudos!”
“You son of a bitch!” She spat at him. “How could you desecrate consecrated ground like that?”
“Uh, uh, uh… you know better than that, my dear,” Tony taunted her. He stopped about ten feet away from where the three of them stood in front of the burning cabin. “Church cemeteries have consecrated ground… this was just a family burial plot. Merely a graveyard. Have you learned nothing in your studies?”
Jack wasn’t sure how this was going to play out, but he wasn’t about to leave Millie in a vulnerable spot. He moved forward, a step behind her, ready to grab her and rush to safety if necessary. He regretted dropping his stick inside, but expected that his mother would have followed their two adversaries down the path and would jump out to their rescue at any moment.
Joe looked drained completely of blood as he fought down excruciating pain. He had fallen to his knees in the dirt of the clearing, and felt waves of nausea threatening to send him reeling. He couldn’t let his happen, so he forced himself upright. He listened to Tony taunting Millie, saw Jack move to stand by her side, and decided it was time to redeem himself if he could. He started shuffling around the edge of the confrontation. If they asked, he’s say they captured him and broke his arm when he threatened them. He ground his teeth against the overwhelming pain.
Tommy had slowed as they reached the clearing. Thinking he heard something, he turned to see Anna racing toward the boat. He turned and raced off down the path, trying to catch her before she reached the dinghy.
Millie glared at Tony. “You used me to steal from that grave, you turned my brother against me… you broke into my house, you son of a bitch. Then you left me tied up in the fucking woods to die!”
Tony smirked at Millie, rolling his eyes in mock exasperation at the mention of the woods. “Not tied well enough, it seems. How did you get out of that? Or maybe Prince Charming stumbled over you and played the hero,” he said, snarling at Jack.
Millie stepped forward boldly. “We’re not letting you get away with it,” she shouted firmly. “The Coast Guard is on their way with the cops,” she continued.
“Too bad there won’t be anyone here to find. Now I want all of you to walk toward the beach slowly,” he said, pulling out a revolver and leveling it at Millie’s face. His features went slack as all humor vanished from them. He looked grim and determined. Millie stopped in her tracks as Jack clutched futilely at her elbow. There was nothing for them to do but start walking.
Millie stepped forward toward Tony and the path leading away. He flinched, bringing the gun up to bear on her. Jack grabbed her and pulled her to the dirt, afraid of her getting shot. Joe saw the gun swing up and without thinking lunged forward, reaching to grab the gun, but with his broken arm, his arm swung down past harmlessly. Tony’s eyes flared open as he gasped sharply at the sight of Joe’s broken forearm swinging through in a delayed arc, crashing into the gun, which Tony dropped in shock.
Joe watched his arm float through on its delayed path and passed out, sprawling forward into the dust with a thud. Jack saw the gun fall and leapt angrily forward in a full-forced pounce, wrapping his arms around Tony and tackling him to the ground with an explosive thud that knocked the air out of his lungs. Millie stepped to the gun and kicked it away.
At the shore, Anna was scrambling into the dinghy when she heard Tommy yelling behind her. She lifted her head to look back at him and was met with the sudden flare of lights from a launch in the cove. She stopped short and took a deep breath. They might be all right.
— — –
The next several weeks were frantic and filled with a lot of activity. Tony had been intrigued by Joe’s tales of piracy, and linked it with the legends surrounding the Blackwell family. He’d stolen the copy of Blackwell Murders from the library, and recruited Tommy and Joe to help feed him information from Millie and her project.
Joe turned out to have been largely duped by Tony and his love of pirates and hope of finding buried treasure. Tommy had proven more diabolical in his interest and been taken further into Tony’s trust. In the end, both ended up going to prison for their actions. Joe had an uncomfortable surgery and recovery from his compound fracture. He proved very helpful in securing the prosecution of Tony and Tommy, and had been allowed to remain free provided he did community service.
Millie’s project went on hold as an investigation into the graveyard and its contents was undertaken. There was a silver lining in that the town took an interest in her project. They hired her to consult and advise the recovery and restoration of the Black Family Plot. Her grant application was pushed into the coming year, but the town agreed to work with her on putting in a proposal to repeat the process now underway in cataloging and restoring the Black Family Plot.
Jack worked closely with Millie on documenting the entire process to use in building the grant proposal. The recovered items were sent to the state museum for an exhibit. When night fell, and the shovels were stilled, Jack and Millie spent their time together, working even more closely.
And enjoying the effort far more.
That all he wrote! Thank you very much for following along on this journey with me. I’m really happy I was able to reach the 50,000 word count during the 30 days of November, but equally happy to have completed the story and wrap it up into a compete work.
I really appreciate those of you who have been following along, and hope that you’ve found something in what I’ve written to enjoy or inspire. Please highlight passages you liked, clap to show your support, and leave me a comment to tell me what you thought. Thank you!
