Read Online Run Baby Run by Michael Allen Zell - Free Book Online

together in a solitary life.
    Miss Melba reached for her moisturizer as a flurry of paws swept in on a wave of manic energy. A hearty meow was followed by a fierce twitch of the nose, moustache with it.
    "Allen Toussaint, you are so debonair. Did you use your litter yet?"

6
    B obby Delery knew there was nothing he could do about a runaway gurney. The squad cars turned sideways would prevent it from entering the intersection.
    He shook his head and turned back around to continue following the blood trail and checking for witnesses. "What the hell have I gotten myself into?" he asked.
    Delery didn't come to another house either inhabited or with an answered door until midway down the block past Villere.
    On the left side of the street were a nicely kept double and adjacent single, both painted a light Caribbean blue with white trim. A wooden fence connected the two. The single had no front door or window.
    The instant he knocked, the door opened, as if by premonition.
    "Yessir?" the man said. He looked to be in his 70's.
    Delery delivered his spiel, making sure to "sir" the man back with respect.
    "I ain't seen nothin' up there that far away, sure enough as my name's Rudolph Chesnutt."
    Delery responded with his follow-up.
    "I woke up 'round then. Had some food disagree wit' my belly. Mighta even gave me hallucinations," Chesnutt said.
    "What do you mean, Mr. Chesnutt?" Delery replied, thinking the next step was to extract himself and move on.
    Chesnutt leaned in as if about to impart a major secret. "I seen a ghost wit' my own eyes. Y'hear?"
    "In your house?"
    "Nawsir." He pointed with a callused finger. "Out there. Walkin' down the street."
    Delery's attention clicked on. "Sir, what did it look like?"
    The man looked away with sheepish eyes.
    "Least I thought it were a ghost 'cuz the face and arms, them legs too, all so white they glowin'. These street lamps be's out, but it were walkin' real slow. Glowin' in the moonlight. A man. Now that I think of it, this were more like a conjure. Y'hear?"
    "A conjure man? In what way, Mr. Chesnutt?"
    "I heard its voice talkin' 'bout 'red rooster blood' like a, a, you know the words a psychic or a conjure say. Incantation talk."
    "An incantation?" Delery replied.
    Chesnutt nodded. "Yeah. Tha's it. Incantation. Glowin' like moonlight in the gutter. Whitest thing I ever seen. Y'hear? Talkin' like a conjure. Carryin' his sacrifice."
    "Wait, what do you mean by sacrifice?" Delery quizzed.
    Rudolph Chesnutt's lips puckered. "It were a big container. Yessir, the weight musta been heavy 'cuz the way the conjure walked. One foot strugglin' after the other. Y'hear me? Lotsa dead things inside, prob'ly."
    Delery pushed. "Was there anything else you recall?"
    "Jes that it had a big bag on its back. Like a astronaut. Like them dirty white chil'ren come in on the train. Them hobo types. Big bag."
    "Anything else, sir?"
    "Nawsir, well 'cept that conjure were spittin' bright red blood. Musta been rooster blood it drank."
    Delery extended his hand. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Chesnutt."
    "Alright, alright. Use-ta do a little detective work myself. Holla at ya later."
    Bobby Delery knew he'd heard a piece of the puzzle, but it was skewed. He didn't doubt what Rudolph Chesnutt saw. The kaleidoscope image needed to be made clearer, though.
    The rest of the block canvassing consisted of a threat, a no-answer, and a woman who asked him if he wanted to come in and take off his socks.
    Twenty minutes later he continued on. The blood trail continued to the left, down Urquhart. Looking across the street, Delery whispered, "That is some serious target hardening."
    He was referring to the idea of crime-proofing a home or business.
    "There must be something of major value on the other side of that fence to have metal girders supporting it," he continued.
    In the rest of the block, a partly-ramshackle hybrid fence extended on the left. The blood trail disappeared. A pile of tires and trash were strewn on the right