Read Online Hallowed Bones by Carolyn Haines - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Carolyn Haines
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Women Sleuths, Mystery, Women Private Investigators, Single Women, Crimes against, Children, Mississippi, Women Healers, Delaney; Sarah Booth (Fictitious Character), Women Plantation Owners, Delaney; Sarah Booth (Fictitious Charater)
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didn't have to guess how much of a thrill she'd get out of designing a gown for a fancy
New Orleans
ball. My trip to Mollie's would also kill two birds with one stone. She lived right behind
Pine
Level
Cemetery
. I wanted to stop off at Lillith Lucas's grave. Call it gut instinct or total foolishness, I just couldn't let the Lillith thing go.
I headed out of town, the top down on the roadster, enjoying the golden breeze in my hair. October was my favorite month. In years past, my mother's birthday had always been a big occasion. My father would throw her a huge party, complete with PA system and a pulpit. It was her day to get on a soapbox about anything she wanted. Her friends came every year to hear the speech she worked on for weeks. No one could ever predict the topic. Mama always pulled the rug out from under folks.
My mind was in the past and I almost passed up the tree-shaded turn into the cemetery. I made a sharp right and pulled beneath the oaks. In the distance the old headstones were marbled with age. As a little girl, I'd loved to take rubbings from the stones. The sayings were wonderful. "She has risen into the light of heaven, our beloved mother." Or "The Lord has guided our best friend and husband into the land of plenty."
I parked and walked, wondering if I should have called a caretaker to try and figure out where Lillith might be buried. My gaze wandered over the monuments and stones, many of them ornate and lovely. I was drawn to a stone depicting a woman surrounded by flames. The cold marble seemed alive, the flames licking at her gown. Yet she looked up to heaven.
A jar of freshly picked lilies centered the grave.
Lillith Lucas
March 4, 1942-December
18, 1992
There was the standard quote from the Bible about God's rich and unfailing love, and then something more interesting. I read the words carved in the stone with a chill. "Born of fire, she perished in flame."
"Lillith," I whispered, "what secrets are you hiding?"
Movement at the back of the cemetery caught my eye and I saw Mollie slowly stand up. She'd been kneeling at a grave. Was it coincidence or synchronicity that had brought the woman I needed to see into the cemetery at the same time I was there?
"Mollie!" I called to her.
She turned and a smile lit her face. "Why, Sarah Booth, for just a minute there I thought your dear mama was calling me from heaven. You sound that much like her."
I took her arm and helped her walk under the shade of a big cedar at the back of the cemetery. It was a crisp October day, but the sun was still warm.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her.
"Same as you, visiting the dead," she said easily. "Did you see those pretty lilies I left at Lillith's grave? I met her daughter here."
"Yes, the flowers are beautiful." I was surprised. "You left them for Lillith?"
"More for that daughter of hers. I never much cared for Lillith. She was a woman tormented by her own hot blood. But I sure did take to her daughter. Doreen. She's got a gift."
"Where did you meet Doreen?" I was a little lost.
"I was here Thursday, putting some flowers on Bernard's mother's grave," Mollie continued. "Yesterday was her birthday and I always try to come and put out something bright for her. Anyway, I saw Doreen at the grave and we talked awhile. She had a lot of questions about her mama. Most of them I didn't answer, even when I could." She shook her head. "No point speaking ill of the dead, and Doreen seemed to have a lot to carry already. She lost her little girl."
"I know. It was a terrible thing." I didn't think Mollie knew that Doreen had been arrested for the murder of her child, and I wasn't going to tell her.
"What are you doing at Lillith's grave?" Mollie asked.
"Trying to sort out the past. How long has that gravestone been there?"
"Oh, about three years. Something like that. One day Bernard and I came out to visit our kin and the stone was there. Nobody knew a thing about where it came from or how it got put up. It
New Orleans
ball. My trip to Mollie's would also kill two birds with one stone. She lived right behind
Pine
Level
Cemetery
. I wanted to stop off at Lillith Lucas's grave. Call it gut instinct or total foolishness, I just couldn't let the Lillith thing go.
I headed out of town, the top down on the roadster, enjoying the golden breeze in my hair. October was my favorite month. In years past, my mother's birthday had always been a big occasion. My father would throw her a huge party, complete with PA system and a pulpit. It was her day to get on a soapbox about anything she wanted. Her friends came every year to hear the speech she worked on for weeks. No one could ever predict the topic. Mama always pulled the rug out from under folks.
My mind was in the past and I almost passed up the tree-shaded turn into the cemetery. I made a sharp right and pulled beneath the oaks. In the distance the old headstones were marbled with age. As a little girl, I'd loved to take rubbings from the stones. The sayings were wonderful. "She has risen into the light of heaven, our beloved mother." Or "The Lord has guided our best friend and husband into the land of plenty."
I parked and walked, wondering if I should have called a caretaker to try and figure out where Lillith might be buried. My gaze wandered over the monuments and stones, many of them ornate and lovely. I was drawn to a stone depicting a woman surrounded by flames. The cold marble seemed alive, the flames licking at her gown. Yet she looked up to heaven.
A jar of freshly picked lilies centered the grave.
Lillith Lucas
March 4, 1942-December
18, 1992
There was the standard quote from the Bible about God's rich and unfailing love, and then something more interesting. I read the words carved in the stone with a chill. "Born of fire, she perished in flame."
"Lillith," I whispered, "what secrets are you hiding?"
Movement at the back of the cemetery caught my eye and I saw Mollie slowly stand up. She'd been kneeling at a grave. Was it coincidence or synchronicity that had brought the woman I needed to see into the cemetery at the same time I was there?
"Mollie!" I called to her.
She turned and a smile lit her face. "Why, Sarah Booth, for just a minute there I thought your dear mama was calling me from heaven. You sound that much like her."
I took her arm and helped her walk under the shade of a big cedar at the back of the cemetery. It was a crisp October day, but the sun was still warm.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her.
"Same as you, visiting the dead," she said easily. "Did you see those pretty lilies I left at Lillith's grave? I met her daughter here."
"Yes, the flowers are beautiful." I was surprised. "You left them for Lillith?"
"More for that daughter of hers. I never much cared for Lillith. She was a woman tormented by her own hot blood. But I sure did take to her daughter. Doreen. She's got a gift."
"Where did you meet Doreen?" I was a little lost.
"I was here Thursday, putting some flowers on Bernard's mother's grave," Mollie continued. "Yesterday was her birthday and I always try to come and put out something bright for her. Anyway, I saw Doreen at the grave and we talked awhile. She had a lot of questions about her mama. Most of them I didn't answer, even when I could." She shook her head. "No point speaking ill of the dead, and Doreen seemed to have a lot to carry already. She lost her little girl."
"I know. It was a terrible thing." I didn't think Mollie knew that Doreen had been arrested for the murder of her child, and I wasn't going to tell her.
"What are you doing at Lillith's grave?" Mollie asked.
"Trying to sort out the past. How long has that gravestone been there?"
"Oh, about three years. Something like that. One day Bernard and I came out to visit our kin and the stone was there. Nobody knew a thing about where it came from or how it got put up. It
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