Read Online Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 01 - Bogey Nights by Marja McGraw - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Marja McGraw
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him, but…” I let my words trail off.
“You actually found human remains?” Mrs. Stanhope sounded incredulous. This was certainly something outside of her normal realm of experiences.
“I’m afraid we did . And it appears he was probably murdered.”
I was greeted with dead silence, to go with the revelation of a dead body.
“Mrs. Stanhope?”
“I’m sorry . I’m trying to take this in. It’s truly shocking.”
I tried to back pedal as best I could. “Well, it would be an old crime. We found bones, not a whole body.”
“Not a whole body,” she echoed . “An old body. Oh, my goodness. Let me think about this for a moment.” The phone went quiet.
I sat patiently, trying to give Mikey’s teacher some time to think. Having met her, I could picture this formidable, older woman tapping her finger against her graying head and looking shocked.
“Okay,” she said . “I understand. Well, not really, but I… hmm… Could you just ask Michael to keep this information to himself? Some of these children are quite impressionable, I repeat, a couple of them were upset. I don’t want to start receiving calls from parents telling me that their children are having nightmares about bodies being buried in basements. Maybe he could tell them he made it up?”
“I’m sorry, but I won’t ask my son to lie , although I’d be willing to bet he embellished his story a little. He never actually saw the body. I will, however, ask him not to mention it again. Will that work?”
“I suppose it will have to . So you think it was a murder?”
“We believe so . At the moment it looks like something happened back in the nineteen forties, so it’s not like we found a fresh body.” I had a feeling I was making things worse. Actually, I knew I was.
“I see.” She didn’t, and I knew it. It was in her voice. “Well, if he could keep this to himself? Please?”
“I’ll talk to him and we’ll see if this situation can just die a natural death . Sorry, that was a poor choice of words. If he doesn’t talk about it anymore, that should be the end of it, don’t you think?”
“ Maybe,” Mrs. Stanhope said. She didn’t sound convinced. “At the moment the children are quite interested in his story.” She abruptly changed the subject. “So you’re going to be opening a new restaurant?”
“We are, as soon as the house can be remodeled . Won’t you come visit us one night as our guest?” No harm in trying to soften her up.
“I’m sure that would be delightful . I did visit your other restaurant one evening, but you and your husband weren’t there. I gathered it was your night off and you’d left someone else in charge. It was quite entertaining. My husband and I even cut a rug, so to speak, while your band played.” I could hear the sound of joy in her voice. Maybe I was winning her over.
“Oh, yes, that band is wonderful. They were quite good with the forties music. It sounds like you enjoyed yourself, and I’m glad to hear that. So it’s settled. You and your husband will be our guests one evening after we reopen.”
“ I’ll certainly look forward to that evening, Mrs. Cross. And thank you for being so understanding about our situation here. Your son is a wonderful child. I simply thought he’d decided to tell a good story.”
“He did that,” I said, laughing, “but I’ll make sure he doesn’t say anything else.” I was having a vision of my little angel talking about murder and dead bodies. I cringed as Mrs. Stanhope wished me well and hung up.
I sat quietly, thinking . I hadn’t really considered how our investigation might affect Mikey. Before my thoughts could go too far, he ran through the house with the dogs chasing him.
“ No running in the house ,” I yelled to his back as he passed me. “ Take it outside .”
And they did , right after Sherlock slid into the wall again.
Chris arrived home about five minutes later and we sat down at the kitchen table. I told him about
“You actually found human remains?” Mrs. Stanhope sounded incredulous. This was certainly something outside of her normal realm of experiences.
“I’m afraid we did . And it appears he was probably murdered.”
I was greeted with dead silence, to go with the revelation of a dead body.
“Mrs. Stanhope?”
“I’m sorry . I’m trying to take this in. It’s truly shocking.”
I tried to back pedal as best I could. “Well, it would be an old crime. We found bones, not a whole body.”
“Not a whole body,” she echoed . “An old body. Oh, my goodness. Let me think about this for a moment.” The phone went quiet.
I sat patiently, trying to give Mikey’s teacher some time to think. Having met her, I could picture this formidable, older woman tapping her finger against her graying head and looking shocked.
“Okay,” she said . “I understand. Well, not really, but I… hmm… Could you just ask Michael to keep this information to himself? Some of these children are quite impressionable, I repeat, a couple of them were upset. I don’t want to start receiving calls from parents telling me that their children are having nightmares about bodies being buried in basements. Maybe he could tell them he made it up?”
“I’m sorry, but I won’t ask my son to lie , although I’d be willing to bet he embellished his story a little. He never actually saw the body. I will, however, ask him not to mention it again. Will that work?”
“I suppose it will have to . So you think it was a murder?”
“We believe so . At the moment it looks like something happened back in the nineteen forties, so it’s not like we found a fresh body.” I had a feeling I was making things worse. Actually, I knew I was.
“I see.” She didn’t, and I knew it. It was in her voice. “Well, if he could keep this to himself? Please?”
“I’ll talk to him and we’ll see if this situation can just die a natural death . Sorry, that was a poor choice of words. If he doesn’t talk about it anymore, that should be the end of it, don’t you think?”
“ Maybe,” Mrs. Stanhope said. She didn’t sound convinced. “At the moment the children are quite interested in his story.” She abruptly changed the subject. “So you’re going to be opening a new restaurant?”
“We are, as soon as the house can be remodeled . Won’t you come visit us one night as our guest?” No harm in trying to soften her up.
“I’m sure that would be delightful . I did visit your other restaurant one evening, but you and your husband weren’t there. I gathered it was your night off and you’d left someone else in charge. It was quite entertaining. My husband and I even cut a rug, so to speak, while your band played.” I could hear the sound of joy in her voice. Maybe I was winning her over.
“Oh, yes, that band is wonderful. They were quite good with the forties music. It sounds like you enjoyed yourself, and I’m glad to hear that. So it’s settled. You and your husband will be our guests one evening after we reopen.”
“ I’ll certainly look forward to that evening, Mrs. Cross. And thank you for being so understanding about our situation here. Your son is a wonderful child. I simply thought he’d decided to tell a good story.”
“He did that,” I said, laughing, “but I’ll make sure he doesn’t say anything else.” I was having a vision of my little angel talking about murder and dead bodies. I cringed as Mrs. Stanhope wished me well and hung up.
I sat quietly, thinking . I hadn’t really considered how our investigation might affect Mikey. Before my thoughts could go too far, he ran through the house with the dogs chasing him.
“ No running in the house ,” I yelled to his back as he passed me. “ Take it outside .”
And they did , right after Sherlock slid into the wall again.
Chris arrived home about five minutes later and we sat down at the kitchen table. I told him about
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