Read Online Skeleton's Key (Delta Crossroads Trilogy, Book 2) by Stacy Green - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Stacy Green
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across the lawn, the beam making crazy shapes over the grass. The carriage house. Cage.
She pounded hard on the door, the pattern matching the banging of her pulse.
Dani glanced behind her as though somehow, the horror she’d just seen would emerge from the mansion and drag itself toward her.
“Cage! It’s Dani. Open the door, please!” Her scream shattered the still night, and a throng of birds left a giant oak with angry squawks.
The carriage house door flew open. She saw only Cage’s shocked eyes before the words tumbled out of her mouth.
“There’s a body in the basement.”
8
C age tried to dislodge the cobwebs of sleep from his brain. “You mean there are bones in the basement.”
“No.” Dani’s eyes went wide, wild. Her hair fell in tangled waves to her shoulders, and her entire body trembled. “There is a body in my basement. As in one covered with flesh.”
“You’ve had a long day. New place, the skeletal remains. You had a bad dream, s’all.”
“Listen to me.” Her voice turned shrill. “I heard noises and knew it was an animal. So I went to investigate.” He stared at her mouth as she spoke, trying to comprehend what she was saying.
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“Hold on.” He ran upstairs and tugged on some jeans. Thankfully, Dani had been too freaked out to notice he was only wearing his boxers. Back at the door, he slipped on his old running shoes.
He held out his hand. “Can I see the flashlight?”
“Be careful.” She handed him the impressive model. “My best one. Which is a really stupid thing to say right now, sorry.”
“Right. Come on.”
He hoofed it across the yard, trying not to walk too fast so Dani could keep up. Inside the house, he told her to wait in the parlor. She sat down on the couch. “No argument here. But be careful. That raccoon is a mean one.”
He pulled his service revolver out of the back of his jeans. “That’s what I brought this for.”
“Don’t shoot him!”
“You just said–”
“I said be careful. I didn’t say kill him.”
“Fine. Just stay here.”
Cage prayed Dani had just been sleepwalking or had grotesquely vivid dreams, but the smell emanating from the basement promised something horrifyingly different.
“Where the hell is that smell coming from?” Dani asked from the top of the stairs. “It wasn’t there when I got home, or I would have noticed.”
“If this body’s got flesh like you say,” Cage gritted his teeth, “I’d guess the coon found remains that are a lot more recent than the bones we’ve been digging up.”
She swayed on the spot and then took a deep breath. “God Almighty.”
“Pretty much.”
The raccoon growled from somewhere deep in the darkness, and Cage readied his pistol. At the base of the steps, he found the string and turned on the weak light. Something skittered beneath the junk pile and ran for cover, but he barely noticed.
Jeb and his intern had been digging in a six-by-six grid as they carefully sifted for more parts of the skeleton. This afternoon, the earth outside of that grid had been untouched except for the impressions of their shoes. But now, thanks to the raccoon’s skilled scavenging, the area was churned up. In the middle of the animal’s playground, a human arm stuck out from what looked like a black trash bag. The arm extended toward Cage as if begging for help.
A finger was missing.
“Aw, sonofa bitch .”
He crossed the basement, pulling his t-shirt up over his nose. The smell was one of the worst things he’d ever encountered. Trying not to breathe, he knelt for a closer look.
Definitely a trash bag. Body had probably been secured inside until the raccoon discovered it tonight. Most of the visible flesh was waxy and white and looked loose enough to be mushy. Yellow, greasy slime oozed out of the tear in the plastic. That’s why the smell had come on so suddenly tonight.
This was not happening. An old skeleton? Fine. Happened more
She pounded hard on the door, the pattern matching the banging of her pulse.
Dani glanced behind her as though somehow, the horror she’d just seen would emerge from the mansion and drag itself toward her.
“Cage! It’s Dani. Open the door, please!” Her scream shattered the still night, and a throng of birds left a giant oak with angry squawks.
The carriage house door flew open. She saw only Cage’s shocked eyes before the words tumbled out of her mouth.
“There’s a body in the basement.”
8
C age tried to dislodge the cobwebs of sleep from his brain. “You mean there are bones in the basement.”
“No.” Dani’s eyes went wide, wild. Her hair fell in tangled waves to her shoulders, and her entire body trembled. “There is a body in my basement. As in one covered with flesh.”
“You’ve had a long day. New place, the skeletal remains. You had a bad dream, s’all.”
“Listen to me.” Her voice turned shrill. “I heard noises and knew it was an animal. So I went to investigate.” He stared at her mouth as she spoke, trying to comprehend what she was saying.
“You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“Hold on.” He ran upstairs and tugged on some jeans. Thankfully, Dani had been too freaked out to notice he was only wearing his boxers. Back at the door, he slipped on his old running shoes.
He held out his hand. “Can I see the flashlight?”
“Be careful.” She handed him the impressive model. “My best one. Which is a really stupid thing to say right now, sorry.”
“Right. Come on.”
He hoofed it across the yard, trying not to walk too fast so Dani could keep up. Inside the house, he told her to wait in the parlor. She sat down on the couch. “No argument here. But be careful. That raccoon is a mean one.”
He pulled his service revolver out of the back of his jeans. “That’s what I brought this for.”
“Don’t shoot him!”
“You just said–”
“I said be careful. I didn’t say kill him.”
“Fine. Just stay here.”
Cage prayed Dani had just been sleepwalking or had grotesquely vivid dreams, but the smell emanating from the basement promised something horrifyingly different.
“Where the hell is that smell coming from?” Dani asked from the top of the stairs. “It wasn’t there when I got home, or I would have noticed.”
“If this body’s got flesh like you say,” Cage gritted his teeth, “I’d guess the coon found remains that are a lot more recent than the bones we’ve been digging up.”
She swayed on the spot and then took a deep breath. “God Almighty.”
“Pretty much.”
The raccoon growled from somewhere deep in the darkness, and Cage readied his pistol. At the base of the steps, he found the string and turned on the weak light. Something skittered beneath the junk pile and ran for cover, but he barely noticed.
Jeb and his intern had been digging in a six-by-six grid as they carefully sifted for more parts of the skeleton. This afternoon, the earth outside of that grid had been untouched except for the impressions of their shoes. But now, thanks to the raccoon’s skilled scavenging, the area was churned up. In the middle of the animal’s playground, a human arm stuck out from what looked like a black trash bag. The arm extended toward Cage as if begging for help.
A finger was missing.
“Aw, sonofa bitch .”
He crossed the basement, pulling his t-shirt up over his nose. The smell was one of the worst things he’d ever encountered. Trying not to breathe, he knelt for a closer look.
Definitely a trash bag. Body had probably been secured inside until the raccoon discovered it tonight. Most of the visible flesh was waxy and white and looked loose enough to be mushy. Yellow, greasy slime oozed out of the tear in the plastic. That’s why the smell had come on so suddenly tonight.
This was not happening. An old skeleton? Fine. Happened more
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