Salem Moon (32 page)

Not just the kidnapping and abuse of Lilac, but now two local boys, Nick Reynolds and Trevor Moulton had gone missing. The same two boys that had been present on the day Lily and Lilac met Gabriel.

There had been a confrontation between them and both boys had been scared shitless. They
’
d told James Blackstone and others that Gabriel was some sort of shape shifter.
Lilac knew her father considered that total nonsense. It
made more sense that he might be a dangerous psychopath.

Lilac continuously told her father that Gabriel was the nicest guy she
’
d ever met and Lily would know if his intentions were less than noble. Lily
knew
things like that about people, she said. He was well aware of what the gossip around town was
about
Lily and he didn
’
t buy any of it. He holstered his gun and he and Officer Collins set off in the Chief
’
s police car
,
heading for the only place he could think of where Gabriel might be: Lily
’
s house.

Meanwhile, Lily was in the office at the Salem Witch Museum. The floor and shelves were covered with a mess of useless papers. She
’
d gone through them all, looking for information on Gabriel. Nothing.

When she stopped to take a breath, it finally
dawned on
her
.
Gabriel would not rest until he
’
d located the burial place of his sister. That had to be where he was, searching for her grave
; b
ut where? Lucien said he knew exactly where she was buried. He
’
d
most likely taken Gabriel there. She had a keen sense that time was of the essence now
. Not only
because the sun was hanging low in the sky
and it would be dusk in a matter of hours
; that
was when most cemeteries closed their gates.
Her urgency had more to do with
an
intuition that she was about to lose Gabriel, forever.

“
Good lord, girl, what are you doin
’
in here? It looks like a tornado hit this place!
”
Brianna Swanson said, in shocked amazement, her eyes scanning the shambles Lily had made of the office.

Lily was startled
. She
’
d
never even heard the door open and she jumped at the sound of Brianna
’
s voice.

“
I
’
m…looking for somethin
’
…,
”
Lily stuttered.

“
I figured as much.
“
Is it something I can maybe help you with, Lily?
”

“
Um…I don
’
t know
.
”
Lily
was cautious,
not knowing how much she really wanted to tell Ms. Swanson.

She had to get control of herself, calm down and think clearly
. And she had
to let Brianna help her if she could, because panic was not going to solve the problem at hand.

“
I
’
m looking for documents concerning the grave of one of those still not found.
”

“
Who?
”

“
Abigail…Blackstone.
”

“
Wow, it
’
s so weird that you should ask about her
.
”

“
Weird? Why, do you know something…?
”

Brianna cut Lily off in mid-sentence,
“
As a matter of fact, paperwork just came to my attention a couple of days ago. That was the paperwork I wanted you to come to pick up the other day, but you never showed, so I sealed it appropriately and put it in my desk drawer.
”

She unlocked the desk and drew out a sheet of paper, covered in the traditional wrap to preserve the document and handed it wordlessly to Lily.

Lily
’
s hands trembled as she held the coveted document
; a document of immense importance
to Gabriel and therefore to her as well. A small, thin piece of paper, as light as a feather, that which a breath of air could blow away and yet, the words printed on it held such enormous weight.

Both women were silent, looking down at the document. Brianna didn
’
t even look at her peculiarly, which is what Lily had expected.

“
Can I copy this?
”
Lily asked, exerting great effort not to flee from the building with the original document in hand.

“
Of course, Dear.
”
Thankfully,
Brianna didn
’
t question Lily at all.

Looking at the document, Lily realized a
ll her theories about where Abigail might be buried were wrong. She
’
d originally considered that Abigail
’
s body might be buried beneath the Old North Church. Not the original Old North Church, ironically located at
193
Salem Street in Boston
’
s North end, the very church made famous by Paul Revere
,
but the
second
Old North Church, located in Boston
’
s Old North Square, across the street from Paul Revere
’
s home.

Underneath the church
was
a
tomb
, containing about
1,100
bodies in thirty-seven crypts
. It was
believed to have been built between
1732
and
1853
. Many doors were later plastered over by order of the city of Boston. The possibility that Abigail was buried there was remote at best, but having nothing else to go on, Lily thought it best to start their search there.

It never occurred to her to think of
Oak Hill Cemetery
.
But, here in her hands was the
exact
location of her remains
.
Of course, she was
n
’
t
buried in the actual cemetery, but very close to it, at the farthest end of the property.

Sensing the urgency inherent in Lily
’
s demeanor, Brianna was silently supportive. She accepted the original document
which
Lily
silently
handed back to her. It dropped to the floor
.
S
he bent to pick it up and put it away. Lily
knew Brianna
didn
’
t think she was
some addle-
brained teen
. On
the contrary, Brianna respected and admired her as a fellow colleague.

“
Thank you, Ms. Swans
on. Thank you for…this and for…
you know, not askin
’
me a bunch of questions right now.
”
Lily hugged her.

Brianna stood at the door of the witch museum, watching as Lily ran off with the photocopy in hand, jumped into her car and sped off.

“
C
hief come in…over,
”
Helen called over the police dispatcher.

“
Yeah, Helen. I
’
m here. What
’
s up? Over.
”
He was only a few yards from his destination
,
Lily
’
s house. Officer Collins listened silently and watched as a dark scowl came over the chief
’
s face. The Chief placed the dispatch receiver
slowly
back in its cradle before
addressing
Officer Collins.

“
Nick and Trevor are no longer missing,
”
he said.

“
Well, that
’
s good
. One
less thing, yah know
?
”
said the young officer.

“
No, it
’
s not good
.
”
He
spat the words out, as if Officer Collins was a total idiot.

Truth be told, he didn
’
t think much of most of the rookies on the force, but he did like and respect Officer Collins. Still, being a young officer, he was yet to learn to use his instincts or to read the tones of voice, faces and body language of others. If someone was no longer missing and the Chief wasn
’
t sighing with
relief that
could only mean one thing.

“
They
’
re no longer missin
’
because they
’
re
dead
.
”
Jack
never took
his eyes off the road.

The police car was
speeding now,
sirens blaring, and lights flashing, the tires
squealed
as he banged a U-turn, and headed in the opposite direction
,
toward the crime scene at Baker
’
s Island.

“
Holy shit!
”
Officer Collins whispered.
“
Do you think this…Gabriel did it, Chief?
”

“
Not likely. That is, not unless he has fangs and claws.
”

“
Come again?
”

“
They were found out on Bakers Island, inside the lighthouse by the light keeper. He was getting ready to secure the place for the comin
’
winter
when he
saw blood,
lots
of blood at the entrance. When he opened it, well, the two boys just spilled out like limp dolls. They
’
d been torn to shreds. The light keeper called it in to the station. Two officers are at the site now, waitin
’
on forensics. The only way they could confirm it was the two missing boys, was by their tattoos. 
Apparently, the
light keeper is still throwing up from the sight of it
.
The officers are trying to question him, but so far…we got
nothin
’
.
”

The police car headed for the ferry that would take them out to the island. The visit to Lily
’
s house would just have to wait.

The crime scene was gruesome. No one there had ever seen anything so gory. Bright yellow tape bearing the ominous words
“
Police Crime Scene, Do Not Cross,
”
was posted all around the lighthouse. To one side, sat the light house keeper
, he had
his head between his legs
and was moaning
quietly.

The CSI team had
just
arrived. The investigators
gathered
evidence
quietly, all were
somber. They took blood samples and skin scrapings from the victims.

The blood spatter analyst shook his head, commenting on the enormous amount of blood that sprayed the stairs, the walls and covered the floor in large pools of already congealing blood. The blood painted a terrifying picture indeed
. It was
jagged, uneven
and
without any definitive pattern, just splashes and dripping lines of red everywhere, causing the spatter expert to conclude that the attack had been vicious and frenzied.

“
What have yah got for me?
”
Jack asked
Decker,
the lead forensic investigator, a large, balding man
,
who
’
d been doing this job for over twenty years.

“
Jesus Christ, Jack, I
’
ve never seen so much blood in my entire life. This has to be the work of some kinda animal. My guess? Canine
. Probably
more than one to do this much damage. Not to mention, there are very few defense wounds, indicating that the attack was swift and unexpected. The boys didn
’
t stand a chance. The deep gashes to the throat alone would
’
ve
caused the victims to bleed out in a matter of minutes. No man could do that.
”