Free The Graves of Plague Canyon (The Downwinders Book 3) by Michael Richan Page B

to me.” A small tear formed in
her left eye, and Winn saw it streak down her cheek.
    John saw the tear too and took the necklace to look at it.
The small diamond at the bottom caught the light in the room and triggered
something bird-like in his brain. “Tell you what,” he said. “Take the rock out
of the box, and we’ll put the necklace in its place. Then I’ll hide the box.”
    “You better hide it well,” Winn said, removing the stone and
handing it to Deem. “If anyone finds it and hawks it before we come back, not
only will we keep the rock, I’ll burn down your house.”
    “It’ll be here,” John said. “I promise!”
    He tucked the box back into the drawer, then they all left
the bedroom.
    “What are ya’all doin’ back in there?” the woman shouted from
the kitchen.
    “Shut up, Daneen!” John hollered back. He ushered them both
to the front door.
    “Which facility is your father at?” Deem asked as she stepped
out.
    “Tonaquint,” John replied.
    Winn stepped down to the porch, then turned back to John in
the doorway. “Tonaquint? That’s a cemetery, not an assisted care facility.”
    “That’s where you’ll find him,” John said, smirking at them.
“He’s been there ten years. My sister says you types can still talk to him. If
you do, please tell him we’re still sorting through all his shit.”
    John shut the door.
    “Motherfucker!” Winn said. “He lied to us!”
    “Well, we’re even then, because we lied to him,” Deem said,
turning to walk away from the house and back to Winn’s Jeep. Winn followed.
    “Yeah, that shit about the appraisal was a pretty good one,” Winn
asked.
    “And the necklace,” Deem said. “I picked it up at JCPenney
for fifteen dollars.”
    Winn stopped walking, dumbfounded. “Wow, you had me convinced
your dad gave it to you. You could get a job acting, you know.”
    “If you think I’d give that scuzzball a necklace my dad gave
to me, I’m insulted.” She climbed into Winn’s Jeep, and Winn ran around to the
driver’s side to join her.

Chapter Seven
     
     
     
    “It’s so flat and open here,” Deem said as they walked
through the dark. “There’s nowhere to hide!”
    It was just after midnight, and Winn and Deem were hoofing it
into the cemetery, Winn’s Jeep parked far from the entrance so as to not catch
the interest of the local police. Deem had mapped out the location of the
grave, and every few steps Winn would carefully turn on a flashlight so they
could check the tombstones and see where they were at.
    Many of the grave markers were flush to the ground, and since
Tonaquint was a relatively new cemetery, much of the landscaping hadn’t yet
filled in. The trees were still small and sparse, and there were no bushes to
speak of. An occasional tombstone seemed like the only cover they had — that,
and the dark itself.
    Winn turned on the flashlight again to check where they were
at, and Deem was shocked by the images of three children, frozen, one flying
through the air above her. Their expressions were vacant and they looked eerie
— their faces oddly shaped, their poses bizarre.
    “It’s just a statue,” Winn said.
    “Creepy fucking statue,” Deem replied.
    “Come on,” Winn said, clicking the flashlight off. They
continued searching for a few more minutes until Deem came upon the correct
grave. Winn relit the flashlight and held it low to the ground.
     “‘Aldus Free, Beloved Husband and Father,’” Deem read. “He
died in 2004.”
    “I think our best option is to lie flat and minimize
movement,” Winn said. “The main driveway in is blocked off, and I think that
any cop car driving out there on the main road is unlikely to see us if we stay
flat on the ground and don’t move.”
    They arranged themselves next to the grave. Deem felt the
cold of the grass against her back; it felt good in the eighty degree evening.
    “You learned how to trance yet?” Winn asked.
    “You know I haven’t,” Deem