“I cannot.” At least he was being honest this time.
“What can you tell me?”
“Nothing. No one is going to tell you anything.”
“Why did you bother to come here, then?”
“Your anger called me. You’d better watch out, Galmadriel. How far do you really want to fall?” Was that a warning? Adriel wasn’t sure.
“At least tell me what you know about Julius.”
At Malachiel’s blank look, Adriel said, “Here’s what happened.” She laid out the events of the past hour for him in fine detail. If he knew anything about the entity that had accosted her, his carefully schooled features gave away nothing.
Chapter 10
One more day, Gideon promised. One more day, and his crew would lay a culvert to connect this trench with the one on the other side of the road. To get the job done faster, he brought in two of the scooping machines from hell. One to hack out the section of road where the pipe would go, the other to finish the last bit of the trench leading up to it. What Gideon failed to mention was the need for tamping soil down tightly over the corrugated length of pipe. Added to the constant digging noises was the sound of the second bucket pounding soil into place.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Adriel went about her business for the morning praying for a freak accident to render her temporarily deaf. Not that it would have mattered, given the shock waves accompanying the banging sound could be felt through the floor.
When the pounding stopped, shouting replaced the short reprieve of silence.
Not the kind of shouting of orders being given or taken, though. This shouting sounded altogether different. She stopped to listen.
“…there’s the skull, and that’s a hand.”
Skull? An ominous sounding word. Ominous enough to make her open the door and go see what was happening.
An interesting tableau spread itself before Adriel when she stepped onto the porch. Several men stood, slack-jawed, gazing into a newly dug section running alongside the road, while others milled around as far from the area as they could get. Gideon shouted rapidly into his cell phone.
“No….Roman, I’ve lived here my whole life, there’s no abandoned grave yard around here. You’d better come out and take a look.”
Adriel heard the familiar sound of Ben’s bicycle long before he pulled to a stop next to the hole. He looked down, his eyes dark pools in a grave, white face. Talking to him in front of the crew was not a valid option, so they both only nodded a hello.
The human nature lurking inside her liked the idea of cowering inside while someone else dealt with the situation. She had always thought fear was an emotional response, but it seemed the heebie jeebies might just be hard wired into the physical body. Curiosity, more than anything, was what finally propelled her feet toward the hole.
After a first look, she hoped it was the depth of the hole making the bleached white bones seem so small, but she knew better. Ben had been found. If there were any doubts, the stricken look in his eyes was enough to dispel them. She longed to talk to him, make him feel better any way she could, but with the entire road crew close enough to remain within hearing distance, it was impossible. Okay, not technically impossible, but not the recommended choice.
It’s funny how people’s reactions are so different. Based on the way Gideon took charge until Zack arrived, it was easy to see how the job had come to him. He barked orders with no visible sentiment other than the faint whiff of annoyance Adriel could sense, because this was going to put him behind again. Yet, the gruff sympathy in his voice matched the way his eyes strayed time and again back to where the pale relic lay alone and bare in its grave.
No flashing lights or sirens marked Zack’s approach this time. There was no reason for hurry, the bones had lain in that spot for long years, and another ten minutes wasn’t going to change anything. He flashed Adriel a questioning look, which she answered with a small nod, knowing he would find her when he had time to talk. When she looked back, Ben had gone and Pam’s Jeep was pulling into her driveway.
Adriel went out to meet her. “They’re saying it’s Ben.” Not a lick of color graced Pam’s face. Tiny freckles stood out against the pale.
“I’ll walk with you.” Adriel linked arms with Pam knowing it would be a waste of time trying to talk her out of looking at what lay in the cold ground.
***
“Can I get you anything? Iced tea? Coffee?” Adriel offered an hour later when Zack tapped on the screen door before letting himself inside. He noted the changes to the place with a look of approval.
“I’m good.” Zack remained standing just inside the door; this was official business. A nodding gesture indicated the hole that marred the edge of Adriel’s yard. “You get a chance to see what they found?” She joined him just in time to see a black body bag being slid into the back of an ambulance by a somber-faced man she assumed was the coroner, and the same fellow who had worked hard in his attempt to save Lydia’s life.
“Bones.” An internal debate ran through her head. Should she tell him she was almost certain she know whose bones they had been?”
“A forensic expert is on the way, but I’ve seen enough death to know those are the bones of a child, and they’ve been in the ground for a long time. There’s only one missing persons case involving a child fitting the time frame.”
Before she could stop the name, it crossed her lips, “Ben Allen?”
“How did you know?”
“I work for Ben’s sister, Pam.” Should she tell him the rest? Yeah, probably. “And, he’s been visiting me.”
“He’s not an Earthwalker?” Zack’s horrified expression said he might have nightmares about devil children if she didn’t
