An Unmarked Grave by Kent Conwell Read Free Book Online Page A

put his arms around her. "Hello, Tricia"
    At that moment, Vanessa and Frank appeared in the
open doorway. A wry grin played over Frank's lips, while
Vanessa's eyebrows knit with impatience.
    I slapped Justin on the back. "Here you are. Good luck"
    Anxiously, he turned to me. "No, come on in, Tony. We'll
get something to eat"
    "No. It's your family. You'll want to talk about your plans.
Look me up later. We can shoot the breeze"
    He looked at me wistfully, his eyes begging me to stay.
    You've no idea how many times since that moment I've
awakened at night and wished I'd gone inside with him.
    I talked to Justin one more time, but that day was the last
time I saw him alive.

     

he next couple of weeks flew by.
    Two days before Beatrice Morrison's annual winter fete
for Austin's upper crust, Janice called with the welcome
news that her aunt didn't need the gumbo after all. She was
having a hundred and fifty pounds of herb-and-chipotlecrusted flounder with smoked-mushroom aioli and gingered
vegetables flown in from New Orleans. I had no idea what
it was, but I didn't argue.
    Just after we hung up, I got a call from Justin Chester in
Elysian Hills. "I've got it, Tony. I told you I would, and now
I have it"
    I frowned. "What?"
    "Proof of the spaceship"
    My first thought was that the ten million had driven him
over the edge. And, as he explained, I began to believe I was
right. "My metal detectors turned up a lot of items on the hill
where the ship crashed. But one piece of metal that I found while digging did not set off the metal detector. I haven't had
it tested yet, but if it didn't set off the detector, then it has
to be something unusual" He paused and in a hushed tone
added, "It has hieroglyphics on it, like the stories said" Before I could respond, he continued. "And something else
about this metal. It's thin, and you can crush it into a ball,
and then guess what it does?"

    My guesses would have ranged from "fall to the ground"
to "remain crushed in a ball," but I refrained from the wisecracks. Instead, I noncommittally replied, "Beats me"
    In a tone of awe and wonder, he replied, "When you lay it
down, it unfolds. Out flat. And there's no sign of any creases"
He paused, then repeated himself. "Fold it into quarters,
lay it down, and it unfolds itself."
    Now, that was hard to believe. "You haven't been drinking, have you, Justin?" I was half joking and half serious
and half intrigued, although a few stiff drinks seemed to be
the only logical explanation for the phenomenon he was
claiming.
    "Can't stand booze anymore, Tony. Not even beer. I get
sick when I drink"
    I had no idea what to say next. So that's what I said. "So,
what's next?"
    "Next I'm going find the alien's grave. I've looked
through old records and talked to a lot of the old-timers
whose folks were alive when it happened. I've got a good
idea where to look in the cemetery. About fifty yards from
the street marker, there used to be an old oak. White oak, I
think. It's gone, but I think I can find where it was. He was
supposed to be buried around there somewhere"
    I rolled my eyes and whistled softly. "Well, good luck. Keep me posted" I didn't really mean it. I just wanted to
get off the line.

    A few days later, when I learned he was dead, a strange
sense of guilt washed over me.
    Why I felt guilty, I'm not sure. Maybe it was because I
thought Justin was foolish to follow such a ludicrous pursuit. Or maybe it was because he had trusted me, and I didn't
believe him.
    Whatever the reason, I owed the gentle man my presence
at his funeral. He was a likeable human being who had troubled no one and gone out of his way to help others.
    The day of Justin's funeral dawned cold and drab with a
sharp wind from the north.
    Roth Funeral Home conducted the service, a small affair
attended by immediate family and a handful of friends and
acquaintances.
    To my surprise, when I entered the nave, I spotted an ornate urn on a pedestal