Hunted by T.M. Bledsoe Read Free Book Online Page B

Cemetery because she’d stopped at Katy’s Korner on Commerce Street for an iced caramel latte on the way.  Katy’s Korner had the best iced coffee in town, and Marla, the waitress that worked the afternoon shift, always gave Lanie an extra shot of espresso in hers.  She liked her java strong enough to jump start a car engine.
    Fells Pointe Memorial Cemetery sat on Cedar Street and was one of only three cemeteries in town.  It was the largest and the oldest and since some of the grave sites had been there for hundreds of years, it was gated and could only be entered for a few hours during the day.  The Mayor didn’t want any of the kids partying in there and ruining the historic site, which probably would have happened because, well, kids were kids, and in a small town where there wasn’t much to do, they’d create their own fun some way or another.
    The cemetery was surrounded by a high wrought iron fence and as Lanie stepped through the gates, she was struck yet again by just how lovely the old place was.  Sitting on nearly two acres of land, there were headstone stretching out in all directions, and the entire area was peppered with towering oak trees that had been standing far longer than anything else in town. 
    Walking along the gravel path that ran down the center of the graveyard, Lanie took in the atmosphere around her.  The air was different here.  Quiet.  As if even the birds dared not sing out of respect for the departed.  The powder blue sky over head and the barely changing leaves covering all the massive, gnarled old trees should have given the cemetery an almost cheerful look, but instead, the colors only made it seem more lonesome.  Here even the wind was more subdued, whispering gently through the tree tops, creating a soft murmur of sound that reminded Lanie of someone trying to share a secret, only there was no one left to hear it.
    Passing by the aged, moss and lichen covered headstones that had stood guard over their owners for centuries, Lanie made her way to the back of the cemetery, to the area that was newer, but that only a select few people could hope to be buried in.  Her mother was one of the few.
    Angelina Bancroft was not only the wife of the Sheriff of Fells Pointe, but she had also been the head of the Citizen’s League, the daughter of the Town Attorney, and the granddaughter of the longest serving Deputy Mayor in Fells Pointe history.  Angelina Bancroft had the privilege of being laid to rest in the finest cemetery in town, along with all the other prominent figures in Fells Pointe history.  Both Lanie’s grandparents, her great grandparents, and several Great Aunts and Uncles, were buried there, as well, in what was the official Bancroft Family Plot. 
    Lanie was actually proud of the fact that a good portion of her ancestors were all resting in such a beautiful, meaningful place.
    Her mother’s headstone was sitting in the far corner of the cemetery, beneath one of the massive oak trees, which Angelina had always found so lovely.  Lanie walked up to the polished marble slab that had been etched with her mom’s name and stood for a second, letting that familiar feeling of loss wash over her.  It was best to embrace it and get past it first thing.  Once that crushing sense of grief had ran its course and Lanie could breathe again, she blinked away the mist of tears filming her eyes and then moved to sit down and lean back against the gravestone.  She could feel the cool marble through her sweater and it was nice.  She liked having something physical that belonged to her mom, a piece of her mom that she could touch and feel. 
    Lanie took in a breath of the clean autumn air and let the silence seep into her, soothing the tumult inside her.  This was what she needed.  The space, the quiet, the time away from concerned faces and worried eyes.  This was the only way she’d be able to absorb the fact that her friend had been killed.  That her friend was gone and