Lines in the Sand (Crossing The Lines #0.5) (2 page)

“I guess you’re right.” His face dropped in disappointment. What, did he think it would be some hot chick’s stuff we’d get to return for a reward?

“Of course I’m right.” But I was disappointed, too. I was sure there would be something more when I first saw that fabric poking out of the sand. Must’ve been too much Cap’n Crunch. Sugar rush. Mom was right.

Jonah stood. “Well, let’s get outta here. I’m hungry and bored.”

“Okay.”

He tossed down the tattered fabric and it floated above the sand in an eerie dance with the wind for a moment, as though hesitant to go anywhere. And, I had to admit, I didn’t want to let it go, even then. I stooped to pick it up with the leather band still gripped in my fist.

And that’s when I saw it.

I swallowed the lump that threatened to choke me as my heart began to pound viciously in my chest.

I sank to my knees and blinked to clear my eyes.

Oh, crap.

I wanted to puke.

How could we have missed that?

There, right next to where I’d been digging, a small, white bone—about the size of a human finger—poked mockingly up from the sand.

With shaking hands, I plucked it up and examined it. Yup. I’m no scientist, but it was definitely a bone.

I looked at Jonah, whose eyes were about as big as half-dollars, and looked about ready to piss his pants. “Lettie?” he croaked.

We weren’t sticking around to find out. We ran for home like hell hounds were after us.

That afternoon, we made excuses to hang around my house the rest of the day, rushed through dinner, then locked ourselves away in my bedroom.

Jonah flopped down onto my video game chair. “Man.” He finally looked me in the eye for probably the first time since we’d returned from our find at the beach. “What are we gonna do?”

I shot a glance to my closet, where I’d hidden all the stuff we found—including the bone—in my grandpa’s old military ammo box. “What do you mean?”

He sat forward and swallowed, his eyes darting around nervously. “Dude!” He lowered his voice in a stage whisper, “We found somebody’s
bone.
”

“So what?”

“So what? So
what?
” His face bloomed an interesting shade of pink. “Did it ever occur to you that people aren’t buried at the beach?”

He tilted his head and waited as his question sunk in. Suddenly, the blood drained out of my brain, making me dizzy. “So . . .”

“So, what if Lettie was . . .
murdered
?” He forced the last word out with a painful squeak.

My eyes popped open. No way.

But it was possible.

“And,” he continued, “whoever killed her dumped her body at the beach.”

I sat on the edge of the bed as the implication of this settled in. Poor woman. We needed to tell someone . . .

“. . . we can’t tell a soul . . .”

My head snapped up. “What? Why not?”

“Man. Don’t you watch CSI? We have evidence from the crime scene all over us. In your bedroom.” He pointed to my closet. “They’ll think we had something to do with it, nimrod. And even if they don’t pin it on us, they’ll probably get us for tampering with evidence or obstruction of justice or something. It’s just better if we leave it alone.”

My heart sank as my conscience gnawed at every fiber of my gut. He made sense, but could I let this go? Could I do that to Lettie, whoever she was?

No. I couldn’t.

“Well, what if we don’t go to the cops, but look for some clues by ourselves?” I suggested, hoping to tug on Jonah’s sense of adventure, if not his conscience.

“Clues to what?” he asked, suspicion coloring his words. “I ain’t goin’ after no murderer.”

I glanced at my closet door. “No. No murderer. How about we see if we can find out who Lettie was?”

That seemed to spark some interest in him.

Who knew? Maybe she was loved and missed by someone out there, and we could anonymously lead them to her. Then my conscience could be clear. End of story.

The Witch

B
right and early the next morning, Jonah and I set out for old man Gus’ store. It’d been beachside, selling food, gas, and last minute beach items to beachgoers practically forever. Surely Gus would know if a lady named Lettie had ever gone missing around here.

We ambled in, cool and nonchalant like, and browsed the candy aisle. I picked up a package of Air Heads, Jonah a Starburst. We’d decided low key was the best way to play it, not calling any attention to ourselves. And definitely not saying anything about what we’d found. We trusted Gus, heck he was like the grandpa I never had, but there was no telling what he’d do if we told him we found a body on the beach. So mum was the word.

Jonah and I exchanged a look and made our way to the soda display and perused the energy drinks. Thank goodness for summer chores, or we’d be broke ass.

I glanced over as the door chimed. My heart stumbled in my chest when Melissa walked in with two of her friends from school, all of them in bikini tops and denim shorts. Holy shit, maybe Jonah’d been right about those granny smiths. I obviously had no idea what she’d been hiding under those Misfits T-shirts. I gulped.

The girls moved to the candy aisle we’d just been in and giggled, much like normal girls, and Melissa’s face lit up as she selected a bag of Twizzlers. Boy, she was pretty.

My stomach dropped clear to my toes when her ultra-dark eyes met and pinned mine. Her smile widened and she waved shyly, acknowledging me and Jonah.

Jonah waved back while I just stared, then he elbowed me in the ribs with a guffaw. “Told you. Hot. Why don’t you ask her for her number, Romeo?”

My eyes never left her as the girls paid for their food and strolled out the glass door, the little bell above them chiming. “Shut up.”

“Well, then maybe
I
will.”

I lasered him with a glare. “You will not.”

He huffed out a laugh. “Nah. She’s not my type. I don’t like goth chicks.”

“She’s not goth.” No, she wasn’t goth. She wasn’t anything but perfect. I wish I had the nerve to talk to her. Or that she’d talk to me.

“Whatever.” He indicated our candy and sodas. “Let’s get this over with.”

I nodded and we made our way up to Gus at the worn counter just as another customer left with her stack of lottery tickets. Glancing down, my eyes caught on the chips and pen marks that had marred his countertop as long as I could remember. A heart caught my eye, penned in blue ink, with ‘M+R’ in the middle. What were the chances . . . ?

Gus cleared his throat as he wiped his hands on his round belly with a smile. “Hello, boys,” he said, his rosy cheeks shining in the fluorescent lighting.

“Morning, Mr. Gus,” Jonah said as he placed our purchases on the counter.

“Fine day for going to the beach,” Gus commented as he rang us up.

I agreed half-heartedly and paid once he totaled up the price. Jonah glanced at me as Gus handed me the change.

It was now or never.

I swallowed and spit out the lie we’d concocted. “Hey, Gus? We thought we overheard something about a lady named Lettie who might’ve gone missing from around here? It could’ve been a long time ago?” I chanced a look into Gus’ eyes. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you? We were just curious, is all. Not much happens around here, you know. We were bored, looking for a good story.” God, I hope that didn’t sound as wooden and fake as it felt rolling off my tongue.

Gus didn’t flinch, so he must not have suspected anything. He leaned his meaty hands on the counter and stared off into space like he was thinking. The bell over the door chimed again as an old woman walked in. He waved as the lady made her way to the dairy section.

“Hmmm . . . well, boys, Lettie, you say?”

We nodded, silently begging him to remember something.

“Maybe. Something about the name rings a bell.”

“Really?” Jonah sounded excited. I shot him a look to cool it so we didn’t tip anyone off.

I glanced over my shoulder as the woman made her way behind us with her gallon of milk. I wished Gus would hurry—I didn’t want anyone to overhear.

Gus snapped his fingers. “I got it! I remember now. Wow. That was maybe thirty, forty-some-odd years ago. I can’t believe that’s come up again. Where’d you hear about her?”

“Oh, you know, just around,” I him-hawed, trying to sidetrack him. “So, who was she?”

His brows thundered down. “Lettie was a bad, bad woman, boys. You wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with her. There were mumblings around here that she was a witch, and anyone who came near her—who even
touched
her—would be cursed forever. I swear, if there were such things as witch trials and burnings, she would’ve been lit up, the people hated her so much. Especially after a little girl that lived down the street from her almost drowned in the ocean.

“Then, one day, she just disappeared without a trace. To this day, nobody knows what happened to her.” He peered around quickly, then leaned in. “But, honestly, boys, I was glad she was gone. Our town was much more peaceful after she left and the curses stopped.”

Jonah and I exchanged a horrified glance.

Without another word, we ran out the door, letting it bang shut behind us with a sudden gust of briny air.

We made it as far as the edge of Gus’ walkway before we stopped to suck in great gasps of air.

“Holy . . . do you think . . . ?” Jonah couldn’t complete the thought.

“I have no idea.” I couldn’t comprehend the notion that we may have a witch’s bone. A
cursed
witch’s bone.

“But . . .” I could hear the panic rising in Jonah’s voice. “You heard Gus. Do you think we need a preacher or a voodoo priestess or something?” He ran a hand down his face. “Holy crap. Do you think we’re cursed? Are we gonna die?”

I wanted to yell at him to calm the hell down, but my mind was screaming the same things at me. Were we going to die? Before I had the chance to even talk to Melissa Summers . . . ?

“What are you two asswipes doing?”

Simultaneously, we froze at Noah’s gritty, evil-laced voice. Jonah’s older brother had just gotten his license, so he thought he was hot shit, and he lorded his superior size and strength over us even more than he usually did. Which was constantly.

Jonah turned and faced his brother. “Nothing. Go home, Noah.”

Noah took a menacing step in our direction. “Make me.”

Behind him, the door to the store opened and the old lady exited with her milk. Something in her eyes told me she thought we were nothing more than punks.

My eyes flicked to the beach where Melissa and her friends were playing in the waves. God, she was hot. I wished we were over there and none of this dead body crud had ever happened. What a difference a day makes.

I turned back to Noah, who was eying us with contempt. “That’s what I thought. Neither of you pussies has the stones to make me do a thing.” He huffed a snide laugh.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Jonah’s face pinking as his eyes bunched. I glanced down to his tightening fists. Ah, hell. I’d only seen him like this once, last year when he blew a gasket over something I’d said about his parents. It wasn’t pretty.