Allured

Chapter 1

APPARITION

Jacquelyn was returning from a walk down at the pier. When she was heading back to the tavern where she works as a barmaid, two ghostly figures appeared in front of her. Startled, she stopped dead in her tracks. Never seeing anything like this before, she reached out to the glowing bluish-red face. The apparitions moved backward, not allowing any contact. And the two figures circled around her slowly.

Amazed with the unknown presence, Jacquelyn became curious to what this mystic presence could be and extended her hand out again. “What are you?” she asked without fear. “Are you angels?” A red glow flashed where the eye sockets once were. Frightened, Jacquelyn took off running towards the town. She did not look back.

When she was two blocks away from the tavern, she heard voices coming from inside the cemetery. Catching her breath, she walked slowly, not making any sound as she approached.

 “Let’s hurry, and finish digging the grave. The rotting flesh is making me nauseous,” she heard Frank the grave digger, recognizing his scratchy voice.

Jacquelyn scrambled backward, grabbed hold of the black iron gate that outlined the perimeter of the cemetery. Her gloved hands, slid down the length of the bar, resting her knees to the ground.

“What do you think happened, Dr. Morehead?” Jacquelyn heard Constable Montgomery ask, in his thick Scottish accent. She wrapped her dark blue cape around to the front of her chest, concealing her presence.

“I’m not sure... but-,” replied Dr. Morehead. He stood up straight after examining the neck of the boy, allowing Frank the grave digger to lower the body into the open grave. Dr. Morehead remembered the same markings that’s on the boy's neck from when he traveled to Egypt twenty years ago. The puncture wounds, and torn neck appeared to be the same.

Constable Montgomery handed a shovel to Dr. Morehead, taking one for himself. The three men shoveled dirt into the grave. “What’s wrong, doctor? You’ve clammed up.”

“Nothing is wrong. Nothing at all,” Dr. Morehead replied. The frown on his face worried the others. Dr. Morehead remained silent. He did not want to say too much, or cause alarm.

“Well, if you ask me,” Constable Montgomery started. “We just might have a murderer loose!” His voice deep and convincing.

Jacquelyn could not believe her ears. Had she heard correctly? That there might be a murderer in Port Townsmont. From a distance, she continued to watch the three men shovel dirt into the grave and listen to their conversation.

 When a rat ran across the length of the gate where she sat, Jacquelyn covered her mouth so her fear would not give her being there away.

 “A murderer?” responded Dr. Morehead, quickly. “I don’t know how you’re going to prove that, Constable. Not with all the merchant ships in port. You would need to question the crew, delaying their departure in the morning.”

The possibility of Port Townsmont having a murderer had Constable Montgomery thinking. He took into consideration what Dr. Morehead said. How was he going to prove that a murder took place without any suspects? And if he questioned all the crew from the merchant ships, the captains would be unhappy not leaving out of port on time. 

Jacquelyn remained still, hanging on to every word they said. She knew that she had been away from the tavern too long and needed to return. But she wanted to finish listening to their conversation.

“What I think happened,” Frank said, out of the blue. “The boy got into a fight with one of the crew members, and got his throat cut. Then they threw his body overboard.”