David Turner & the Skeleton Committee

Council of Skeletons

 The men had only sat down when a blue light outside the window caught their attention. They rose to see what it was, but it grew brighter, causing them to cover their eyes. It grew so bright that it filled the whole room. After a minute, the blue light faded away, and there was nothing but skeletons sitting down to the meeting.

* * * *

"David! David! Come quick!" The redhead glanced up from his newspaper at the blond waving at him. Sighing, he rolled up the newspaper and walked over to the boy.

"What is it, Terence?"

"The sheriff wants to speak to you right away! It's urgent!"

David blinked, "How urgent?"

"'The future of the town is at stake' kind of urgent! Or, well, at least, that's what he told me to tell you."

David nodded, "Alright, let's go." The boy dashed off, David walking briskly behind, his long strides keeping up with Terence's run quite easily. They reached police headquarters fairly quickly, and David was greeted with a somber sorrow that seemed to fill the room like a fog, with a drizzle of uncertainty. "Sheriff, what's going on?"

"Close the door please, David." David raised an eyebrow at the request, but did as he was asked. "You might want to take a seat." David's other eyebrow went up slightly, this didn't sound good, and sat next to the deputies.

"So, why the secrecy, Sheriff?"

Sheriff Anderson sighed, "Because the entire city council has disappeared, so to speak."

David's eyes widened, "What? So to speak?"

The sheriff gritted his teeth, "There were skeletons sitting in their places, but . . ."

"But you have reason to believe that those skeletons are not the city council."
The sheriff nodded, "Precisely, and that's where you come in. We want to keep this as quiet as we can, your friends may know about this, but no one else."

David nodded, "Understood. Do the families know about it?"

One of the deputies shook his head,"No, we've told them that they had to prolong the meeting and would call when they were done."
"Is the content of the meeting confidential?"

"Yes, it is, not even I know what the meeting was about, but I can tell you it is important, apparently so important that someone had to kidnap them from going any further with the meeting," replied the sheriff.

"Which means that maybe at least one other person knows the content of the meeting. If the kidnappers don't, then it's not about the content of that meeting, it would be something else."

"Of course, but we don't know yet, it only happened last night, whatever it was. It's, well, maybe it would be best to show you. The crime scene hasn't been touched yet as we only found it this morning. Why don't you meet us at the wharf at ten o'clock tonight? You can bring your friends with you, but make sure no one follows you and that no one else knows of this."

David nodded as he rose from his seat, "Sounds fine by me, I'll see you at the wharf at ten."

The sheriff shook his hand, "Thank you, David, if there's anyone who can get to the bottom of this without anyone knowing, it's you."

"I'll do what I can, but I can't guarantee anything."

The sheriff nodded, "I understand, the best is all I ask of you. See you tonight at ten."

"Right, see you." He tipped his hat to the sheriff and the deputies before leaving the office. He walked home deep in thought, what exactly had happened? And what was so important about this meeting in particular? Another thought came to mind. Had anyone been released from jail who held a grudge against any of the council members? All of them had been a juror at one time or another, one of the requirements of being on the city council. He figured that he had something to do now while he waited for ten to come around, that and he had to gather his friends.