Tess’s body lay across the beds of two graves. It looked like it had knocked over a vase with browning pale roses. I recognized her dyed hair immediately. She was still wearing the same outfit as in the coffee shop except for the apron. I kneeled and checked for a pulse, although I knew the angle of her head was unnatural. I tried shaking her, but she didn’t respond. She was dead.
I’d seen dead bodies before. I’d gone on behind-the-scenes tours of the National Museum of Natural History and seen their bones and mummies. Some remains had been unlike anything I’d seen before. There was a mummified person from Peru who was affixed in a permanent seated position. Another person had been turned nearly into soap after being in the water for an extended time. There was a hallway filled floor to ceiling with drawers containing one doctor’s collection of human bones.
I thought seeing all of that had meant I had a robust constitution. But finding Tess proved me horrifically wrong. I stumbled a few meters away and threw up behind a gravestone. I collected myself as much as I could manage. I found a cement bench to sit on and plopped myself there.
I tried calling Rory’s cell phone again, but he still didn’t answer. I texted and yelled out into the empty cemetery, but not surprisingly, no one responded.
As much as I hated doing so, I had two calls I needed to make. The first was to 911. The second was to Azalea.
Within a few minutes, a squad car pulled up, and two deputies climbed out. Their flashlights appeared and disappeared behind different gravestones. I stood up and waved my arms, calling out to them. The male deputy saw me. He shined a flashlight on me and suddenly came running.
“Azalea? What’s going on? Why are you here?”
“Wait, no,” I said, putting my hands up.
He ran up to me with his arms outstretched, apparently ready to embrace me, but when he came near, he froze in mid-step. “Who are you?”
“Juniper. Juniper Blume. Azalea’s sister.”
“Oh, wow, Azalea had mentioned a sister, but I didn’t expect you two to look so alike.”
“I’m two years younger, but yeah, we’ve been called twins more than once.”
“Torres?” The female deputy caught up to him. She shone a flashlight towards both of us.
Are you the one who made the call?”
I nodded. “Over there.” I gestured in the general direction of Tess. The woman wandered over and soon found her. I felt like I’d stumbled into a CSI-style television show. I watched her checking on Tess and calling it in. Somehow, my heart sank deeper.
Deputy Torres repeated a question to me. I turned and cried. In between sobs, I choked out a few answers. I kept apologizing. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“What were you doing here?” he asked for what I think was the third time.
I forced myself to stop crying and explained as best as I could. When I mentioned Rory, I swear I saw him stiffen, but it was hard to say for certain. “I don’t understand. You thought he would show you some really old book cover here? In the cemetery?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. He wanted to show me a diary. And a map. They were going to lead him to, well, a treasure, basically. If someone found the missing covers of the Book of Kells, why, that’d be priceless.”
“And why you? In the middle of the night?” He sounded as incredulous as I felt.
I dropped my head into my hands. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m a librarian with the Library of Congress. And his sister-in-law. Soon-to-be former sister-in-law. But he didn’t explain why he was going to show me any of this here. In a cemetery. At night.” The more I spoke, the more ridiculous I felt. What had I been thinking? The promise of the covers had been a siren song that silenced the more rational parts of my brain.
“Did he say anything about the woman?”
“Tess. Tess…. I don’t know her last name. Her aunt Harmony owns the Purple Oyster. She works, well, worked there,” I said. Deputy Torres took notes. I had a feeling I’d be retelling this a few more times. “But no, he didn’t mention anything about her. I’m sorry, I don’t know more.”
As I tried to explain, I saw more vehicles pull up. An ambulance and some police cars. Maybe from the county? That would make sense. I didn’t imagine that Rose Mallow would have the resources to handle a murder scene. It’s such a tiny town. I wasn’t sure if the deputies worked for the town or the county.
Then another car pulled up. A dark blue minivan. Oh, no. Azalea. I suddenly regretted calling her. She ran over to us, but the female deputy caught up with her first and held her back.
“That’s Azalea,” I said, my voice getting weak. Deputy Torres looked over at her. I swear he almost abandoned me to go over to her, but after an extended pause, he turned back and shook his head.
“Do you know where Rory is now?” he asked.
“No. I called and texted his phone and yelled out for him all over the cemetery. I was here for an hour. Nothing. I have no idea where he is.”
He asked a few more questions and then confirmed my contact information. “Thank you. Stay in town.” He walked away.
“Wait!” He turned back to me. “Do you think Rory is okay?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
My eyes grew wide. “Oh no. Do you think…. I mean, he couldn’t possibly?” I stopped myself before saying more.
“What?” Deputy Torres asked.
I whispered the words. “Dead. He’s not dead, right?”
“I have no idea, Miss.”
My phone buzzed again. I looked down at it. Azalea had texted me. She wanted to know what was happening. “I don’t know” was all I could think to write.
“Is Rory okay?”
I did not know. But I knew my sister. If she was hurting before, she must have been reeling now. Even quietly strong people can break. I needed to text something useful. “I’m sure he is. He wasn’t here. He’ll turn up soon.”
The texts.
“Deputy Torres! Deputy Torres!”
I jumped up and ran through the cemetery. Never a smart idea. Once again, I tripped, although this time over a broken headstone. My phone flew from my hand and smashed into a nearby stone before landing in a murky puddle. Fantastic.
Deputy Torres dashed towards me. “What? Are you okay?”
“A bit banged up, but I’m okay.” I stood up and tested my legs. Nothing sprained or broken, as far as I could tell. “I was going to send you the texts Rory had sent me.”
“What texts?”
“He sent me a picture of the map and a page from the diary. But…” I waved towards the puddle where my phone lay waiting. “Maybe it’s backed up.” I wasn’t sure if my texts backed up anywhere or not. All I could do was hope. And that there would be a cellphone service store somewhere around Rose Mallow. One thing I could say for D.C. was that there was every service or shop you ever needed—and many you didn’t—within a metro ride at the most. That wasn’t quite the same story down here in rural southern Maryland.
Eventually, I caught up to Azalea. However, before I could comfort her, another car pulled up. I thought it might be more police or a detective, but it was Harmony. How did she hear? I looked at Azalea.
“When you told me it was Tess, I called Harm. I had to.”
“Of course.”
Harmony flew out of her car and headed straight towards us. “Where is she? Where’s my niece?” She carried something in her hand. The female deputy yelled at her to stay back. Harmony froze. “I need to see her. To see my sweet little girl.”
When the deputy wouldn’t let her come closer, she instead joined our circle of sorrow. The item in her hand was a bundle of what smelled like sage, with several crystals wrapped around it. We welcomed her with open arms.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“It’s the curse,” she whispered.
“Curse?” I exchanged a glance with Azalea, but she shook her head, apparently also unaware of what Harmony meant.
“Our family has been cursed for generations. It took Tess’s mom—my sister. Also took our father. I smudge and smudge and smudge, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
Harmony ignored our questions. She walked around in a large circle, looking up at the sky and then down at the cemetery ground. I could hear her muttering something, but I couldn’t tell what she was saying.
“Azalea, child, I’m sorry. I know Rory’s your husband, but he’s behind this. I can just feel it.” With that, she broke off from us and walked away.
I looked at Azalea, who stood there, stunned. Then she crumpled to the ground and wailed. I covered her with my body and held her for as long as she needed.
Eventually, I convinced Azalea to let me drive her home in my car. Deputy Torres promised to drop off her minivan later that morning.