Moans, Mummies, and Murder (The Dead-End Drive-In Series Book 2)

by Carolyn Q. Hunter

  “Well, you were right to check it out, I’d say. I’m glad you did. I can more easily pinpoint a time of death.”

  “Sometime in the half hour between when he made the drop-off and when I found him,” Belle deduced, talking more to herself than to the Chief of Police.

  “Is he someone you know?” Anna asked.

  Dan shook his head. “Not me. I’ve never seen him around these parts before, but Cajun country is a big area. A lot of different delivery people and trucks come through at times. He could be from most anywhere. Thankfully, because it’s his truck, he has his ID. We can probably track down his family a lot easier that way if he has any.”

  “Well, we’re just glad you’re here. I just hope you can get this figured out.”

  “So, do I,” he said, glancing back at his partner—the only other police officer in Sunken Grove—who was carefully marking anything that may be used as evidence in the case. “Hey, Rod, do you think you have the tools to figure out what that bandage is?”

  The officer glanced into the back of the truck at the body. “I just may, but if not, we can always send it to the lab in New Orleans.”

  Sometimes, Belle was surprised that Rod wasn’t the Chief of Police himself. He was a whiz with forensic sciences, had studied the subject in college, and had a keen eye for the tiny details. If he lived somewhere like New Orleans or another larger city he could have easily been a lab technician or something of the sort.

  However, he was a Sunken Grove native and loved just being a normal small-town cop. He used his forensic smarts on the job whenever he could, having set up his own little lab in one of the old storage rooms at the station. Dan was thrilled to have Rod’s skills at the department’s disposal.

  Belle was frequently impressed by Rod. Of course, the fact that he had that boyish face and short blonde hair helped.

  “I better get to work, girls. I’ll be in later to grab an official statement from each of you, so don’t skip out of town,” he teased. He knew full well that neither of them would be leaving town anytime soon. After all, he took the girl’s out to dinner, along with Val, at least once a week.

  “We’ll try not to,” Belle laughed, eyeing Rod one more time before turning with Anna to walk back inside.

  The sound of Val in the kitchen, pots and pans clinking together, echoed through the dining room. The sarcophagus sat in the same spot in the middle of the floor. The sisters eyed the prop. Both were a little skeptical of its contents, especially now that someone was dead.

  “You don’t think that this murder has anything to do with that, do you?” Anna asked.

  “I hope not, but I’m not going to rule it out,” Belle admitted. She doubted more and more that it was part of some two-for-one prop deal. “Of course, we don’t know the guy at all, he could very well have just pissed someone off and gotten killed for it. Maybe he stole some money, or owed some money, you know?”

  “Maybe,” Anna agreed. She squinted uncomfortably.

  “But?”

  “But, I still feel uncomfortable having that thing here. What if it is part of this whole murder? What if the killer is looking for it?”

  Belle put up both hands defensively. “Hey, hey. I paid good money for that prop. I don’t particularly want Dan taking it down to the station and keeping it there when it’s supposed to be here advertising the movie premier for this weekend.” She knew that the mummy inside, if implicated as part of a crime, would be confiscated along with the sarcophagus.

  “Maybe that coffin is supposed to be here—”

  “Sarcophagus.”

  “Whatever, but the mummy inside isn’t supposed to be here, right?”

  “We don’t know that.” Belle pointed at her sister defiantly, still trying to convince herself that it really was just a mix up and the thing inside was a prop—not a dead body. Even though she had all the same doubts as Anna, she wasn’t ready to give it up. “I can prove it.”

  Anna folded her arms. “How?”

  “I’ll just call the company.”

  CHAPTER 5

  * * *

  Scrounging through her purse, Belle eventually found the business card with the number she needed on it. It seemed like there was some unwritten rule that said that the last thing you pull out of your purse is the one you’re looking for. For a moment, she wondered if there could be a humorous Olympic event for purse diving.

  Sarah-Belle Francis has found the business card in record time. She’s taking the gold home for sure, this year. She could hear the male announcer saying into the camera. Laughing quietly to herself, she didn’t notice Anna’s irritated stare.

  “Are you going to make the call or are you just going to sit there and giggle?”

  “Sorry.” She held up the card. It was cream colored and had the name Props Palace printed on the front in fancy gold lettering. “Here it is.”

  “Well, go on then, make the call.”

  “Fine, fine,” she groaned, slipping her phone out of her jeans pocket and punching in the number. As the line began to ring she turned on the speaker function so her sister could hear the entire conversation.

  After four rings, a woman finally answered. “Thank you for calling Props Palace. This is Sammy. How can I help you?”

  “Hi, Sammy. My name is Sarah-Belle Francis and I recently rented a life-size sarcophagus for my restaurant in Sunken Grove.”

  “Ah, yes. The replica from Blood from the Mummy’s Crypt.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Was there a problem with the item we shipped?”

  “Well, not exactly a problem I’d say.”

  Anna scowled slightly at Belle’s way of wording.

  “You see, is the sarcophagus supposed to have anything inside of it?”

  “Inside of it?” The woman asked. The hint of confusion was apparent in her voice, not a good sign.

  “That’s right.”

  “Did you order any other props to go with the sarcophagus?”

  “No, not at all. It was just the one thing.” The Egyptian-style coffin had cost a pretty penny all on its own. Belle couldn’t even have thought to rent something else as well, as much as she’d have loved to. The idea of using replicas from her favorite old horror movies made her giddy like a little girl again. She remembered when she’d stumbled upon the Props Palace website in the first place. It had been exactly like being a little kid in a candy store.

  “And you’re saying you received two props?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Let me just pull up your order and double check. Can I have your full name again?”

  “Sarah-Belle Francis.”

  “Okay, give me just a minute.”

  “No problem.”

  Belle glanced back up at Anna who was waiting impatiently with arms still folded. It was clear that she wanted the mummy out of the restaurant as soon as possible.

  The ambient sound of cars going back and forth echoed in the background.

  “Here it is,” Sammy chimed in.

  “And?”

  “The only thing we have listed for you is inventory item number six-six-four-two, which is the sarcophagus.”

  Belle slumped her shoulders disappointedly. She’d hoped that they’d just made a simple mistake and added it to her order.

  “What is the second item you received?”

  “There is a mummy inside the box.”

  There was an audible gasp, followed by a shuffling of papers. A low honk sounded in the background.

  “Is everything all right?”

  “Yes, I’m just attempting to look up the file on the item in question.” A few more shuffles of papers could be heard.

  “Are you driving? Did I call at a bad time?”

  “No, I’m at the main office and storage facility. We just happen to be located along a main street. That’s why you can hear cars honking.”

  Belle remained quiet and let the woman do her work, waiting for an answer about the mummy.

  �
�Ah, here it is. The mummy is a brand-new prop we added to our lineup.”

  Belle had a sense of relief come over her. So, it was just a prop mummy after all.

  “We had stored it temporarily in the sarcophagus until we could make a more permanent place for it. It looks like my delivery man must have forgotten to take the mummy out before delivering it to you.”

  “Pax Donaldson?”

  “He’s the one.”

  Anna and Belle looked at each other with uncomfortable stares. They both wondered if they should tell Sammy that her delivery man was dead.

  Belle made the decision not to say anything. It was Dan’s job to inform others of the death. “So, what would you like me to do? Just hold onto the mummy?”

  “Unfortunately, we need it for another customer today.”

  Belle frowned, unhappy to hear this news. For a moment, she thought she might get the mummy prop for free.

  “And it looks like all of my drivers are currently occupied with other deliveries.” Sammy sighed heavily. “I’ll have to come and pick it up myself. I’ll leave shortly and be there in Sunken Grove later this morning or early afternoon. Will you be available?”

  “I will.”

  “Great, I’m sorry about this mix-up but appreciate your cooperation in the matter.”

  “No problem,” Belle said, still feeling sad that she couldn’t keep the mummy.

  “Thanks. I’ll be at your location later. See you then.”

  “See you,” Belle offered, hitting the red button to end the call.

  “Well, there you go,” Anna said, motioning to the phone. “Now you know it was a mistake on their part. You weren’t supposed to get that mummy.”

  “Seems so,” she mumbled.

  “At least we know that it’s just a prop now and not some strange theft of an ancient and valuable museum piece or something.” Anna took a seat on one of the counter’s stools and let out a breath of relief.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure, yet,” came a male voice from the stairway.

  Both sisters turned to look at Harlem. “What do you mean?” Anna asked, her voice strained with frustration.

  “That mummy just might be stolen.”

  CHAPTER 6

  * * *

  Anna and Belle followed Harlem back upstairs to the projection booth, situated just outside of the apartment where the girls lived together. The projector was a large digital contraption that was hooked directly to the new age desktop computer which was calibrated to output the old black and white movies in a format that was high enough quality so that they didn’t appear pixelated on the big screen.

  Harlem had left a web page open to the New Orleans Sun News. The headline at the top of the page, in large bold letters, said: Mummy Theft Leaves Museum in a Bind.

  “No way,” Belle gasped, taking a seat at the computer.

  “I couldn’t believe it either, but something just kept nagging at me. Call it a gut feeling. I just knew there was something weird up with that mummy.”

  Anna thought it was odd that Harlem had “gut feelings,” especially since he didn’t have a normal body. Heck, he wasn’t even a normal ghost. He was a movie projection that happened to walk off the screen.

  She wondered what it was like to be a ghostly projection. What did a gut reaction really feel like for him?

  In any case, she had to agree. She too, continued to have a nagging sensation that there was more to this mummy than meets the eye. That was why she wanted it away from the restaurant, and herself, as soon as possible.

  If Pax Donaldson really was murdered over the mummy, who was to say the killer wouldn’t return?

  “I knew it. I knew something weird was up.”

  “Listen to this. Late last night the mummy of Egyptian Prince Ammoth disappeared from the New Orleans Museum of Ancient History and Science. The centerpiece of the museum, the mummy was over three thousand years old and has been a permanent resident in New Orleans for the past ten years.”

  Anna realized she was standing there with her mouth hanging wide open. “You mean that the thing downstairs is three thousand years old?”

  “We don’t know that our mummy is this Prince Ammoth guy,” Belle argued.

  “But it could be,” Anna groaned. She was beginning to feel jittery just thinking about it. The last thing she wanted was a three-thousand-year-old dead guy laying around the restaurant, especially if he was stolen property.

  Harlem leaned down over the computer. “Keep reading, Belle. It only gets more interesting.”

  “Right,” she agreed, turning back to face the screen. “According to Museum Curator Martin Freeman, the mummy was one of the most valuable items he had acquired in his entire career thanks to the fact that Prince Ammoth has a rare piece of jade stone embedded in his body. The jade, which is carved in the shape of a scarab beetle, is worth nearly five hundred thousand dollars on its own. According to the legend, as transcribed from hieroglyphs and scrolls in Freeman’s private collection, the scarab has the ability to bring the mummy back to life.”

  Belle’s eyes widened.

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” Anna moaned. Only a month earlier and she would have scoffed at the idea of a living mummy, but the presence of Harlem in the room with them was proof enough that strange things existed.

  “While police believe that the mummy was stolen, local believers in the subject of occult sciences are speculating that the Prince Ammoth has awoken from his slumber and now wandered off of his own accord.” Belle paused as she processed this information. “Walked off, huh?”

  “I still think it’s more likely that it was stolen,” Harlem added.

  “Yeah, and somehow ended up downstairs,” Anna said.

  “Additionally, Freeman stated that his translations unveiled a curse connected to the mummy. Any unworthy person who attempts to use the jade scarab is cursed to die at the hand of Prince Ammoth himself.”

  “That’s it. I’m calling Dan to come and pick up that stupid thing,” Anna insisted, pulling out her phone.

  “Hey, wait,” Belle interrupted, swiftly grabbed the phone from her sister.

  “What are you doing?” she snapped.

  “You can’t call Dan about this. Not yet.”

  “Yes, I can. Now, give me my phone back, Belle.”

  “Hold on, hold on,” Harlem intervened. “We can’t start jumping to conclusions.”

  “He’s right, Anna. The woman at the Prop Palace said that they have a new mummy replica cataloged in their inventory. If anything, it’s more likely to be that than an actual mummy.”

  “Unless someone switched out her mummy with the real one. That delivery guy, for example?” Anna suggested. She didn’t like taking chances. She would rather call Dan, have him at least look at the mummy, and be done with it. “That man seemed awfully eager to just drop off the package and get on his way. He could have stolen that real mummy and then dumped the fake one into the bayou or something. Maybe he realized he couldn’t get away with stealing a mummy and decided to just dump it on us.”

  “And then someone bumped him off? Someone who knew he had it?” Belle asked.

  “I know it seems far-fetched, but it’s possible, isn’t it?”

  “Possible? Yes. Probable?” Harlem asked.

  “We’re probably just overreacting,” Belle sighed.

  “I don’t like it. Not one bit.”

  “Actually, it’s more likely that this was a job done by an organized crime syndicate,” Harlem offered.

  Both women looked at the flickering transparent man.

  “Now that seems a little far-fetched,” Belle pointed out.

  “It’s not, look at the end of the article.”

  Turning back to the screen, Belle read out loud. “Freeman claims that the crime was committed by a Syndicate group seeking to sell rare antiquities on the black market. When asked to comment further on that statement, the curator noted that he’d received anonymous offers to buy the museum item in question on mu
ltiple occasions.”

  Slumping down into a chair next to her sister, Anna groaned loudly. “Great. We might be dealing with a mafia-style hit on our own doorstep.” She shivered as she thought about the hitman coming back to finish the job.

  CHAPTER 7

  * * *

  After leaving the projection booth, Belle got right back to work finishing the decorating. She was determined to have everything ready when they opened at four o'clock that same evening. Since this was her first movie premiere, with a brand-new film by an independent director, she wanted it to be perfect.

  While she worked, a fresh summer storm rolled in. The downpour outside was punctuated by the occasional rumble. The weather had mentioned scattered rain and thunder throughout the afternoon. Hopefully, it would be gone by the evening when they usually started their nightly showing. On tonight’s docket was an old Boris Karloff selection titled The Ghoul.

  Using a self-made pulley system with some ropes from the storage room, Belle managed to stand the mummy case on end beside the stage. Pulling off the lid, she slid it to the side slightly to reveal the mummy inside. Even though she knew Sammy was coming to get the mummy, she wanted to at least relish in the few short moments that she had it.

  She had to admit, it really added to the ambiance—real or not.

  Now, all that was left to do was switch the lights and turn on a little music.

  Turning off the work lights—which were fluorescent bulbs in the upper rafters of the ceiling—she brought up the ambient dining lights. The dining lights were hanging fixtures that gave the room a low glow. It was just enough light for patrons to eat but still watch the movie projected on the small stage. Most patrons, however, got dinner around four or five and then went out and parked their car in the drive-in lot to watch the scary movie on the big screen.

  Other patrons didn’t even bother with the dinner part of dinner and a movie, particularly the teenagers. They just showed up for the drive-in movie, ordering some small theater-style candy or another snack. The concession window served all sorts of things including classic French fries, nachos, and—of course—popcorn.