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

by Carolyn Q. Hunter

  However, Belle liked having themed foods for people to order while watching a movie. During normal weeks, she served snacks and dishes that were voodoo themed. Cookies and pretzels in the shape of voodoo dolls were very popular, as was the “shrunken head on a stick.” It was made of a dark chocolate covered marshmallow ball which was decorated with white chocolate to look like it had its eyes and mouth sewn shut.

  This week, she and Val were working to come up with some cool mummy themed foods to serve. Val was in the kitchen testing ideas most of the morning. She was planning on joining her in a few minutes, but first, she wanted the music.

  Walking behind the bar, where Anna had been sitting dejectedly for the past hour, Belle leaned under and found the cabinet that hid away the blu-ray player and sound system for the interior restaurant. Pulling out the CD in question, she slid it into the slot and pressed play. Instantly, the room was filled with ancient Egyptian sounding music.

  It completed the vibe perfectly.

  Before heading into the kitchen, she noticed that Anna was sitting staring at her phone. Most likely, she was debating whether to call Dan still. Belle wanted to take the phone away in case she gave in and made that call, but knew that it wouldn’t solve anything. It would make things worse.

  She wanted to respect her sister as much as possible, even when she didn’t agree.

  Shaking her head, Belle walked into the kitchen. “How’s it coming?” she asked Val, grabbing her skull patterned apron off the hook and sliding it over her head.

  “I think I have a few winners we can introduce tonight,” Val replied, shifting a metal pan over into Belle’s view.

  On the baking sheet were a bunch of little sausages, andouille to be exact, and each of them was encased in a wrapping of filo dough. Cut into tiny strips and layered over the meat, the dough had crisped up in the oven, making the sausages look like adorable tiny mummies. Tiny pepper seeds were added to make it look as if they had eyes.

  “These look great,” Belle praised.

  “Thank you, dear,” Val beamed.

  Belle grabbed one off the pan and took a bite. The spiciness of the sausage was a perfect complement to the crispy dough wrappings. A little of Belle’s famous homemade hot sauce or BBQ sauce would perfect the dish.

  “These are just a test batch, obviously, but I think they’ll be a great addition for this week’s events.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. What else is going on?”

  “I have these,” she indicated, walking over to a long parchment sheet next to the deep fryer.

  Along the sheet were a bunch of freshly cooked donuts. They had all been powdered while they were still hot. On top of the white powder, a ribbon of frosting had been laid out like bandages and two red dollops for eyes.

  Belle rubbed her hands together eagerly, picking one up and taking a bite. The powder fluffed slightly into the air. The donut was still warm inside and had a red raspberry filling in the middle. “Mmm, perfect,” she exclaimed. “These will be a huge hit among the teenagers.”

  “And probably the adults as well,” Val pointed out with a smile.

  “You’ve really outdone yourself. Thanks for taking care of all this while I was dealing with Dan.”

  “Oh, you haven’t seen the best part.”

  “I haven’t?”

  Val moved toward the oven warmer and pulled out a tray. “For something a little fancier, I give you the brie mummy.” She lifted a cloth off the plate, revealing the decedent cheese dish underneath. The small wheel of brie was coated in the strips of puff pastry making up the bandages. Two mini pepperonis were topped with olives to give it eyes. An arrangement of freshly cooked tan crackers lay all around it on the plate, making it look as if it were against a sandy landscape.

  Belle whistled her approval.

  “Warm and gooey on the inside with a deliciously crispy puff pastry exterior.”

  Picking up one of the warm crackers, she dipped into the dish and took a hearty bite. It was easily the best of the three dishes. “It’s phenomenal. It’ll make a perfect appetizer.”

  “I’m glad you approve,” Val beamed.

  As Belle took another cracker full of cheese, she heard the faint sound of her sister talking in the other room. A surge of irritation ran through her body as she realized that Anna had given in and called Dan.

  CHAPTER 8

  * * *

  Anna just couldn’t take it anymore and hit the call button on the face of the phone. She’d spent the better part of the last hour or so just staring at her phone, opening Dan’s number and closing it again. Sometimes, she would just sit there and stare at his number with her thumb floating above the call button.

  She only hesitated because of Belle. Her younger sister was often eager and passionate, but not always logical or wise. For Belle, having the mummy as part of the display was cool, a real accent to an already neat decoration scheme.

  This movie premier meant an awful lot to her, that was for sure.

  If Anna pressed that green button and made the call, informing the police that the mummy might be connected to not only the murder but also a high stakes theft, Belle would be furious. More than that, she would be hurt and disappointed.

  Anna wanted to respect her sister and to keep a good relationship between them (after all, she’d only been back in Sunken Grove for a short time) but sometimes enough was enough. She refused to be party to a potential organized hit job and black-market theft if she could help it.

  No matter what her sister said about not jumping to unnecessary conclusions, Anna couldn’t wait another second.

  Now the line was ringing and there was no turning back.

  “Dan here,” the police chief muttered.

  “Dan? It’s Anna.”

  “Anna, how is it going back there at the drive-in? No new dead bodies, I hope,” he joked, laughing quietly to himself, his nose whistling slightly.

  “Well, you might not be far off,” she admitted, glancing over at the sarcophagus that sat slightly open, the smallest amount of light illuminating the creepy looking creature inside.

  Dan went silent. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”

  “Well, there isn’t a new murder victim, if that’s what you mean, but we might have a body. Did you read the news about the mummy being stolen from the New Orleans Museum last night?”

  “I know about it, yes.”

  “Someone stole a three-thousand-year-old mummy.”

  “What does that have to do with the current murder investigation?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but I believe we might have that mummy here at the restaurant.”

  “What?” Dan blurted.

  “The movie prop that was delivered this morning for Belle’s decorations, the stone coffin thing, had a mummy inside. I think it might be the stolen mummy.”

  There was a pause on the line. “Are you sure?”

  “Well, no, but I’m suspicious.” A low scraping sound echoed across the room and Anna glanced up. What was that noise? She wasn’t sure but assumed it had just been another echo from the kitchen where Val and Belle were experimenting with new recipes.

  “You seriously think that prop is actually a stolen museum exhibit?”

  “I do.” The scraping noise echoed through the room again, and this time she realized it wasn’t coming from the kitchen at all.

  “Well, when I get a chance I’ll come down and have a look at it, just in case it is related.”

  Anna didn’t respond. She was too busy looking at the sarcophagus. The crack of light had expanded by at least two inches since the last time she looked, revealing more of the mummy than before.

  There was no way, Anna told herself. The mummy couldn’t have moved the lid. She just couldn’t remember how large the gap in the lid was, right?

  “Anna? Are you still there?” Dan asked.

  But Anna wasn’t listening anymore. Every bit of her attention was on the stone coffin and the mummy inside. The sound of the storm out
side became more accented by the nervous silence.

  Her heart pounded with each passing moment.

  Just when she was about to let out a long breath, to relieve the tension in her chest, she saw a twitch. Decayed and bandaged fingers emerged along the side of the lid, wiggling as if they each had a life all their own.

  Slowly, painfully, the lid scraped as it was pushed back, revealing the dirt and blackened figure inside. Over three thousand years dead, and this thing, this mummy, was emerging from the sarcophagus as if it had just woken up from a long nap.

  Gripping the sides of the stone coffin, it pushed itself forward, the sound of its old rotting bones cracking and scraping as it moved.

  “No, no way. This isn’t happening,” she whispered.

  “Are you okay, Anna?”

  It moved one leg and then the other, shuffling forward into the room.

  The fear rising in Anna’s chest came to fruition, escaping her throat in a long, loud scream. Unable to believe what she was seeing, Anna felt woozy and darkness closed in on her vision.

  “Anna? Anna!” Dan shouted through the phone line.

  CHAPTER 9

  * * *

  Belle had already been keeping an attentive ear, trying to catch snippets of Anna’s phone conversation, when the scream echoed through the building.

  “Good lord, what was that?” Val gasped.

  “It was Anna,” Belle exclaimed. Dashing through the kitchen door, she quickly spotted Anna passed out on the floor near the bar.

  “What happened?” Val asked as Belle rushed to her sister’s side.

  “Anna? Anna, wake up,” she urged, fanning her face with one hand.

  Blinking with sudden consciousness, she sat bolt upright. “The mummy,” she shouted.

  Belle and Val looked at each other. “The mummy?”

  Anna jerked her head around to look at the sarcophagus. Belle followed her sister’s line of sight and instantly saw that the lid was all the way open and the interior completely empty. “The mummy? Where is it?”

  “I-It went for a little walk,” Anna sighed. “I was right. It is the stolen mummy.”

  “What do you mean?” Val pressed.

  “It got up and walked—shuffled right out the front door into the storm.”

  “Oh, dear. She’s delusional. She must have bonked her head on the way down.” Val went to the bar and grabbed a bottle of booze off the glass shelf. “You need something to drink.”

  “I’m not delusional,” she snapped, gripping the stool to pull herself up. Belle stood by and helped. “I saw it. It pushed the lid aside and walked out of the room.”

  Val pulled out a glass and poured the amber liquid into it. “Here you go, sweetie.”

  Despite her arguments for not being delusional, Anna took it anyway, eagerly drinking it down.

  “Are you sure that someone didn’t come in and steal the mummy? That could be pretty frightening,” Val offered a logical solution.

  Belle, however, believed her sister. Both women knew that strange things could potentially happen. While a mummy getting up and walking was unlikely, neither of them were willing to rule it out.

  “I know what I saw, Val.”

  Before Val could offer another counter argument or explanation, the front door to the restaurant swung open and an older woman with dark hair, a single white stripe running through the locks, walked in.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something? The door was unlocked and I assumed you were open.”

  “We’ve just had a small scare, that’s all,” Val spoke first.

  “What can we do for you?” Belle asked, keeping one hand on her sister’s shoulder just to make sure she was okay.

  “My name is Samantha Bartleby, the owner of Prop Palace. I talked on the phone with one of you a few hours ago, I believe,” she informed them while she played with the gold chain of a necklace that disappeared inside of her t-shirt.

  “Oh, that would be me,” Belle said, holding up a hand. “I’m Sarah-Belle Francis, but everyone calls me Belle.”

  “And I’m Sammy to most folks.” She held a hand to her chest while she introduced her nickname which Belle remembered from the phone conversation. “If you can show me where the mummy is, I’ll just grab him and be on my way.”

  Belle and Anna looked at each other nervously, neither quite sure what to say next.

  “This is a little embarrassing, but the mummy is no longer here,” Belle admitted.

  The pleasant look on her face instantly began to melt into a somewhat confused grimace. “Excuse me? What do you mean by that?”

  “The mummy isn’t here in the building anymore,” Anna chimed in.

  Sammy scanned the room, at all the decorations, her eyes landing on the sarcophagus. “But the other item is right there.”

  “Just a few moments ago, someone ran in here and stole it. I was the only one in the room at the time and I was so shocked that I passed out,” Anna informed the woman, going along with the story that Val had created. She honestly couldn’t tell the woman the mummy she was looking for had gotten up and walked off.

  The confusion in the grimace completely vanished, leaving only irritation and anger behind. “You honestly expect me to believe that?” she barked.

  “That’s what happened,” Anna confirmed.

  “How dare you. How dare you tell me such a wild lie. You have that mummy hidden away somewhere in this building.”

  “No, ma’am, I can assure you that we don’t,” Belle said.

  “Likely story. That mummy replica is worth a small fortune and I intend to either have the prop or I’ll take the money directly from you.”

  “Are you sure it was a replica?” Anna accused the woman.

  Belle felt a jolt of anxiety in her chest. She wasn’t sure accusing an already agitated woman was going to be helpful

  “Of course, it is. You don’t honestly think I’d keep a real mummy around?”

  “I couldn’t be sure,” Anna said.

  “Okay, okay, let’s all just calm down,” Belle cut in.

  “I won’t stand for this. I’ll sue. I’ll press charges.”

  “Who’s pressing charges?” came a male voice from the doorway.

  Glancing over, the room full of women noticed that Dan and Rod—both dressed in their uniforms—had come in while they were arguing.

  “Thank goodness you’re here. You couldn’t have better timing. Arrest these women,” Sammy insisted.

  “Anna, are you okay?” Dan walked straight across the room without even acknowledging the agitated stranger. He grasped Anna’s hands.

  “I’m okay, Dan. Thanks for rushing over.”

  Sammy’s jaw fell open so wide that it almost hit the floor. “Excuse me? What is this? Did you not hear what I said?”

  “It sounded like you’d seen a ghost,” Dan continued talking without even giving two cents worth of a look at the angry woman.

  “Not far off. Someone came in and stole the mummy while we were talking.”

  “She’s lying,” Sammy barked.

  Finally, Dan turned to look at her. “Excuse me?”

  “These women have stolen a valuable prop of mine and hidden it. I insist you search this place from top to bottom until you find it.”

  “And you are?” Dan pressed.

  “Samantha Bartleby, owner and manager of Props Palace.”

  “Ma’am, I can’t search anywhere without first obtaining a warrant from Judge Carter.”

  Sammy’s nose crinkled up so far that Belle wondered if it just might get stuck that way. “I drove for over two hours to get here from New Orleans to pick up my mummy. Now, these women have hidden it and are claiming it was stolen.”

  “It probably was stolen,” Dan retorted.

  “What do you mean?!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, vibrating the room with her anger.

  “I’ve known both of these girls their entire lives. I’ve never known either one of them to be a liar, let alone a thi
ef.”

  “I see how it is. You’re on their side.”

  “I’m on no one’s side, ma’am, but I am speaking from experience.”

  The woman’s eyes flared with anger. “That mummy is worth a lot of money. It’s one of my most valuable pieces, and I expect you to find it since it disappeared in your town.”

  “Ma’am, even if the mummy was here, I’m afraid you wouldn’t be able to take it,” Rod chimed in

  “Why not? I have a paying client who is expecting that for a party this evening.”

  “This morning your delivery man was murdered, strangled to death.”

  Sammy went uncomfortably pale. “What did you say?”

  “Pax Donaldson was strangled with an old piece of cloth. I examined that cloth and found that the dust and dirt particles on it don’t match those of this region. Additionally, I can’t be sure without proper equipment, but I’d say that bandage was at least a thousand years old.”

  “Three thousand,” Anna whispered.

  “The point is, that cloth may have been taken from your mummy.”

  “That’s ridiculous. That mummy was just a prop.”

  “Unfortunately, ma’am, at this point it is considered evidence, at least until I can verify whether the strip of cloth came from it or not. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to inform your client that they will have to do without the prop tonight.”

  There was a quiet moment while Sammy seethed angrily, drilling holes in Rod. “Fine. If that’s how it is, I’ll see all of you in court.” Marching past Rod, she left through the door.

  “There goes one unhappy woman,” Dan said.

  CHAPTER 10

  * * *

  “Did you see who it was that took the mummy?” Dan asked Anna as all five of them sat around a table in the kitchen eating all the tasty experiments that Val had cooked up that morning.