Disembodied Bones Read Online Free

to the police department and she wouldn’t be the
last. Some of the phone calls were worse. Idiots who used pay
phones to suggest that the little boy was already dead and buried,
his decomposing corpse far away in the bayous, his flesh being
eaten by catfish in the Red River, his little fingers a meal for
voracious animals on some twisted man’s farm. He stood in front of
the small girl and said, “I’m Roosevelt Hemstreet, ma’am. I’m a
detective here. How can I help you?”
    The little girl looked up. Her eyes were the
most peculiar color that Roosevelt had ever seen and for a moment
it gave him pause. She gnawed on her lower lip before she said, “I
know where Douglas is. I can take you to him.”
    •
    The policeman was very, very large. It was
the first thought in Leonie’s mind. She sat on the battered bench
that had dozens of names and crude phrases carved on it and looked
up, up, up. Dressed in a blue suit, he had skin the color of syrup,
and warm brown eyes. But she could tell right off he was tired and
not in a receptive mood.
    The police department was the place that was
so reviled by the family. It was one of the places that family
members regularly shunned as though the black plague was actively
rampant there. The police were outsiders. They didn’t possess the
gift. They wouldn’t trust those who did. No one from the outside
world really understood. Only a precious few outsiders could ever
be trusted, so the rule was to trust none of them and never bring
unwanted publicity upon the family because strangers could come and
take one away just like Great-Aunt Lisette.
    Leonie frowned up at the large man wearing
the dark blue suit. He frowned back down. Finally his features
coalesced into dispassionate neutrality. His name is Roosevelt
Hemstreet , she thought. Perhaps he was named after a president.
But she wasn’t here about that.
    “How would you happen to know that, ma’am?”
the big black man asked her politely.
    Leonie’s already twisted features turned more
downward. Her plan had flaws. Here was one. She had to convince
this man that she had legitimate knowledge of Douglas Trent’s
whereabouts, and for Douglas’s benefit, she had to do so quickly.
He’s afraid. She chewed on that lower lip again . He’s so afraid
of that man and the stupid words that he keeps repeating. What am
I? The fear made her shiver involuntarily. “I saw him. I saw
him today. While I was looking for my papa.”
    She crossed her fingers behind her back and
nervously looked away from Roosevelt. Somehow Leonie sensed that
the detective knew she was lying and was trying to decide what to
do with her, if anything at all.
    “Where did you see him?” Roosevelt asked
gently.
    “It’s a big, big house just outside of town,”
she said quickly, looking back up at the detective. “Red brick,
lots of trees and bushes, and big glass windows all over. I saw him
at the window. Very clear.” Leonie took the folded newspaper out of
her pocket she spread it out and presented the front page to
Roosevelt. “This boy. Douglas Trent.”
    “Why were you looking for your papa?”
Roosevelt’s brown eyes had turned inquisitive. He was mulling over
the story in his head.
    “He forgot his lunch.” Leonie mentally
crossed another set of fingers. So many lies today. Surely God
understands? “He works construction sites. I didn’t know which
one, non.”
    “And you drove yourself?”
    “Oh, non . I’m only thirteen. One of
the family drove me. His name is Louis Padeaon.” Leonie was
reasonably happy to tell an honest fact for once. “I think he’s a
cousin three or four times removed. His great- grandmaman was
married to my great-great uncle.”
    It dawned on Roosevelt that he was talking to
a little girl who was a member of the elusive Lake People. He’d
heard other officers talking about them. They lived out at the
distant Twilight Lake in St. Germaine’s Parish for the most part
and spoke like Cajuns, although they