Slave Graves (River Sunday Romance Mysteries Book 1) Read Online Free

rocks and the great yacht. “Later I’ll take you out to my boat for a drink.”
    “Sounds nice,” said Frank.
    “I had my captain anchor her near the monument.”
    “That’s what you call the pile of stones?”
    “It’s a memorial to June 7, 1864.”
    “What happened then?”
    “The Maryland State Convention voted to free the local slaves.”
    “Something else I guess you all learned when you were kids,” Frank joked. “Who built it?”
    “My family,” said Jake. Frank realized how serious Jake had become by the tone of his words.
    “I’m afraid I’ve never heard about it before,” said Frank.
    Jake’s face showed a slight disappointment. “I’m surprised. It’s famous. The slave memorial. Brings a lot of tourists to River Sunday.”
    “Nature, slaves, war, and religion. A real southern story,” Frank could not help grinning. Jake did not hear. He continued looking at the monument with pride. Then, as though suddenly awoken from a dream, Jake turned his head to stare ahead of the car.
    “Spyder,” he said, “Let’s move it. I want to get the doctor started.”
     

Chapter 2
     
     
    Water mirages and waves of heat danced on the blacktop as they drove towards the site. Then the road narrowed leaving less room for an oncoming car to pass. Adding to the danger were treacherous roadside ditches with edges steep enough to turn an entrapped car or tractor on its side. Frank saw water in the ditches, the water half hidden with high grass, but deep and dark.
    Frank observed Spyder from where he sat in the back seat. The older man was across from him at an angle. His continuous grin bothered Frank, bringing back memories of constantly smiling Vietnamese during the war, men who appeared friendly yet who turned out in many cases to be his enemy. Spyder was subservient to Jake and acted like a perfect butler, yet his clothes were fashionable, tailored with the same cut as Jake’s expensive suit. There was also the repetition of Jake’s promise during the speech, that the bridge would be built on time, a comment that Jake had seemed to direct to Spyder.
    “One call and I can get some of your company men down here,” Spyder reminded Jake. Frank surmised that they feared potential trouble from the white haired bird woman, that she was still in their thoughts.
    “No,” Jake answered Spyder. “Not yet anyway. We won’t get along with local people if we bring in outsiders. Besides, we don’t want to do anything that might draw more attention to her butterflies. Bringing in our people might just get her more support.”
    “What are ‘company men?’” asked Frank.
    “Sometimes we need special guards for our construction equipment,” explained Jake. “Company men are the security forces that we bring to sites.” After that, neither Spyder nor Jake said any more about the woman he had called Birdey.
    Spyder began to slow the car. He started to turn left at a small white gate nestled in a huge honeysuckle hedge. Jake raised his hand. “No, go straight. We’ll give our expert a little tour over the bridge before we go to the site.”
    Spyder drove ahead and within a few moments they were close to the river and the bridge. “Here we are at the Nanticoke River, Frank,” said Jake, excitement in his voice, shifting slightly forward to see better out of the front window. Frank looked ahead also and saw with a little nervousness that the old bridge was constructed as a single lane, only wide enough for one car, built obviously for the old days of horses and carriages. He had a sudden vision of an overloaded farm truck coming fast from the opposite direction, tomato boxes toppling from its sides, and of Spyder driving the three of them into the truck without a change in his grin.
    The car halted as the light turned red.
    “You can see why this bridge has to be replaced,” said Jake.
    “People around here are probably afraid they’re going to get killed on it,” said Frank.
    Jake wasn’t amused.