Mortictian Murders 03: Bald-Headed Lies by Greta Boris

Author:Greta Boris [Boris, Greta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cryptik Press
Published: 2022-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

24

Strawberry Syrup

Rays from the setting sun flowed into the ocean like strawberry syrup. I took El’s hand, and we ran from a breaking wave. We laughed. We kissed. The scene was like an ad for an erectile dysfunction drug. It should have been romantic. Why wasn’t it? Anxiety about meeting Alphonso’s friend and the sense that Baldy was watching my every move, maybe?

“I wish I could go with you,” El said for about the tenth time.

“I wish you could, too.” My steady response.

Since El had to work and I was meeting Alphonso at Simon Clement’s house in Laguna Canyon, we decided to have an early dinner in downtown Laguna. We grabbed a burger at one of our favorite chef-run places and were now walking it off on the beach.

“I learned a couple of things about Friar Domingo this afternoon between classes,” El said. “Maybe Simon what’s-his-name will have heard of him. He sounds like an arch-villain type.”

I took his hand and swung it as we walked. Maybe acting playful would help me feel the part. “What did you learn?”

“Father Serra kicked him out of the San Juan Capistrano Mission, which we knew. But several years later, the Catholic Church defrocked him for apostasy and blasphemy.”

“Sounds serious,” I said.

“I couldn’t find any accounts of what he actually did to deserve the labels, but I learned that shortly after he left the Mission, a building project he’d been a part of was demolished.”

“You think it was the crypt?”

“Could be,” El said. “There wasn’t a lot in the historical records about it, but I got the feeling that whatever it was, it really upset the padres.”

“How so?”

He kicked at a lump of seaweed before answering. “There was too little information, almost as if they were trying to blot it out, pretend it never existed.”

“Well, a pentagram-shaped crypt complete with skull and crossbones offerings would upset a good Catholic,” I said.

We walked on in silence as the sun disappeared into the Pacific and the sky became gray and colorless. A wind off the ocean whipped up, and I shivered. The beach no longer seemed welcoming.

“I’d better turn around,” El said. “Don’t want to be late for work.” We headed back to Main Beach at a quicker clip. “Do you know what you’re going to say to Alphonso’s friend?”

“I figured I’d tell him about the shape of the crypt and the skull mounds.” I said between pants. I was going to be in great shape with all this walking I’d been doing lately. Gran wanted me to exercise. She’d gotten her wish.

“I wouldn’t mention our theory about the new bones belonging to the missing corpses, not until the ME’s office confirms it.”

I thought about that for a minute. “I already told Alphonso, and he’s probably told Simon. If he hasn’t, I’m not sure how I’d stop him once the topic is raised.”

“FBI won’t be happy about that.”

“I had to tell Alphonso something or I wouldn’t be meeting with Simon at all. My job was to learn more about what the people in the industry know.

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