This is a snippet from…

 

The Coffin Chronicles, Book 1 :: HOLE Cards

Chapter 2

 

 

 

When Ardis returned with the vacuum, Dash was leaning out through the bedroom window, plucking a bloom from an azalea bush. 

 

Ardis sat the machine at the foot of the bed and joined her. “So, wishing you’d never come back?”

 

“I’m conflicted.” Dash drew back and smiled. “Did you talk the cards into bringing me home?”

 

“Of course, I did. Your butt hadn’t been home in forever. Even that good looking detective couldn’t drag you back to August Grove.”

 

Dash frowned. “You mean Frank Gamble?”

 

Ardis laughed. “Who else. My, my. If not for Randy…”

 

“Stop it.” Dash laughed. “Though I have to admit, Mr. Frank Oscar Gamble III is quite the eyeful. And persuasive. He got me on the phone with you, right?”

 

“But not persuasive enough to get your body back here.”

 

“I told you. There were things happening right then. Bad things. In fact, I was glad Frank showed up. He was a major help. Even after all that happened, I still needed to disappear for a minute. There was no way I could come back to August Grove.”

 

“But you didn’t even come home when Fletcher was born. Fletcher…” Ardis shuddered. “As much as I love Randy, I hate that name. It’s tradition, but did he have to name my son after his father? What’s wrong with my father’s name?”

 

“What’s wrong with that, nutty girl, is we don’t know who your old man is. Or did you forget that?” Laughter burbled up so easily, it gave Dash pause. Why was it Ardis made her so comfortable? It was always so easy to laugh, to relax, and to just be herself when she was with her. Ardis was more like a sister than a cousin.

 

“Hey, just because you think you know who your daddy is, don’t go throwing shade in my direction.” Ardis mock pouted. “We could have named the baby after Tyson, even if he isn’t my biological.”

 

“No way,” Dash said. “Old man Fletcher actually loves his grandson; and giving the baby his name keeps you on the right side of your in-laws.”

 

“I guess.” Ardis squeezed into the window beside Dash. “One of us got fat.”

 

“I heard babies can do that to you.” Dash laughed and nudged Ardis further over the window’s sill. “It’s been ten years, and nothing has changed.”

 

Keeping her gaze forward, Ardis smiled. “That’s not exactly true. Your godson is two years old—”

 

“And where is my godson?” Dash tried to put on a frown. “How dare you show up without him.”

 

“Your godson is at daycare learning how to be a mover and shaker in this town. Like his folks. His father was promoted to Police Sergeant First Class six months ago, and your cousin is now the proud owner of Ellison’s Fine Portraits.”

 

“Ouch!” Dash bumped her head on the sash while pulling herself out of the window. Pink blooms fluttered to the floor as she grabbed Ardis by the waist and yanked her back into the room. “You’re kidding. Mr. Ellison kept his word? He left the shop to you?”

 

“Don’t be so happy he’s dead.” Ardis pushed Dash onto the bed. Again, a swarm of dust motes took to the air. “I loved Mr. Ell. After you left, he was the only person I could trust. Until Randy.”

 

Dash swallowed hard, moved by the sincere pain in her cousin’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were so close. When you told me that little white man promised you the store if you worked for him two years without pay, I thought you’d lost your mind.”

 

“I remember. You chewed on me about that every time you called.” Ardis sat down on the bed beside Dash amid the shower of dust. “I ended up working without salary for closer to three years, right up to the time I started dating Randy.”

 

Dash sneezed while trying to say, “You and a cop’s kid. Wow.”

 

“Me and a cop, you mean. Sergeant Randall Canaday.”

 

She said it with such pride, Dash had a moment of jealousy. Ardis and Randy married three years ago, and he did everything, as far as Dash could see, to make Ardis happy. New house, new son. And now she was a new proprietor. Ardis had it all, and in Dash’s opinion, it was much deserved. There wasn’t a better person in the world.

 

“I’m glad you’re home. I’m less scared already.” Ardis leaned forward, as if staring at something far away. “You may be the only person who can figure this out.”

 

Dash sat up. “Figure what out?”

 

Tiny gray clumps settled onto Ardis’s braided bun as she twisted around on the bed. Her eyes were red, but Dash wasn’t certain it was from the dust. Beneath her cousin’s smile was a tremble, the same tremble Dash now felt in her pocket. She pulled the deck from her jeans without removing her gaze from Ardis. “What’s happening here?”

 

She asked the question of whoever or whatever had an answer. Dash felt the deck quiver, and she let it fan out over both palms, face down, watching as one jogged out of line. Ardis reached over and plucked the card from the deck and held it up facing Dash.

 

“The death card,” Dash whispered. “A dark past…”

 

Ardis didn’t seem surprised by the Ace of Spades, but her voice quavered. “Someone is taking our children. Dash, I’m so worried for them. It’s been weeks… I’m scared someone has…”

 

Chilling whispers from the cards echoed in Dash’s mind. The children are gone. Find them. The children are gone. Find them…

Dash experienced a knee-weakening wave of nausea as darkness crept in from the corners of her eyes. In her hands, the cards glowed, but the fanned deck faltered, almost falling to the floor. Ardis’s sobbing seemed far away, but that sound helped Dash claw back her control from the fear trying to consume it. Her trembling fingers stilled.

 

But the moment wasn’t over. Ardis’s voice cracked with an ice Dash had never heard. “Someone is taking our children and the police, not even Randy, know what to do about it. They’re small and helpless and… I’m having nightmares. If we don’t find them soon…”

Dash shivered.

 

Another card wriggled its way out of the deck and fell to the floor. The Jack of Hearts lay amidst the dust, golden edges gleaming, its indices glowing a molten red. On the card, its two larger hearts animated. One began growing and then shrinking, as if beating. The other heart shrank and shriveled; blood seeping from it out onto the floor.

 

“The present…” Dash whispered as the air in the room thinned. “A loved one, young, and male.”

 

Ardis gasped. The Ace of Spades tipped, as if in slow motion, sliding from her fingers… falling…

 

The ace landed, face up, atop the Jack of Hearts. A sudden pain throbbed in Dash’s chest, as if an unseen terror was drilling a hole into her heart. Her words came without thought and rasped out. “A darkness, a menace from the past, overtakes the present.” “Dash, does that mean… will there be more children taken? More babies?” Ardis stared down at the Jack of Hearts, her eyes growing larger. “Oh, God.”  She reached out and grabbed Dash by the shoulder. “It’s Fletcher, isn’t it? My son. Dash, Fletcher is the next child to be taken!”