The Fright Train

The Glow Part 15

Pieces of brittle bone and souvenirs such as birthday cards, a watch left from grandpa after returning from World War II. This was quite unexpected on this kind of investigation, but nonetheless probable. Rummaging through those precious trinkets of a life short-lived and with promise, scorched her fingerprints into ash. She bit her lower lip and stared at her burnt flesh there. There were letters. She could tell the handwriting of the addresses on each stack was different at least on the ones on top.

She should've worn gloves. The evil drenching them with its dark halo of seemingly innocent dust bunnies was a contaminant and a deterrent not letting anyone take away what took years to store and preserve. Laszlo started to think she might be marked now. Would she become one of them? Or was she already one of them? She swallowed hard the lump in her throat and closed the chest, locking it with the key. Her body didn't feel like her own.

She gave herself a pep talk, but positive vibes didn't seem to work at the moment. She was scared. She took the chest with her and put it in the trunk of her car. She wouldn't tell anyone what just happened. She searched through the glove compartment of her car and found some old leather gloves to wear on her hands.

Laszlo heard a voice calling her by her first name as if it knew her intimately. Maybe she had been delving into this case too deep and it was messing with her head.

"Hey, didn't you hear me calling you?" Hannah shouted rapping on the window with her knuckles.

She didn't know whether to be afraid or embarrassed that it was Kingsley calling her and not her losing her mind. Or was it?

She got out of the car.

"Help me with the other chests," Hannah said lugging one of the others along. "Are you ok?" she said as Laszlo helped her put the chest in her trunk.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be," she shrugged. "I might be a little tired that's all."

"What's wrong with your face?"

"What are you talking about Kingsley?" Laszlo said touching her face. She furrowed her brow realizing it felt a bit weird.

"It's probably my new foundation. I'll never use that brand again. It melts like butter," Laszlo said letting out a lilting laugh.

"Yeah, there's definitely something wrong with you?" Hannah raised a brow moving closer to her.

Laszlo fumbled backward from Hannah's intrusive stepping forward. "Let's get the other chests. Maybe if we both look in them again we'll find something I might've missed."

"Right, let's keep our heads in the case," Hannah said with a suspicious tone of voice. "Maybe when we get back to the station, you might want to consider taking some of those vacation days you have saved up?"

"I'll keep that in mind."