On a hot summer night Lucy nursed a dying whiskey and soda in a broken down

bar on the border of the French Quarter.   In the back a band played complete with
horns and wrinkled singer warbling cigarette stained lyrics.  Lucy drew her last
cigarette, lit and pulled from it, exhaling from the corner of her lips.  Her hands
had almost stopped shaking.  Behind her the dirty wooden bar was populated with
a mixture of sullen sordid regulars and bright shiny tourists, all loud and vacuous
in their usual way.  The band stopped and Lucy clutched at her purse, aware of her
surroundings for the first time in a few hours.   In that moment of conversational
lull Lucy heard a dry click clatter of bones falling against each other. Her body
tightened and she forced herself to turn slowly toward the source of the sound.   A
scrawny man sat at the bar facing away from Lucy.  He was dressed completely in
black save for an ivory necklace that rattled with each movement he made.  As
Lucy watched he turned toward her, saw her looking, smiled and made his way
over. She watched him as he took a seat next to her.

“Hi Chere, at last we meet. My Madam sends her regards.” He said moving his
hands with the cadence of his voice. His hands never stopped moving.

Lucy looked at him and willed her voice to be steady.

“Where is John?” she asked

The boney man smiled widened.

“ahh right to the point. I like that. It is a shame that you two did not come to us
sooner. Things would have been less…”he sighed, spiraled his left hand up
toward the ceiling and watched his hand before moving his eyes back to meet hers.

“… complicated.”

“But such is life, “he said and paused, drumming his fingers on the table “clack
clickety clack”.

He seemed to be in verge of saying more but thought better of it, flicked his wrist
like a magician and produced a card for her.

“Be here tomorrow, under the old willow tree and we will get you to your John.
Come alone and tell no one.”

Before the band could begin again Lucy swallowed the remains of her drink,
grabbed her coat and purse and headed for the door.

…
“Ok let’s go through it one more time”

The room was antiseptic white and barren save for a table, two chairs and rickety
fan hanging from the ceiling.  Lucy sat on side of the table.  Detective Mueller sat
on the other with Detective Joiner leaning near the door.   A long florescent bulb
flickered every few minutes and yellowed the rooms white exterior.

Lucy sighed and began again

“John left to go and see his cousin. He said he would be back in a day our so.
Family business. That was last week. Two days ago I received the video in the
mail”

“A VHS” interjected Detective Mueller

Lucy nodded

“It was addressed to John but care of me. It looked important so I opened it. I
had an old VHS player and watched it. After I saw it I decided to come here”

Detective Mueller looked over at Detective Joiner

“Can you go check to see how AV is doing locating a VHS player for us?

Detective Joiner nodded and left the room.

“How long have you had a relationship with John?”

“We have been married for 2 years next week.”

“Does he make frequent trips out of the state?”

Lucy frowned “He has in the last few months. Before that not so much.”

Joiner came back into the room rolling a VHS recorder and television mounted on
wheels. She rolled the combo into the corner of room and plugged in the outlet
next to the door. Mueller handed her the VHS. Joiner inserted the tape and
fiddled with the controls hitting power and rewind, then hit play and stepped to
one side. The tape began in a darkened room probably a cellar or large garage. A
man sitting in a chair dominated the middle of the room. He was bound to the
chair at his chest and legs. His head hung limp chin to chest. Circles were drawn
on the ground surround the chair alternating dark and light and populated with lit
candles. As they watched the bound man moved his head slightly and started it
raise it. Then there was movement in front of the camera and the picture snowed
out into a nature documentary on the reemergence of the grey wolves to North
America.

Detective Joiner turned off the VCR.

“The man in the video is John”, said Lucy “I think I was sent this tape as a
warning and as a message. That I should not expect to see him again.”

“Can you think of anyone that would mean you harm? Do you or John have
enemies?” Asked Det. Joiner.

“Yes” said Lucy keeping her eyes on the table, “John’s grandmother is Glory
Theresa deSota” she said looking up at the Detectives.

“She is Glory Queen of Saints”

The detectives looked at each other for a second, something silent passing between
them. Detective Mueller got up, walked out of the room. After a moment he
returned and nodded to Joiner.

“If that is the case, then I am not sure there is much we do for you. “ Said
Detective Joiner.

“Do you understand what you are saying?” Said Det. Mueller.

“The Queen of Saints is a boogie man. An urban myth parents used to keep kids
from wandering the French Quarter too late during Halloween. We used to
memorize the rhyme as kids…

”Don’t go out alone,

don’t stay out past the witching day
or the Queen of Saints will take your soul
to the Hallowed ground where Spider & Crow lay”

“Feasting on the bones of those lead astray” finished Lucy.

“I heard the same rhymes when I was a kid. Imagine my surprise 3 months after
we were married when John told she was real.” Said Lucy, “that the Queen of
Saints was his freaking Grandmother’

“John told me that no one was really sure how old she was. She had looked the
same age every since John had known her and John’s father had admitted to him
that he had never known her younger or older than she looked at present. She
would come out for big family gathering, graduations and the like. A man dressed
in all black with an immense bone necklace on his neck always accompanied her.
John and his cousins named him the Boney Man or Clickety Clack. It was a well
know secret where she had money for such expensive family gifts and lavish
parties. Most of the family smiled and took the gifts when offered. Sometimes
there were disputes but John told me when there had been arguments between
members of the family and the Queen of Saints they were short lived. A
compromise was reached for the disputing member or that member went away.”
said Lucy.

“No one ever said murder; they would just one day decide to move and not tell
anyone. Usually other family members would get a call from the Boney Man
letting them know that Uncle Eddie or Cousin Elenor decided to take a world
holiday and they would end up falling in love with Singapore never to return. It
didn’t happen often and it was never spoken of out loud, but somehow everyone
knew the stories. Word was that the Queen of Saints made some deals in the next
world that needed interest to be paid every generation or so. John said that is
when the disputes would happen. A sacrifice would be made for the good of the
family. A child would suddenly get a scholarship round the world and decide to
not come home. If the parents didn’t approve of their child taking off well they
would suddenly get the urge to take a long trip themselves.” Lucy said staring at
her own hand.

“What exactly are you asking?” said Joiner. “Do you understand who Glory
DeSoto is in this town? We cannot record this conversation; we should not even
be having it in this building. I know men, good men that have lost their pension
for saying that name too loudly around the wrong people. I am sorry, I really am.
If you are who you say you are then the best advice I can give you is to get out of
New Orleans. Get out of the state. Go somewhere and get small. Stay quiet and
hope that she passes you by. Your husband is beyond your reach.

“I will probably not see John again” Lucy said her voice shaking “but I will not
see him gone for no reason. John would not have run off without telling me.
Someone kidnapped him and had him killed. “she said looking at each Detective
in turn. “This was not a well thought act, it was an act of desperation. Why send
me the video otherwise, why not wait to catch us both? She grabbed him because
she saw the opportunity and did it without thinking. She did it because she is
scared and I think I know why.

Lucy pulled up a monstrous pink purse and searched for a moment to produce a
cardboard file held together by a string lock. She unwound the string and looked
across the table at Mueller.
“This is what killed my John. Gloria de Sota has for many years ruled two
empires . One in this world and one in the next.” She said as she opened the
folder.

“She has made enemies in both”

Lucy selected files and gave them to the detectives to look through.

“These documents are a collection of John’s work for the past two years: Eye
witness accounts of abuse and extortion, Photo documentation of arson, blackmail
and insurance fraud. “said Lucy as she handed document after document over to
the detectives. “Account records tracing the DeSota finances through a labyrinth
beginning with illegal enterprises funneled into legitimate business investments
and campaign contributions. There is enough here to potentially cripple her
worldly empire and at the very least give a black eye to a very large number of
prominent business and political officials. “

Lucy looked over at the Detectives. “This is what I believe John found and what
he has died for, but this is not enough.”

Lucy looked carefully at each Detective.

“So here is how it goes. You can take what John compiled here and file it. If you
are smart about it you can get a warrant for her arrest. But you won’t catch her. If
the wait is long enough, chances are these files will get lost or damaged before you
can get much good out of them.” Said Lucy closing her eye, breathing a moment
then opening them.

“but if you have her in your custody at the same time, now that might just stick.

Lucy motioned to the files. “There is enough here for a warrant. If you can find a
judge you can trust, get them to sign off on it and I will get you the Queen of
Saints.”

Detective Mueller looked back down to the paper work, turning a few pages over
and looked back up at Lucy.

“If, and it is a big if we are able to get the warrant as you say, how would you
bring her in? “

“I won’t” said Lucy, “I will lead you to her.”

“After John left and didn’t come home, I called around asking for him. Gloria De
Sota got in contact with me through the Boney Man to let me know she had some
information on John’s whereabouts. She said if I paid her a visit she would help
me find him.” Lucy smiled.

“So you see, I cannot run. She is already looking to tie up all loose ends. What
could I do? I said ok. Now I expect that Gloria deSato will not be at the place we
are supposed to meet. I will get there and there will be a guide to her true location.
That is, I suppose how these arrangements work. But there is this. “
Lucy pulled out her cell phone.

“GPS, if you know my phone you can track me right?” Lucy eyed each Detective,
brandishing the phone.

“I propose that I will meet John’s grandmother, the Queen of Saints. You track
this, follow me and take her in. Now what do you think about that?”

The plan was set for the morning. Lucy called her contact to set the time and
place. She could hear the smile in his voice and the Clickey Clack of the bone
necklace each time he moved his head. Just before dawn Lucy made her way just
outside the city limits first by bus than by foot. The sun came up on Lucy standing
on a dirt road beneath shade of drooping willow tree. At the allotted time Lucy
saw a cloud of red dust appear. The center of the dust cloud gave way to a middle-
aged Oldsmobile. The car creaked to a halt and Lucy waited a moment looking in,
then got into the backseat. In the backseat next to her was the man with the bone
necklace. He wore the same dark suit from the bar and smiled at her. His skin
pulled tight across his emaciated body and his eyes bulged slightly as he smiled.
Lucy did not smile back.

From the roof of the Elms Pensacola Gas&Guzzle, Detective Mueller watched
behind large black binoculars as the Oldsmobile made a slow laborious U-Turn
then took off the way it had come. Mueller murmured into his handset, got up and
headed for the roof exit.

“Hi Chere, good morning. The Madam is looking forward to your visit.” When
the Boney Man spoke he couldn’t help but move his hands, gesturing first to the
driver then back at Lucy. The bone necklace doubled wrapped around his neck
clattered as he spoke and gestured. He smiled and turned to reach into his coat, his
bone necklace clicking like ivory chimes. He produced out of his jacket pocket a
black blindfold.

“I regret we need to exercise some caution, if you wouldn’t mind, please put this
on” said the Boney Man as he smiled wider and handed the black cloth over to
Lucy. She complied and they drove on. No one spoke and nothing happened
except the tread of slow Jango beats waning in and out of frequency on the radio
and the occasional rock of pothole testing the shocks of the aging auto. After a
time the car stopped and the Boney Man got out. Lucy could hear his necklace
clicking as he spoke and gestured to someone outside the car but she could not
hear what was said. She heard the sharp pop of the passenger front door opening,
the spring of the car shocks and clatter of the Boney man as he swapped seats from
the back to the front. The back door opposite Lucy opened and someone got in
pushing the car shocks lower toward the earth. Lucy heard heavy breathing and
smelled cinnamon. Next to her a singsong voice chimed out.

“Take us to the boneyard.” She said and the car took off.

Inside the car the air was hot. The windows were rolled up with steam condensing
inside dripping down.

“So here we are” said the cinnamon voice.

“You know I was looking after your man for a long time” it was a statement not a
question.

“Tsk Tsk Tsk, you two ran me up and down didn’t you” she paused.

“and for what? You’re my kin girl, at least your man is. What did you think
would happen? Mm hmmm” She paused again

“Well not too long now, bygones be bygones. We will get you two together. Nice
and safe and we will keep there. No more talking with outsiders, sticking their
noses where they don’t belong. You hear me girl? You are safe now and you aint
going anywhere”

Lucy smiled beneath her blindfold.

“I hear you Grandmother”

…..

,
Detective Mueller tried again. The GPS tracking equipment was not top of the
line like the one the Feds used but it should be able track number through a region
that lent itself to good triangulation. He had been able to track Lucy’s phone
signal in the car initially. Then the damn thing had lost the signal. It had come
back heading north outside the city before petering out. Detective Joiner walked
into the room with two coffees. Muller smiled and accepted one.
“I don’t understand it”, he said blowing on the coffee, taking a sip and motioning
toward the machine.

“Look at this stretch,” he said pointing at the screen

“they had taken this road to get from here” he pointed to another part of the map
“to here. “ That road is double covered. There are two major companies that have
placed towers in that area. There are not grey areas, no drop zones because the 2 nd
tower immediately picks up the overflow from the first tower. We should see the
signal strongly the entire way up. Yet it only appears in two spots. The question is
why? And more important where are they going?

“the boneyard,” said Lucy as the car shuttered to a halt.

“that’s right” said the cinnamon voice next to her after a heartbeat.

Lucy snorted long and hard.

“I smell the newly dead. They still whisper and want to dance”, said Lucy turning
her covered eyes toward the cinnamon voice.

“John had you dead to rights with his investigation, but it was not enough. He
knew that others had confronted you before and you were still standing. We could
not just attack one end. We had to attack both. So we split up our efforts. John
undermined your support in this world. I communicated with the next. “

Gloria’s face blanched. “My child what have you done? Do you know what you
have let loose into this world”

When Lucy smiled, her teeth were sharp and long. “Imagine my surprise how
easy it was to find help in my efforts to bring you down from the entities that made
you what you are.” Lucy closed her eyes and tilted her head to one side as if
drifting off to sleep. When she opened eyes and spoke, she was not there.

“do you still dance Grandmother?” said Lucy.

“do you still believe in the midnight son? Do you still hold to your oath taken at
midnight to the mother, the crone and the child?” Lucy smiled underneath her
blindfold and her teeth stretched far to large, her lips too small to hold them.

“Who are you?” said the cinnamon voice.

“Have you forgotten the old crow and the spider at the center of the world? This
Lucy child has not.

In the front of the car was the sound of bone jangling, the flurry of two car doors
opening and shutting as the nerve of the Boneyman broke and he fled the car
followed by the driver.

“She came to us at the crossroads time and we had us a conversation. We made

ourselves a deal. The terms were simple. We get her and her man. They get you”

Lucy shrugged her shoulders, reached up and took off her blindfold. Her eyes were
completely black.

“You have broken your oath Cherie,” said a voice deep and masculine from Lucy’s
lips. “I am here to renegotiate our contact.
….

Inside the station the detectives jumped as the television in the corner of the
interrogation room flipped on with a hiss and snow. The tape began to play again
with John bound and gagged in the chair surrounded by circles. He did not seem
to be breathing. After a moment the image moved its head side to side leveraging
the gag.

Muller turned to Joiner, eyes widening. Then both Detectives turned back to the
television. The tape had run past the original duration.

John worked his jaw loose and began to gnaw on the gag, biting through it. As he
bit through the gag, he looked up to the camera. Both officers flinched back. The
irises of his eyes had gone from white to black like a pigeon’s eyes. He looked at
the officers in turn through the television.

“Fritz Binghamton,” said the man in the video and smiled.

The television went to snow.

….

Gloria de Sota ran for it. She jumped back, muttering hexes of curses, got of the
car and ran into the cemetery. Behind her she heard the car door open & close as
something that was not Lucy got out. Gloria chose paths at random, weaving
through the labyrinth of moselums breathing through her mouth and moaning
exhalations. The moaning grew into screams as she ran faster.
“I sent you gifts” she said between breaths “I sent you appeasements” she said.

Gloria heard laughter around and behind her. The same deep masculine voice
from Lucy’s lips spoke.

“Gifts? I don’t want gifts little Saint. I want what is mine; what was promised
me. We had a bargain, little one and payment is due.”

Gloria ran faster. Over the bend and a right turn she saw a congregation ahead of
her. Gloria made a beeline toward them.

The voice continued to speak around her.

“A spider doesn’t build its web for flies. It does so because it must. As you do
what you must. But you made a promise Cherie and used family blood to hide
from me. Now I can smell that blood all over you and cannot hide from your
promise.”

“No!” cried Gloria.

She ran forward blinded by tears into the throng of people dressed in funeral black.
Gloria screamed “help me! Help me”

She took steps into the crowd, swinging wildly cursing and spitting. As she
stepped she tripped over an overturned chair and fell headfirst into the open grave.
She did not get back up.

….

Thirty minutes later Officer Joiner and Mueler arrived at the cemetery. Forensics
were there already casing the scene. As they walked over the officer in charge of
the scene briefed them.

“We have most of the witnesses interviewed and the stories collaborate. Woman
age 60 – 65 came running up to the funeral. She was violent and incoherent.
Members of the congregation tried to calm her down but she started swinging,
tripped over a chair, fell into the grave and broke her neck. We are filing it under
accidental death and are currently looking for next of kin. She did not have any
identification on her.

Don’t bother” said Detective Joiner, “we can identify her. This woman is a
suspect in an ongoing investigation and was wanted for questioning on a number
of charges including murder.”
The detectives walked away from the officer and toward the grave. The body had
not yet been moved. Gloria de Sota lay across the lowered coffin, eyes open with
her neck and right knee at an impossible angle. Her mouth was open and her
tongue pushed just past her lips. The name on the headstone was Fritz
Binghamton