“Murders in the Lonely Graveyard”
Awarded 5-Stars By Reader’s Favorite
Elizabeth Upton, Novelist
Published: 11/2024
ISBN: 979-8218546113
ASIN: B0DNWQ86QJ
122 pages
Kindle Sale Price $1.99
From Chapter One
The Opening:
Sister Francis kneeled prayerfully before her mother’s grave, moving her fingers prayerfully over her worn rosary beads. Autumn, her young grandniece, sat restlessly on the cold, stone bench with her, watching the yellow and black-striped butterflies skirt around the neglected tombstones. Yet she noticed how strangely the sun warmed each stone with light and grace.
“I dislike coming to Pillar Cemetery,” complained Autumn. “It’s so neglected and depressing. No one loves or cares for this place.” “My dear. The dead don’t care,” the old nun said. “I love it here only because this is the place where my mother is buried.” Autumn was not paying much attention to her grand aunt. Instead, she was watching a good-looking young man park his red Ferrari in front of her old Chevy, desperately in need of a paint job.
She continued watching him as he strangely strolled around the tombstones, as if he were talking to the dead. Then, he started walking up the hill in their direction. Please don’t come here, Autumn thought.
“Good morning. I’m Brien Hogan,” he said to Autumn, extending his hand with a kind smile. He was indeed good-looking, dressed in tight blue jeans and a white polo shirt. “Do you come here often?” asked the nun. “This is my first time. When I was a child, my mother used to take me to cemeteries and teach me to revere the dead who had lived in her words, Once upon a time.”
“How wonderful,” said the nun. “Today is the anniversary of my mother’s death, and I’ve come here every year on this very day, though my grandniece, Autumn, finds it disturbing. ”She moved her fingers over another notch on her rosary beads. “She’s always worried that a ghost might jump out at us,” the nun chuckled.
When we were driving into the cemetery, a truck nearly hit us. It passed us in such a hurry. There were two men in the back of the truck with blankets and sheets flapping all over,” said Autumn. “How disturbing,” Brien said. Sister Francis placed her attention once again on praying the rosary. Brien saw this as an opportunity to converse with Autumn.
“Do you work around here?” “I live in Sausalito. I’m a Realtor,” she said. “Here. Take my card. Maybe you know someone who may be interested?” “Here’s my card as well.” Sister Francis continued to pray, then looked at Autumn and motioned that they should go. “Good day, young man,” the old nun said. Autumn nodded goodbye.
Sister Francis and her grandniece walked down the hill arm in arm to the car when the old nun realized that her rosary beads were missing. “Oh my, Autumn. I’ve lost them,” Sister Francis said. “Can you find them? Just look around, my dear.”
Autumn rolled her eyes.
“I need to get going, Auntie. I have appointments.” But the good-natured young woman decided to spend a few minutes meandering through the tall grass and weeds in hopes of finding the rosary. Autumn was just about to walk back up the hill to the old stone bench when Sister Francis suddenly felt tired. She decided to drop her aunt at the convent, cancel her next appointment, then return to Pillar Cemetery to look for the rosary.
It would be a quick trip down the road. Just five minutes. When Autumn returned to the cemetery, she was alarmed by how drastically the scene had changed. There was a large police presence and yellow tape surrounding the dilapidated mausoleum near where they had been sitting.
Brien, who had decided to explore the mausoleum after the two women left, had discovered two dead bodies wrapped in long rugs, which covered their faces. He also heard a crying baby.
He picked up the tiny infant, wiping the dirt from its mouth.
“Christ,” he said to himself, as he reached for his cell phone in his coat jacket pocket to call the police.
The infant was frantically crying, so he tucked the baby inside his jacket to keep it warm.
As he waited for the police to arrive, he called Marietta, his older sister and a pediatrician, who made it her mission to care for abandoned babies until they could be placed in a safe home.
Upon seeing the police, Autumn wanted to leave, but she was trapped.
Too many police cars.
As she watched the scene unfold, she could see Brien up on the hill talking to a police captain.
Marietta pulled into the cemetery.
She abruptly stopped her car, left the door open, and ran toward her younger brother.
“I’ll get the baby out of here before anyone tries to stop me,” as she whispered in Brien’s ear.
She took the baby from her brother, wrapped the child in a warm blanket then quickly hurried to her car.
She gently placed the baby in a car seat and buckled the child in.
She turned on the ignition, did a tight U-turn, and sped away. . .
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Elizabeth Upton Award-Winning Author & Writer 
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