Mystery at Devil's Elbow

The radio news reported that a skeleton identified as a woman in her early-40s was found buried in a shallow grave near the Devil’s Elbow Bridge. The story caused everyone in that area a lot of concern. The people with missing relatives waited anxiously for the woman’s identity to be made.

Sheriff JD Carson met with the coroner in his office to discuss who the skeleton might be. The coroner’s office was in a one-story brick building. Inside there were two offices, three examination rooms, and a morgue. The interior was painted white, and the tables and desks were unpainted steel. There was the aroma of alcohol throughout the whole facility.

Doctor Bennett was an older man with perfectly coiffed white hair and a beard. He wore a white lab coat over his tie and white shirt.

“Thanks for coming down here, JD,” said Doctor Bennett.

“You’re welcome, Doctor. I’d like to get this settled.”

“JD, you know my assistant, Ted Walker.” Ted was a young man with red hair greased back and minor acne. He wore a dress shirt and jeans under his white lab coat.

“Sure. Ted, how are you?”

“I’m fine, Sheriff, thanks for asking.”

“Well, Sheriff, we got all the records your staff found on missing persons,” said Doctor Bennett. “We also got some additional information from some of the families of women reported missing.”

“First, we determined the age and height of the woman,” said Ted.

“Then we went through the records, and given her age and height, we believe that this skeleton could be a woman known as Mary Jones. She was reported missing by her parents in 1946 at the age of 20.”

“She’s the oldest reported missing person in Pulaski County,” said Ted. “We’ll never be positive, but we are as sure as we’re going to be that Jones is the skeleton we found in the shallow grave.”

“My word, she’s missing for 23 years then discovered in a shallow grave.”

“That’s not the odd part, Sheriff,” said Ted.

“The odd part is that she lived for 20 of the years she was missing. So, she may have been missing since 1946, but she was alive until just a few years ago,” said Doctor Bennett.

“To be sure we were thorough, we poured over missing person reports from other areas and found nothing matching the height and age of this skeleton,” said Ted.

JD raised his eyebrows and opened his eyes wide as he listened.

“What I’m trying to say, JD is that woman was alive most of the time she was missing. She’s been buried no more than a mile from where she went missing. How does that happen?”

“Forgive me, Doc, but this is the strangest thing I’ve ever heard. Why couldn’t it have been someone else who went missing more recently or from somewhere else?”

“As Ted explained, we did an exhaustive search of missing person reports in all the surrounding counties and more recent reports. None of those records matched up better than this woman’s does.”

“The forensic anthropologist from the state confirmed these results,” said Ted.

“With no broken bones and no damage to the skull, it appears the woman died of natural causes in her early-40s.”

“We found living relatives that we’d like to notify if you don’t mind, Sheriff?” asked Ted.

“Sure, go ahead. Although I don’t know how you’re going to explain this to them.”

“Sheriff, as strange as it sounds, there’s no evidence of a crime,” said Doctor Bennett.

“That’s what I was thinking, Doc. At the most somebody buried her outside the cemetery, which would be a misdemeanor.”

“When the bones are released with your permission, JD, I’d like to turn the remains over to her family and see that she’s buried. We were able to find all of the skeletons,” said Doctor Bennett.

“Sounds good. We need to look into this further, but I think we have everything we can get from the skeleton.”

“Thanks for your time, Sheriff. If you come across anything else, give us a call. Things are usually boring compared to this.”

The next Sunday, the Fisher family was barbecuing hamburgers and hot dogs. Martha’s parents joined them. JD had cleared the scene, and the girls were out playing again, looking for mushrooms this time. They carried a small wicker basket their mom gave them. Their Dad told them not to eat any mushrooms until they got home so he could be sure they weren’t toadstools.

As the girls skipped along, Lisa tripped and fell to the ground. She got up on her hands and knees but kept looking at the grass.

“Are you okay, Lisa?” asked Mary.

“I just saw something in my head again.”

“Maybe we should go tell Momma.”

“We should.”

The girls walked back across the field to their house. Lewis was cooking on the grill and looked up as he saw them coming.

“Martha, the girls are coming back.”

“That’s good,” said Martha as she sliced vegetables in the kitchen.

As the girls got closer, Ima and Ernie drove up in a silver sedan and parked the car in the driveway. Mary and Lisa quickly went into the house to speak to their momma who was busy preparing supper.

“Momma, it happened again,” said Lisa.

“What happened, baby?”

“I saw something in my head, and I fell to the ground.”

“What did you see, honey?”

“More skeletons, Momma,” said Lisa with a quivering lip.

“What’d you mean, more skeletons?” asked Martha as she dropped a plate on the floor.

“I saw three more skeletons in the field next to the bridge, Momma.”

“Okay, honey,” said Martha in a low, shaky voice. “Don’t say nothing’ to your grandparents. Let’s wait ’til after supper, and you, me, and Daddy will talk.”

“Okay, Momma.”

“Yeah, I think that’s best, baby. You girls take these vegetables to the picnic table.”

At the picnic table, their grandparents took the plates from the girls and set them down. Lewis was just finishing up the hot dogs and placed a plate of hamburgers on the picnic table. The table was covered with an old checkered tablecloth and topped with plates of onions, tomatoes, and pickles, along with paper plates, plastic forks, and potato chips.

“Martha, we’re ready to eat,” said Lewis.

“Be right there.”

“You girls want a hamburger or hot dog?” asked Lewis.

Lisa and Mary called out their preferences.

“Ernie, can you make a hamburger for Lisa?” asked Lewis. “Hot dogs will be ready in a minute or two Mary.”

“I’d like a burger,” said Martha.

While the hot dogs cooked, they talked about a trip to the lake before the fall was over.

“Here are the dogs,” said Lewis as he set the plate down on the picnic table.

“Okay everybody, let’s eat,” said Martha.

The whole family enjoyed a great meal and fellowship. The girls played in the yard while the adults talked and laughed. It was a warm afternoon near 80 degrees with clear skies.

Ernie and Ima left to go to the evening service at the church. Lewis and Martha sat at the picnic table drinking iced tea.

“I wanted to wait ’til after dinner to speak to you,” said Martha.

“What about?” asked Lewis.

“Lisa had another vision while playing down by the bridge.”

“Really, what did she see?” asked Lewis as he spilled his drink in shock.

“She saw three more skeletons.”

“Oh my, what’ll we do now?” His tone was frustrated.

“The only thing we can do is let the sheriff know. If he wants to investigate it, he can.”

“I guess you’re right, but I really don’t want the attention.”

“I’ll call him first thing in the morning.”

“When and how will this all end?”