broken headstone or footstone.
Only one angel stood guard over the place, and sadly her wings were both chipped, and her face was eternally muddied. There were a few above-ground tombs and obelisks scattered between the overgrown grasses, shrubs and trees.
It was a perfect place for teenagers to come.
To drink, or to sell drugs, or to do drugs.
The first time the dream came, Stacey just saw herself walking through the cemetery.
The next time, she saw Kevin and Elaine and a shadowy figure were by the broken angel, and the three were arguing.
The third time she heard a gunshot.
She told her father about her dream. He didn’t want to listen at first; then Stacey reminded him about Adam Harrison’s faith in her, and he did. He told the local police he believed drug deals were going down in the cemetery. The police ignored him. The officer on the phone told him that yes, they watched the cemetery. They didn’t have the manpower to watch it day and night. But they thanked him, saying they were forewarned.
The dream came again, night after night. But this time as she walked through the broken stones in the eerie darkness punctuated by the light of the moon, someone touched her shoulder. She turned and trembled and tried to scream but could not.
It was Chastity Miller: she knew that from pictures. Chastity Miller had been one of Washington’s spies during the Revolutionary War. She had been beautiful and charming and part of an elite group that became known as the Culper Spy Ring, set up by Major Benjamin Tallmadge under Washington’s orders. It was said he kept the identities of those in the ring so secret that not even Washington knew all their names. In 1778, Chastity worked in British-occupied New York, bringing valuable information to the table. She could charm any British officer with her facade of sweet innocence.
She had, however, been found out. Her body had been discovered hanging from a tree outside the city, but it was taken down secretly at night and returned to her family in the Harpers Ferry area. Her tombstone had long ago disappeared. It was believed she did rest in the Miller Cemetery.
Except in Stacey’s dream, she didn’t rest. She stood there as if she was real.
Terrified at first, in her sleep Stacey struggled to remind herself it was a dream.
“It’s coming. You must do something. You can do something. It’s coming,” Chastity Miller said.
“I know. I’ve told them!” Stacey managed to say at last. “I’ve tried!”
“It’s coming soon. You must try harder!” Chastity said. “You can, and you must!”
Stacey spoke to her father again; he wearily reminded her he’d spoken to the police. They were dismissive of a man telling them something bad was about to happen. They wanted to know how he knew. Was he selling drugs himself?
“Call Mr. Harrison,” she told him.
“Stacey, for the love of God...” He walked away, distraught.
That night she had the dream again. She saw Chastity Miller again, beckoning her to follow and hide. And she heard the conversation. Kevin wanted the shadowy figure to leave Elaine alone. Elaine was addicted. Either it stopped or Kevin would go to the police.
The shadowy figure had a gun. He drew it...
She forced herself to wake up.
Stacey remembered Adam Harrison had left her with his card. That had been years before, but maybe, just maybe, she still had it somewhere.
She searched through her drawers, her little jewelry boxes, every nook and cranny of her room.
She finally found the card slipped into pages of a diary she’d kept when she was twelve.
She dialed the number before she could think too hard about it, and he answered. Since she’d seen him last, it seemed he’d upped his game. He was now an assistant director, working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Adam came out with two agents: one named Jackson, and the other a very tall young man with sandy hair and striking dark eyes, Special Agent Someone or Other. She didn’t really talk to him. He had to be new because of his age, and because of the way he deferred to the other men. She figured he’d be a really cool agent one day because he sure as hell looked the part.
They listened to her, and the agents went to check out Miller Cemetery.
Adam stayed with Stacey. She asked him why it was he believed her so easily. And he smiled and said, “My son. He was very much like you.”
“And he’s...gone?”
Adam Harrison’s smile grew broader.