The Crazy Lady of Roaring River

The Crazy Lady of Roaring River: Part 12

Brian studied the suspected gravesite. He had a hard time wrapping his mind around this one. Could there really be a body buried under those white pebbles and a couple of layers of soil? And who's body would they find? "Cases like this tend to happen in the cities and other places, not in Roaring River for heaven's sake!" he tried to convince himself. As the situation proved be above his expertise, he decided to radio for assistance. Brian's training as a police officer was now overriding his emotions. He simply had to get to the bottom of this mystery. Ana needed the truth. Roaring River needed the truth.

Ana could smell Brian's familiar cologne as he got seated next to her on the back porch bench. It was unusually sunny for this time of the year. Brian briefly put his arm around her. "Don't worry! All will be fine..." he whispered, but neither of them honestly believed it. Ana felt a bout of nausea creeping up on her. They sat in almost complete silence until Brian's police radio made contact, he excused himself and got up to escort another officer in. Ana did not recognize the other officer. Brian introduced him as Officer Eddie Burke. The slightly older man greeted and then proceeded to inspect the suspected gravesite, absorbing the information Brian provided. He poked around the area with a rod like object and continued to inspect the site more closely sitting in a crouching position. Ana could not make out much of the conversation. Divinia was busy in the kitchen by now, doing something food related as Ana could hear the pots and utensils clanging. Ana felt strangely numb. Everything appeared to happen in slow motion. All she could do was quietly observe the officers and allowing them to do what needed to be done.

"We will need to call the detectives on this," Brian informed her. Ana just nodded her head. "You do what you need to do, Brian... I trust you," she responded calmly. He stepped away as he radioed the office again. Did Roaring River even have detectives? But Ana decided to keep the question to herself. Shortly after Brian informed her that two detectives from Riverside were on their way. He needed to head back to the office for a while and left soon afterwards. Officer Burke stayed behind at the site, engaging in some writing in his small pocket book. Ana excused herself and made her way towards her bedroom. She had developed a pounding headache. There had to be some paracetamol tablets in her handbag. The detectives won't arrive for a while as Riverside was at least a 45 minutes' drive away.

Close to an hour elapsed before she heard a vehicle pulling up to the house followed by some indistinct male voices. Standing at her bedroom window she recognized Brian accompanied by two other gentlemen dressed in suits and ties. They unloaded some equipment from the car's trunk. She figured it had to be the detectives. With her headache subsiding, Ana attempted to tie back her unruly hair but without much success. She made her way towards the backyard where Divinia was already waiting. The smell of soup filled the kitchen and back porch. The two women watched from a distance on the back porch. The police officers had to carry out their duties. The two detectives briefly introduced themselves and tried to explain the process. Ana insisted to stay and witness the excavation despite Brian's plea to rather wait inside the house. Divinia was at her side as the excavation finally commenced. A part of Ana still believed it to be the gravesite of a long dead cat. And she was awaiting the evidence... If any? Life should then return back to normal, whatever the new normal might be.

Two of the men started to dig after removing most of the white pebbles and angel statue. "I remember your mother placing flowers on the gravesite. It was a long, long time ago..." Divinia remarked. Ana was fixated on the activities at the excavation site. A dark green tarpaulin was laid out close by. Every inch of soil was sifted and the unearthed objects carefully inspected and placed on the tarpaulin. One of the detectives took pictures. Brian was largely consumed by the activities and tried to assist the detectives as much as possible. He would occasionally walk over and check in on the two women, keeping them updated on any progress made. Pieces of decayed wood and some type of fabric were carefully unearthed, inspected and placed on the tarpaulin followed by some corroded, bigger steel fragments.  Excitement in the officers' voices suddenly interrupted the seemingly tedious activities at the excavation site. Ana shrugged. A shiver ran down her spine. She hastily got up and made her way towards the officers. Brian tried to intercept and hold her back but she kept pushing forward, she needed to see what they have just unearthed. She reached the site. Brian was still trying his best of hold her back but there is was: in-between the rotten pieces of wood and what appeared to be a faded orange colored fabric, tiny bone fragments were visible. Ana realized the bone fragments to be human remains as she had completed her studies in anatomy and physiology. In no time the rest of the tiny skeleton appeared. It was human. No doubt.  The officers' reaction confirmed what she already knew.  Ana could barely breath as she remained in a semi-stuporous state. One of the detectives pulled an even larger piece of folded, faded orange fabric from the ground. As he carefully opened it, a small object fell from it. He held it up and inspected it with a gloved hand. It was a tiny crucifix... Ana let out a cry before her surroundings started to spin and she blacked out.

When Ana finally recovered from her fainting spell, she was in the living room positioned on the three seater sofa, with her legs slightly elevated by the armrest. Brian's worried face was the first thing she noticed. Divinia was seated on an easy chair close by, looking pale and visibly shaken. Ana started to drift off again. "Ana, stay wake! Ana, come on! Don't faint on me again!" Brian had a panicked tone to his voice. She managed to somehow snap out of it and slowly opened both her eyes. "What happened?" she asked all confused, trying to sit up. "Why am I in here? I, don't remember... Divinia, what's wrong? What happened?" Brian assisted her to sit up and placed his hand on her forearm trying to explain the recent events to the best of his abilities. "Divinia was right all along..." she whispered.  Ana developed the same, almost numb feeling again. Divinia had it right and there was no return. "Oh, God no, no, no!" she cried in a desperate, strange voice. "No, no, no! It can't be!" She knew her life had changed in an instant. Nothing would be the same ever again... An ugly truth came out. The only question that remained: What was her true identity? Who was Anabelle Sims really?