Killing Me Slowly (Third Book to the Secrets Will Kill You Series)

Ashes Of A Pheonix

But then we heard a scream coming from upstairs and Dean was the first to take off as I was right behind him and Brit and Sam followed and we all raced up the stairs. We ran to the nearest room and saw Darla cowering in the corner and then saw the judge's smoldering skeleton and his ashes. Darla started to babble a little and the sheriff was notified and he was here in seconds.

"You okay, Sheriff?" Sam asked.

"'Course I'm okay"

"It was a ghost!" Darla claimed.

"It wasn't a ghost. Unless ghosts leave footprints" he said, gesturing to the footprints leading out the room to the balcony.

"I am telling you, Elias Finch was here. He did... that, and then he walked out that door" Darla insisted.

"Rope didn't kill him. Seen it before"

"Well, you got any idea where he could be?" Brit asked.

"Could be a thousand places"

"Well, you got a way to flush him out?" Dean questioned.

"'Course. We're gonna form a posse. Then we're gonna string Finch up right. Put a bullet in his head for good measure"

"That actually sounds like a good plan"

"You four should come along. Meet downstairs at dawn"

"Yeah, we'll be there"

"Get yourselves some real gear first" he finished and then walked out with Darla.

"Well, I think we ought to pay our respects to Finch" I said.

"I was thinking the same thing" Sam agreed.

It got dark quickly as we headed out to the cemetery, just on the outskirts of town...well, look at me saying outskirts...and we found Finch's grave...empty. Maybe we weren't looking for some flaming bird after all, maybe the Phoenix was just some dude in cowboy boots. So, then, we agreed to split up so Sam and Brit could go get the colt while Dean and I stayed here to hook up with the posse. We agreed for them to be back here 11:00 A.M. sharp and then we watched them both ride off on the back of a horse with Sam in the front and Brit in the back and I felt so bad for the horse.

The next day, we went to go meet up with the posse but really no one was there...I was at least expecting the sheriff...but, then someone started shouting, "The Sheriff's dead!". So, I guessed he wasn't being part of any posse anytime soon. When we went to go check it out, we found his skeleton and his ashes just outside the saloon, and it looked just like the judges and Dean just had to open his mouth and ask who the sheriff was now because guess who gets to where the shiny, pointy star badge that says Sheriff on it. Yeah, my guy.

So, then, we headed to the deputy's place and knocked. "Who's there?" he called from the other side, but I could hear some shakiness in his tone.

"Candy gram for Mongo" Dean said in a high pitched voice and I rolled my eyes.

But, the deputy opened the door and Dean had his gun pointed at him. "Howdy, pilgrim" I smiled.

"I ain't no pilgrim"

"All right, back up. Is that any way to greet your new boss?" Dean flashed his badge.

The guy scoffed and then went back to packing his suitcase in a hurry. "Missed you at the posse this morning. We were a two man wolf pack, thanks to you..."

"What's going on here?" I interrupted, gesturing to the suitcase.

"Going to visit my sister"

"Well, she'll have to wait" I crossed my arms.