The Deadly Ring
from the Alexander Steele Murder Mystery Series
Chapter 2
Message from the Grave
Alexander Steele took the Schuylkill Expressway and headed uptown to Chelten Hills Cemetery.
It was a quiet spring afternoon at the cemetery where bodies of the dearly departed rested.
The one thing you could always count on at cemeteries was peace. On this day, that peace would
soon erupt into a deadly encounter, an encounter loud enough to almost wake up the dead.
Steele felt uneasy. Something was off. The birds were singing and the sky was blue but there
was a chill in the air, a sense that something was not quite right, a feeling that has kept him
alive through dozens of fatal cases. He scanned the gravesite for anything that looked out of place
Steele couldn’t help notice how nervous the caretaker was as he watched the three gravediggers
milling around the new gravesite, waiting for the backhoe operator to maneuver the big yellow
machine into place. Steele caught a glimpse of flashing light from behind a tree on the north
mound about four hundred feet away for a brief moment. The reflection of the sun bouncing
off a watch or maybe eyeglasses from the uninvited guest in the distance.
Steele began making his way toward where he had seen the light flash. When he reached the halfway
point, a short man in dark clothing bolted from behind a weeping willow and began running away up
the grassy mound as fast as he could. Steele was in hot pursuit. When the man with the glasses
realized he couldn’t outrun Steele, he turned suddenly, pulled out his gun. He fired three shots
in Steele’s direction. Steele dove and rolled behind an old gray, four-foot-high headstone in
one fluid motion and quickly drew his weapon. He crouched down behind the small granite
wall and carefully peered around the side. He noticed the gunman was still running further
up the mound. When the gun-toting attacker stopped at the top of the hill and turned to fire again,
Steele was ready
Alexander Steele Mystery Trilogy
