Jillian Chantal

This week the writers of Tuesday Tales are writing to the word prompt child. I am still in the same story I’ve been working on.

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Back at Lu’s house, after letting Aneto out, she sat in her favorite chair with a cup of cocoa to try to warm up. Malcolm had been right. She was frozen through after standing outside with Brandon’s spirit.

Jackson hovered nearby. “I visited with a few of my friends in St. John’s cemetery and in the city. The last one I met with was a free woman of color who used to live close to “C” Street and near the place where the latest young man was found. Her house is gone now and she is not remembered much in this city, but she was the mother of a young girl who had an English father who took the child to England when she was small to live with his family. The child and mother were both from an island in the Caribbean Sea and the father met the mother when he was in port there.

The grandfather of the child was an important Member of Parliament and was instrumental in ending the slave trade in their country. The girl grew up as a ward of her grandfather.

“I might know about this girl. It seems like there was a movie a few years ago about her and that there is a portrait of her in the National Gallery in England. Was her name Belle?”

Jackson waved his hand in the air. “That I do not recall. I shall ask her mother when I see her again, but the important thing is, the mother saw something that might assist your detective.”

Lu leaned forward, eager and excited. “Did she see who did it?”

“Not quite, but she did see that the person was not very tall and was thin, but strong. She also said when the young man was being garroted, he put up a fight and kicked back several times, making contact with the person’s shin bones. She believes there may be bruising there as once the man was on the ground and the murderer placed the necklaces and cakes around the body, the person limped away as if their legs were sore.” Jackson shrugged. “Perhaps that will help aid the detective’s search or if he locates the person soon, he or she will still be limping.”

“I hate that she witnessed the young man’s death and couldn’t come to his aid, but I’m glad she saw what she did as far as giving us something to go on. It sounds like it could even be a woman who did this. Thin and not too tall.”

“Or it could be a slight man who has worked on a ship or some type of occupation that requires strong arms.”