Play dead

EIGHTY-THREE

4:03 AM

The Baseball Fields at Cecil B. Moore Avenue and North Eleventh Street were deserted. The mahogany cabinet sat at home plate. Its glossy surface shone in the light thrown from the sodium streetlamps.

Byrne was out of the car before Jessica could stop it.

"Goddamn it!"

Byrne vaulted across the field, reached the box first. There was no hesitation, no stopping him. He opened the box, stared inside. And froze.

Jessica and Bontrager made it across the field. Jessica saw what her partner was looking at. Inside was a girl, wearing an antique white satin dress. It looked to be a wedding gown from the 1920s or 1930s. A veil covered her face. The bodice of the dress was soaked with her blood.

Byrne reached in, put two fingers to the girl's neck.

"She's alive."