▌Chapter 3 ─ Sold Your Soul To The Devil ▌
▌Part 2 ─ Season 1 ─ Episode 2 ─ The Secret of the Old Morgue ▌

━━━━━ "Once a year, on the final day of the Summer Festival, the town gathers for the bucket ritual. Get a bucket of seawater, put it outside your door, kick it over when the church bells strike midnight. If there's still seawater inside, you live. But superstition says if it's turned to blood, you're marked to die in the coming year."

Alora stepped out of Nick's truck followed by her sister. She didn't like the idea but she knew they needed to be seen. This wasn't her idea either, she would've rather have gone by herself then be a third wheel with her sister and Nick.

"I hate third wheeling, just so you know Nance." Alora said, as she walked to the edge of the truck.

"It'll be over before you know it." Nancy remarked, coming up behind her. The twins glanced around at the crowd that had gathered by the water.

"You're both planning something." Nick said, looking between the twins. "Something no one's told me about."

"Your record... I mean, if we get arrested..."

"It's okay. It's okay. I'll sit this one out. Just be careful."

Alora walked to the back of Nick's truck to grab the bucket she had brought for herself. Nick pulled out his bucket while Alora looked up from her bucket and saw her father staring at her and Nancy. Karen was with him which meant that she might try and come talk to them. She pulled her eyes from her father and Karen and placed her eyes on someone who had just arrived.

"Ryan Hudson, surprise. The Hudson's don't normally come to something like this."

"Image rehab... the grieving widower." Nick said, looking over at Nancy and Alora and then looked back at Ryan.

"Yeah, and it doesn't take much, apparently." Nancy said.

"Who would ever trust a manipulative psycho like him?"

"You'd be surprised." Alora and Nancy watched the corner turn into the parking lot. "Hey, sorry." Nancy said, walking away from them.

"You better be good to my sister." Alora said, turning to look at him. There was a stern look on Alora's face as she stared at Nick. She had no doubt that Nick would be good to Nancy, but she needed to make it clear.

"I will, I swear." Nick replied, looking back at her with a soft smile on his face. After a minute Alora finally smiled, she patted his shoulder.

"I had no doubt." She turned away from him, her long orange locks swinging as she moved. Alora caught up with Bess and Ace. Alora noticed her sister walking over to her, Ace and Bess. She looked like she had seen something that had scared her.

"What's wrong?" Bess asked, as Nancy continued to walk to them. "Did you not get the key card?"

"No, I got it. Um... I think I may have seen something." Bess and Alora stood in front of her, Alora then knew that she had seen Lucy again. She proceeded to chuckle, shaking her head. "Never mind. It's crazy."

"No, no, no. Go. I love crazy."

"I think I might have seen a vision of a drowned corpse. Which normally, I would think was nothing, but it..."

"Wait, it's Dead Lucy. It's like Ace said. She doesn't want you or Alora to go into the morgue." Ace then walked up to them. "Nancy's had a warning."

"Ooh." Ace said, looking at Nancy.

"Yeah. From Dead Lucy. She doesn't want us to do this."

"That's definitely not what I said."

"Well..."

"So forget I mentioned it. It's a moment of weakness."

"Just keep telling yourself that, Nancy."

"We're ready."

"You know what Nancy saw, what you've seen. Either she and I are both going crazy or Bess is right... you and your sister are being haunted."

───── ☾☾☾ ─────

Nancy and Alora stood outside the morgue. Both had their beanies, over their hair and gloves on. Nancy texted Ace to let him know that they were going in. The two ran towards the building and down the steps. Nancy placed the card onto the scanner and pulled it down. The red light turned to green and allowed them inside. Alora stepped forward slightly, while Nancy closed the door behind them.

The two moved forward slowly looking up at the camera as it turned. They ran down the hallway and hid behind the bed. Then they continued to move down the hallway making sure to stay out of the camera's view. The twins made it to the morgue, Nancy opened the door and the two moved in. They turned on their flashlights to see a few bodies on the tables.

"And which one is Tiffany?"

They walked over to the first body and Nancy lifted the drape over to look at the body. She pulled the drape back over and they moved to the next one. Alora pulled the drape back over and finally they moved to the third. They both pulled the drape off the body.

"Hello, Tiffany."

Nancy pulled the vile out, then she pulled the covering off the needle and pushed it into Tiffany's ear to get the blood they needed. Once she was finished she covered the needle, Alora pulled the drape back over her body. The two then proceeded to walk away from her. When they turned around to walk out, an eerie exhale occurred. Alora and Nancy turned around to look at one of the bodies.

The twins walked towards it, when they were close enough they both grabbed the drape and threw it off the body that was supposed to be there. A door then opened causing them to turn and look at it as the hinges started creaking. They moved forward walking into the room, their flashlights shining bright as they looked around. Someone had led them in there for a reason.

"The tissue sample room, where they keep what's left of the dead who don't leave their entire bodies behind." They turned to look at the boxes as thunder went off. "Like Lucy Sable." Nancy opened the box and the two moved closer looking in it. "Blood from the rocks she fell on. A broken crown with strands of her hair still in it. All that was left of Horseshoe By's most infamous Sea Queen. Who needs a cold case file when they've got this?"

A camera turned to look towards the twins and shortly after sirens went off. The two took off running out of the morgue. They came to the exit and Nancy pulled out the card trying to get them out but it wasn't working. Alora and Nancy exchanged a look with each other.

"George, what are you doing here?" Nancy asked, as the twins looked at her.

"Saving your asses. I figured you'd be dumb enough to get caught. And you may not believe me, but I need to know how Tiffany died just as much as you do." She lifted her hand to show them a crowbar. "Watch out." The two moved back and she broke the glass.

"Go." Nancy said, as the two walked back towards the door. "I owe you one, for high school."

"Give me the blood." George said, as police sirens could be heard in the distance. "Okay, worst-case scenario, they arrest you both and they take it away anyway. Best-case scenario, you can trust me. Give me the blood." Nancy proceeded to reach into her bag to grab it. "Come on, come on.

"Okay. Take these, too. We'll explain later."

The twins then watched George take off and leave them behind. The blood had been taken safely away.

"Hey, turn around slowly."

"Hands where I can see them." The two held their hands up as the guards stopped in front of them.

───── ☾☾☾ ─────

The twins had been taken to the station, both of them keeping a cold look on their face as they got their mugshot taken. Alora was mad that Nancy had once again talked her into doing something like this. They were both sitting by Karen as she typed on her computer.

"Nancy, Alora, you do realize that this only makes you look more guilty." Karen told them, causing the two to look at her.

"Trespassing does not make us a murderer. We only did it because we wanted to clear our name. I just want to get out of this town."

"You and me both." Alora mumbled.

"Then please, take my advice and stay..."

"Karen, I can't do this. Not with the one woman who completely broke my trust."

"I-I'm trying to help you both see that it's not worth it. Okay? That this was all for nothing."

Both Nancy and Alora looked at her computer. "Or not."

"Can I have a cup of coffee?" Nancy asked her.

She stood up and walked out leaving the twins behind. Nancy looked behind them to see her disappear. Then Nancy proceeded to stand up moving over to look at her computer. Alora looked at the computer as Nancy pulled up some things.

"Tiffany's phone, logged as evidence. Bingo. The last text she sent, to an unnamed contact?" Nancy grabbed a pen and wrote the number on the inside of her shirt. She then sat back in her seat, while Alora looked at the floor. Karen came back over to them and handed a cup over to Nancy.

"Hey. Someone's here to see you two."

The two had been placed in a cell while their dad stood on the other side of it. "They're charging you with burglary and criminal trespass. I will do everything in my power to get these chargers dropped, but there are limits. You're not kids. This girl detective stuff isn't cute anymore." Carson told them.

"We're doing this to find the truth." Nancy said, as she looked at her sister.

"Well, if you would just let the cops do their job for a minute instead of breaking into morgues and filing cabinets..." The two looked at their dad. "Yeah, I saw what you did in my office."

"What other choice did I have?" Nancy asked him.

"You had the choice to trust me."

Both Nancy and Alora laughed at him. "Yeah, well, we tried that, and then Alora and I saw you with Karen..."

"And you both figured that I'd lost any claims to professional integrity, right?"

"Yeah, kind of."

He sighed walking towards the bars. "Here's what I can tell you. If someone had broken into my confidential files, I can imagine a scenario where they might be worried about Ned Nickerson's connection to Tiffany Hudson. They might even speculate that he'd had a motive to kill her, but what I can also tell you is that a high-profile witness like Tiffany would've testified behind a screen to make sure the defendant never knew her identity."

"So Nick never knew who Tiffany was?"

"As his former attorney, I can't comment on that."

"Why didn't you want me seeing him?"

"Because I wanted you to spend this next year getting your life back on track, not getting attached to a kid with a troubled past." Carson turned away from them, while Nancy briefly looked down. "There's a list of questions that I ask all my clients at this point."

"No." Alora and Nancy spoke.

"No. We have questions first." Nancy said.

"Okay."

"Alora and I found a dress in the attic."

"A dress?"

"Yeah, you know, pink, bloodstained, in a trunk." The two watched their father laugh softly.

"I didn't know it was still up there. That was a prop I used to scare your mom with years ago. I got it at a thrift store, threw some food dye on it, and we had some laughs, and-and I guess we must've left it up there."

"Because I re... I... I remember seeing you and mom digging it up in the backyard when we were little."

"Me too. Mom said it was just a dream. She told us it was just that... a dream. But it didn't feel like a dream." Alora said, still looking at their dad.

"She probably would've said anything to get you two to go back to sleep then. That trunk belonged to your great-grandma Rosalind. After she died, we found out that she had buried her valuables in it."

"What valuables?"

"Those bone china teacups and the silver steak knives in the pantry."

"Yeah, yeah. The ones mom loved so much?"

"Yeah. Okay... let's go home."

"Um, we're in police custody." Alora reminded him.

"Your bail was paid an hour ago. I just wanted you two to talk to me."

"Hey, how'd you get the money?"

Carson turned back around to look at them. "I took on a new client with a generous retainer."

"How generous?"

"Ryan Hudson."

"So you sold your soul to the devil, huh?"

"I had to get you two out of here." He then walked towards them. "And as your lawyer, I am willing to do anything to protect you both."

───── ☾☾☾ ─────

Nancy and Alora arrived back at the Claw. They walked into their place of work, heading over to the bar as George walked behind it. "Thanks for getting that stuff out of there." Nancy said. George opened the fridge and grabbed the bag then she walked back over to Nancy and Alora handed the bag to Nancy. She grabbed it and the two looked into the bag.

"I'm sorry..." George stopped to look at Nancy. "...for what I did to you in high school." Nancy walked around her sister. "I didn't spread those rumors, but I didn't try to stop them either, so I'm part of what hurt you, and I'm sorry."

"I'm not going to hug you." George said.

"Okay."

"I owed you and your sister for not outing me to Bess and Ace, even though you knew everything about me and Ryan. He told me he has nothing to hide, but he does. Me. And I realize now, there's no end to that. He wants to keep me hidden, even though his wife isn't here anymore. You know, all this time, I thought it was Tiffany, but it's not, it's me. I'm the kind of girl that you keep a secret."

"You deserve a lot better than..."

"I know that, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'm aware."

"Okay."

"But... sometimes my actions don't line up with my awareness. Don't tell me they ditched out without turning off the lights. Guys."

"Uh, we're still here." Bess said, as the two came out. "We were just in the storage room."

"As friends." Ace said.

"Don't make it weird. Anyway, we thought you might need this to mail the body parts to your scientist."

"Thanks, guys." They placed everything in the box and taped it up. Nancy and Alora had stepped out of the Claw, Alora was deep in thoughts as she separated from her sister and headed back home. Midnight was quickly approaching, which meant that it would be time to flip the bucket to see what would happen in the year to come.

"Okay, so after living in this superstitious town for 18 years, I'm starting to think there may be something to those superstitions. Namely, a dead girl who is somehow connected to Tiffany Hudson. Not saying I believe in ghosts, however I'm starting to doubt myself. But if Dead Lucy is out there listening..."

"We're gonna figure out who killed you, too." Alora said out loud.

"As midnight approaches and with it another year, who will live and who will die? Only the buckets will tell."

Alora stood in the backyard, looking down at the bucket. She was anxious to find out what her fate would look like. She didn't believe in things like this, so why now was it making her so anxious. Taking a deep breath she stepped closer to the bucket. Her grip was tight on the flashlight she held in her hand. Alora lifted her foot from the ground and proceeded to kick the bucket over. She placed the flashlight on what was supposed to be sea water. But instead she found herself looking at red blood mixing into the grass.