A week after I arrived, Shannon’s hospitality grew sparse, and she began to hint that I needed to carry my weight and help her pay the rent.
And then I met the doctor. He remarked on the color of my hair and inquired about my family. Aside from that, I didn’t really speak to him, but Shannon said that he was interested in me, that he had taken a liking to me. I couldn’t stomach the thought of marrying the doctor. When I told her so, she laughed in my face.
“Oh, dearie. He’s not the marrying type.” She toyed with a curl as she laughed at me.
“What type is he, then?”
“The type you avoid if you can.” She quickly added, “You can go anytime you like, dearie, but you owe me. If you don’t pay up, I’ll call the sheriff. He’ll make you pay.”
It only took another week before I agreed to go to the stalls upstairs. It was a horrible experience, as was the one after that and then after that. I vomited frequently and did my best to avoid making eye contact with the men who came through the upstairs parlor. My Momma would be ashamed if she could see me now. I prayed that she couldn’t. But after a month of working and sickness, Shannon told me to stay home. I would not work in the Red House anymore. I’d tend to her place; although it was small, she said, it attracted a bit of dust. I dutifully saved my money to pay her what I owed her, but she continuously added to the figure and I soon realized that I’d always be indebted to her. Until I met Bear.
He’d come by to see Shannon one afternoon and having found her gone spent some time talking with me. It didn’t take long for me to feel an attachment to him, and fortunately for me, he felt the same way. Shannon pretended that she didn’t mind, that she hadn’t any feelings for him, but I wasn’t sure that was true.
The doctor stopped by often, even when he knew Shannon wasn’t home. I knew why he came by. He came to see me, but I didn’t wish for his visits. In fact, I did everything I could to avoid him. He liked to touch my skin and ask me questions so personal I shuddered to think how to answer them. “Tell me, Sabrina Elizabeth. Do you miss working in the Red House? I hear some women find it very satisfying.”
“Of course not!” I’d replied. That was just one odd conversation he’d tried to have with me. Lately, Shannon suggested that I be friendlier to him. She even suggested that I take up with him and cast Bear to the side. That was something I would never do, for I had a true fondness for Bear. Even more fondness than I’d had for Richard.
Bear came to see me twice a week, and I cherished every visit. He was coming today, and I couldn’t wait. With him, I would leave Mobile at last! I didn’t care if I ever returned. I surely never wanted to see the murderous ocean again.
“Here comes a handsome young lad. Oh, I’ve seen you before, Blue Eyes, and I’ve seen you watching me. Come see Shannon and get you a kiss.” Nobody stopped, thankfully. One young man tossed a string of profanities in her direction, and she gave it back unashamedly. There were no new faces in the crowd this week. No one had died and no boys had been maimed or killed by the heavy machinery, so there had been no need for replacements. The boys crossed the street and continued to mock her in a chorus.
I had to hide a smile from my seat at my vanity as Shannon spit after them. “Rotten little bastards! What are you grinning at, girlie?”
I finished brushing my hair and doused my neck with perfume. The scent was too strong for my liking, but it had been a gift from Bear and I wanted to please him. He’d come see me soon since the mill had closed for the day. He always came by on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He was faithful in that way, even though at times he fooled with other girls in the Red House. As far as I knew, he stopped all that when he asked to marry me. I rubbed the plain metal band that I now wore on my right hand. We weren’t officially married, so it would be bad luck to wear it on my left hand.
I was a girl who believed in luck. Ever since I arrived in Mobile, I’d had nothing but bad luck, and nothing I’d done had changed that. I’d picked up pennies face up, tossed salt over my shoulder and tied lucky green ribbons inside my skirts, but nothing mattered.
Shannon drank whiskey from a glass and flopped in the chair near the open window. It was dusty today. How long had it been since we’d had music? Music rolled down from the building next door; it was a siren’s call to those who had a mind to have a beer or spend a little money on other diversions.
Diversions. That’s a nice way of putting it.
“I don’t know why you bother dressing up. He won’t notice, and if you think he gives two fiddlesticks about you, you are soft in the head. He’s never going to marry you, Sabrina. Swanking around here like a princess. He’s got a wife, I hear. Do you think he’s going to pitch her to the side to marry you knowing you’ve been had by half the county?”
I slammed my hand on the vanity and shifted in the chair to glare at her. “That’s a damn lie!”
She smiled and curled her hand slightly. “Oh, I see you’ve finally mastered swearing. You have so much to learn about men, and you’ve already lost one. Maybe it’s you that’s bad luck. I have to admit that ever since I took you in, things have been sour for me too. Perhaps I should warn Bear about you.” The glass was pressed against her cheek now. I wanted to smash it into her pinched face.
Shannon’s teeth were yellowed from her snuff habit, but aside from that I could imagine she was once a pretty woman. She had dark hair that she kept cinched back from her face with decorative combs. Besides her ruby earrings, the combs were among the things she treasured the most. She wore them almost every day.
“He’s not married. He would have told me.”
“Would he? And why would I lie to you, girlie?”
Before I could speak my full mind, a hulking shadow filled the doorway. It was Bear, just as expected. “Out, now,” he said to Shannon before he collapsed in the chair opposite her. He smelled of dust, gasoline and sweat.
Shannon swallowed the rest of her drink and grabbed her shawl before heading to the bar. Before she left she said to me in a dead tone, “I’ll tell the Doc you’ll see him later.”
Bear said nothing else to her, and I stared after her as she left us alone. I quickly closed the door and pulled the curtains, then squatted down and helped Bear remove his shoes. As I always did, I grabbed the tub of water and washed his feet as he liked me to do. They were grungy and callused, but I didn’t flinch. It was the least I could do for the man who was going to save me from my horrible fate.
Joseph “Bear” Goodwin had been a man of influence once. He didn’t talk much about it unless he was drunk, but once he had owned a lucrative lumber mill with two dozen employees and a house that would have made the governor jealous. That was before a conflagration took it down to the ground and left nothing but ashes. He would never rebuild in Mobile, he said. The insurers had denied him his claim, and now he had nothing. Except me.
“Take me home with you tonight,” I pleaded as I finished tidying his feet. I set the bread and ham in front of him. Bear always gave me a few coins each week to get his Saturday meal and then kindly shared the meal with me.
“Not today.”
I poured him some water. It wasn’t cold, but it was the best I could do.
“But I want to see where you live. Why can’t I stay with you, Bear?”
He tossed the ham in the tin plate and stared at me. “Why are you asking me this? You know why I can’t take you with me. Shannon won’t allow it until I’ve paid your debt. And what’s this about the doctor? Are you seeing other men, Sabrina Elizabeth?”
“No! Of course not. I’m sorry I asked. I don’t mean to worry you; it’s just that being here makes me ill. I’m ready to leave this place for good. Whenever you are, of course. I’ll wait.” We ate in silence, and when he was through he pushed his dirty blond hair out of his eyes and leaned back in the chair. My hair was much lighter—cotton blond, as he called it—but his was a lovely color. Sometimes Bear stroked my hair after our lovemaking; I liked that very much. Underneath his wild beard and over
ly long locks, I fancied there was a handsome man there. Even if not, at least he was a kind one. He’d been kind enough to give me a weekly allowance, and I knew he gave Shannon something on the side to keep me out of her stalls. But it wouldn’t last. Shannon was a greedy woman, and I took her greed quite seriously.
And the only thing that frightened me more than Shannon was the doctor. Why would she say that about the doctor? I couldn’t fathom it. I shivered, and Bear looked at me as if I were addle-brained.
“You getting sick?”
“No. Rabbit ran over my grave, is all. You done eating?”
“I think so. What else is on your mind, Sabrina Elizabeth?”
I popped a piece of ham in my mouth and swallowed it. Should I ask him? I might as well, for I knew he wouldn’t strike me. The only thing I feared was that I wouldn’t see him again, that he would change his mind about me. “Where will we go, Bear? You mentioned Huntsville before. Is that to be our new home?”
He smiled, and it delighted my heart. It was a rare thing. “Yes, it will be. I expect you to keep this to yourself, but we leave next Saturday. So you see, you have to survive only one more week here. Do you think you can do it?”
I hopped in his lap and hugged him tightly. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. I whispered in his ear, “Do you mean it, Bear? Swear before God?”
“I do swear, and the first thing we’ll do when we get to Huntsville is go to the Justice of the Peace. I have a little house up there; my brother sold it to me. I got the letter this week. I’ll make a wife out of you yet, Cotton.” I sobbed on his shoulder and kissed his sweaty neck. He held me for a few minutes, but soon his hands began to roam. I welcomed his touch.
Later, as we lay in bed listening to the rambunctious music tumbling out of the saloon next door, I whispered in the dark, “And you promise you won’t leave me behind?”
“I swore I wouldn’t. I swore before God, remember? That’s not an oath I take lightly. We’ll go to Huntsville and have a happy life. My brother has a church there. He’s welcomed us to come, and I’d like to go a time or two, just to make him happy.”
“Can I go?”
“Of course you’ll go. You’ll be my wife. I’ll expect you to go where I go.”
I sighed with happiness and lay quietly beside him until he began snoring. I dreamed of putting china on the shelves of my china cabinet, of smoothing sheets when I brought them in off the clothesline. I dreamed of babies in cradles and baking Bear his biscuits every morning. I even imagined Momma watching over me, approving of it all. Yes, she would have liked Bear. He was going to save her little girl.
And then I went to sleep.
When I woke up again Bear was long gone, as was his custom on Saturday nights. He’d gone for a drink and then headed home. I wouldn’t see him again until Wednesday.
Yes, Bear was gone, but I wasn’t alone.
Crawling in beside me, his hand on my throat, was Oscar Long.
Chapter Three—Midas
My mind reeled over Cassidy’s painting. I felt like an ass for running out on her, but I couldn’t tell her what I suspected. I knew that place. That’s where they found my cousin Dominic months after he went missing. No, I couldn’t tell her until I knew for sure because I knew what that could mean.
I’d have to gather my facts first. If I could avoid being the one to break her heart, I would, but I would eventually have to tell her the truth. She deserved to know what I knew, but I had to verify it all first. In the meantime, I focused on the guy standing by the door.
“You must be Mark.” I stretched out my hand, and he shook it. “My name is Midas Demopolis. My cousin Jimmy says you wanted to speak with me.”
“Hello, Midas. Thanks for meeting me here. Well, this is the place. I don’t know how much Jimmy told you about what happened.”
“To be honest with you, not very much, and I like it that way. I’d rather hear it from you. I guess it is safe to assume you had some type of paranormal experience, or else I wouldn’t be here. People don’t usually call me for much else.” As usual, my attempt at levity failed miserably. I hated it when I had to explain that I was joking. “Seriously, Mark, whatever you tell me is confidential. What you tell me stays between you and me, and I’ll share that information with my team if you decide you want us to investigate. I can vouch for every one of them, and they know privacy is our number one concern. Just tell me what happened. If it helps, you can walk me through it.”
He agreed to that, and I did a quick appraisal of him as we walked into the building. Even though I couldn’t say it, I needed to quietly rule out my potential client as a nutcase. Sometimes even well-dressed folks could be oddballs, folks who believed ghosts were in every corner. From what I gathered from Jimmy and what I could see, Mark was a professional but also a hands-on type of guy and not averse to a little hard work. He had calluses on his hands, but his nails were clean and neat, and his hair was trimmed. He was well spoken and obviously not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. That’s always good. Like most guys in his tax bracket, he wasn’t too comfortable talking about the supernatural. I didn’t know why that was, but it seemed to ring true for many people.
“This is the door I came in, Midas. I purchased these old buildings last year, kind of hopped on the revitalization bandwagon. At one time, all three of these buildings were connected on the inside. At the end of the twentieth century, they were in constant use for various things. The building on the far end was at one time a general store and later an orphanage, and before it was abandoned it was the title office for the City of Mobile. The building in between these two was most recently a record store, so you can tell how long it’s been abandoned, but before that it was the brightest light in the red-light district. Folks around here called it the Red House, but that’s not a story you’ll hear on any historical tour. Now, the building we’re standing in was a medical office and a saloon. Imagine that. Get your tooth pulled and get drunk in the same afternoon.”
“Quite a colorful past,” I replied with a nod. “Plenty of potential for the paranormal.”
“The people who owned this building then were the Wagners; they also owned the Mobile Cotton Mill, it was just a street over but further down and closer to the bay. This clinic is where they would send their injured workers. The docks had their own clinic.”
“I imagine quite a few people passed away here. That’s often the case when there are spikes in paranormal activity.”
Mark stood with his hands on his hips and said, “A spike in paranormal activity.” He laughed dryly. “I guess that’s what you could call it. Two nights ago, it was sure enough spiking here.”
“Well, it looks great in here. Whoever you hired for the renovations knew what they were doing. I like the tin ceiling. That’s not something you see nowadays. Is that real tin?” That was probably a stupid question, but I didn’t know much about construction.
He glanced up. “Oh, yeah. I wanted it to have a historic vibe, and this was an inexpensive way to do that. I guess you can tell I’m not comfortable with all this. I don’t have the expertise you do, and I don’t know what to call things. My wife thinks I’m nuts, like I’m having some kind of midlife crisis, but my contractor is worse than I am. In fact, his crew refuses to finish the work until I ‘clean the place out,’ as he put it. I don’t know what he expects me to do. So that’s why I called you. Your cousin says you’re the guy, that your team is reputable and you won’t advertise to the community that I have a potential problem here. I don’t have the luxury of abandoning these buildings. But I know I’m not crazy. There’s something here, Midas, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but many times construction and renovation spur this stuff on. I won’t pretend that I have all the answers, but I do have experience. In most cases, hauntings will fall into a few primary categories: residual, intelligent and poltergeist. Sometimes just knowing what you’re dealing with helps. That’s where I’
d start.”
Mark avoided my eyes and shuffled his feet awkwardly. “At this point, any information would help. I’m questioning everything, and I don’t want to be like this.” I could see he didn’t want to be here. He’d definitely experienced the unexplainable.
“Show me where you were when you experienced the activity,” I said.
“All right. Down here on the bottom floor, there was no problem. I did a walk-through and took some pictures with my camera, which I brought in case you needed it. I haven’t had the cojones to look at any of the photos yet. There might be something on there, but I don’t know. My wife actually retrieved the camera for me. She said she found it upstairs in the building next door, but I didn’t go into that building.”
I shook my head. “Okay, now I’m not following you. Where did the activity actually happened?”
“Up the stairs and at the end of the hall.” He waved his hand in the direction of the gleaming staircase. I could tell he didn’t want to hike back up there, but I had to ask.
“How do you feel about taking me up there?”
“Not too good, but I’ll do it. Follow me.”
We jogged up the brand-new stairs, and again I marveled at the craftsmanship. Mark’s construction guys had really done a fine job. I wanted to see what the place looked like when it was finished.
“So I was here, standing here, when I looked out into the hallway and saw a door where the wall is now. But I heard a weird sound first. I checked out those rooms to see where it was coming from. When I stepped back out and looked that way, that’s when I saw the door.”
“Down there?” I asked as I walked slowly that way.
“Yeah. As you can see, there is no door there, but that afternoon I saw one with my own two eyes. The door I saw was wooden; actually, the entire place was paneled. I was pretty ticked off because I knew that wasn’t in the plan. I thought maybe those guys were pranking me, you know, because it was my fortieth. You know how that is. To test that theory, I turned the handle, and the door opened. I saw another hallway stretched out in front of me.”
Ghosted on the Gulf Coast (Gulf Coast Paranormal Trilogy Book 1) Page 26