by Zina Abbott
“You would do that? I don’t know how to get there even if I wanted to go.”
“I surely will. I figure you can use a friend, Charlotte, and it don’t hurt me none to have a friend, neither.”
Hazel sensed the sadness in the room lift, replaced by an aura of calm. Still, she didn’t want to presume. Her declaration of friendship had been bold, but sincere. Now, she felt a timid concern over what she might need to do that night to prove her friendship. If Charlotte still wanted her to go, then as much as she dreaded the thought, she would find another room in which to spend the night—as long as it wasn’t in the same room with Mr. Sweeney.
“I’ll light on out of here if you’re still of a mind to be alone.”
“Stay for tonight. Just…be careful and watch for Susannah.”
“I will, Charlotte. Thank you.” Still sitting on the floor by the side of the bed, Hazel realized her backside had gone numb. Slowly, she rose to prepare for bed, unsure what to think of the friendship she had entered into that night. From the time she had heard ghost stories when she was small, the idea of spirits of the dead frightened her. After meeting Charlotte…no more.
Out of her valise, Hazel removed and shook out the fancy silk nightgown Mrs. Sweeney had picked out for her. The skimpy design of the garment caused her to blush. She decided to not wear it. Her simple high-necked cotton flannel nightgown that came to the floor would be warmer. She dressed for bed, turned down the lights, and crawled beneath the covers.
CHAPTER 9
Hazel felt like she had barely fallen asleep when a soft tapping on her door woke her. It took her a few seconds to orient herself before she flung aside her covers and padded on bare feet to the door. Mr. and Mrs. Leavitt were the only ones who knew she was in this room. It must be Hiram Leavitt with a message for her.
Hazel quietly spoke into the crack of the door. “Mr. Leavitt? That you?”
Hazel waited several seconds without hearing a response. Then a man on the other side of the door answered, but it wasn’t Mr. Leavitt.
“Open the door, Hazel. I need to speak with you.”
“Don’t open the door.”
First hearing Mr. Sweeney’s voice and then Charlotte’s command, unsettled Hazel. She cleared her throat. “Mr. Sweeney, it’s late. Can’t it wait ’til mornin’?”
“No. It’s important, and I don’t intend to stand in the hallway and shout it for everyone to hear. Open the door, Hazel.”
“A-all right. If you’re sure it’s important. Let me get my wrapper on.”
“Hurry up, Hazel.”
The note of annoyance in Abner Sweeney’s voice was unmistakable, prompting Hazel to rush. She fumbled in the dark to light one of the lamps by the dressing table before she picked up her wrapper. Her hand caught on the sleeve as she struggled to pull it on quickly.
“Keep him out of my room. Tell him to go away.”
“I-I ain’t lettin’ him in, Charlotte. Reckon I’ll stand at the door and find out right quick what he’s aimin’ to tell me.”
Hazel wrapped the robe around her and tied it tightly at her waist. Her fingers trembled as she once again sensed an atmosphere of agitation in the room.
“Do not open the door. He does not mean you well.”
Charlotte’s warning stopped Hazel in her tracks. She didn’t know what to think. She had not been comfortable about sharing a room with Mr. Sweeney. But, for the most part, he had not given her any reason to think he meant her harm. Both he and Mrs. Sweeney had gone out of their way to be nice to her.
“He said it was important. Reckon if I stand at the door and hear him out, ain’t no need him comin’ in.”
“Who are you talking to, Hazel? Who’s in there with you?” The annoyed hiss of Mr. Sweeney’s words froze Hazel in her tracks.
“Say nothing about me.”
Hazel felt trapped. Abner Sweeney was her chaperone, and she had a duty to follow his direction until he helped her board the stage in Bodie. On the other hand, she had just declared her friendship to Charlotte who now expected her to not tell Mr. Sweeney about her and to keep him from entering the room. Feeling caught in a vise, she pondered what she should do.
“Hazel!”
Accustomed to obeying when yelled at, Hazel hurried to the door and turned the key. She cracked the door and pressed her face in the opening.
“Yes, Mr. Sweeney?”
Abner Sweeney pushed the door open with enough force to cause Hazel to stumble several steps back into the room. She grabbed the bedpost to keep her balance. She watched with dismay as the man entered her room and closed the door behind him. He turned the key in the lock, then removed it and shoved it into his pocket.
Her voice quavering, Hazel forced her eyes from the pocket into which her room key disappeared up to look into Abner Sweeney’s face. “What-what’re you fixin’ to tell me, Mr. Sweeney? It’s late, and unseemly you bein’ in my room.”
Hazel watched Abner Sweeney sway on his feet as he stared at her with a look in his eye she didn’t understand, but which unsettled her. She shuddered as the stink of cigar smoke on his clothing and the smell of alcohol on his breath registered with her.
“Why aren’t you in my room like I told you to be?”
“I was a mite discomfited—you tellin’ Mr. Leavitt I was your wife—and I don’t figure Mrs. Sweeney would much care for me spendin’ the night in the same room with you. Besides, ain’t no call to double up in one room seein’ as how you was given money for my lodgin’ for this trip.”
“That old skinflint of a guardian of yours didn’t give me near enough to cover all your expenses.”
“B-but she told you to send a telegram to my sister tellin’ her we was comin’. If there ain’t enough money, she would of met us and brung me the rest of the way.”
“And let her ruin my plans for you? No, little lady, I have no intention of letting your sister know you are on your way until I’m finished with you.”
“Fi-finished with me? I ain’t followin’ your meanin’, Mr. Sweeney.”
A smile slowly spread on Abner Sweeney’s face. Hazel’s flesh crawled as his eyes raked her body from head to toe and back, pausing on her bosom before they returned to her face. “Don’t try to play stupid with me, Hazel. You know what is expected of you, especially after I bought you all those pretty clothes. There was a reason I wanted you in the same bedroom with me.”
“But—why? It ain’t right, Mr. Sweeney. When I told Mr. Leavitt you wasn’t my husband and asked if there was somewhere else I could pass the night, he found this room for me. Ain’t goin’ to cost you nothin’.”
Abner Sweeney grabbed Hazel’s arm and jerked her toward him. “You little fool! You had no right to disobey me. You know what I want from you.”
“I…No, reckon I don’t know. I ain’t got no notion what you’re talkin’ about, Mr. Sweeney.”
In addition to Abner Sweeney’s obvious annoyance with her, Hazel began to feel an aura of anger spread throughout the room. Her feelings of fear began to escalate. She knew Charlotte was furious at her because she had let the man in the bedroom.
No, she had not let him in. He had forced his way in. But she had unlocked her door. The realization she was locked in the room with Mr. Sweeney and he held the key sent a shiver of terror coursing through Hazel.
Abner Sweeney’s bleary eyes surveyed the room, stopping at the bed and focusing on the bedcovers that had been thrown back when Hazel rose to come to the door.
“This room will do as well as mine.” Abner’s eyes then bored into her, settling on her bosom, as his hand reached to jerk the wrap away from her body.
“Mr. Sweeney! What are you fixin’ to do?” With a cry, Hazel grabbed the edge of her wrapper and attempted to tug it closed across her front.
Abner Sweeney responded by yanking at her robe with both of his hands and jerking it down past her shoulders, causing her to lose her grip on the bedpost. The belt tied tightly at her waist kept the wrapper cinched around her
body, pinning her arms to her sides and leaving the front of her nightgown exposed. Sweeney’s body pushed her toward the foot the bed and forced the back of her legs against the edge of the bench where she had placed her valise and coat. He leaned over her, pressing her spine into the top of the footboard.
“Why aren’t you wearing the nightgown I bought you?”
“You mean the silk gown Mrs. Sweeney done picked out for me? I figured this gown’s more fittin’, seein’ as how it’s so cold outside, and all.”
“Take this rag off and put the silk gown on. I want to see you in it.”
Hazel sucked in her breath. “Mr. Sweeney, surely you can’t mean that.”
“Do it now, while I watch you, or I’ll do it for you. Why else would I tell my wife to get the nightgown if I didn’t want to see you in it? Why else would I go out of my way in this miserable weather to be alone with you, away from my wife, unless I expected something special from you in return?”
The anger in the room increased, distressing Hazel almost as much as the implication behind Abner Sweeney’s words.
“In return? Mr. Sweeney, I-I just figured you and Mrs. Sweeney noticed I was a mite skimpy on clothes and you was bein’ plumb helpful. I had no notion you was expectin’ somethin’ in return.”
“Yes, I was being nice to you…and now, it’s your turn to be nice to me. Take off that rag and do what I told you.”
Sheer panic immobilized Hazel. Tears streamed down her cheeks. In addition, the intense sensation of anger and disgust swirling through the room threatened to consume her. To escape, she would have given anything to have a hole in the ground open up and swallow her.
“Please, Mr. Sweeney, I can’t do what you ask. Take everything back. I don’t want nothin’. Maybe—maybe Mrs. Sweeney can use it.”
“Don’t talk like a fool, you stupid girl. It would take two of those gowns to wrap around my wife, assuming I want to see her in something like that. You will do what I tell you, even if I have to dress you myself.”
Hazel futilely tried to twist her body away from Abner Sweeney’s grasp as he reached for the front buttons of her nightgown. She squeezed her eyes shut and gasped for air, unsure how she was going to escape. The man’s fury toward her paralyzed her with fear.
Charlotte’s anger crushed her soul with guilt. Hazel had no idea how she could deter the disaster she now faced.
Then, awareness struck Hazel. The intense anger in the room she felt coming from Charlotte was not directed at her; it was directed toward Abner Sweeney.
“Let her go. Leave my room. Go away.”
She sensed Charlotte hovering at her right side. Emboldened by the specter’s support, Hazel echoed the words. “Let me go. Leave my room. Go away.”
Hazel felt the hand clutching the front of her gown loosen its grip. She wriggled her hands free of the belt and reached up and grasped the front of her gown to close the gap created where two buttons had been pulled off the fabric. She watched as Abner Sweeney leaned away from her, his hands raised in defense, his eyes flitting between her face and a point to her right.
“What do you think you are doing, you miserable girl?”
Hazel jerked her head to the right long enough to see what had caught his attention. Charlotte stood next to her, visible to her view and possibly to Mr. Sweeney’s. If a specter could have fire shooting from its eyes, then Charlotte was sending a barrage of fiery darts at Hazel’s attacker.
“Wha-what?” Abner Sweeney stammered. “There’s two of you.”An expression of fear suffused his face as his eyes darted between the two women. He screamed, “Witch…Witch!”
“Leave now!”
“Leave now!”
Abner Sweeney backed away several steps. He turned and ran to the door. The wall trembled in protest at the force with which he shook the doorknob back and forth trying to open the door. He grappled for the key in his pocket.
“Go away now!”
“Light on out of here, Mr. Sweeney!”
Seeing Charlotte glide toward the man as if to keep the pressure on him to leave the room, Hazel stepped forward, keeping herself at Charlotte’s side.
Abner Sweeney made a couple of nervous jabs at the lock before he successfully inserted the key inside the lock and turned the knob. After he jerked the door open, he hurried through it. He turned as if to close the door behind him. Upon seeing the forms of the two women—one a mortal, one a specter—mere feet from him, he stumbled backward.
“Stay back! Stay away from me!”
Hazel hurried forward and watched her chaperone turn and run down the hallway. She closed the door and twisted the key in the lock all in one motion. She turned, and with her hand still on the doorknob, she collapsed until her back pressed against the wall. She looked up just in time to see Charlotte float toward the far side of the bed, already sinking to the floor.
Holding her nightgown closed with one trembling hand, Hazel covered her mouth with the other in an attempt to hold back the sobs that insisted on escaping. She walked toward the bed, knowing Charlotte was probably still on the carpet, although she chose to no longer be seen. Grasping the post, Hazel whispered her apology.
“Oh, Charlotte, you ain’t got no notion how sorry I am. I nary suspected he’d light into me thataway. Please forgive me for lettin’ him into your room.”
Hazel sensed no response from Charlotte. However, the atmosphere of anger and hate had faded and no longer filled the room. Once again, a quiet puddle of sorrow radiated from the section of carpet where Hazel suspected Charlotte regularly maintained her vigil for Swen and Susannah.
“Without you helpin’ me I don’t know how I would have kept him from gettin’ what he come here for.” Hazel shuddered at the prospect, no longer having any doubt in her mind just what Abner Sweeney had intended that night, whether she was willing or not. “You done proved yourself a true friend.”
Hazel waited in silence. She decided that her specter friend was too angry with her to be willing to talk with her. She started toward the opposite side of the bed.
“I once had a man try to do the same, hoping he could ruin me and force me to marry him for my father’s money. Swen saved me. Before tonight, you had no experience with such men. Now, you know to be careful.”
“Thank you for understandin’, Charlotte. Ain’t no way I can repay you.”
“Yes, you can. You said you would help me search for Swen and Susannah, even after you leave this earth. Good night, my friend.”
CHAPTER 10
Hazel’s eyes popped open. Bright daylight streamed through the cracks where the draperies didn’t quite cover the windows of her room. Charlotte’s room, she reminded herself. But, why had Mr. Leavitt not come and awakened her like he said he would? Shouldn’t the stagecoach they would be taking to Bodie be leaving first thing in the morning?
Hazel shivered at the realization that taking the stage to Bodie meant she would be riding with Mr. Sweeney. She dreaded seeing him again, still feeling humiliated and foolish after what had happened the night before.
Hazel stilled her thoughts. Was Charlotte still in the room? Yes, she felt the aura of sadness off to the right of the bed, although it was not as strong as the night before.
“Mornin’, Charlotte. Thank you kindly for lettin’ me stay here, and for all you done to help me last night. Reckon I best get dressed so I don’t hold up the stage none when it’s time to go.”
“The last stagecoach for the morning is leaving.”
Hazel threw back her covers and jumped out of bed, not stopping until she stood before the front window. Even before she pulled aside the drape to see outside, she heard the sounds of horses neighing and stomping, men’s voices calling out and creaks of the shifting wood joints of a stagecoach. Her eyes widened in alarm as she watched Mr. Leavitt slam the stage door shut after the last passenger entered, then smack the side of the stage twice to signal the driver. The driver then called to the horses and snapped the leads, starting the stage on its journey.
She surveyed the mountains before her with the sun rising above them. It must not be the stage returning to Carson City. This stage was headed south toward Bodie.
Maybe there was more than one headed south that day. She needed to find out.
Hazel hooked the drape open to allow light into the room before she rushed to her valise to dress. She tied herself into her corset then picked up the blue dress she had worn the day before. She fingered the fabric as she considered. It was the dress Mrs. Sweeney had picked out for her—the one Mr. Sweeney had asked her to wear on the journey. No, she would not wear it today. She pulled out her dress she had made while still with Mrs. Dodd and shook out the wrinkles the best she could.
Hazel did not consider herself a brave and determined person like her sister. But, after what had taken place the night before, this would serve as her show of defiance. If Mr. Sweeney didn’t like her wearing the dowdy farm dress she had made, that was too bad. She refused to wear the pretty blue gown to please him.
Hazel barely finished tying the laces on her last boot when she heard the tap on the door. She froze in place and her heart sank to her stomach. Mr. Sweeney had come to get her. How was she going to face him?
“Miss Jessup? Hiram Leavitt, here. I must speak with you.”
Hazel heaved a sigh of relief. Mr. Leavitt came to get her, just like he said he would. Hopefully, he would act as a buffer between her and Mr. Sweeney when it came time for her to join her chaperone.
The first thing she noticed when she opened the door was the concerned expression on the innkeeper’s face. Not wanting him to see her unpacked nightgown and room still in disarray, Hazel stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her. A quick glance at the second floor hallway told her the two of them were alone.
Hiram shook his head in frustration and ran his fingers through his hair. “Miss Jessup, I’m not sure how to tell you this, but Mr. Sweeney is gone. He boarded the stage back to Carson City.”