“Is that right? He told you that?”
“Course he did. How else would I know?”
“Say what he wanted?” I ask.
“Getting tired of standing. You come on inside. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
Lodell disappears around a tree and reappears a few yards from the shack.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming here?” I whisper to Mojo. I swear there’s the same creepy grin on his face that I saw on Levi’s. “Seriously, do not ever take off again.”
The shack is warm and dark. Mojo lies down by a wood stove like he lives here. Lodell takes a tin pot from the stove and fills it with long strands of a plant, tree bark, knotted roots, and a few fat, dark berries. I’m hoping this tea is nothing like the ice tea Levi drank. With trepidation, I sit at a table across from him.
“Lodell? Are you a descendant of Oliver Lodell, the civil war soldier?”
“That be true enough. That I am.”
“And the Pritchard family?”
“Yep.” He’s poking inside the pot with a long, wooden spoon. The stove’s fire is threatening his tattered coat sleeves.
I wish he would look at me so I could get a better read on him. I wish it wasn’t as dark as it is in the cabin so I didn’t feel so nervous. “And Morowa… Turley?”
“Turley,” Lodell shouts, and laughs so hard he has to grab hold of the counter. “She wasn’t no Turley. Wasn’t no hillfolk ever.”
“You knew her?”
Lodell moves to the table. He nods with his eyes closed as if seeing her. Then he drains the foul smelling liquid through a cloth into two tin cups. In the dark, it looks blacker than mud. He sits in a chair across from me.
“The wolf says you’re here to send Morowa to the afterlife.”
“You sure it wasn’t Silas who told you that?”
“I said the wolf told me. I can hear him same as you, only better.”
“A lot better,” I say. “I’m good at reading his facial expressions but not his thoughts, and he sure doesn’t talk to me.”
“These are Morowa’s woods,” he says, pushing one of the cups to me.
I bring it to my lips, but wait until I see him do the same before I drink the thick brew that smells like dirt and bitter herbs.
“Doubt she’s going anywhere, even for the likes of you and the money men. They come out here wanting to knock down all the trees, cover up the ground. The wolf said you’d understand that.”
The room seems darker and I feel dizzy. I push the cup away and focus on my breathing. No matter what the old man says, I figure Silas has been doing the talking, and this is just another attempt to run me out of town, or kill me.
“I help spirits crossover. This world is for the living. You know that.”
“Morowa has a purpose here.”
“To keep a shopping center out of your backyard?”
Lodell shakes his head and stares at the table before looking at me. His words come slow. “You of the blood, girl. You should know taking the land is wrong. Destroying what God put here and building more of what isn’t needed is wrong.”
“My concern is for the spirits who remain earthbound. What the living do is beyond my control and purpose in this lifetime.” I take a deep breath to stop sounding so defensive. “I think Morowa came to me last night. Something did. I heard singing and drumming and what sounded like a woman’s voice tell me to take off the cuss.”
Lodell pulls back and laughs. His smile fades as he runs a gnarled finger around the rim of his cup. He’s humming under his breath, swaying slightly, and seeming a little intoxicated. “That so?” he says, more to himself than to me. “Well now, could be she’s done with this here world. Don’t blame her none for that, not one bit.”
“What cuss was she talking about?”
He seems lost in his humming then stops and smiles. “Morowa, she be a free woman, born 1865. Her real mammy was a slave. Her daddy owned this land.”
“Roy Pritchard?”
He nods. “She loved him, didn’t know no better. He told her he’d give her some of this land, but that was a lie. Gave it all to his sons, his real children. His white children.”
Lodell takes a long drink from his cup then stares at the liquid as if reading it. “She stayed here anyway. Wouldn’t leave. She never knew her mammy. Found out later what they did to that poor girl. Just a young girl her mammy was. When Morowa found out, she took up the ways of her own blood.”
“Voodoo?”
The old man looks up, his eyes have turned milky white in the dark room. “Took up the ways of her African roots. She was fooled by her daddy, but she was no fool. When she figured things out, she stopped using the name he give her.”
“Sara Jane Pritchard,” I say, under my breath.
“My grandmother only let folks call her Morowa. Made for better story telling that way.” Lodell laughs, he’s still humming. The pattern is hypnotic and deliberately so, I suspect.
“And she used voodoo to curse the land that was supposed to be hers. The land near the road where they plan on building?”
He shrugs like it doesn’t matter to him one way or the other. He looks sleepy and puts his hand under his chin to hold up his head.
“She’s asking me to help her. How do I take off the cuss?”
Lodell leans back and shakes his head. My eyes are heavy; the motion seems blurry. He stops and laughs under his breath like he knows.
“That be between the two of you. Not my place to say. Not the way to be showing respect for my grandmother. It’s for her to be saying. Could be you’re right about it being time, but I’m too old to know one way or the other.”
“The Navajo believe that unless a body receives a proper burial, the soul will never rest. Is Morowa buried on the builder’s property?”
“She is. Can’t recall where exactly. Been years and years since I been more than a hundred yards from this here shack. Can’t recall farther than I can walk. I got to visit her in my dreams.”
Lodell stops to rub his eyes and goes to put more wood on the fire. He busies himself with the dishes in the kitchen sink as though I’ve already left. I still have so many questions.
He shuffles to a rocking chair and sits down. “You are a strong woman. My grandmother was stronger. Still, I think Morowa likes you. You be smart enough to figure this out on your own. You don’t need me none. You come into it on your own. That’ll be best.”
He’s falling asleep, still humming. I ask him if he’s all right out here, if he needs anything. He tells me he’s got everything he needs and more.
He says Silas comes by to check on him, and his grandkids bring him things. When I ask about the kids, he tells me where I can find them, if I don’t mind walking a few more hours through the woods. I get their names to search for a phone number or a shorter path to their doorstep.
Mojo goes to the door without me saying a word. Lodell looks a little sad as he does. He says he’ll tell Silas to stop watching me in the woods even though I never mentioned the man was watching me.
I go to him, and he takes my hand. I feel the tingle of a kindred soul. One as wise as Maybelle and far wiser than I could ever hope to be.
“You take care of Morowa for me. Do right by her.”
“I promise you I will.”
“You take care of that other woman too before you go.”
“What other woman?”
“Don’t know nothing about her. Just know she’s weighing heavy on your mind. The law’s getting it all wrong.”
“Are you talking about Kylee Price, the woman who was shot on the property? Did Silas tell you about her?”
“Don’t know nothing, but I know you can set it straight. You got the gift. My grandmother used to say that if it wasn’t for the men folk, the world would be a fine place to live. It was a lie. She did love the men folk.”
He laughs like he’s told the funniest joke ever then he stops and leans forward and rubs his chin. “You know what? I
reckon you’re right. I figure you came to find the truth for both these women. Listen and you’ll hear it. I reckon you need to hear your own truth just the same. Ain’t no coincidence you coming here. The three of you, that be God’s work. That be fate due you all.”
Chapter Thirty
§
As we’re walking back to the trailer, I tell Mojo if he can find an old man in the woods, he can find Morowa’s grave. I swear he rolls his eyes at me. “How’d you find him anyway?” He doesn’t answer.
I’ve now heard three versions of Morowa’s story, but it’s Lodell’s I believe– most of it anyway. Somewhere on the supermall’s sixty acres is a hundred plus year old grave. Maybe one with an old wooden cross with her name– maybe, but likely not.
Finally after all the distractions, I have a concrete plan to release the woman’s spirit and set the supermall wheels in motion. I have to find her bones, ask her for the truth about the curse, and see that she gets a proper burial.
I’m still tempted to try to find where Silas lives despite Lodell’s suggestion that I leave him alone– because he isn’t the type to be keeping company. “Man has a reputation in these woods,” he’d said with a hardy laugh that had a Deliverance ring to it. Maybe later I’ll send Mojo to do the introductions.
Right now, I have to get back to the trailer to eat something before I pass out. Lodell’s herbal brew made me dizzy then sleepy. Now I’m buzzing like the mosquitoes.
After a few attempts at getting phone reception in the woods, I finally get through to a very happy and hyper Levi who’s on his way back to the property. After his meeting with the police at Emma’s office, he says he’s confident that Roland’s arrest for the murder of his wife is a day or two away.
If that’s true, it means Dexter will be released and my fee will be tripled– if I can convince Morowa to crossover. I’m not counting my dollars yet though. I don’t know if Lodell’s belief that the law has it all wrong pertains to Dexter or Roland or both.
I tell Levi to have his hiking boots on when I get back because we are going grave hunting. He says he has an order of fried stuff and nachos and pie right next to him. To celebrate, he adds when I groan. Still, I’m hungry enough to eat a deep fried skunk, so I don’t much care what he brings.
When I open the trailer door, I see Levi draining the battery on my laptop while playing video games. “Google Lodell and Juniper in Rochester,” I tell him as I stuff myself with soggy, fried mystery food and biscuits.
I’ve already told him about Lodell. He screeched when I told him about the muddy tea and wanted to know if I think it was some kind of voodoo potion. Based on my scattered energy, it was some kind of potion all right, but my head isn’t spinning in circles so I think I’ll be okay.
Lodell denied having sent me a poppet doll or doing anything to run me or anyone else off the property. He said if I was still alive and hadn’t grown horns by now, he knows it wasn’t Silas’ work.
“Hey, I found Jessica and Steve Juniper in Rochester on Facebook,” Levi says. “You want me to message them?”
“Definitely. Tell them I got their names from Isom Lodell today, and that I need to talk to one of them as soon as possible. Give them my phone number.”
Levi drums his fingers on the table. “You really think you should do that after what Roland did to me? They could be, I don’t know, weirdoes.”
“I talk to the dead. I’m the weirdo. We need to get to work. We’ve got to cover as much land as possible before it gets dark.”
“Are you really wanting to do this? What are the chances of finding a hundred year old grave? Zero. Even if she had a headstone, it was probably just wood and is long gone. A tree could have grown over her. Leave her where she is. It’s not right to dig her up.”
“I think it’s right, but I’m not really sure. It’s the thought of the cement over her resting place that I can’t get out of my head; the one with the big wheel monster truck parked over it. I can’t just leave her here.”
“Why can’t you use your Ouija board and be done with things. Let’s get this over with tonight so we can be on our way home in another day or two. As soon as I get back, I’m signing up for my private investigator training so I can make some real money.”
“Are you still doing that? You can’t make a life decision based on one adventure in the Arkansas woods.”
“You hunt ghosts for a living. You’re not qualified to give career counseling. This is the first thing that’s ever been all mine. Plus, I’m good at it. I figured out what you and Emma couldn’t.”
Levi turns off the laptop and puts on his boots then he grabs a second piece of fried pie.
“I’m about to set an innocent man free. I feel good about what I did, despite almost dying. Get out the Ouija board then we can go into town and celebrate. Let’s get a room at the Belladonna and watch TV. This grave hunting business is going to be a waste of time.”
“Maybelle convinced me not to bring the Ouija board so there’s nothing to get out. If you want the money, I have to finish my job. I need to try and find her. I’m sure it’s the right thing to do, I think. And I need to find the truth whatever it is.”
“Truth about what?”
“I don’t know. I think Morowa knows I’m trying to help her. I need to find her bones and convince her to help me too. We can start in the areas where Dexter and the workers saw the mist. We’ll walk a grid pattern. We should be able to get half way done before dark.”
Levi perks up when I mention grid pattern. He must have read something about it when PI surfing. “Might be worthwhile to hone my tracking skills,” he says.
“More like discover if you have tracking skills.”
“Same thing.”
Once outside, we decide to split up so we can cover the areas of the known sightings faster. Levi says he’ll go to the far end of the property where the surveyor saw the mist while I go farther into the woods where the construction crew went.
“Do a one hundred step grid pattern and mark it. We don’t have time to go over things twice or miss anything either,” I say.
“I know what a grid pattern is.” Levi locks the trailer door and is gone.
I follow, while warning Mojo not to go far. He looks like he understands, but the fresh scent of rodents is too great to resist. Now that I think of it, he probably chased some all the way to Lodell’s place. I don’t like the idea that he sought out another to talk to, but have to give him credit for finding the man.
Okay, ladies, I say to myself. What’s our truth? I try to remember Lodell’s words. Morowa loved the men. Thirteen children and never married, according to Darlene at the library. Probably not true especially the part about her eating them, but what was Lodell’s point in saying she loved the men? An old man’s rambling or a clue?
I wonder if Kylee loved Dexter enough to come out here to find Morowa. What if she brought some of Dexter’s hair to offer the woman? No telling what lovelorn tales Kylee heard about this place.
I spend time trying to center my mind and listen to what the two women have to say, and what the wise spirits I pray to have to offer the three of us. “You’re going to have to talk while I’m working ladies. Morowa, you can start out by telling me where your bones are buried.”
Marking my start with a mound of rocks, I begin counting. Levi’s right, this is crazy. I’m about to turn around and head back for another walk through when I hear a voice behind me.
“Well, well, look who we have here. The ghost girl who’s stirring up the pot about all sorts of things. Aren’t you now, ghost girl?”
He must have snuck up because the wind’s blowing his stench away from me. This is the last thing I need right now.
“Can I help you with something? I’m too busy to talk about what’s in or isn’t in some pot you’ve got on your brain. Unless you have something worthwhile you want to share, you can leave me to my work.”
“Is that right? I think I know what I can and can’t do. And I know I don
’t need you to tell me otherwise.”
“And I know I don’t need your permission to say what I think.” I stand tall, cross my arms, and squint my eyes.
“Anyone ever tell you that you got yourself a foul mouth and a disrespectful attitude?”
“Only everyone who ever met me. Any other questions? No? Good. Your time’s up. Have a nice life.”
I watch his thumb slide across the handle of his gun in his holster. “Hold up a minute. I have one question you might like to answer.”
“Yeah, what’s that?” I ask.
“Just how stupid are you to be out in these woods all by yourself?”
Chapter Thirty One
§
I swallow hard to stop myself, but it doesn’t do a bit of good. “A threat by a law enforcement officer? You must be serving and protecting something other than the people in your community.”
Lieutenant Holt moves his hand away from his gun and gives me a demon’s glare. I know that look. I’m well acquainted with that look, and I give it right back.
“A job to serve and protect the folks in my town doesn’t include charlatans who come around selling snake oil to chase off Casper the ghost.”
“I don’t have any oil on me, snake or otherwise. And how Dexter Joubert wants to spend his money is his business, so I suggest you try and not make it yours.”
“Seems you’re working your voodoo all over this town. I heard Joubert’s paying you extra to get him off for Ms. Price’s murder.”
“Voodoo, charlatans, snake oil, Casper? Sounds like you’ve been reading too many comic books, Lieutenant. Like I said, I’m busy and unless you’re here to say something that has to do with your duties as a paid officer of the law, you can get out your wallet if you want a second more of my time.”
“Here’s something that might interest you. That poppet doll you claim someone left? The only fingerprints we found on it were yours.”
“Well that’s breaking news seeing as I handled the thing. What else is news to me is how your crime lab got the results back overnight, or how they determined the prints are mine since I’m pretty sure they aren’t in AFIS.”
The Cathville Haunting (Jack Raven Ghost Mystery Book 2) Page 14