Will asked, “Where you going?”
“To find Erich.”
On the street, she repositioned her purse on her arm and pointed herself toward the hotel. Coming across the street, waving an arm to get her attention, was Edwin with his wife on his arm and their three children in tow.
Her life had been so full in the past week plus, that she hadn’t much thought of her favorite patient at the hospital. Part of her was disappointed in herself. She painted on a smile and greeted the couple with a cheerful hello.
“Mrs. Houdini,” Edwin said after they’d closed the distance. “I’m so glad we ran into you. I’d been meaning to come by your place since I was released from the hospital—”
His wife elbowed his ribcage sharply. “Edwin! We were so sorry to hear about your home and the fire, Mrs. Houdini. Is there anything you need?”
The kind offering from the couple who barely had enough to make their own ends meet touched her. “The damage to the house and its contents was complete, but I’ll be just fine. Possessions can be replaced. I’m lucky that my friend Erich and I were not injured or worse.”
“We really do want to help, in any way we can,” Edwin said. “After all, what you did for us by paying my hospital bill was such a generous blessing.”
Bess stepped closer to Edwin and gave him a loose hug. “I don’t want you to mention it again. I was glad to help. What’s important is that you are back with your family.” She turned to the three kids, looked into each of the round faces. “You have such a lovely family, Edwin. Take good care of them.”
“I will ma’am.”
As she watched them continue up the street, Bess’s decision to go back to Erich reaffirmed itself. Whether it was because of Harry’s soul or despite it, she was in love with him, and it was worth any risk to have him by her side.
***
Erich stopped in front of the hotel and questioned his choice again. Who was he doing this for? And why? Bess didn’t think she could live with him, and Jaden – and his previous views on love – almost convinced him that it caused far more pain than pleasure. Still, Jaden orchestrated this whole journey and had just declared the only future in which Bess found real happiness included Erich.
With a new found courage, he entered the lobby and started for the elevator. When the doors opened, he moved forward, but a strong hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him back, bringing him eye to eye with Martin.
His brows were furrowed and his jaw locked. “Me? That’s what you told the police to save your own sorry skin? That I started Bess’s house on fire? Forget the fact I can’t be two places at one time, I’d never do such a thing.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“That’s not what Stanley Fisher said. He came out to my place and said you accused me and Gail of trying to poison you and starting the fire.”
Erich could hear the elevator door close again behind him. Harry wanted to lash out, shove Martin away and continue on his search for Bess, but Erich resisted. It’d do nothing except anger Bess, and she was mad enough at him.
“Look, all I said to Stanley was that you were upset with Bess because she canceled the séance.”
“And you told him that I gave her homemade brandy? He could have arrested me for that alone.” Martin lowered his gaze. “I don’t understand what I ever did to make you hate me so.”
Erich’s jaw dropped. “You threatened to make me disappear!”
Martin slid his hand through his cropped hair. “Not one of my finer moments.”
“You admitted to me you had laid seeds and were waiting for them to take root.”
“To help my wife! Not burn down Bess’s home.” He exhaled and looked to the ceiling for a moment. His angular chin quivered a bit as he leveled his gaze. “Rumors and speculation about what really happened between Gail and I while Louise was still alive have ruined her reputation. That’s on me, but Harry gave the gossips more fodder, and they pushed her down the social rungs of the spiritualist community. I had hoped that through this stupid séance, she might regain some respect from them. Not that it matters all that much to me, but it’s very important to her. I’ve worked very hard to mend the bridges with Bess that Harry had burned.”
All of Martin’s guilt and pain lay open on his face. And he had a point. Harry had lashed out in anger and set part of this wheel in motion long before his death. “Bess’s house is gone along with every possession that was in it. I had to tell the police what was happening.”
“Stan was pretty hard on Gail before he turned his investigation on me, but that isn’t anything new in this town. After all I’ve done for this community, all my years of service to the hospital, in their eyes I’m nothing more than a womanizer, and she’s no more than a home wrecker.”
How was that Erich’s fault? He’d only been in Martin’s life for a little more than a week, and he couldn’t be held accountable for Harry’s actions. “What am I supposed to do about it?”
Martin shrugged. “Feel a little guilty maybe.”
Erich sighed. “I don’t have time for this right now. I need to find Bess.”
“Well, that’s why I’m really here. Gail was pretty upset after being questioned. She took off in her car. I don’t know anyone she’d go to except for Bess.”
Erich pivoted and pushed the button to recall the elevator. “Bess and I had words at the park, and she’s in a bad mood. I bet the two of them are up in the hotel room, cursing me.”
As the doors closed, Erich stood alone with Martin in the small compartment. In some ways it felt so familiar; in others it was damn awkward. Despite his protests, Martin might be responsible for burning down Bess’s home and trying to poison him, but the piece of Harry who considered Martin a good friend missed the kinship. Erich had become good at squelching Harry’s voice recently, but he found himself listening to the longing in Erich’s soul and hearing the pain over Gail’s actions that Harry buried.
Sometimes anger isn’t a mask for other things, he realized.
The doors opened, and Erich led Martin down the narrow hall. In the room, he called out Bess’s name.
“They’re not here?” Martin asked. “Maybe they went to the deli for some coffee?”
“I looked there before I came here. Will said I’d just missed her.”
The mild concern that had tempered Martin’s irritation grew and deepened. Hard lines framed his eyes and mouth. “Where could they be?”
“Bess is angry at me right now. I’m not surprised she’s hiding out. Did Gail have a favorite place to go when she was upset?”
“Yes. To Bess.”
Bess. Not just his angel, but a true angel of mercy.
Martin paced the room, as if he expected the woman to jump out from behind the closet door. “Where ever they are, I’m sure they’re together. Do you think Bess went to look through the rubble at the house?”
“She already got the only thing from there that mattered to her. All that is left, besides destruction, is painful memories.”
Martin gave him a quizzical look, like he expected Erich to explain, but that was something he couldn’t do.
Was there anything else these two had in common? Only one that Erich held suspect. “Maybe it was Joseph all along.”
“What are you saying?”
Bess’s faith in Joseph had been just as unwavering as it had been in the Coopers, but she knew Martin and Gail longer, spent more time in their company — too much time to be wrong.
Instead of fighting her on this for his own satisfaction, Erich should have been listening to her. “Would Joseph try to hurt Gail?”
Martin stepped back and dropped his head, as if he could hide behind a veil of shame. “Joseph helped me by caring for Louise in her later days. I could have kept her comfortable with Morphine, but she wouldn’t have been as alert as she was with the herbal and Indian medications he used. Watching her die was the hardest thing I’ll ever do, Erich, and I’ll be the first to admit I handled it like a rotten
S.O.B. Joseph grew quite fond of her. How could he not? She was so kind to everyone. So, to answer your question, he didn’t care for Gail at all. Like the rest of this town, he blamed her for my lack of attention to Louise in her final days.”
That had to be it. Erich had put blame in Martin’s direction, because that is where Joseph led him. “Where did he go when you kicked him out?”
“To the reservation, I guess. He’s always had a small cabin out there he’d retreat to at times.”
“But he used to live on your grounds?”
“I gave him lodging in the servant’s quarters while he was studying medicine. One of the last things Louise asked of me was to make sure I treated him well, just like Joseph had treated her. I gave him everything I could, until he pushed me too far.”
The entire premise that all Joseph had ever wanted was to learn traditional medicine had always seemed fishy to Erich. He’d done nothing but praise his people’s herbal treatments and run down hospitals and doctors as the ones who practiced witchcraft. It seemed to him, Joseph would be insulted by Martin’s teachings and demeaned by a room in the servant’s quarters. Add that to his dislike for Gail and suddenly there was a mound of evidence — albeit circumstantial — piling up against Joseph for everything that had gone wrong, including the disappearance of two women. “I think both Gail and Bess are with him, and I’m not thinking it’s for a good reason.”
“Joseph? He may dislike Gail, but he’s very serious about his role as a healer. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Love can make a man do things he never thought he would before.”
“Love? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Sure it does.”
Martin shook his head. “Joseph has gone back to the reservation. I think you were right about Bess and Gail being together though. If Bess isn’t at the deli or with you, then my money is on her being at the hospital, volunteering. I bet Gail is there talking to her. That’s where I’m headed.”
Erich shook his head. “I told you we had a fight. Why would she go on to the hospital?”
“The same reason she’s been there twice a week for the last eleven months, to get her mind off Harry. Are you going to come with me?”
“No. I don’t think she’s there.”
“Do you have another idea?”
“Actually, I do.”
***
Erich turned from Martin and left the hotel. He started walking toward the far edge of town, the opposite end from where Bess’s house used to stand.
The more he thought about his conversation with Martin, the more Harry’s memories came crashing down on him: good memories of time spent with a dear friend. It seemed like Erich’s new understanding of recent events had given Harry’s soul some clarity and regrets.
Would they be in a different place now had Erich not used Harry’s memories as a barometer of Bess’s life? She’d insisted time and again that Martin and Gail were true friends and innocent of trying to hurt either of them. Of course, she’d felt the same way about Joseph.
He was sure that the root tea had been tainted, and Jaden had confirmed it. If it wasn’t Martin who’d tried to poison him, then it had to be Joseph. The idea that Joseph may have tried to hurt Bess, like he had Erich, drove him to break out in a full run.
From the time he’d been gifted this body, Erich hadn’t been well enough to exert himself as he was, but as he sprinted toward the Cooper estate, the pain that had never really left his side evaporated. His chest heaved, and his lungs burned, but it only took a few blocks for him to tap into Harry’s memories and remember how to control his breathing and pace himself.
The further he ran, the more he reflected over everything that had happened. His heart broke for Bess. He cursed himself for ever letting her walk away from him and turned onto the road the Cooper’s lived on. With the house in sight, he dug deep and pushed harder, running even faster.
As he neared the house, he saw Martin’s black Studebaker – the one Gail had driven to the house the other day — sitting back by the servant quarters. It made no sense, and seemed to confirm Erich’s worst fears.
Erich sprinted across the finely manicured lawn, jumping over a patch of daisies to land on the concrete pad. He pushed the door open, screaming Bess’s name. He stumbled into the room, gasping for breath and bending at the waist. He scanned, hoping to see Bess visiting with her friend; instead he saw Gail sprawled out on the couch, very pale.
He fell to his knees at her side and put his cheek down near her face. Feeling a light exhale against his skin, he forced himself to his feet and slipped one arm beneath her neck and the other under her hips. Erich picked her up and carried her toward the car. One of the servants, a gardener Erich would guess by the way he was dressed, met him at the car and opened the back door. “Is Mrs. Cooper okay?”
“No, her breathing is really shallow.” Erich rounded the car and slipped behind the wheel. Relieved to see the keys in the ignition, he called to the man who had helped him. “I’m taking her to the hospital. Martin is there already. Call ahead and tell them I’m on the way with Gail.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bess tried to ignore the knots twisting in her gut as she walked into the police station. Erich hadn’t shown up at the deli or the hotel. She’d even gone back to the park, thinking he might still be waiting for her on that bench. For a moment, she wondered if the awful argument had put him on an east bound train without her, but realized neither Harry or Erich would leave her. The only logical conclusion she could draw was Stanley had arrested him again.
“I need to see Sergeant Fisher. Right away.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Houdini. He’s with a suspect in connection to your fire. If you’d like to have a seat, I’m sure he’ll give you an update as soon as he’s done.”
Her suspicions proved right, she said, “I told him yesterday not to waste any more time with Mr. Welch. He’s innocent.”
“It’s not Mr. Welch, ma’am.”
“No?” Where in the world was Erich?
“Ma’am, take a seat. Sergeant Fisher should be available soon.”
She nodded and walked toward the bench in a fog. The idea of losing Erich ripped through her and shredded her heart. Her weakened knees dipped, and she lowered herself to the bench, cursing herself for sending him away.
He wouldn’t leave me. Only give me time and space.
But then, she’d said such nasty things about Harry. She’d been brutally honest and directed all of her anger on the man who’d defied death to return to her side.
“Okay, Joseph,” Stanley’s voice came from the back of the room. Bess looked up to see the two men coming toward her and met them in front of the desk. Stanley addressed the officer who’d helped her. “Send two units out to the Cooper estate. I want Martin brought in and Gail taken into protective custody.”
She couldn’t be hearing this conversation right. Had everyone in town lost their mind? “Joseph is innocent. He’s a healer.”
“I agree with you, Mrs. Houdini.” Stanley then spoke to Joseph. “Thank you for talking to us. You’re free to go.”
Joseph nodded, pushing his hands into the pockets of his pants. “Ma’am, if I may offer some advice? Take that old soul who’s made a place for himself in your life and run. Get as far as you can from here before Dr. Cooper finds a way to destroy you too.”
As she contemplated his words, Bess watched him fidget, shifting his weight from heel to heel. His worn pants, the same pair he always wore, were now adorned with white spots, as if he’d tried to bleach away some stains and in the process had ruined the fabric. That old soul. Harry within Erich. “You’ve known the truth about Erich from the first moment, haven’t you?”
He nodded. “True love, my dear, comes your way but once, and when two souls bind, they are each other’s for an eternity. They’ll always find one another no matter the flesh that encases them.”
Her teeth clenched as she tugged on the collar of her blouse. Jo
seph had told her old souls were walking among the living and still she couldn’t listen to the voice in her heart that knew. “I’ve pushed him away.”
“He’ll be back.”
Bess smiled and leaned in hugging the man. “I don’t know how to thank you for everything you’ve done.”
“It’s not necessary.” Joseph answered, before leaving the station.
Only then did it hit Bess what Stanley had said. “Did you say you want Martin arrested and Gail taken in for her own protection? From who?”
“Her husband.”
Bess’s jaw dropped, and her lips parted. “That’s crazy. Martin loves Gail.”
“Like he loved Louise? According to that Joseph fellow, Martin hired him to administer a lethal dose of painkillers to Louise to clear the way for Gail, but now their love has faded and Martin didn’t think his reputation could take another hit like a divorce.”
“That’s preposterous. They are my friends.”
“I think a lot of people have been fooled by Dr. Cooper, Bess. Don’t feel bad. Why don’t you go back to the hotel. When this is all over, I’ll come and talk to you and Mr. Welch and let you know what’s going on.”
Bess nodded and watched Stanley walk away. She thought about all the pieces of the puzzle; she slid them around in her mind and tried to make them fit. Erich — or was it Harry’s soul inside of him — had accused Martin of trying to kill him. Just like Joseph said Martin had done with Louise, but that couldn’t be true.
She’d sat with Martin while he talked about his first wife. He wouldn’t hurt either woman, and she didn’t believe he’d hurt Erich either. Martin loved Gail. Maybe it wasn’t the same soul-consuming love Bess had shared with Harry, but it wasn’t any less real.
Joseph was blinded by his anger, because he loved Louise too.
He loved Louise.
He hated Martin for falling in love again so fast, and Gail for the way she took over Louise’s home. Hate and revenge can be as powerful a motivator as love. Martin hadn’t laced the brandy or tea. He hadn’t burnt down her house either.
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