The Caine Plantation: The Next Quilt is Red

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The Caine Plantation: The Next Quilt is Red Page 18

by Karine Green


  "Dark Lady," she said using her best police detective voice. "I need you to erase this message, so it is gone when I open the book. Can you do that?" She wondered if she should let go of it, when the book turned cold, like it had been kept overnight in a freezer.

  She offered and awkward grin and started shaking. I don't believe in this, I don't believe in this! There is no Angry One. She opened the book, the message was gone replaced with.

  “Believe in me or not, the Angry One is still after you! Grief and loss is causing the Angry One to be crazed.”

  "Hey! No mind reading! No! My thoughts are mine! That's not fair!" she said, babbling on, until Jason gently took the book from her, and set it down on the floor next to her.

  "Let's go. Now." He lifted her up to a standing position.

  She nodded, "I am taking my rifle."

  "Fine, may as well grab the other weapons, and anything of great value." Just as well not to have an M-16 lying about in an empty house.

  Dark Lady screamed knowing they would not hear her,"Do not leave the house! You will be open out there! The purple quilt only exists here for you!"

  Kathy nodded to Jason, and then almost ran into her room, grabbing a bag, and dumping stuff blindly into it. "Someone is after me! They mean to whip me to death! And a ghost just saved my life! Jason! I am the target!" she said, finally admitting to herself that she was the intended victim. "Poor Milton Lawrence was just a pawn in a grand scheme to get away with torturing me to death!" Tears flowed openly down her face.

  They loaded everything she needed for a few days into the Jeep and went to Jason's apartment.

  The Dark Lady's Warning

  Kathy awoke the next morning feeling safe in Jason's arms. There were no dry rotted quilts or haunted legal books. There was just Jason's clean, small, upstairs apartment over the downtown hardware store. She nestled in closer to him, and he held her close under the covers.

  "You're still shaking," he said, concerned.

  "Thank you for the Cajun Buffet." She offered a weak smile.

  "You know, I think I will call you Dodger. No one can dodge a conversation like you."

  She offered a genuine smile this time, before kissing him, and then getting up.

  "Where are you headed?"

  She picked up her bag, pulled out Lauren's historical book, and the folder Jason had given her. "To sit, and do more research. I need to re-read this with a different frame of mind. Her book is disgustingly racist. It glorified the Caine's as a whole, with almost no mention of the African Americans who also risked everything, and beyond, to be part of what was only Marissa's operation to freedom. The other Caine’s certainly were not involved with helping anyone but themselves. Lauren only put the negative on that she had to, I am going to see if I can sort it out. It might help shed some light on her frame of mind," she said, pulling on her robe and heading for the living room.

  She also wrote a note to revisit her three unsolved cases later since The Dark Lady said the Angry One was crazed with grief. She doubted it could be one of them. One didn't have family. One had the entire family on the suspect list. And the other was a drug dealer whose mother seemed relieved. Apparently, she didn't have to deal with it anymore. Still they were the only leads she had at the moment.

  He smiled as he bounced out of bed. He showered, and then joined her on the couch. She already had two pages of notes.

  "I need to know more about William Caine. I wish I could see the copies of his journal," she said, opening the folder and flipping through the papers for his death report and a couple of newspaper articles. She pulled it out.

  "Not much there," he said, flipping through the copies of the Microfiche files that Kathy had made. "This one might give you a general puff version of what he was like." He handed her an 1829 article from the paper. "It's about what a pillar of the community William Caine was. How he organized homes for sinful women." He snorted, "Yes, because men aren't the other half of that sin. Supply and demand is as true for retail stores as it is whore houses."

  "Could be that he was trafficking them into sex slavery?"

  "Wasn't that dear Percy? There isn't much information out there on him either. He must have been the behind the scenes person."

  "Yes, but according to Marissa he learned how to be a monster from William. I would like to know who he was working with. Trafficking is a crime that involves a group of people. One dude can't traffic anything large scale out of the country, not even in the 1800's, especially humans. There had to be a team. Pirates?"

  He gently took the file from her. "I think, I would like to make love to you again, before we eat, and then enjoy the day, thinking about something else. Tomorrow we can start fresh."

  She smiled, nodded, and untied her robe. "Sounds like a much better use of time."

  ****

  On Monday morning, Kathy was alone in her own bedroom at the plantation sketching the layout she wanted for it. She set her sketch pad aside, and thought about how she wanted to convert the little sitting room at the rear into a proper master bathroom, but she also wanted to make sure the newfound staircase was preserved. She wondered if everything would fit in there, and the fact that there were two of the glass door-windows in there meant privacy also needed to be considered. It felt good to think about something as mundane as how to finish her bathroom.

  The CDC doctor, Dr. Charles Newsome, had been at the plantation all morning. He was wearing an obnoxious protective suit. It really seemed to be overkill, but he said ultimately they had no idea how much was there.

  There was no sign of Dark Lady.

  She couldn't wait to have guests stay in the finished house, and she could not wait to not think about murderers, ever again.

  Jason was at work, apparently there had been some sort of argument between neighbors over a dog running in the road and getting hit. He went to assist Mike, because Alan was working a traffic accident that happened in front of the police station.

  "Ms. Marconi," Dr. Newsome called.

  "I'm in here," she said, coming out of her bedroom.

  He was removing his gear. "There is no more threat. I'm taking the book, and having it destroyed, along with the books on either side of it. But, that is just being over cautious, especially with as old as it is. The main danger is ingesting it, although it can be absorbed through the skin. Neither of you touched it, correct? No, I suppose I would know if you had. That was some super concentrated stuff, hence the reason we wanted to collect it with full protections."

  Kathy nodded no, "As long as it's gone."

  Dr. Newsome nodded, "She really wanted to kill herself. Again, I am a bit surprised at the concentration, and there was a lot of it. You say, someone was falsely accused of murder more than 160 years ago? Talk about a cold case."

  "More like frozen." Kathy nodded grimly. "The Caine's were trying to cover up an illegal slave trafficking operation, and not necessarily the one connected to the Underground Railroad. We're going to organize everything before we make a press release."

  "Well, at least justice can be known if not served," Dr. Newsome smiled. "I look forward to reading the briefs on that."

  She nodded.

  "Did you know there are compartments under each of the bookcases? Do you have the key? I would like to make sure there aren't any poisons there. Maybe that is where the suspect hid it?"

  "Really!" Kathy said. She sifted for her keys. "I didn't know that." She pulled out the skeleton key.

  Dr. Newsome led her back into the library, and bent down by the first shelf. "Here, let me, just in case they stored the poison in there." He cleared the dusty legal books off the shelf, and held out his hand for the key. Kathy handed it to him. He took it and fumbled with the lock for a moment.

  Kathy bent down to see the lock. It had been painted over, probably a hundred times. The doctor messed with it for a minute, picking out the paint with a scalpel. He put the key in, and finally it clicked.

  He slowly opened the shelf about a quarte
r of an inch, and stuck some sort of meter inside. "Clear. It's just air." He opened the compartment to reveal gold coins, and bars that were stacked five inches deep and twenty-four inches long.

  "Well, looks like you just hit the Lotto," The doctor said, swabbing a gold bar. "No reaction. I think it was just the book. Looks like the old Mistress of the House just wanted to kill herself, and no one else."

  There were twelve bookcases surrounding the library, each one had a lock.

  Kathy pulled out her phone, and called Jason, "How is the call going? Good...If you're free, there has been a development at the plantation. Dr. Newsome from the CDC is still here. I think the Doc is going to help me clear the new space..."

  The doctor nodded. "I have some time."

  "When are you getting off? I can't leave the library like this. There are some items that need attention, and I don't know how long Doc can stay......OK, love you," she hung up, and paused. She had said that last statement without thinking. Friends with benefits was one thing, lovers was quite another. She stifled herself, had she overstepped her boundaries? She hoped not, but the fact remained, he still had not introduced her to his parents.

  The doctor smiled, "That much gold would make me nervous too. Let's see what is in the next one."

  More gold, all of them were neatly packed with gold bars and coins, except the last one, it was half full of gold, papers and journals occupied the other half. Dr. Newsome went over the papers very carefully with his instruments.

  "Kathy!" Jason sounded happy as he bounced up the stairs. He nodded to the doctor, "Hello, Doc,"

  "Hello, Chief Rose I assume? I am Dr. Newsome, but you can call me Charlie." He smiled and nodded back.

  "Yes, and it’s Jason," Jason wrapped his arms around Kathy's waist, and whispered in her ear, "I love you too, very much."

  She smiled and relaxed into his embrace.

  "It's all clear. I am, however, going to take these samples and perform some deeper tests. Just in..." his mouth flew open, and he pointed behind them. "Who is that?"

  They both turned to look, but nothing was there.

  "Are you alright Miss!" The doctor said, running over to the corner. He reached his hand out, and then pulled it back as if what he touched was painful. He screamed and backed up into Jason.

  "What!" Jason asked, reaching for Charlie's arm to stabilize him. "What do you see!"

  "Skinny, little, African American lady, with a slave collar, her face is bleeding! Horrible wounds! She says to tell you, for the baby's sake, do not leave the house again! The Angry One is after you. It's a woman." The doctor wrestled away from Jason, grabbed the bulk of his equipment and ran out of the house, leaving what equipment was not in his arms.

  "Dr. Newsome! Charlie! Don't go!" Kathy started to follow him.

  "Baby's! Sake!" Jason said, whipping around to face Kathy. "That is the second time a baby has been mentioned."

  She stared at him. "How did he know about the Angry One? Dark Lady!" Kathy yelled. The room was spinning. "What baby!" Was she pregnant? She could only be a few days a long at the most. Kathy bent over as a wave of nausea overcame her. She ran to the bathroom, and vomited. I can't be pregnant! Not now!

  She could feel Jason pull her hair back out of her face.

  "Are you alright?" he asked.

  She shook her head, no, and then brushed her teeth. "I can't think about it right now. It's too much to take in. I found Percy's ledger and what looks like a diary. We also need to secure the gold. Do you have the CDC number handy? We need Dr. Newsome to come back!"

  "Gold? I can text Alan and have him get Dr. Newsome's number." He pulled out his phone. Part of him was afraid to hope that Kathy was pregnant. He was beginning to think he would never have a family. Surprise or not, a baby was something he very much wanted, especially with someone like Kathy.

  She washed her face and stood up, looking in the mirror as she put her hands over her lower abdomen. "Do you think she means a baby for us?"

  He held her from behind sliding his hands under hers. "I don't know, but if it is a baby for us, I want you both." He kissed her neck.

  Kathy leaned back into Jason. She could feel his bullet resistant vest. It felt cold and hard, but it comforted her that he wore it. She needed to get out of here. "Let's just collect everything and get out of here."

  Jason helped her remove the gold. They also found a note from Percy to his eldest son, Andrew, to use gold, because they didn't know how the war was going to play out and they needed to have money tucked away. If they had too much confederate money and the South lost, they would be penniless. Andrew had converted everything to gold, hid it, and then sealed over the locks so they would look like the trim in the bookcases.

  Kathy smirked, "They didn't tell anyone, leaving their own children and grandchildren destitute, then they were both killed in such close succession. No one knew all that blood money was just sitting here, doing nothing. The whole time." she smiled as an idea came to her. "And the only way left to get justice."

  Jason loaded the bags into the trunk of the patrol car. "We still have an hour before the bank closes. James at the bank won't be happy, but we cannot keep this out in the open overnight."

  Kathy smiled nervously, and nodded. She walked around the patrol car and got in the passenger seat. She was a bit disturbed by what had just happened over the last several hours. She forced thoughts of a baby from her mind. She did not want to be pregnant, at all.

  ****

  They drove in silence to the bank.

  Jason was right. At first James, a short heavyset balding man, was not happy about being late, but was happy about the large deposit. He had happily called his wife to announce he would be late.

  Four hours later, Jason was getting antsy. He wanted to be alone with Kathy. Would a pregnancy test work this early? The more he thought about it the more he hoped the baby reference was about his and Kathy's baby. What if she wasn't pregnant? What if it was another baby! He would be so disappointed. Then a thought struck him, was someone else's baby in danger! Maybe they should have stayed at the plantation? The last thing he wanted was to work a baby death.

  James sighed, "Sorry that took so long, I had to weigh and verify some docum..."

  Jason huffed. He was feeling very much like he needed to get out of here, even if it meant scratching through the wall.

  James smiled, "Well Ms. Marconi, you have forty-seven million dollars' worth of gold there. I have set up an account for you, several actually. I would like you to come back in the morning to discuss the foundation you were talking about. You might also consider some investment funds. By the way, it is your money. The house and its contents passed legally into your hands during the closing. You have..."

  "To do what is right with this money, or I will go insane. It must be put into a foundation to help people. If you like we can setup investment funds to provide an income for the foundation. Otherwise, that is Percy's blood money, and I won't have it, except to carry out Marissa Henning-Caine's wishes to help people who have been victimized beyond comprehension."

  "I understand. I can also help you get the foundation set up, so you are in control of how the money is spent, but you will need to select a board. The investment funds will keep it funded for a very long time. I can help you get a grant schedule going too, so the money going out matches the money coming in."

  Jason noticed Kathy glance at him, and then turn her attention back to James. Everything was happening so fast with her. Right now, it bothered him that that fact didn't scare him half to death. On the contrary, he felt like he was at home whenever he was with her.

  "I want a secured domestic violence shelter, for starters,” her voice pleading, not demanding, “Someplace for them to be safe when they have no place to hide..." Kathy said, taking a breath. "I have worked with so many people who are literally trapped in their own home. In fact someone I once cared deeply for was trapped. His life would have been so much different if his mother could have escaped w
ith him, but she was also trapped. It seems that was her legacy to him, entrapment."

  Jason hugged her from behind. "You don't have to decide right now. Right now, I would like to just get something to eat. You're looking pale." He hated it that he loved her, without really knowing her. It was scary.

  Kathy nodded, thanked James, and tucked the paperwork with her newfound millions listed on it into her bag.

  She followed him to the car, but he pulled her passed it. "Come on, today is Steak Monday," he said, leading her into the diner. If she was pregnant, she needed some iron. Besides, with the paleness of her skin he figured she was low on iron regardless of her condition.

  They ordered the steaks. While they waited, Kathy pulled Percy Caine's ledger out and laid it on the table. "It has columns. They are titled requests and availabilities," she said, reaching for her soda.

  "Availabilities?" Jason said. He picked up Kathy's soda and traded if for the water. He couldn't stand to watch anyone consume that poison known as soda pop.

  She looked at him, "She didn't say our baby, she said for the sake of the baby." She reached for the soda.

  "Just in case," he said, shrugging. "Besides it's late, caffeine could make it hard to sleep." He grinned.

  "You are hoping for a baby?" The expression on her face was unreadable.

  "No, yes, I am just saying, if you are pregnant, I really do want you both. I had given up hope of someday being a father. But if not, I still want you, and cola isn't good for anyone, especially at this hour."

  She smiled. "Well, it will be a while before we can find out. Let's concentrate on Percy's requests and availabilities."

  Jason nodded, and smiled at the fact that she did not switch her water back for the soda.

  Kathy pointed to two columns, "It says inventory on hand for this side. There is a general physical description of the slaves he has to...trade...for lack of a better term."

  Jason pointed, "What's HT, CU, and JM mean?"

  "Probably requests from Haitian, Cuban, or Jamaican plantations for labor?" Kathy shrugged, it seemed logical since there was a subcategory for requested laborers. "FH, is probably field hands, the sub-code C is probably for cotton…S.C. sugar cane, etc."

 

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