The Caine Plantation: The Next Quilt is Red

by Karine Green

  "About a month, I guess it will still be some time before I start showing."

  "You're pregnant! With Jason's baby!" Lauren burst into tears. "Bitch, you are living my life! Give it back. You don't get to keep it!"

  "Did you hear something?" Kathy asked Alan.

  Alan shrugged. "A quote that sounds remarkably familiar. Or, it could have been a mouse?"

  She leaned over to Alan, "How did she miss that I'm pregnant. Almost everyone in town knows."

  Alan shrugged again, "People don't want mice eating the cheese at their parties," he whispered, but used a loud hushed sounding voice that suggested it wasn't really meant to be hushed.

  The door chimed as a local T.V. news crew out of New Orleans entered the station.

  "May I help you?" Alan said, rolling his chair to be between Kathy and the desk.

  "Chief Rose, please. I am Kate Lowe, with Local Five News. We were wondering if he would be willing to talk to us about the attempt on his wife's life. Is this her? Are you Mrs. Rose?"

  Lauren started screaming again. "Knocked up Bitch stole my whole life! You should be dead! That's her, the red headed whore!" She reached through the bars pointing at Kathy. She looked crazy with her face pressed against the bars that hard.

  "Let me guess? Suspect?" Kate asked, flipping her forefinger in Lauren's direction. She motioned the camera man to get Lauren's fit, but he was already filming it.

  Kathy smiled at Kate, ignoring the screaming, "I am Kathy Rose," she said, pleasantly, like she was at a social gathering meeting people.

  Jason came out. "What is going on out here?" He stopped and stared at Kate. "Hello Ms. Lowe. The Sheriff and I will be making a joint statement soon. If you don't mind, could you please wait outside? We are waiting for Ms. Grayson's attorney to arrive. It shouldn't be long, we have to wait for him to finish up in court before he can speak with her." He glanced at Kathy, who was holding up a wanted poster. "Meanwhile, my wife has a wanted poster of the other suspect."

  Kathy handed Kate a flyer. Kate thanked her. They went outside and started filming shots of Kate holding up the poster of Carrie Bell. Jason returned to his meeting.

  Within twenty minutes Kathy could hear a commotion outside. She looked out the window. "Holy Cow! Alan!"

  There were at least five more media satellite trucks outside. The commotion wasn't an incident, it was just the sound of a lot of people gathered close together. She watched them for a minute, they seemed so loud even though they really weren’t doing anything but moving camera equipment around and raising satellite posts on their vans. She smiled.

  "Something funny about someone putting a shark tank out front?" Alan asked, rolling in his office chair to look out the window.

  "No," she shook her head still smiling. "I am just surprised at how quickly I came to love the quiet of this town. You would think I am used to the noise of a lot of people since it is all I have ever known."

  "Well, we do have a certain Southern charm here."

  "Yes, you certainly do."

  "Should we let them know that someone has chummed the water for the media, so they don't walk out expecting only local media? Is that a CNN jacket on that one reporter?"

  "I'll let them know." She got up and knocked on the door. "I am sorry to interrupt, but Ms. Lowe is no longer the only media here. There is quite a gathering." Her phone buzzed. It was Randy Bell. "It's Randy."

  Jason pulled her into the room and shut the door. "Answer."

  "Randy." Kathy said, trying to sound neutral as she tapped her phone.

  There was a pause.

  "I'm on CNN, right now. Why?"

  Jason flipped the T.V. on, and then muted it. They were just wrapping up the story, and went to break with the cover photo being Lauren’s screaming face pressed against the cell bars.

  "My husband....shut up...How is that even relevant? Don't be a dick!"

  There was a pause.

  "Wait a minute. It was your wife who tried to kill me. I moved over nine hundred miles to get away from you, and the stink that follows you around. I didn't do anything to her, but if I see her in my scope, I'll blow that face of hers clean off the front half of her skull! How dare you ask me that! Where is she?" Kathy was nearly yelling.

  "Kathy," Jason whispered, "calm down, please."

  She took a deep breath. "What is going on with Carrie? Why would she come after me?" She could feel everyone's eyes on her.

  She listened for a moment. She rolled her eyes, "Randy, you gambled and lost how much! That isn't my fault! It's your own stupid fault for being a gambling ass. Why would she blame me for that?...You did it to keep her from getting any of it in the divorce...Well...She should have planned better when she left you... Yes, it is very amusing that she will get half of nothing, however, you are aware that you will also get half of nothing?" Another long pause. "Sure, anything would be appreciated."

  She hung up. "He doesn't know where she is." She pulled out her tablet and checked her email. "This is everything he has on her." She opened a file Randy just sent her.

  There was a scanned front cover of Lauren's book, a web-link to the town museum, and a saved link for MapQuest with a red-line to what appeared to lead to Kathy's house. He sent another email stating she took his car, and $5000 he had hid in the air vent. He also requested she retrieve the remainder of it.

  She snorted, "Like I am going to do that."

  There was a knock on the door. It was Alan. "I think you should see the media situation. They are claiming the ghosts of the old Caine Plantation are stalking another Mistress of the House."

  "Tell them I'll be out in five minutes. Make sure they aren't blocking my roads, call for back up clearing the road if you need to," Jason said. "You stay in here. Just in case she's in the crowd. It isn't just you she is trying to take away from me. She is trying to take my whole family."

  Kathy nodded. She knew Jason was right. She couldn't expose herself, and thus expose the baby to danger. "I'll check the news from right here." She pointed to the T.V. with one hand and held up her tablet with the other. She also had Sheriff Rainer's and Dr. Lacompte's information to review. She had plenty to keep herself entertained.

  "Thank you, for not arguing," he said, squeezing her hand.

  She smiled and nodded, squeezing back.

  She sat down at an empty seat while they quickly reviewed what they were going to say to the press, what they were going to keep quiet, and then went out to make a joint statement.

  Kathy turned on the T.V. feeling alone and small in the now empty space. She pulled over her tablet and opened the files on the flash drive the Sheriff had given her. Hattie had been Marissa's contact at the Blanc Plantation, since not one of the Blanc's would 'go against their own interest.'

  Kathy smiled, this was a treasure trove of history. Sandy at the museum would have a stroke on purpose to get her hands on this. She couldn't wait to devote some more attention to it. The idea of putting it together in a book was becoming more and more appealing.

  She closed the folder and opened a few of the folders that Dr. Lacompte had given her. Robert Lacompte had been covering for Marissa. He wrote the Caine puff-pieces to make it easier for Marissa to make the necessary connections to run the slaves north. If she was a media darling, then everyone would try to ride on her coat tails of social charm. The odd little blurb regarding Percy's arrest, had been a signal that the operation was over; for the foreseeable future. It had taken Lacompte almost a year to find another plantation to help. It was Percy's real arrest that lead Lacompte to start digging into Percy's other trafficking business that was when the true horror of what Percy was up to came to light. The problem was that Lacompte couldn't prove or disprove anything about…anything. Not the slave’s whereabouts, not Marissa's death, or Dark Lady's involvement. Although he did note that he didn't believe Dark Lady would have killed Marissa, because it would hurt the slaves trying to escape. Dark Lady was feisty, but she would die, and did die, before she would act in a way th
at would harm their ability to escape. She was also very patient, and never acted on impulse. Lacompte thought Dark Lady reminded him of the librarian from when he attended university. She would help you, but wasn't afraid to tell you to get out if you whispered too loud.

  Kathy grinned and nodded. That profile met with what everyone had said about their encounter with the ghost. The guest room could be a tribute to her, the dirty attic space was simply not the place to showcase Dark Lady's story. Although it could be restored and she would more seriously consider putting it on the tour.

  The report ran on the news again, about her being the target of a murderer seeking revenge for her husband being terminated from his job. It also highlighted the fact that Lauren had been stalking Jason for years, and seemed to be pushed over the edge when she found out he had married Kathy.

  She smirked, "Close enough, I suppose." She sighed, here comes the civil rights charges and law suits for Randy. Perhaps he was lucky to have gambled everything away? He wouldn't have anything left by the time ACLU was finished with him anyway.

  She turned off the T.V. She wanted to focus on anything that didn't involve her being brutally murdered.

  ****

  That evening Kathy cooked dinner for Jason while he showered. She was also watching the evening news. Now that she had calmed down a bit, she was curious of what they were saying.

  "Chief Jason Rose's wife, Kathy Marconi-Rose, is a retired homicide detective from New York City. Apparently she is the ultimate target of the killer. It is unknown at this time why a Mr. Milton Lawrence was so horrifically murdered since he had no connection to Mrs. Rose. As mentioned at the five O'clock hour, Mr. Lawrence was murdered in the same manner as a Caine slave named Dark Lady had been nearly a hundred and sixty-five years ago." They showed a copy of Dark Lady's damage to property report, along with a new entry made by Jason changing the classification of the report.

  The reporter continued. "In a joint statement released by Chief Rose and Sheriff Rainier, They have evidence that two suspects were involved in the plot on Mrs. Rose' life. One is in custody, Lauren Grayson. According to most locals, Miss. Grayson has stalked Chief Rose for more than twenty-five years, so the Sheriff's Department will be taking over the investigation along with a liaison from the State Attorney's Office. A diary found in the trash, by our street reporter, suggested that Miss. Grayson had killed a co-ed who falsely accused Chief Rose, then a college sophomore, of rape. The co-ed did admit to making a false report while she was intoxicated to cover up the fact that she tried to shoot at him. By the time the truth was uncovered Jason Rose had been asked to leave his college football team, and his scholarship revoked. Chief Rose cites the Co-ed's drinking problem as the reason he no longer wanted to date her. With a new clean record. He went to work almost immediately in law enforcement. After the break, we'll air the joint press conference in its entirety." They faded to black featuring the wanted poster of Carrie Bell.

  Kathy sliced the potatoes during the break.

  They showed Jason's press conference with Sheriff Rainier. Jason announced that they had evidence to believe that the murder of Mr. Lawrence was meant to cover up Kathy's murder; to make it look like part of the plantation's haunted history, of which Miss. Grayson has written a book about. He held up the wanted poster featuring Carrie Bell.

  Kathy almost snorted, "I'll bet sales of her stupid book just shot through the roof. Well, I am sure her legal team could use the money. At least she won’t drain the Public Defender’s budget," She smiled. Jason looked so handsome on T.V.

  The timer on the fryer tweeted that oil was hot enough. She dumped the thinly sliced potatoes in. She hoped he would like her homemade potato chips. She set the timer again, and then flipped her burgers on the little grill.

  She walked over to the windows and shut the heavy drapes for the evening.

  They both had bags packed. They would stay here tonight. Tomorrow morning she had a meeting with James at the bank. He had the final paperwork for her foundation. She needed to review it. Hopefully she could get started on her plan for domestic violence victims soon. She had dubbed it Operation Escape. Then as soon as that was wrapped up, she would head out to the plantation, and stay there.

  She sat down on the couch. The folder of the Lawrence murder caught her eye. She pulled it over and opened the cover. She drew in a breath at the photo as she finally let it sink in.

  "This was meant to be me," she said out loud, to no one in particular. She traced Milton's injuries with her finger, "It was supposed to be my face ripped open, my spinal cord exposed, my twitching bloody hands tied to the whipping post."

  Suddenly she was overcome with emotion. She picked up a pillow, buried her face in it and began bawling. She sobbed until the timer went off for the chips. She also heard the shower stop running. She finished cooking and quickly set the plates. She washed her face with cold water hoping he wouldn't notice she had been crying. But, with as hard as she cried it would have to show in her eyes.

  "Hey, that smells fantastic!" Jason walked out of the bathroom with his shorts on. Kathy smiled, he looked really good in shorts. His face fell. "What happen?" he hurried over to her, cradling her face. "Is everything OK?"

  "I am sorry. It just all hit at once. She meant to torture me to death. Horribly, painfully..." her voice got smaller and smaller. As a homicide detective, she had always been the one looking in, not the one on the receiving end.

  Jason held her close, and kissed the top of her head. "I will not let her hurt you. Perhaps we should go out of town? Go to meet your parents rather than them coming here."

  She shook her head. "No, we need to go home. Our home. We will be safe there. And, my parents will love it. I can finally be what they wanted for me. Now that I have it, I don't know why I resisted so hard against it." She leaned up and kissed him.

  He smiled, "If you hadn't, you wouldn't be the woman I wanted so badly." He kissed her neck and caressed the silkiness of her pajamas.

  "Your dinner is getting cold. I made you homemade potato chips. I didn't have Cajun Spice, so I used Old Bay."

  "It’s okay. I like Creole seasoning." He popped a chip into his mouth. "Oh, you're going to make me fat."

  She laughed and patted her stomach. "Not as fat as I'll be in eight months."

  They enjoyed the rest of the evening without talking further of the stress surrounding their lives.

  Kathy couldn't wait to get a garden started in a couple of months, although Jason pointed out that the baby would be bigger and she might not feel like digging in the dirt during the Louisiana summers with a larger baby bump. They weren't like New York summers.

  Jason made a face. "You step outside and the humidity at ninety-eight degrees sucks your will to live. My sister's in-laws won't visit during the summer 'humidity festival' as they called it."

  The Angry One

  In the morning Jason went to work, after Kathy made him breakfast. She had the meeting with James in two hours. She read over some of the literature he had given her about how foundations work, most of which she was already aware of. She couldn't wait to embark on this new career.

  She was also more seriously considering a book about Dark Lady. Someone needed to set the record straight. Someone needed to out sell that horrid piece of Lauren's dribble, or at least make sure equal credit was given. She figured she would wait until things calmed down with Jason before collaborating with Dr. Lacompte on it. She wanted to make sure they could devote their full attention to it.

  She waited for her decaf. coffee to brew. She couldn't stand the caffeine anymore. It gave her hideous heartburn. Early in the pregnancy or not, the baby was making his presence known. She thought back to that first night. They had such a good time together, before they woke up to...

  Her eyes widened. Didn't Jason say that Stable Boy called him daddy? She dropped to her knees and spontaneously vomited on the kitchen floor. "Ethan," she whispered, unbuttoning her jeans. They were becoming intolerable, even though she
wasn't showing yet. She stood up, grabbed a wet dishrag, and wiped her face. Tears ran down her cheeks as she realized there had not been a sign from Ethan since that night. It was like he was gone.

  She kept her hand on her lower abdomen. Her other hand trembled as she pulled the ultrasound photo of the baby off the fridge. She had to see it, had to know that the baby was human and not some hideous supernatural monster. What was she pregnant with? The photo didn't offer any comfort. It just looked like a little circle-bubble. The Doctor had said it looked normal for this early stage.

  Nausea overcame her again, but luckily the garbage disposal was handy as she vomited. She hated vomiting.

  "I have to stop thinking about this!" She ran the water over her face.

  She put the photo out of sight, cleaned up the floor, and then took a shower. She had showered this morning with Jason, but she felt she needed to clean off again. This time she dressed in one of her maxi dresses.

  She looked at her jeans. "Time to tuck you away for jersey dresses or yoga pants until I can wear maternity clothes." She folded them, and put them in the back of Jason's tiny closet. There was no sense in bringing them to the plantation with her right now. They could be moved to storage. It would be close to a year before they saw the light of day again. On second thought, maybe she would just give them to Goodwill. No sense in paying to store clothes that will out of fashion before she can wear them again.

  She shook the thoughts from earlier out of her head. It was ridiculous, and she felt embarrassed to be in her own skin. Of course the baby was human. There was only one man she had been with, so there was only one way she could be pregnant! She willed herself to stop being hysterical, and slipped her flip flops on.

  She decided to gather up her things, and head out to see James at the bank a bit early. The Sheriff had assigned a deputy to her for protection, so he drove her. He waited outside the bank.

  James was excited to help Kathy finalize the drafts for the paperwork regarding her new foundation. The first thing she did was set up a scholarship trust for Louise Mathews' teen great-grandchildren. Kathy figured the plantation owed the Mathews family at least that much. She smiled. Piss-off Percy, but thanks for the gold. It spends today just as well as it did back then. I am sure Dark Lady's family appreciates the free education you worked so hard to earn the money for. For good measure, she might leave some roses on his grave with a thank you note explaining the brilliant idea of converting everything to gold and getting rid of the Confederate cash. After all, it had appreciated over the centuries the same it always had.