Buried Roots

by Cynthia Raleigh

  Tom puckered his lips, chewed his lip, and finally said, “I’m going to have to go with the oysters to start off. Then, let’s see, oh yeah, they’ve got an orange-glazed thick cut pork chop, garlic mashed potatoes, and a veggie of some sort.”

  “We’ll be paying the price for you eating garlic tonight. Did you bring any eucalyptus balm, Perri?” Nina asked.

  “No, I really didn’t think there would be a need for it here. Note to self, always pack eucalyptus balm anyway.” The eucalyptus balm is something Perri, Nina, and many nurses used to help mask the worst of the countless unpleasant smells a nurse can encounter during her work day. A little under the nose works like a charm to keep some of the odors at bay.

  “Are you casting aspersions on the quality of my nighttime breath, my dear?” Tom inquired, grinning at Nina.

  “You bet I am. I know you can’t help it, but once you get started snoring, the room smells like garlic.”

  After the meal, Perri, Nina, and Tom left The Rook and ambled the few blocks to the corner where the Ghost Walk was scheduled to begin. They still had about forty-five minutes. They walked slowly, savoring the sounds of the river and the cool breeze that was sweeping away the heat of the day. The air smelled like rain might be on the way. The temperature hadn’t risen over 82, but the humidity made it feel muggy and warmer than it was.

  There was already a handful of people gathered on the corner, chatting amongst themselves. The sinking of the sun was noticeable now that it was twilight with probably no more than ten minutes until it would be dark. Perri hung her camera around her neck and set it for nighttime photos, which would adjust the light settings without using the flash.

  Nina whispered very close to Perri’s ear, making her jump, “Is that for the gho-o-osts?” A couple people standing near them smiled or laughed lightly.

  “Don’t do that. What the heck.” Perri adjusted the strap around her neck. “You know I like to take pictures of anything like this and I want to get a few of the guide and the buildings. And yes, I want to look up the stories about them later on. So, har-dee-har-har.”

  They both laughed but quieted down quickly as a man stepped into the street from the darkness between two buildings across the road. His entry was well-timed. He appeared out of the shadows unexpectedly and walked deliberately toward the crowd. He set a definite atmosphere with his clothing. He was dressed in black trousers, a white shirt with a frothy jabot in front worn beneath a long, black, flowing frock coat, and finished by a black John Bull top hat with a white, narrow, silky scarf tied around it. His longish wavy hair rested on his shoulders.

  Perri leaned close to Nina, pretending to fan herself slightly with her hand, she said in a hushed tone, “He cuts a fine figure, does he not?”

  Nina whispered back, “I certainly must agree with you, yes indeed.”

  Tom turned and quietly mouthed to Nina, “Hey!” in mock dismay.

  Nina nudged Perri, “I’m telling Nick.”

  “Uh uhh.”

  They turned their attention to the background history the guide was giving. Once the mood had been set, the tour group moved down the street after him, and they quickly became engrossed in his tales of the ghosts of drowned wenches meandering the river banks, wailing children dead from fever, images of Native Americans sitting stolidly on horseback, and the marching soldiers of war. A planned scenario for a blood-smeared woman to appear in an upper window of a darkened tavern, throwing the window open on its hinge and gasping for help had the desired effect, causing a few screams of surprise from the crowd.

  Perri took photos of the guide, old inns, stately but decaying buildings, the now-misty alleys, and a few of Tom and Nina. At the end of the tour Nina took a photo of Perri with the guide, and then Perri returned the favor. Tom passed on the photo opportunity.

  On the walk back to the hotel, Nina prodded Perri by asking, “Are you going to hide that photo from Nick? He might get jealous. Tall, dark, and handsome Victorian guy and all that.”

  “Nothing wrong with that, is there?” Perri shook her head, “No, no, I do think though this might be a pretty awesome get-up for Nick. You know, like around Halloween when all the bartenders and servers at the Arrogant Rogue dress up. He could do Victorian gentleman or Steampunk.”

  “Oh yeah, I see what you mean. That’s a great idea.”

  “I’m here you know.” Tom waved at them good-naturedly. “And Perri, if you are going to use that as an excuse for having your photo taken with Lord Top Hat, you could just use a picture of him by himself.” He winked at her.

  “I needed to be in the photo to show scale.” Perri’s expression was dead serious.

  Tom gently elbowed Nina, “I have sympathy for Nick.”

  Chapter 25

  Back at the hotel, Perri got the bathroom first to get ready for bed while Nina and Tom relaxed in the parlour area. Once she was in her bed, she nestled back into two plush pillows, put another one under her knees and pulled the fluffy, pale green comforter up to her waist. A fourth pillow went on her lap to support her book. ‘Thank goodness they don’t skimp on pillows.’

  Perri picked up her camera and turned it on to review the photographs she’d taken that day. She had some good shots of the river falls with a train passing over the bridge in the distance. A few of the cruise shots were pretty good but would have been better if it were not for a man two rows in front of her who insisted on standing up every couple of minutes. She was a magnet for these people, it seemed. The ghost walk pictures turned out better than she expected. All in all, the photos were a nice representation of the day.

  She put the camera down and picked up her book, laying her bookmark on the nightstand. She’d read about four paragraphs when Nina hopped onto the other bed and crawled under the covers.

  Nina’s muffled voice came from the depths of her pillow, “This was a pretty good day, wouldn’t you say?”

  “I agree wholeheartedly and without reservation that this was indeed a splendid day.” Perri giggled and rested her head back against her pillows. “We got exercise, fresh air, saw a lot of interesting sites, and ate some awesome food. No one got killed, hurt, or otherwise injured or maimed. In view of that, I’d say it was an excellent day.”

  Nina mumbled something unintelligible in response and fell silent, her breathing evening out as she fell asleep. Perri drifted off once but was startled awake by that weird feeling of sliding sideways that happened sometimes when he was really tired. She was on the verge of sleep again when Tom exited the bathroom and tip-toed over to the walnut wardrobe on the wall opposite the beds. Perri could just make him out through a narrow slit in her barely opened eyelids. She couldn’t keep the corners of her mouth from curling up just a bit at the sight of his bulky form trying to be quiet. He opened the wardrobe door slowly and placed his folded khaki pants inside, softly shutting the door. He turned and resumed his mincing progress toward the bed.

  He was doing pretty well with his attempt at noiseless movement, but as he rounded the corner of the bed, Perri heard a crunchy popping sound and the spell was broken. Perri’s eyes flew open to see Tom limping forward, swearing not too quietly, and grabbing his toes.

  Nina flipped over and sat bolt upright, “What’s going on?”

  “Uhhhh! It’s only me destroying my little toe just now, that’s all. Totally annihilated it on the stupid leg of the bed that was hiding under this fabric thing.” He plucked at the bed skirt, pulling it up and flinging it back down which had the effect of causing simultaneous laughter from Perri and Nina.

  “Oh thanks, thanks for that. I shatter all the bones in my toe and you guys laugh.”

  Nina swung her legs over the side of the bed next to Tom. “Let me see it.” Tom crossed his left leg at a right angle with his foot was toward Nina. She gingerly took hold of it, which was already red and angry looking. Tom inhaled sharply and winced. Nina inspected it for a few moments, moving it a bit, provoking more responses from Tom.

  “It’s going to bruise
like crazy. You could have a hairline fracture, but it isn’t grossly broken. No jogging though.”

  “I’ll try to keep from jogging or doing any rock climbing in my bare feet in the next couple of weeks.” Tom stared unhappily at his toe.

  Perri offered, “I have some ibuprofen. I think you ought to take a couple before you go to bed.”

  “I don’t like taking stuff.” Tom complained.

  Nina piped up, “Honey, it’s fine if you desire to experience the full effects of pain and tightness from the swelling while you try to go to sleep, but don’t keep us awake moaning and groaning.” Nina replied.

  Perri added, “Keep it elevated.”

  Tom scooted backwards into bed and stuffed a pillow under his left leg from the knee down. He stared at his toe like it he expected something it to explode at any moment.

  Nina gave Perri a look that said, ‘This is not going to be fun.’

  “I’ll get the ibuprofen.” Perri extricated herself from the cocoon of pillows and climbed out of bed. “I have some zip baggies in my suitcase, maybe Nina can put some ice in one for you to ice it down. It’s going to swell, but if you don’t ice it, it’s going to swell more, and your shoes might be uncomfortable or even not fit tomorrow.”

  “Good idea.” Nina got up, pulled on her robe and slipped on her sandals. “I’ll go get some ice.” Her voice came from the next room. “I guess this is for ice.” She reappeared in the open doorway from the parlour holding a brass bucket which had been atop the large oak sideboard. At the same time, she was watching Tom put his leg down, then back up, down again.

  “It looks like an ice bucket.” Perri shrugged as she twisted the top from the pain reliever.

  “Alright. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.” She turned quickly toward Tom, “Don’t get up. Keep your foot up. What are you doing?”

  “Yeah, I will, don’t worry, it throbs if I put it down.”

  Nina shook her head in exasperation, “Don’t put it down.” She widened her eyes at Perri. “Be back in a minute.”

  Nina shut the door behind her as Perri brought Tom a glass of water and two ibuprofen caplets. “Here you go. You’ll need to take two more when you wake up.” She laid one of the washcloths from the bathroom on the foot of the bed. “When Nina gets back with the ice, we’ll put it on this on your foot.”

  “Won’t that stop the cold from getting to my toe?”

  “Not all of it. You don’t want ice directly against your skin. There will be enough cold coming through the cloth to do it good. When Nina gets back, she can get out a clean sock and we’ll put it in that, then you don’t have to worry about it sliding off so easily.”

  “Thanks. I’m lucky to have two nurses to tend to me.” Tom grinned.

  “Don’t get cocky.” Perri sat back on her bed.

  “Mind if I turn the weather on for a few minutes? I want to see what tomorrow is going to be like.”

  “No, sure, go ahead.” Perri sat cross-legged on the bed to wait for Nina’s return. Tom consulted the channel listing and advanced through them until a generic weatherman appeared. He was gazing awkwardly off to the side while pointing to a map that was really a green screen and was not quite in sync with the computer-generated images. It looked like rain for tomorrow, starting mid-morning.

  After the immediate forecast, Perri commented, “I wonder what’s keeping Nina? She’s been gone for a while.”

  Tom switched off the television. “Yeah, she has. Maybe she can’t find the ice. Surely there’s someone to tell her where it is.” He moved as if to get up.

  “No. Stay put. Let me go see where she is. I’ll ask in the lobby.”

  “Ok. Tom resettled his leg on the pillow, but he looked more uncomfortable than he had before.”

  Perri took a quick couple of minutes to change into street clothes and put on her shoes. “I’ll be back. I have my key so you don’t have to get up.”

  “I’ll be right here.”

  ***

  Perri followed the hallway to the lobby area. The plush carpet was cushiony under her feet and made no sound as she walked. The lighting was adequate yet soft and made the antique print wallpaper glow with warmth from the globe lights placed on various hall tables of mahogany and cherry.

  As Perri reached the end of the corridor, she could see a door ahead where the hallway decreased to a narrow passageway of about ten feet long as it passed from one building to the next. A pair of massive wooden doors were open, shutter-like, at the entrance to the lobby.

  To her right was another very short corridor that led to a guest service room. There were a couple of washers and dryers, folding tables, a clothes steamer, and the ice machine. Several feet from the ice machine was the brass ice bucket with cubes scattered all around it. She snatched up the bucket and looked rapidly from side to side, but no one was in the room.

  There was one other door in the wall opposite the hallway entrance. Perri pushed it open, the condensation from the cold brass running down her arm and dripping from her elbow. The door opened onto a bricked courtyard for guests. It was furnished with several round tables and chairs. Strings of small white lights were strung around the perimeter for lighting. She stepped outside into the quiet of the empty courtyard and listened. Other than an occasional car passing on the adjacent street, the drone of crickets was the only sound.

  Perri went back inside, through the passageway, and into the lobby. “Excuse me.” Perri approached the desk where a young woman was working at a computer.

  “Yes, may I help you?”

  “Did a woman come in here just a few minutes ago looking for ice, or just passing through?”

  “No ma’am. I haven’t seen anyone for quite a while, at least an hour. Are you looking for someone?”

  “Yes, I’m looking for my friend. She left the room quite a while ago to get ice,” Perri held up the now empty bucket, “but she hasn’t come back. I found the bucket she had with her on the floor but I don’t see her anywhere. You didn’t see anyone?”

  “No, I’m sorry. Do you think there is a problem?”

  “I really don’t know yet. I’m going back to the room to make sure she didn’t go back for some reason and I missed her. I’ll let you know if there is an issue.”

  Perri turned and hustled back through the massive doors, not really hearing the woman’s response.

  She fumbled with the card key to the room, inserting it upside down at first, then dropping it in her haste. When she got the door unlocked, she rushed through, still clutching the ice bucket. Tom, still in place on the bed in the next room, sat up and leaned forward to look through the arched doorway. He looked at Perri, then tried to peer around her, expecting to see Nina. “Where’s Nina?”

  Perri’s stomach churned to realize Nina was not in the room. “I don’t know.”

  Tom looked at the bucket then back to Perri’s face, and pointed, “But you have the ice bucket.”

  Perri shut the door and came into the bedroom. “I found it on the floor by the ice machine in the service room.”

  Tom’s face changed from mild concern to alarm. “We have to find her.” He swung around in the bed and stood up, flinching as his left foot took his weight. He limped to the wardrobe and pulled out some clothes. “I’m calling the police. I’ll get dressed and then I want to have a look around.”

  Perri stated, “I’ll call the desk and let them know. I talked to the night clerk and said I’d tell her if we found Nina or if we … had a problem.”

  Tom clutched his phone to his ear as he hobbled through the parlour to the bathroom.

  Chapter 26

  It was after two o’clock in the morning when the police were finished interviewing Tom, Perri, anyone on staff that night, as well as searched the empty rooms and grounds. Nothing else was found to indicate Nina had been there much less which way she may have gone.

  Perri sat on the divan in the parlour with a mug of peppermint tea and Tom alternated between sitting in a wingback chair and tryi
ng to pace the floor along the windows. Every couple of minutes he rubbed his hand over his face. Perri could hear the rasp of the stubble that had already appeared on his chin and jawline.

  “She had on her pajamas and robe! Thank goodness she put sandals on, but holy crap, where could she be?” He sat down again and leaned his elbows on his knees. “If I hadn’t cracked my toe, this wouldn’t have happened.” The scale of his voice was edging upward. “And she doesn’t have her phone! She can’t even try to call for help.”

  Perri put down her tea and slid to the end of the divan, nearer the chair where Tom sat. “It is not your doing that this happened. We’ll find her.”

  “How? We have no idea where to look.” Tom was distraught. “What about Aaron? I can’t tell him this on the phone.”

  Perri fought down the lump in her throat caused both by fear for her best friend and at seeing Tom visibly shaken. “Hopefully, you will never have to. This is the second incident we’ve had in a hotel in five days. I don’t think it is a coincidence, do you?”

  Tom raised his head and stared at Perri almost as though he didn’t know her. He softened his gaze, “You’re right.” He stood. “You are right. As soon as it’s late enough, I’m calling Archer. He will want to know this. I was supposed to call him back in the morning about picking up the knife anyway.” His eyes widened. “That knife! This is about that blasted knife, isn’t it?” he demanded.

  Perri reared back a bit at Tom’s vehemence. “It might be. It probably is.” She shifted on the cushions, “It seems that someone is still determined to get the knife. I hate to say it, but it seems that someone has still been following us. I don’t think I’d pick the knife up if I were you. Just leave it with Archer for now.”

  “Still?”

  “Well, they had to have followed us to the hotel we stayed at in Midlothian. They saw when we left and searched it. They didn’t know we had taken the knife with us when we left that evening, but I think they knew we had it initially. They’ve obviously followed us here.”