Buried Roots

by Cynthia Raleigh

  “I need to see your injury. We are calling for medical help.”

  Archer felt impatient because he thought he was going to have to coerce her and he didn’t want to have to spend time on that, but she suddenly lashed out with both hands, trying to scratch his face. He reared back and grabbed her wrists, trying to protect his face and to keep her bloody hands off his skin. Officer Williams quickly skirted around behind her and took one arm at a time, carefully placing the handcuffs on her wrists.

  This gave Archer a clear view of her face. She had two cuts on her right cheek, which is where most of the blood was coming from. He also noted a strange puncture wound. Three holes, equidistant from each other, pierced her left eyelid. He wasn’t able to tell if it punctured the globe of her eye or just the lid. She was mostly keeping her eyes closed and gritting her teeth. “I know you are in some pain.” Archer had been around enough detainees that he recognized the signs of an impending spit ball. He stepped to the side and let it hit the floor with a splat.

  “That’s fine. You don’t have to cooperate with me. Have a seat.”

  She shook her head. Archer replied, “Oh but I insist. Have a seat right over here against the wall.” He eased her down to the floor, her cuffed hands behind her, and stood between her and the exit.

  Cory had returned to Nina’s side. He had knelt down, one knee on the dirt floor, and was quietly asking her questions. Archer looked her over noting that the blood on her robe didn’t appear to be hers, which was a huge relief. She was turning something over and over in her hands while listening intently to Cory.

  Cory looked up, “She says she isn’t injured − just scared, tired, hungry, and thirsty.”

  “And mad.” Nina vehemently retorted.

  Archer grinned just a little bit, “She’s retained her sense of indignation. That’s a good sign.” He stooped down on her other side, keeping one eye on the woman against the wall, “As soon as help arrives, I’ll go call Tom and let him know you have been found and are alright. I don’t want to keep him wondering any longer. He’s been a fright, I’m telling you.”

  Nina smiled a drained smile and closed her eyes, resting her head against the wall beneath the bottom shelf.

  Another officer came down the steps into the cellar and, passing gloves to Archer and Cory, put on a pair himself saying, “Ambulance on the way, might take twenty minutes or more considering the road.” He nodded to the woman, “What happened?”

  “We don’t know the details yet, but we will soon enough. We don’t even know who she is yet.”

  “Yes, we do.” Monaghan’s bass voice rumbled around the cellar as he descended the steps as well. The room was getting crowded. “Roger Morris decided he had had enough of this whole catastrophe and is unburdening himself to anyone who will listen.” He gestured to the woman. “This is his wife, Valerie Morris.”

  Valerie tried to open her eyes but could manage only the right one. The left eyelid had begun to swell and darken. A stream of expletives issued from her lips and Archer decided he preferred Valerie uncooperative if it meant quiet.

  But now that her silence was broken, there was no chance of regaining it. “I’ll kill that damned Roger. He’s a coward.” She went on and on. Archer thought to himself, ‘I think I see the wisdom of Roger’s choice.’

  He decided that removing Nina from the cellar would be the best course and she was helped up the steps and across the lawn to the kitchen, where she sat in a padded rocking chair by the hearth.

  Archer asked Cory to get her something to drink, something hot if he could find it. He went back to the sitting room and instructed the officer there to Mirandize and place Orcenith Graham in handcuffs. This brought sputtering and exclamations and declarations of unjust treatment which Archer promptly turned and left behind. He stepped back outside to call Tom.

  His call was answered before the sound of the first ring had finished. “Yes?”

  “She is here and she is ok.”

  “What? What? I, did I hear you ri….” Tom’s voice just tapered off into a breathy sound.

  “Yes, you did. She is here, she is alright. We have medical staff on the way to make sure.” Archer waited for a response. The stress, fear, and emotional toll of the last couple of days had overwhelmed Tom and he couldn’t manage a reply.

  “Sit tight for a little bit longer. After we’ve removed the suspects, I’ll have Officer Elliot bring you in and you can be with Nina. It shouldn’t be long.”

  Tom’s only reply was a whispered, “Thanks.”

  Chapter 39

  Archer took one of the chairs in the sitting room and placed it in front of Dr. Orcenith Graham. He sat down, placed his feet firmly on the aged floorboards and steadily stared at him long enough for the professor to become uneasy and begin to fidget. “Now.” Shifting on the caned seat of the chair, “You want to tell me all about this situation?”

  “I have no idea what you mean.” Dr. Graham’s voice was not as steady as it had been earlier.

  “You know you can’t keep up the pretense, so let’s not waste your time and my time. We found Nina Watkins here, on your property.”

  “I am not responsible for what my employees…”

  “Oh, stop it. Roger Morris is the proverbial canary. If you think he is going to take the fall for you, think again. He isn’t even taking the fall for his wife.”

  “Well, to that I must say I would do myself.”

  “Yes, she’s a piece of work. Where did you find them?”

  “I told you, I needed caretakers.”

  “I told you I don’t believe you. Not that I don’t think you hire caretakers for this fabulous house, because it’s apparent that you do, but I don’t believe the Morris’s are the caretakers. It would be a long commute to work from the Gulf coast of Alabama, where they live.”

  Dr. Graham began another protest but Archer brought his hand down hard on the arm of the chair. The professor jumped and stared, open-mouthed as Archer leaned forward to within a couple feet from his face. “Stop this. Are you seriously thinking you are going to tell some fairy tale and we’ll just walk out of here? That isn’t going to happen.” Archer’s countenance clouded and abruptly took on a very somber tone. “I’m done fooling around with this, Professor. You don’t have to explain this to me now, as a matter of fact, I think we should transfer you to the jail and get the booking process started.”

  “No. No!” Dr. Graham scooted down the settee, away from Archer as though he meant to run. “You have no proof that I’ve done anything wrong at all. Those people who were supposed to be taking care of my property did all this. I have nothing to do with it. And I don’t have that knife, which proves I am not involved. You have already searched my house and my property and it isn’t here. Ask those two where they’ve hidden it.”

  “Roger Morris says he gave it to you.”

  “Well he would, wouldn’t he? This is absurd.”

  “A kidnapped woman is found on your property and you pretend you know nothing about it? That seems unlikely, especially given your obvious interest in the knife.”

  “Of course I was interested, it is a relic from my field of study, which is why you invited me there to examine it in the first place.”

  “I’m not going to argue this with you, not here.” To the two officers in the room, Archer said, “Take him.” Then looking back at Dr. Graham, “We’ll do a more thorough search now.”

  “Do as you will, Detective, but I must inform you that I will hold your department responsible for any damage. I will inspect it rigorously when I return.”

  “You do that, Doctor. Have a nice ride.”

  A car pulled into the circular parking area within moments of Dr. Graham being driven away from the house. Tom and Perri stepped out of the car. Perri stood on the chat, her purse and satchel on her shoulder and paperwork in her hands. Tom ran toward the house. Archer slowed him down with both hands on his shoulders, “Take it easy, I’ll take you to her. The medical team is with her, s
he’s ok, but they are getting ready to take her in to the hospital to be checked out.”

  “Take me to her now, please.”

  “I will. Remember, she’s exhausted, mentally and physically. Try to be as calm as you can.” Archer looked Tom in the eyes, “Ok?”

  “Yes, I will.” Tom nodded eagerly

  Archer directed Tom toward the house with one hand and waved at Perri to follow with the other. Once inside, he asked Perri to have a seat in the sitting room while he took Tom to the kitchen where Nina was with the medics.

  Perri took in the sitting room with its period furnishings and interior structure, still intact and in near pristine condition. It amazed her that a man who had such a love and appreciation for history and its surviving remnants could be amazingly callous toward people. She chose to sit at the Windsor writing chair where she could have her paperwork in front of her. She had just begun to sort through the pages to arrange them when the paramedics came in through the dining room door with Nina on a gurney. Perri leapt up and half stumbled across the room to reach her before they took her out the front door.

  “Oh my God, I’ve never been so happy to see someone in my life! Are you ok?” Then the tears started. Perri hated when she couldn’t control tears, sometimes it was a sad occasion, but many times it was happy or followed a fear-filled episode like this one. The corner of Nina’s mouth turned down, her lips quivered, and tears welled up and brimmed in her eyes.

  With a strained voice, Perri said, “Sorry, I’m going to blubber all over everyone, but I’m just so relieved.” The paramedics inched forward.

  “I’m ok, Perri, just really tired.”

  “I’ll come to the hospital.” Nina closed her eyes and Perri turned away. She resumed her place in her chair and busied herself searching through her purse for a tissue.

  Eventually, Archer entered the room. He looked as though he was going to sit on the settee, but changed his mind, either because he didn’t want to take the seat Dr. Graham had just vacated or he wanted to avoid the satin covered cushions on the shallow-backed piece of furniture. Perri saw it as more decorative than comfortable. Archer chose one of the upholstered wing chairs. He turned it to face Perri and pushed it across the uneven floor boards, then collapsed into it.

  “Now. Maybe we can make some sense out of this mess. I’d love to go through this whole story, but I still have a lot of work to do here. Do you mind going through these letters you found with me now and maybe we can pick up the entire story tomorrow?”

  “I don’t mind at all. I’m glad to have something constructive to do after all the waiting and worrying.”

  “Alright, tell me how you found out the knife belonged to the Graham family.”

  Perri ran her finger down the front of the first document and began her explanation of the letters from Elizabeth Graham to her son, Isaac.”

  Thirty minutes later, Archer leaned back in the chair and looked at the ceiling, “This knife has been in Orcenith Graham’s family since before the Civil War?”

  “Yes. And he wanted it back. Badly.”

  Archer sighed heavily and slapped his palms on his knees. “Now if I could only find the blasted thing. I know he has it, but where? I went through two of the rooms myself. I don’t want to start prying up the floorboards.”

  “Oh.” Perri was thoughtful for a few moments, Archer waited expectantly. “You haven’t found it”

  He recognized it as more of a statement than a question, but replied regardless, “No, can’t find it anywhere. I got two people starting the search on the garage and two in the root cellar, and we have to start over in the house.” Archer watched Perri’s face, her eyes unfocused on the distant wall. “What are you thinking? You have some kind of idea where to look?” Archer chuckled a little, thinking it was a joke.

  “Well, maybe.” Perri shuffled through her stack of papers. “Hang on.”

  Archer fought down the growing hope that Perri would have a useful suggestion. How could she? She hadn’t even been here until around an hour ago and had only been in this one room.

  “Here it is.” She bent over the paper and read to herself.

  “What? What is it? Not fair keeping me waiting.”

  “Remember in the last letter I read to you from Elizabeth to Isaac, the one where she apologized for not keeping the knife for Isaac?” Archer nodded. “At the end of the letter she also wrote that she was pleased he had started his own business, right?”

  “Yes, I remember that.”

  “There were two more letters following that one. I didn’t read them at the library because I was in such a hurry to get the information I had to you, but I read them in the car on the way back to the police station. It didn’t seem of the utmost importance at the time because I had no idea you hadn’t recovered the knife.”

  “Yes? And?” Archer slid to the edge of the chair.

  “As I’ve said, Isaac’s letters are not included here, but I can extrapolate some information from what appears to be his mother’s responses to letters she received. In the letter following the one I read to you, Elizabeth appears to be referring to Isaac’s concern for keeping safe not only his ale recipes, which back then were guarded closely if they were good ones, but also some sizeable amounts of money.”

  “Ok, go on.”

  “There were banks in Richmond in 1899, of course, but this house was quite a distance from Richmond then, and it is still a rural area. The smaller surrounding communities here today were not here at that time. Isaac Graham was keeping at least some money at the house for his use, evidently enough that he worried about it, and he must have expressed that concern to his mother in a letter.

  Perri found her place in the letter. “She replied to him that he should make use of the place Isaac’s grandfather, Edwin Graham, had used.”

  “Great! Where is it? Is it in the cellar? Let’s have a look.” Archer was on his feet, his energy renewed.

  “It isn’t described in detail, I’m sure that’s because she couldn’t be sure who would read the letter. She didn’t want to describe the location of a hiding place only for someone else to find it. She says, ‘Isaac, your valuables would be best entrusted to the space your grandfather, Edwin, used for his valuables. Remember we spoke of it quite some years ago when you read of one not too unlike it in the gentleman’s book about the House?’ He probably was able to recall its location from her reference, even though it seems vague to us.”

  Tom looked weary. “Well, where is that then? We don’t know what books this guy read a hundred and fifty or more years ago! And she doesn’t exactly narrow it down much. A book about a house?”

  “It might not be as hard as you think.” Perri studied the walls of the room.

  “Speak for yourself.”

  Perri laughed, “I have an advantage over you. I’ve been through the documents Dr. Graham submitted to the library, or at least a lot of them.” Perri stood and walked across the room. “I think that if Isaac read the book, and it was ‘quite some years’ before 1899, when the letter was written, then it was probably when he was a teenager or a young man. He was born in 1841, sometime between, say 1851 and 1861. When she wrote ‘House’ rather than ‘house,’ to me, that assigns some meaning to it as a title more than a simple description. And she may have intended that as a reminder to Isaac.”

  Archer had no idea what to say and said so. “You’ve lost me.”

  “I spent a little time thinking about this on the trip out here and waiting in the car, trying to think of what books might have been written by that time that concerned a house, or had house in the title.”

  “Tell me you thought of one, because I’ve never been good at trivia questions.”

  “The one that stands out in my mind is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The House of the Seven Gables,’ which fits pretty perfectly. It was published in 1850 and, yes, that house does have a hidden space. In that book, the space hides a full staircase that goes up to a bedroom on the second floor. But don’t look
too impressed, I’ve visited the house before, which is one reason it sticks out in my mind.”

  “Good enough for me, I don’t care if you just dreamed it as long as we find it. Where do you think it is?”

  Perri stepped toward the doorway, “If it is like the one in Hawthorne’s book, it won’t be in this room.” She pointed, “Is there a dining room?”

  “Yes, come through here.”

  She walked into the dining room and followed along each wall, Archer immediately behind her. She stopped and turned in front of the fireplace. Archer asked, “Well?”

  “I think the most likely place is right here. One of these.” She pointed to each side of the fireplace.

  Archer shook his head slightly, “I don’t get it, those are built in china cabinets.”

  “They are, but they’re supposed to look like only china cabinets. That may not be all they are, or at least one of them anyway.” Perri studied them a little more. “I think we should check this one first.” She indicated the one to the right of the fireplace.

  “Why that one?”

  “Because the one on the left is flush with the stone of the fireplace on one side and flush with the wall on its other side. Not much room to move. The cabinet on the right of the fireplace is only flush with the fireplace itself. The kitchen door is located just here, so there is no wall on the kitchen side of the cabinet, just the finished end of the cabinet itself.

  “If we can, will you help me take all these plates and bowls out of it? Let’s set them on the table.”

  Archer and Perri removed each item carefully from the cabinet, setting them in the middle of the large dining table. While they worked, Archer asked doubtfully, “Do you think there’s a staircase behind this?”

  “No, not really. This is an outer wall rather than an inner wall, like in the one I’ve seen where there was room for a stairway because it was in the core of the house. The outer walls of this house are stone, and judging by the depth of the window ledges, they’re pretty thick as well, but not thick enough for a stairway. I would expect something much smaller.”