Angel Watch at Blacknest: A Supernatural Mystery

by T. A. Paquette

  They kissed and went to bed both still worried. Frank said a prayer in his mind to God; hoping he was out there. He didn't tell his wife that he prayed; he thought it was his business and he wasn't totally convinced he wasn't just talking to the ceiling. His folks had been screwed up, but he knew that it was not Gods fault. He sure hoped he was out there because he was at the end of his rope and really did need some help. He rolled over and went to sleep thinking maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

  Jack Evermore

  Jack Evermore sits in his antique store The Oak Door planning his next shipment of merchandise. He doesn't like to think of himself as a smuggler or thief; it sounded crass and low class. He is a business man with antique stores up and down the east coast and in Europe. He is a very, very successful business man. Much of his “merchandise” doesn't make it to the shelves or display cases of the stores. It goes to customers he has that are off the books. Most of them have never been in one of his stores. He calls those orders his special orders. He has several thieves including Zara working for him from time to time; different thieves, fit different jobs. Zara fit into the elegant party scene; after all she is a very wealthy jet setter herself. The only problem he saw with her is she turned so many heads. She is stunning. Zara does not really blend in too well; but she is a very good thief and ruthless. She has taken a few lives in the past and if necessary, he knew she will do it again. She has a very cold heart, in that beautiful body.

  Jack sits thinking almost dozing off as Blue Bell his Siamese cat walks in and jumps up onto his lap. His wife, Robin had given him the cat years ago to keep him company at this store. Many of his customers know Blue Bell and bring her treats and toys. She is a lovely cat with vibrant blue eyes and she is very vocal; common for this breed. He had told Robin that he hated cats but over the years, he has become fond of her. He loves her personality. She is not interested in anyone but him. If she does not like you she will leave her mark. For some strange reason she has never raked her claws over him; not once. The little beast will hop up and melt into his lap; purring loudly then fall asleep. With others she will stand a ways off and watch them as if she is trying to decide if they were OK. His wife Robin, their daughter, Chicky or their son, Timor can pet her but Blue will never lay on any of their laps. He thinks she has character and is pretty damn smart for a cat. Tapping his fingers on his desk he wonders if he should call Xander about their next shipment. Besides shipping antiques, he occasionally has live merchandise whether it is young girls, for an Arab sheik (or some other type of deviant) or perhaps an exotic animal. He has done it all he thinks to himself. He truly offered a unique service. So far there have been no complaints except from the buyer in Amsterdam who didn't receive the necklace. He had been reimbursed, with a little extra for his trouble. They now hoped to sell the necklace for a better price, anyway.

  The shipment he is thinking about now is going to Egypt. It is two young girls who presently are being kept in a holding cell in the labyrinth. The Labyrinth as the Hill people call it is the secret tunnel system connecting the mansions on the Hill. It has been in place since the early 1900's; slave labor had been used to create the extensive tunnel system. The laborers lived down there and died down there. The stupid towns people were clueless.

  The girls will not be missed because there has never been a record of their births. They had been born in one of the many baby birthing homes the northern covens operated. The children in these homes are kept out of sight and out of the government system. They are used in the mind control programs, some are sold off like these two and of course, much worse happened to others. So, these girls should consider themselves lucky, he smiles to himself. Jack's heart is stone and he feels nothing for the girls. They are only merchandise. Compassion is foreign to him although if his cat died he would be sad he thought.

  He picks up the phone to call Xander. They have arranged the delivery to be tomorrow. The girls will be cleaned up and put on a private jet to Egypt and from there the buyer will take them the rest of the way. The payment will be made upon delivery by wire transfer to one of their off shore accounts, as always. This is the third time this customer has put in a special order with him. In the past, it has gone very smoothly. He is sure tomorrow will be the same. After talking over the details with Xander, Jack gives Blue Bell a saucer of milk and closes up the shop for the day. He wonders what Robin has planned for this weekend. Maybe they should drive up the coast. He has not visited the seashore in years and he loved the lobster rolls and crab cakes of his childhood. He thinks life is good and it must be the devil living poor. He never wants to experience it.

  Joe and Jeb

  Pastor Joe Tully checked the gear for tomorrow’s opening of the gator season. Jeb is coming by this evening to help cut bait and work on the boat’s motor. Joe has grown up down here and has been on many hunts. It is a way of life for these folks. It is rare to run into someone that doesn't love to eat gator. At the end of the season they will have a big feed at the church and invite all their neighbors. His mouth watered thinking about hush puppies and fried gator. And he knew the great cooks in his church will bring a mess of food, pies, and cakes. He has to admit that he has always had a sweet tooth. Joe then starts thinking about his daughters constant nagging to go lotus pod picking. He is feeling a little hen picked lately. He had reassured Mary just this morning that there was no way they were going to miss lotus pod season. He knew where the largest lotus flower paddies were and it would take no time to fill all the girls gunny sacks especially, if they take two boats. So, he told them to not mention it again. He told them that their reminding is now nagging and he was not going to tolerate it. His poor daughters are old maids. He knew they weren't much to look at, he had eyes. But they were such good girls and wonderful cooks he thought the young men would overlook their homely features and marry them, anyway. He was wrong. One of them almost married but it didn't work out. Oh, well he knew they loved the Lord and were happy so, it could be worse. They lived together in a little house just down the road from the church. He and Marie live in a small house next to the church.

  Jeb drives up in his truck and gets out toting a bucket of tools. “Hey, Pastor Joe, how are you this evening?” says Jeb.

  “Oh, can’t complain.” says Joe.

  They walk to the back yard and sit and cut bait and rig up the snares. The bait this year is extra ripe chicken halves and they smell something atrocious. The gators will love them. They load four buckets of bait into the boat and throw in the rest of their gear. Jeb spends the night on their couch because they’ll be leaving around four A.M. They have two hundred tags to fill and are planning on putting out about thirty snares in the morning. The regulations say a snare has to be checked no later than twenty four hours from when it has been set. So they’ll check them right before sundown. Marie, Pastor Joe’s wife has made them stacks of sandwiches and dozens of cookies. Their ice chest is full of soda pop and sweet tea, so they are in good shape.

  By mid morning they have all their traps rigged with chicken dangling just above the waterline. The weather is pretty and they are hoping to get through the season without a blower coming in. Hurricane is a dirty word in these parts. It brings nothing good. It just takes. Jeb tells Joe that Mercy May has been talking him weary about the lotus season. He told her the gators come first because they bring in a lot of money. But she just keeps yammering. They both laugh about how trying the women folk can be sometimes.

  The girls leave on the jet

  Now cleaned and polished the girls board the private jet. They are both under mind control and in a hold position; the term the doctor’s use for compliant and subdued. It looks like they are in a type of trance. They have been conditioned that as soon as the pink ribbon is tied on them, whether it be around their wrist or as a sash around their waists, they are to go into the hold position. A state where they are submissive to all orders and do not talk. Jack thinks to himself, how easy this has become over the years. He hated the kicking
and screaming of the past. The flight will refuel in England then on to their destination in Egypt. They will land at a small private airstrip outside Cairo. The sheiks people would then be given the merchandise and will provide the transportation for the last leg of the journey. The girls now sit together, ready for a flight they will not remember making. Tomorrow, they will wake up in a strange place and to what, Jack did not know or care, as long as he got paid.

  Rumble, rumble, he can hear his stomach. He had missed lunch today. Hmm, that reminded him, maybe he can have some roasted lamb and some other delicacies delivered to the plane once they get to Egypt? He did love the Middle Eastern food, esp. the flat bread and roasted lamb with that yogurt sauce. He will give the pilot his list of food that he can pick up before the return trip. I pay that pilot a fortune he can do an errand for me thinks Jack.

  Hmm, I wonder if Robin would like to go out for an early supper tonight. I'm starved. He gets in his car and drives back to the office grabs some files and Blue Bell and goes home. For years Blue Bell lived at the store but in her old age he brought her home most nights.

  Snide

  Snide has been a butler for the Blacknest’s for ten years now. A few months ago he was contacted by his nephew, Nigel who works for Scotland Yard. Nigel is a detective working on international smuggling, but primarily human trafficking. Snide was asked if he would discreetly snoop around Blacknest Manor. Nigel said that The Yard has been investigating a distribution line that seemed to originate from the Colonies, as he put it. Nigel is always so British; putting down the Americans whenever he has a chance. He didn't like America or Americans. Of course, he has never been here. It is just a prejudice he has grown up with being English. Anyway, he told Snide that the Blacknest and Evermore names keep surfacing among some of their informants. They don’t know if there is anything to it. Maybe the snitches are just disgruntled because of past run-ins with those families. But if there is something, Nigel wants to uncover it. So, Snide has been paying a little closer attention to conversations. Snide even put his ear up to Xander’s closed office door a couple times. He felt a bit disloyal but over the years he has seen behind the courteous behavior and immaculately dressed Xander Blacknest. He wonders if Scotland Yard has contacted Old Ferrall, the Evermore’s butler. Snide thought probably not because to him Old Ferrall seemed a little senile. Snide also thought that Old Ferrall would surely spill the beans to his employer, Mr. Evermore.

  He didn't bother eavesdropping on Elise because she spent her time in a different world. Her nurse, Nonie had told him Elise often thinks she’s back in her early days. She often asks Nonie where in the world Kendrick is because they are going to be late for the party. So, he knew he would get no information out of her.

  Now, Zara is another story. He knew she and Xander were as tight as thieves and she was privy to all the secrets. But with that stone stare she always gives him when he passes her, Snide did not think she would slip and say something compromising to the help. Of all the Blacknest's she acted most like an aristocrat. Aristocrats in Britain he knew well because he had worked for many of them and all of his family members have worked as servants on huge estates for generations. His father had been a butler and his mother an upstairs maid. He knew without a doubt, he was like vermin to Zara. He had seen that look many times in his life. The so called elite were so sure of themselves; oh, so superior. They think of themselves as more highly evolved than the rest of us. Snide smiles to himself and thinks delusional is what they are.

  For the past few months when the house is empty I will do a little exploring. I am always looking for clues, maybe a secret room or false wall leading to a secret hall or chamber. I like reading mysteries and crime novels in my spare time. It is an interest I have had since boyhood. But I have found no clues in this big house, yet. I have very carefully looked through papers and drawers in Xanders office. But nothing jumped out at me as illegal. There is the lowest basement of the mansion, that no one is allowed in but the family. When I was first hired, I was told never to enter the second basement, as they called it. No staff that I know of have ever been allowed down there. I would love to know what is so special about the second basement. The extensive wine cellar is located one floor up in the first basement. I have looked carefully at the ornate old locked door many times that leads to the mysterious second basement. I thinks I can pick it but it would be my luck if it is booby trapped with an alarm. I will admit that I am a little frightened of the Blacknest's. There are just too many unanswered questions. I believed they are cruel and might even kill me, if I caused trouble. Maybe, I am letting my imagination carry me away. Getting crazy ideas from all those crime novels I've read over the years. .

  But seriously I thinks these Hill people could be capable of terrible things. I am sure of it. They aren't the type you'd want as friends with their cold eyes and haughty superiority, looking down at you. My job pays well and at my age it would be difficult to find another one. Perhaps, I should go back to England and move in with my younger sister and her husband. She has extended the invitation many times. They own a large dairy and could use the help. There is a small cottage they said I could live in free of charge, for as long as I wanted. But in the mean time I will keep trying to help Nigel. I would love to nab the bad guy, like in some of those novels.

  All the time he was thinking this over, he has been polishing his chauffeur's boots. Tomorrow he is taking Zara to the airport so she can catch a flight to London.

  Hmmm, I wondered what she is up to in London. She has always been a mystery. I feel I have never met the real Zara. She acts for her mother, Elise, who is easily entertained much like a child. And she and Xander speak very little; they just exchanged looks, as if they are reading each other’s minds.

  Then there are the very odd people that show up at all hours. Xander would greet them at the door himself and almost 100% of the time they would go down to the second basement and through that very ornate locked door and he never saw any of them come back up. Often he has secretly followed and watched them go through the door; Xander carries a very antique looking key that opens the door. All the house staff talks about the second basement and the door but no one has ever been through it. They would come up with guesses that sounded ridiculous from some type of Underground Railroad for smuggling illegal’s to some type of secret society meetings. No one really knew anything. Another question was why didn't they leave the same way they came in; the front door. That was a mystery; where did they go? This house was so strange; so full of secrets he thought maybe he should quit and go back to England, while he still could leave.

  Yarrow

  The Yarrow looks real pretty back there against the fence thought Dilly as she walks through her herb garden. Besides, being pretty, Yarrow was an all around useful herb. She picked it when it was in full bloom then hung it upside down in her sun porch. Yarrow was called Warriors Blood Wart for good reason; it would stop bleeding within minutes. She remembered slicing her index finger almost to the bone once. She sprinkled dried Yarrow on the wound and applied pressure; within minutes it had stopped bleeding. One of the men in her church who was a marine said they always had dried Yarrow in their first aid kits they carried; it was well known in military circles, the versatility of Yarrow. On her cut finger she put a Yarrow poultice and wrapped it snugly and then changed it every four hours; by day three it was a little scar. It had healed very nicely. She also drank it in tea to calm her nerves and to relieve any muscle ache. Another, well known use for the tea was to break high fevers.

  She was always quick to instruct people to NOT boil it because the liquid would then cause hallucinations. She had read that but never had experienced it.

  Dilly had spent the morning in her back yard weeding the garden. It was lovely weather, she wore her big brimmed straw hat and scooted her little gardening stool around as she sit and enjoyed herself. At her age she didn't crawl around on her hands and knees and weed. It was too hard to get up off the ground; her joints
were so stiff with old age. She had a big jar of sun tea brewing on her picnic table and a dish of snicker doodle cookies she had been munching on all morning. Dilly loved the tangy flavor that cream of tartar gave cookies. She would often just use her snicker doodle recipe as her base cookie recipe and then add oatmeal or peanut butter for whatever type of cookie she wanted. She figured when you find a winner why change it. Her cats Gene Gene and Belly lay near her on the chaise lounge napping. They were always close by. In her basket she had a variety of herbs that she had cut, rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano and those beautiful little blue borage flowers that tasted like cucumbers. They were going in her salad for lunch. This year Dilly planned on giving little jars of her dried garden herbs away for gifts this coming holiday season.

  Chili Cook off prep.

  The Chili Cook off was now only four days away and they had twelve entrants. The men had been setting up the cooking stations and a dining area in the tent. The tent was huge. Dilly thought it looked like a circus tent. They had sold ninety four tickets so there would be a nice crowd and children under ten years old got in free. The local newspaper and radio station has been doing some advertising free of charge for them. The meal the church will provide is chili, cornbread, coleslaw and apple pie. They well start baking two days before the event. She wondered how many pies they would need; maybe thirty she thought. She also had to make sure there is plenty of vanilla ice cream, and maybe have some sliced cheddar cheese for those that like cheese on their pie. The entrants were pretty interesting. Many had formed teams such as their local firemen; they are calling themselves the Hot Shots. There is also a team of realtors, a team of sorority sisters; not sure which sorority. The sheriff's department has even entered a team and she believed it is the two deputies Robbs and Colton. The rest of the entrants are individuals. The cook off is going to be quite the event. Dilly knew people would jump on board. She asked The Country Time band to come play and they readily agreed; all are members of Faith Tabernacle church.