by Gerald Lopez
“Let me show you to your room, Shannon,” Elise said.
She and Elise left the rest of us to ourselves in the living room.
“Did you enjoy your time with Shannon?” Alex said, looking my way.
“Yes I did,” I said. “It was informative.”
“There were some wild times in Carson Court back in the day,” Rory said. “I’ve heard the stories.”
“Walk me to the sofa, please, Layton,” Mrs. Carson said.
I helped her to the sofa, then sat by her side. Alex and Rory sat in two chairs across from us. The walls in the room were painted white and there were large white tiles on the floor. It was all in stark contrast to the main house.
“You mentioned wild parties,” Alex said to Rory.
“Oh yeah,” Rory said. “I never actually attended many of them, but Mrs. Carson here opened the property up to the gays in the area way before the days of the gay pride parades. I think she did it just to shake up some of the prudes in the area.”
Mrs. Carson laughed, then responded. “That was just a fringe benefit, Rory. My husband and I knew some men and a few women who needed a place to get together and let their hair down—dance, relax, and that sort of thing. Everybody deserves to have some place to go where they can be themselves.”
“I heard about the orgies too,” Rory said.
“Silly boy, you can’t believe everything you hear,” Mrs. Carson said. “Some of the parties did get slightly out of hand and there may have been some nudity and shenanigans. I might’ve seen some things, but I never partook of them… and drugs were never ever allowed on the estate. People trusted my husband. He was strong and not a man to be taken advantage of, but he was also open-minded—except when it came to drugs. My husband even had friends he was close to for years who were gay. When a man knows who he is, it’s easier for him to be more tolerant and considerate when it comes to people.”
“That’s very true,” I said.
“I guess things have quieted down somewhat,” Alex said, being unusually inquisitive. He picked up Lucky who was by his feet, put him in his lap, then rubbed his ears. Lucky was enjoying every second of it—I didn’t blame him.
“Times have changed,” Mrs. Carson said. “People are more prudish than ever, but there are places for the gays to go and celebrate now. They don’t need Carson Court anymore.”
“A lot of them still stop by to visit,” Rory said. “They haven’t forgotten you… or him. And you still allow me to host my nudist gatherings on the property once a month.”
“Now that’s something I haven’t read about in my research,” Shannon said, as she and Elise entered from the hallway to the left of the living room.
“How did you find your room, Shannon?” Mrs. Carson said.
“Very comfortable, thank you,” Shannon said. “It’s nice… and quiet here. I don’t need to be worried about running into nudists walking around, do I?”
“You never need to be worried about nudists, darlin’,” Rory said. “It’s not like they have pockets to hide a weapon.”
Everyone laughed.
“There’s nothing wrong with the naked body,” Mrs. Carson said. “Now, why don’t I give you a tour of the rest of the estate before I fall asleep on this sofa. Maybe Shannon can share some of the grizzly details she’s uncovered about Carson Court.”
Chapter 7
Grim Histories
WE WERE outside walking again and Mrs. Carson had wrapped one arm around Alex’s arm and the other around my arm. Tuck was following us as we exited the cottage and walked left then across a small grassy area surrounded by trees. The pool house where Rory lived was just at the end of the grassy area, and that’s where we were headed.
“If I’m correct, the bodies of the first of Carson Court’s victims were found lying on the grass here,” Shannon said.
“My great-great-grandmother’s twin sons,” Elise said. “They were only a few weeks old when they were murdered.”
“Did anyone ever mention how the twins died?” Shannon said. “I’ve never found an accurate account of the real reason for their passing.”
“I’ve always been told they had some sort of heart condition,” Elise said.
“They had no heart condition,” Mrs. Carson said.
“My research leads me to believe it was murder,” Shannon said, grabbing onto Rory’s arm to balance herself a moment. “There was a rough bump in the ground there.”
“That is the exact spot where the bodies were found,” Rory said. “There’s always a bump in the ground… to remind people the twins existed.”
“My great-uncles were murdered,” Mrs. Carson said. “I have no doubt of that. But I’ve never heard a definitive story of how it happened. Some say their hearts just stopped, others that they were smothered to death by someone in this house. I’m more inclined to believe what Doc Mulgroon once told me years ago before he passed. He said that when he was a boy he’d heard the old-timers in town say it was as if the twins had—I don’t even like to talk about what he said. In any case, the doctor never spoke of those murders again.”
“Why not?” Alex said
We were within sight of a tall, white, wooden fence surrounding a large space. It had to be the pool and pool house.
“Clearly there was some sort of cover-up happening,” I said. “Some bigwig or several bigwigs were involved and had either money or connections to cover it all up.”
Mrs. Carson squeezed my arm to stop me, then faced me with a serious look on her face.
“I saw real fear behind Doc Mulgroon’s eyes the day he told me what my Uncle had said to him before he died,” Mrs. Carson said. “And Doc Mulgroon wasn’t the type of man to be afraid of other men—no matter how powerful they might be.”
“So what was he afraid of?” I said, then patted Mrs. Carson’s arm and started to walk again.
“Something that a lot of old-timers around here were afraid of but would never speak about,” Mrs. Carson said.
“Probably something supernatural or paranormal in nature,” Shannon said. “There have been numerous reports of ghost sightings on this property.”
“I’ve seen them myself from time to time,” Mrs. Carson said. “Before my husband moved onto the estate and just a short time back, after he died. They wouldn’t dare come when he was here.”
Now I stopped and wanted to slap the side of my face for how dumb I’d been. “This place is called Carson Court. It’s always been called that, hasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Elise said.
“But,” I turned to Mrs. Carson. “You’re a widow and your last name is Carson, yet you mentioned your husband moving onto the property after you were married. Which would mean Carson is your maiden name.”
“Correct, Detective,” Mrs. Carson said.
“Grandmother uses a hyphenated name,” Elise said.
“That’s enough, Elise!” Mrs. Carson said. She said it in a tone that was more serious than I thought the comment warranted, then she turned to me again. “It’s a complicated subject, Detective. My husband took on the Carson name as well as his own. It suited him and, in a way, allowed him to have two identities. One of those identities kept his wealthy background hidden from the world. At Carson Court we were always the Carsons. Elsewhere we went by his last name.”
This was getting complicated, but instead of saying anything I continued walking silently, as did the others. When we got to the front of the wooden fence, Rory removed a key from his pocket to unlock the gate. He held the key up for me to see, then spoke.
“Safety reasons. Pools have to be surrounded by a fence to keep kids and non swimmers out. Like everything here, people went overboard and fenced in the pool and the pool house.”
As he put the key in the lock, I turned to Mrs. Carson. “I don’t like the way you called me ‘Detective’. I’m Layton to you.”
She responded by smiling and giving my arm a reassuring squeeze. Rory swung the gate open and we walked into a cement area surroun
ding a surprisingly large pool. On the right side, facing the pool, was a small building with an outdoor eating area. The majority of the building was glass except the left side which was cement block painted white.
“Why is the pool so far from the house?” I said.
“It’s a fairly new addition to the estate,” Mrs. Carson said. “My husband liked having a small area of grass and the only other place for the pool would’ve been where the brick courtyard is now. Anyway, with a pool house we didn’t worry about it being far from the main house.”
“The pool house is a simple one bedroom, but it suits me,” Rory said. “I have a well stocked bar for anyone that might need some late night refreshment. Mrs. Carson and I play cards outside on the table sometimes or cool off in the pool.”
“The pool is so clear,” Shannon said. “It looks tempting.”
“Well, anytime you feel like giving into temptation come on over,” Rory said.
“You’re a dangerous man, Rory,” Shannon said, then smiled.
“And here I thought you played for our team,” Alex said.
“I don’t limit myself to any one team,” Rory said. “Let me show you around the interior.”
We followed him inside the pool house. It was an open and white studio space—uncluttered and neat. There was also a small, but well-appointed kitchen area against the back wall.
“Where should we go now?” Mrs. Carson said.
Rory’s cell phone rang and he excused himself to deal with it.
“Why don’t we show them the main house, then let Layton and Alex get settled in their room before dinner,” Elise said.
“Would you mind if we stopped by the hanging tree?” Shannon said. “Only if it’s not out of the way.”
“It’s not,” Elise said.
Elise and Shannon walked ahead of the rest of us and Alex and I walked slowly with Mrs. Carson and Lucky, who’d grown attached to Alex.
“It seems like Carson Court really is used to getting a lot of visitors,” Alex said.
“What’s the use of having all of this space if you can’t share it?” Mrs. Carson said.
I took a deep breath and let the air fill my lungs. The tall, established trees surrounding us, made me feel as if I was in the woods, so did the large expanse of land. Ahead of us to the side of the house was the small brick building Alex and I had seen when we first approached the front of the main house. Even at a distance, I could see this structure had a wooden door and glass windows all around—not just open doorways like the Indian pavilion.
“That building you’re looking at was used as a playroom by my brother and me,” Mrs. Carson said. “More recently it was used as a gardening shed of sorts. We haven’t really figured out what to do with it these days.
I heard pounding footsteps behind us and turned around. It was Rory running to catch up with our group.
“Mrs. Carson,” Rory said, out of breath from the running. “That was Miss Maribelle on the phone. She said if she’d known you were having a soldier boy over she’d have cancelled her visit to the old folks’ home and stayed with you.”
“As if I couldn’t handle a soldier on my own, especially when I have you here, Rory,” Mrs. Carson said. “Maribelle doesn’t work as my secretary anymore, she’s not obligated to be here.”
“Just the same,” Rory said. “She’ll be here within the hour.”
“Good gracious, that woman worries,” Mrs. Carson said.
“What exactly does she have to worry about from a ‘soldier boy’?” Alex said, taking the words right out of my mouth.
“Certain soldiers tend to react when they come here, that’s all,” Mrs. Carson said. “Rory, walk me over to the hanging tree where Shannon and Elise are waiting. I need to give these mens’ arms a rest.”
Rory held out his arm out to Mrs. Carson and she let go of Alex and me and went with Rory. Lucky stayed by Alex who grabbed my arm to keep me back, then whispered in my ear.
“What’s going on here, Layton?”
“I have no idea, Alex. My guts tell me we’re fine in regard to Mrs. Carson, even though she clearly has an agenda—and is definitely the one in control in this situation. The funny thing—and I think I’ve said that phrase before on this trip. The funny thing is I’ve never felt more comfortable in a place.”
“It certainly is beautiful,” Alex said. “And we’ve seen no sign of ghosts… yet. But it does feel oddly like—”
“Like what?” I said.
“Like we belong here and I don’t have any idea why, Layton. If you could buy this house from Mrs. Carson, would you?”
“Yes,” I said, so quickly I shocked myself. “We’d better go join the others.”
“This is where your uncle was found hung,” Elise said to Shannon as Alex and I walked up to them. “Some say it was suicide.”
“The incident was horrible, but the tree looks so normal,” Shannon said. “I’d done so much research about it I suppose I expected to feel an almost supernatural energy emanating from it.” She turned to me and I shrugged my shoulders in response.
“Looks like a plain old tree to me,” I said.
“That’s because it is ‘just a plain old tree’ that was used for an evil purpose,” Mrs. Carson said.
“You sound like you don’t believe my uncle committed suicide,” Shannon said.
“I knew your uncle and I don’t believe he ever would’ve killed himself. But there were plenty of people I believed capable of murdering him. Elise, Miss Maribelle is heading this way within the hour. Knowing her it’ll be earlier.”
“Then we’d better hurry and tour the house before the two of you start gossiping, Grandma,” Elise said.
“You know we do not gossip, Elise. Miss Maribelle is a churchgoing woman. She merely wants to meet our guests. I suppose it’s time for Layton to know everything, anyhow.”
“Are you ready for the big reveal, Layton?” Shannon said to me, then smiled. “I’m anxious to find out about it myself.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said, then smiled back at Shannon.
Rory patted me on the back with his free hand, then spoke. “You soldier boys are never ready when you come here.”
Chapter 8
Face to Face
WE ENTERED the main house after Mrs. Carson told us about the porch’s history. She then talked about the beautiful wood staircase that was against the left wall of the wide and spacious entry. It had an open and fancy carved bannister on the other side. There was one flight of steps, then a second flight which turned right and went up to an open landing.
“Elise, would you please show them around upstairs while I check the food?” Mrs. Carson said.
“Sure, Grandma, but wait for me to come back downstairs if you need help with anything.”
“I’ll stay with her and make sure she behaves,” Rory said.
As we walked upstairs, Lucky hopped up each step alongside Alex.
Once we reached the top, Elise spoke. “To the left are two bedrooms and Grandma’s office. There’s a family room and bedroom to the right. In between them with a hall on either side is Grandma’s bedroom.”
We followed Elise to the right, then down the hall, and peered into a nice size rectangular family room.
“This family room used to be the nursery,” Elise said. After we’d all looked around, Elise walked us to double doors directly across from the nursery and opened them to reveal Mrs. Carson’s lush and large bedroom. “Originally this was storage space, then the family room with an attached bathroom, and finally Grandma and Grandpa had it converted to their bedroom. Mom and Dad stayed at the court for a while and occupied the en-suite bedroom down the hallway to the left.” She led us to the other bedroom on this side and we quickly took a peek at it. “At times there have been two families as well as guests staying in this home. It’s quite comfortable and the layout makes it work beautifully.”
“I bet it does,” Alex said, then nudged me in the stomach.
“I’m
already ahead of you, babe,” I said. The thought that it would be the perfect solution to our family situation with Charity had occurred to me the moment I’d seen the nursery that was now a family room.
“You really like this house, huh, guys,” Shannon said.
“We may be expecting children with a couple we know and this space would be a godsend,” I said.
“I think this would work for our kids,” Alex said.
I put my arm around him and gave him a squeeze. “That’s the first time you’ve referred to them as ours.”
““Seeing this place actually makes me feel like we can work things out in a way that’s right for all of us,” Alex said.
“Sounds complicated,” Elise said.
Shannon looked at us and smiled. “I think the two of you would make great dads.”
“The problem is there will probably be three of us dads and one mom,” Alex said, then looked at Elise. “Charity and Linus are the other couple.”
“Oh,” Elise said. That shouldn’t be a problem, though. Charity has carried children for couples before. “The two of you would be the parents. I know Charity has never used her own eggs in a situation like this.”
“She has this time,” I said.
“Oh, my,” Elise said. “I heard there were strange goings on in Aurora and Mt. Ore.
“You don’t know the half of it,” Shannon said. “Maybe we should go back downstairs and finish the tour.”
“OK,” Elise said. “I forgot to mention that the bedroom on the right is where you and Alex will be staying, Layton. The sheets have been washed and everything you’ll need is there.”
We walked down the hall, to a nice sitting area in front of doors leading to the front balcony, then decided we’d see the two bedrooms and office on this side at another time. We descended the stairs and I noticed Mrs. Carson was waiting downstairs. Mrs. Carson smiled, then ushered us into the dining room where she proudly showed off Alex’s artistic photograph.
“Alex, I was lucky enough to see your exhibit that highlighted men from various countries,” Shannon said. “It was beautiful the way you showed both men’s differences and similarities.”