by Gerald Lopez
“Yes, Layton. I love you, too. And I’ve always known how you felt because I’ve felt the exact same way since I laid eyes on you. I’m sorry about my insecurity. It probably is because of everything that happened with my relatives. But I have complete trust in you and the new family we’re building together.”
I stood and we kissed before Alex gently pushed me back.
“Go and meet the handsome cop, Layton. And don’t forget.” He patted the front of my shorts in the crotch area. “That belongs to me.”
“Yes, Sir,” I said. “I’d better go deal with what’s behind wall number one.”
Chapter 19
Behind the Wall
BY THE TIME I’d made it back upstairs to the storage area, Rory was there with two sledgehammers and several flashlights. The hot cop was standing next to him. My arrival had not gone unnoticed by the cop who turned to me with his hand held out.
“I’m Deputy Forrest Hanson, and I’m told you are Detective Layton Shayne, one of the new owners of Carson Court.”
“That would be me,” I said, then shook the deputy’s hand. He had a strong grip and gorgeous green eyes. “Hanson—as in—”
“Y’up he’s my big bro, by several years,” Rory said. “That’s how I knew we could trust him.”
“I called the coroner and Doctor Phelps,” Forrest said. “If we find anything, they can be here on a moment’s notice. They can be trusted. Detective Shayne, my brother tells me you suspect we’re gonna find Javina Morelle’s body behind that wall.”
“Yes, Sir, and call me Layton.”
“Alright, Layton, but drop the ‘Sir’ and call me Forrest. I don’t have much respect for detectives. There have been a lot of them through here… most of them idiots. But I had a lot of respect for the general and I’m told you’re one of his men.”
“That’s true,” I said. “The general left me a note telling me to reclaim this land away from the darkness and I aim to do exactly that, Forrest.”
“Then that means you’re just the man to do it,” Forrest said. “The general had a way of knowing things and people. My respect for the general extends to you, Layton. What’s say we get things underway? There’s an LGBT fund-raiser here tonight, and I’d prefer to get this dealt with in time to go home and clean up for that.”
“You know you can clean up at my place, dummy,” Rory said.
“You’re also free to use one of the guestrooms here to clean up,” I said.
“My clothes for tonight are in the car, I’ll most probably be accepting your kind offer, Layton,” Forrest said.
“My brother thinks I’m too wild,” Rory said.
Forrest picked up the sledgehammer, handed it to me, then spoke. “It’s your home, Layton. Try to minimize the damage, so we have something to investigate. And by the way, it’s a nice and decent thing you did, letting Mrs. Carson stay on at the court.”
“It was the home of a general I both respected and loved. My feelings extend to his wife, who I hope will continue to think of this estate as her home until she goes to join the general.”
“The general did good with all of you—at least the ones I’ve met,” Forrest said. “And I’m not too much of a man to admit that it warms my soul to know Mrs. Carson won’t be forced to leave this place.”
“Amen to that, brother,” Rory said.
I picked up the sledgehammer and aimed it at the center of the wall in question. It took two hits to break through all the way.
“May I?” Forrest said, holding up a flashlight.
“Be my guest,” I said.
Forrest went up the hole I’d just made in the wall and shined his flashlight through it. A few seconds later he turned to Rory and me, then spoke. “There’s definitely a body in there against the left wall. We need to get the rest of this false wall down so we can get inside. I need to call Dr. Phelps.”
Rory and I whacked away at the wall, while Forrest was making his call. Once Forrest finished the call, he took Rory’s sledgehammer and Rory shined a flashlight straight at the area we were working on. The main light in the room didn’t extend into the hidden area very much. In no time we had a large enough area cleared that we could walk through.
“Now we wait for the others to get here,” Forrest said.
A minute or two later, a slim, older, bald man walked into the room dressed in jeans and a white Polo shirt. Behind him was a short, skinny man with black hair that was pulled back into a ponytail.
“Dr. Phelps, Dr. Morris, this is Detective Layton Shayne the new owner of Carson Court. He’s also one of the general’s men.”
“Nice to meet you,” Layton, I’m Dr. Phelps,” the tall, bald man said.
“It figures one of the general’s boys would find this,” Dr. Morris said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the general was counting on you to do just that.”
“He was,” I said. “And I’ll solve all the mysteries here before I’m done.”
“Is it the girl?” Dr. Phelps said.
“We haven’t gone in yet,” Forrest said.
“Let’s do this then,” Dr. Morris, who looked to be in his mid- to late-twenties, said.
As soon as we walked into the space we saw the body or what was left of it against the wall. There were chains hanging from high up on the wall.
“My God,” Dr. Morris said. “They kept someone chained in here.”
“Someone being the key word,” I said, looking down at the body, which was dressed in deteriorated men’s clothes and too big to be that of a little girl. “Who the hell is this? I know it’s not Javina Morelle.”
Forrest picked up something from beside the body. It looked like a journal. He opened it and read from the inside cover. “This journal is the property of Moses Morelle.” He looked at me. “Does that name ring a bell, Layton?”
“Not to me,” I said. “Could he have been Javina’s father?”
“No,” Rory said. People only ever talked about Javina’s momma. I don’t think there was a father in the picture. I know Javina had an older brother but his name was Josiah. The name Moses doesn’t ring a bell.”
“I need to get pictures of this scene,” Forrest said.
“My camera’s at the shop,” Dr. Morris said.
“The ex took my camera and my cell phone, so I have no way of taking pics,” Dr. Phelps said. “That number you called me on was my home phone.”
“Rory, do you have your camera handy?” Forrest said.
“Sorry, it’s back at the pool house.”
“I know someone who might be able to help,” I said. The scene wasn’t as gruesome as I thought it might’ve been and it occurred to me that Alex and I were supposed to be working together and I needed to start treating him like a team member. So, I opened my cell phone and gave Alex a call. “Hey, babe, we could sure use an expert photographer up here. … It’s not Javina. … Thanks.”
THE TWO doctors looked over the body while Forrest, and I checked out the room. Rory was waiting out in the hall for Alex.
“There’s not much in here,” Forrest said. “I think Moses was left in this hidden room to die.”
“Someone would’ve heard him yelling,” I said. “Unless he was gagged.”
“There’s no trace of a gag,” Dr. Phelps said.
“How about any wounds which could’ve caused death?” Forrest said.
“Nothing so far,” Dr. Morris said. “And my guess is we won’t find any. He literally was left chained to this wall until he died.”
“How horrible,” Alex said, having heard that as he walked into the space with his camera.
“Forrest, gentlemen, this is my partner in both my work and my personal life, Alex Shayne.”
“Nice to meet you, Alex,” Forrest said, extending his hand to Alex who shook it.
The doctors introduced themselves to Alex while they continued looking at the body.
“Rory, you can explain to Alex what sort of photos we need?” Forrest said. “Layton and I need to take this jour
nal and go talk to that writer and historical expert Shannon Henry.”
“OK,” Rory said.
“Shannon’s in the garden courtyard next to the Indian pavilion with Mrs. Carson,” Alex said.
We said our good-byes, then Forrest and I left, and walked downstairs.
“You two make a handsome couple,” Forrest said.
“Thank you,” I said. “I feel lucky to have found Alex.”
“It’s hard to find a good man these days,” Forrest said. “My ex cheated on me after fifteen years together. Hell, he didn’t even ask me to join in.” He looked at me and smiled. “My lover after him was even worse—I can sure pick ‘em.”
“Your exes were fools. My ex and I were together ten years and he cheated on me with my eighteen-year-old nephew. Apparently my nephew did want me to join in… but there was no way I could do that. I’d helped change his diapers for crying out loud.”
“That’s pretty crazy,” Forrest said, as we walked out the back door. “But at least you found someone else.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Don’t tell me that with your looks you don’t have guys throwing themselves at you.”
“Not so much, Layton. I’m told I don’t give off a friendly vibe.”
“Is that bad?” I said, and smiled.
“I forgot to say welcome to the neighborhood,” Forrest said. “I hope you and Alex will be happy here.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I appreciate that, Forrest.”
“Good morning,” Shannon said, as we stepped in front of her and Mrs. Carson who were sitting on the outdoor sofa having coffee and munching on doughnuts.
“Help yourselves to doughnuts,” Mrs. Carson said, pointing to a box of doughnuts on the metal and glass table in front of them.
I helped myself to a powdered jelly doughnut while Forrest introduced himself to Shannon and explained what we’d been up to in the storage room.
“So it wasn’t the little girl then,” Mrs. Carson said.
“No, Ma’am,” Forrest said. “We found this journal next to the body,” he held up the journal. “Inside it says property of Moses Morelle.”
Shannon gasped and we all looked at her.
“Have you any idea of what you’ve just discovered?” Shannon said.
“No,” Forrest said. “That’s why we came looking for you.”
“But surely you’re talking about Josiah Morelle who did work around the estate,” Mrs. Carson, who wore a thick robe said.
“Moses was his younger brother,” Shannon said.
“Can I see the journal a minute, Forrest?” I said. He handed the book to me and I flipped through the pages. There were simple sentences written throughout and I read some of them aloud. “‘Mrs, Veronica so pretty.’ ‘She teach me lots today.’ ‘She so pretty.’ ‘Wish she be mine.’ ‘Help her.’” I flipped to the last pages. “‘Dance… Black Hearts dance.’ ‘She promise.’” on several pages there was just that one sentence—‘she promise’.
“I don’t understand,” Mrs. Carson said. “It sounds like a child wrote all of that.”
“The body we found was that of a man who was at least a teenager, not a child,” Forrest said.
“A man with the mind of a child,” Shannon said, as she brushed crumbs off her coral-colored, ankle-length, halter top sun dress. “May I look at the journal, Layton?”
I handed her the book and she flipped silently through the pages.
“Some of these pages have only one sentence written on them,” Shannon said. “I’ve read that Veronica taught Moses how to read and write, at the same time she taught Javina. Education was very important to Veronica and she stressed the importance of writing correctly to Javina and Moses. Veronica and her twin brother also taught Moses and Javina to play the piano.”
“My grandparents never mentioned him,” Mrs. Carson said. “I don’t ever remember hearing them mention Moses Morelle.”
“There’s a reason for that,” Shannon said. “Moses went missing just a few days after the twins were murdered. There are reports that people saw him in Shelby and Mt. Ore. Clearly those people were mistaken.”
“They were most probably lying,” I said. “Moses Morelle was chained up against the wall of a hidden room and left to die. What was done to him was done with purpose and people must’ve known the truth of what happened.”
“Either that or he was punished for knowing the truth,” Shannon said.
“What truth would that be?” Forrest said.
“To find that out we have to discover the truth of the whole situation regarding the murder of the twins,” Shannon said.
“Let’s start with what you know,” I said.
“It’s past time,” Mrs. Carson said. “Share what you’ve found out with us and hold nothing back. And I do mean nothing.”
“If you insist,” Shannon said. “But remember you said that because the truth won’t be pretty.”
Chapter 20
Past Meets Present
“WE’LL DEAL WITH things as they come,” Mrs. Carson said. “But it’s time for the truth to rear its head after all these years.”
“Your grandmother, from all the accounts I’ve read, was a very different person before the twins came,” Shannon said. “She was supposedly happy and full of life. Even though she didn’t want much company when she was pregnant, her twin brother Marcus moved into Carson Court and taught her how to play the piano. She in turn taught Moses Morelle and his younger sister Javina to play. I’ve read old newspaper articles about how well Veronica taught Moses and Javina to read and write. She also taught some of the other black children in the neighborhood. Javina was so good at writing that Veronica used to give her journals to practice in—she even gave one to Moses, as we’ve seen.”
“That was kind of her to help the children and Moses so much,” I said.
“Not everyone thought so,” Shannon said. “There were quite a few people who didn’t approve of a lady of her station lowering herself to speak to the black folks—their words not mine.”
“There were quite a few things being whispered about my grandmother,” Mrs. Carson said. “Folks around her could be quite cruel when they wanted to be.”
“It seems like Moses Morelle was more than a little infatuated with his teacher Veronica,” I said. “How old would he have been at that time and the time he wrote his journal entries?”
“Sixteen going on seventeen, but he was tall and large for his age,” Shannon said. “At least six feet tall and incredibly strong from what I’ve read. It’s not unusual in someone like him. He was also an exceptionally gifted pianist.”
“How exactly did you find that out?” Forrest said.
“There was an old column in the society section of the local newspaper here that covered a soiree Veronica threw, in which she invited Moses to play alongside her, then to play a piece on his own. Of course the guests were shocked, but then amazed at how well Moses played. Veronica was both scolded and praised in the article.”
“What could the promise have been between Veronica and Moses and what does it have to do with the Black Hearts Dance?” I said. “Could Moses have seen something there that he could use to get a promise of some significance from Veronica? Maybe he took Veronica there.”
“Impossible,” Mrs. Carson said. “A woman of my grandmother’s stature in society would’ve been ruined beyond repair if she’d gone anywhere near those dances.”
“Mrs. Carson is right,” Shannon said. “We also need to look at the accounts of Veronica’s state of mind after the twins were born. There’s no doubt that she suffered from postpartum depression.”
“And what?” I said. “Do people believe that led her to murder her own children?”
“It’s been known to happen,” Forrest said.
“And it’s what most people believed happened,” Mrs. Carson said. “Especially after my grandmother spent the next year and a half confined because of having suffered a complete mental breakdown.”
“Hmm,�
� I said. “That’s not much of a mystery if it really happened that way though, is it? No reason for this place to be haunted. Something else occurred. And that something else got Moses killed.”
“All he wrote in the last pages of his journal was a page filled with Javina’s name written over and over with one other word at the bottom—‘run’,” Shannon said. “The last two pages have just two words ‘help me’.”
“Where was Veronica confined during her recovery?” I said.
“That’s the million dollar question,” Shannon said. “Nobody knows for sure. The nearby hospitals and clinics with records dating that far don’t list her or anyone that looked like her as one of their patients.”
“That doesn’t mean she wasn’t snuck in as a patient,” I said. “Where was her husband at that time—and what was his first name?”
“My grandfather’s name was Thomas Matthew Carson,” Mrs. Carson said. “He and Uncle Marcus went to Europe during my grandmother’s confinement. The house was closed and boarded up until their return.”
“That made Carson Court the perfect place to hide someone away to die,” I said.
“Do you think Thomas Carson knew about what was going to happen to Moses?” Forrest said.
“No,” I said. “He came back to Carson Court, which means he would never have brought someone to his home to die. It was done without his knowledge… I’ve no doubt of that. But the timing of his departure is still strange. Was it so people would believe his wife was with him, Shannon?”
“No,” Shannon said. “There were headlines in the local paper about Veronica having a breakdown after the death of the twins and needing to be put away for her own safety.”
“But no hint of where—damn!” I said. “I just wish we had an eyewitness to talk to.”
“Or at least another journal,” Forrest said.
“Another journal!” I said. “Shannon, you said Veronica gave Javina journals to practice writing in—and she would’ve been privy to more of what went on in this house than her brother would’ve been.”