The Gypsy's Curse

by Sara Whitford

  Adam felt a little put on the spot. He was sure the law ought to have some protocol for something like this and he said as much.

  The constable responded, “You think I should just march over to that gypsy camp and what? Tell them we suspect they dug up a grave and demand they present the body? Or should we go on over there and start searching their tents? Their wagons? On what evidence? That you got a hunch?”

  Adam lowered his head. “I understand your point, Constable, but I don’t mind going over there and checking around. I might see something that gives it away, now that I know what to look for. And I reckon if we’re going to do anything, we ought to go on over there, because they could leave at any time.”

  “Have you heard where they’ll be heading to next?”

  “Not exactly, but I reckon they’re moving south. They’ve been working their way down the coast so they can be in a warmer climate when the cold weather comes.”

  “Can’t blame ’em there.”

  “No, I don’t reckon you can,” said Adam.

  “You go on over to Town Creek if that’s what you’ve got in mind to do, but you better be careful. You go in there throwin around accusations, and they’re liable to jump all over you—and there’s a lot more of them than there are of you.”

  “I understand, sir. What about the grave?”

  “I figure I prob’ly ought to go on over and pay the reverend a visit and see if he has any sort of forwarding information for the family of the girl whose grave was robbed.”

  “I thought you’d already done that,” said Adam.

  “I did, but before, I was told the folks who keep records for the church didn’t think they could easily put their hands on any sort of forwarding information. Things are a little different now that the grave’s actually been robbed. There might be a bit more motivation to try and locate that family. A disturbed grave is one thing, but one that’s been completely dug up is a different set of circumstances. Truth be told, I reckon the Reverend Miller would’ve just as soon not found this out. It’d make his job a whole lot easier just to turn the other cheek, but I don’t reckon he’ll be able to now.”

  Adam didn’t like how Constable Squires had said that. It was almost as if he relished the idea of causing trouble for the parish, but then again he had a grumpy disposition, not unlike his cousin Boaz.

  He decided he’d go back to the warehouse to let his grandfather know what had happened before he went out to the gypsy camp.

  Chapter Nineteen

  AS HE APPROACHED THE WAREHOUSE, he was surprised to see an unfamiliar black horse tied to the hitching post outside. Not entirely unfamiliar, but it certainly didn’t belong to Emmanuel or anyone else at Rogers’s Shipping Company.

  Speak of the devil, thought Adam.

  He ran towards the building to see what it was about. Upon entering the warehouse, he saw Stela. She was sitting on a crate near the entrance. How long had she been there? he wondered.

  “You have a visitor,” Boaz said to him, tipping his head in the girl’s direction.

  Out of breath, Adam looked from Boaz to the girl. “I see that. Hello, Stela. What brings you here?”

  Stela stood from her chair. “Might I speak with you outside?”

  “Sure.” He motioned for her to go first and he would follow her out in front of the building.

  Once they were outside, he said, “Well?”

  Stela seemed very nervous. She craned her head to look into the building, then looked around near the warehouse.

  “Let’s go talk over there,” she said, pointing to some trees at the eastern end.

  “Fine,” said Adam.

  He walked with her over there, and they stood in the shade of a large white oak tree.

  “I heard you came to the camp two days ago.”

  “I did,” said Adam. “I looked for you. You weren’t there.”

  “I know,” she said. “My cousin told me.”

  “Who’s your cousin?”

  “Amelia.”

  “Oh. I met her. I also saw your mother. Did she tell you?”

  Stela nodded. “Yes. That’s why I’m here.”

  “What do you mean? Your mother sent you?”

  “No! I’m here because my cousin told me what happened.”

  “What do you mean ‘what happened’?”

  “She said you came because your friend Martin is sick. She said you came for medicine.”

  “That’s right.”

  “I think my mother may have given you something that might be bad to give to your friend.”

  Adam narrowed his eyes at her. “What do you mean? She said it would help him. She wouldn’t even take any payment for it.”

  Stela shook her head, frustrated. “My mother never gives things freely to gadje—especially not medicines.”

  “Gadje?”

  “People who aren’t like us—who aren’t gypsies.”

  “What are you saying?” he asked.

  “Has your friend taken it yet?”

  “The medicine? Yeah, he has.”

  “And how is he?”

  Adam wasn’t going to tell Stela what he had seen Martin doing. “He’s not vomiting anymore. Why?”

  Stela looked exasperated. “Is he acting strangely at all? Is he doing anything unusual?”

  “You could say that,” said Adam. “Why?” He was getting angry now.

  “I think she gave him something very bad—datura.”

  “Datura?” said Adam. “What on earth is datura?”

  “I think here you might call it something else: thorn apple, or Jimsonweed. We have our uses for it, but it causes strange visions and can make a man do very dangerous things if he doesn’t know what it is.”

  “Are you telling me that your mother gave me some hallucinogenic poison to give to my sick friend?”

  Stela didn’t speak. She only looked at him with great concern.

  Adam was livid. “What the hell is the matter with her? Why would she even do something like that?” He wanted to take off for Martin’s house right then, but he knew he better find out what they were dealing with before running off half-cocked.

  “I don’t know exactly what happened, and I am not completely certain that is what she gave him, but it sounds like it from what Amelia told me.”

  “What did Amelia tell you?”

  “She said that she thought the tincture your friend needed was one that had normal things—ginger, thyme, lavender, that sort of thing—but when she showed that bottle to my mother, she told her no and went into her tent and brought out something else.”

  “She did go into her tent—she was in there awhile,” said Adam. “What? Was she mixing up the poison then?”

  “It’s not a poison,” said Stela, “but Amelia did say when she came out, she recognized the smell on my mother’s hands and the bottle. That’s why she told me.”

  “It sounds like a poison to me. So why would she want to poison my friend?” Before Stela could even answer, Adam said, “In fact, why do any of you do the kinds of things that you do? You’re all so… so… so strange!”

  Stela took a deep breath and exhaled sharply. “Please! Stop saying these things! I came here to warn you about it. I could have stayed out of the whole affair and told you nothing!”

  Adam stood, hands on hips, and shook his head in exasperation. “I know. So why did you come here?”

  “Just take the medicine away from your friend. Under no circumstances should he drink any more of it. In small amounts it is a sedative, and it can cause him to see things, but if he has too much it can be very bad.”

  “How bad?”

  “Either the medicine will kill him, or he’ll get himself killed doing something dangerous because of one of the visions it will give him.”

  “I want to know why your mother would have done this.”

  “She should not have done it,” said Stela. “It is difficult to explain
. She is not evil, just mischievous, and she does what she has to do to take care of her family.”

  “How does killing my friend help her family?” As soon as the words left Adam’s mouth, he realized. “Wait, if he hadn’t been your guest at the party the other night, she wouldn’t have done this, would she?”

  “We are not supposed to mix with gadje. You are impure to us. I would be in a great deal of trouble if anyone even knew I was here right now. My mother was upset about him being there with me the night of the festival, but I do not think that is the only thing that made her do this. I think that just finally pushed her to do it.”

  “What’s the difference? The result is the same, isn’t it?”

  “You should know there is someone else who wanted much worse for your friend.”

  “Who is that?”

  “A man who spoke to my mother the first night you came there. I do not know who he is, but I think he tried to have my mother do something worse to your friend. She would not do it, though.”

  Adam tried to guess who she might be talking about.

  She continued. “Listen to me. I just do not want anything bad to happen—not to you, not to your friend, not to any people in this place.”

  “Bad things are already happening,” said Adam. “Did you know there is a crowd here in town who’ve said if you and your family haven’t left town by the end of the week, they’ll run you out, whatever it takes? Stela, they will use violence. People are mad about the bad fortunes your mother has been giving. They’re mad about the sickness going around town, and they think y’all have done it. And they’re mad that they think y’all have done something to that little girl’s grave.”

  Stela’s face went white. Before he could ask her what she meant, she said, “I’ve told you what you need to know; now I have to go.”

  She quickly ran to her horse.

  “Wait,” he called out.

  He tried to run after her, but fast as lightning she had untied and mounted the horse and was on her way. Adam thought about following her but knew now that helping Martin was a more immediate concern.

  He went into the warehouse to tell the others.

  “That gypsy girl came to tell me that medicine her mother sent for Martin may end up killing him. I have to go take that bottle from him. Lord willing, he’s not already drank it all, but it explains why he’s been acting like he’s lost his mind.”

  Boaz, Elliot, and Joe all stopped what they were doing. They were stunned.

  “You need any help?” asked Boaz.

  “Why don’t you just try to find your cousin Bo? Tell him what’s happened. There’s a whole bunch of ’em at that gypsy camp. We don’t need to just go rushing in down there, taking matters into our own hands, as tempting as it may be.”

  Chapter Twenty

  EMMANUEL WAS IN TOWN, PRESUMABLY visiting with Reverend Miller, so without use of the horse cart, Adam had no choice but to run to Martin’s house.

  He knocked on the front door. No answer. He ran around to the side window and called in, “Martin!”

  No answer.

  “Martin! You there?”

  Still no answer.

  Adam went around to the back of the house and was going to knock but noticed the back door was open. He went in. He looked around the house. It was a mess. A blanket had been pulled over the top of the dining table so that it covered three sides, but one side was open—as if it were a fort. The mattress had been pulled off of Martin’s bed and was on the floor.

  Adam went into the front room and saw several pieces of furniture were all pushed up against the front door as if to block it, and there was a washtub sitting in the middle of the room, filled with water. No doubt about it: this was the house of a man who’d lost his mind. Adam half expected to discover Martin hidden behind some furniture or under a pile of dirty laundry, but he was nowhere to be found.

  He went back out the way he had come in, through the back door, and looked around to see if he could figure out where Martin might have gone. He didn’t see Martin’s horse in the pasture.

  Adam went out to check in the barn. The cart was still there, but neither Martin nor his horse were there, which meant Martin had taken off on horseback.

  Good Lord! Where in the world has he gone?

  There would be no sense in trying to run around on foot looking for him. Martin could be anywhere. Instead, Adam ran back to the warehouse to let Elliot and Joe know what he had found, then ran into town to try and find Emmanuel.

  He wasn’t at the parsonage as he had anticipated, so he had to search all over to find him. After roaming the streets of the town for twenty minutes or so, he finally saw Emmanuel’s horse cart parked in the street in front of L. Peterson’s, Cordwainer. He saw his grandfather standing just inside, apparently talking to the man working on his shoes.

  “Thank God!” said Adam. “I’m glad I found you. I need to talk to you.”

  “Adam,” said his grandfather, “I’m getting the sole on that awful left shoe replaced. Remember I told you it’s gotten a terrible hole in it.”

  “Yes, I remember. Listen, I need to borrow Rex. Is that alright? I can take you back to the warehouse first if you’d like. We can come back later for your shoe.”

  “Good heavens, what’s the matter?” said Emmanuel. “Is everything alright?”

  “It’s a long story,” said Adam.

  He nudged his grandfather to follow him outside. He didn’t want to talk about what had happened in front of the man inside.

  “Martin has disappeared. I think he’s been poisoned. I have to find him.”

  “He’s been so sick,” said Emmanuel. “He couldn’t have gotten very far.”

  “You would think not, but he’s taken his horse, and from the looks of the inside of his house, I think he may be completely out of his mind.”

  “Oh Lord!” said Emmanuel. “I hope he’ll be alright. By all means go now. Go look for him. I can walk back to the warehouse, or I’m sure I could get a ride with Mr. Peterson.”

  “Thank you! I’ll see you later then!”

  Adam untied Rex from the hitching post, climbed into the horse cart, and was on his way.

  * * *

  HE RETURNED TO THE WAREHOUSE to see if Martin might have turned up there, but he hadn’t. Boaz was back, though.

  “Did you talk to Lawson?” Adam asked, referring to Boaz’s cousin Constable Squires.

  “I found him, but he said until we find Martin, or at least some proof that gypsy woman did something to intentionally harm him, there was nothing he could do.”

  “What?! Why?”

  “You think he’s goin out there to Town Creek to have some big confrontation with her, accusin her of poisonin Martin Smith just because you said it happened?”

  “Did you tell him that Martin’s acting crazy?”

  “I mentioned that, and he said that’s exactly why we ought to just focus on finding Martin right now.”

  “Fine, then!” said Adam. “I’m on my way to do just that. Are y’all going to be looking for him?”

  “Of course,” said Boaz. “Elliot and Joe already left. They’re goin to the houses of the crew—see if any of them have seen him. If they don’t find him that way, they’re goin on out to Town Creek on the off chance he’s gone out there lookin for somethin or somebody.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “I reckon I prob’ly ought to stay here case he comes back,” said Boaz.

  “Good idea. I reckon I’ll go on over to the tavern—let them know what’s going on and to put the word out to the patrons there; also let ’em know down by the docks. Then I’ll ride back across town to Russell’s Tavern, let those folks know. Maybe I’ll see him somewhere along the way. If not, I might head on out to his cousin’s place.”

  “Ain’t Miss Laney out of town, though?” said Boaz.

  “Yeah, but Martin’s not in his right mind. He could’ve gone anywhere. I at le
ast want to let Cyrus and Violet know to keep their eyes open, in case he turns up over that way.”

  “Good thinking.”

  Within an hour Adam had gone to the docks, both taverns, and kept his eyes open every place in between, but there was no sign of Martin. Since it was sort of on the way, he swung back by the warehouse one more time before going out to Laney Martin’s estate in case Elliot or Joe had come back with any news. Nothing.

  He was soon on his way out to Lennoxville Point. There was no sign of Martin out there either, but nevertheless he told Cyrus and Violet that Martin wasn’t well and to keep an eye out for him in case he did show up.

  When he returned to the warehouse again, before he went in something caught his attention across the water. That can’t be what I think it is, thought Adam. He was far enough away he was sure his eyes had to be deceiving him. He darted across the lawn towards the water and almost fell right into Taylor Creek trying to get a good look.

  It was Martin’s horse, Whisky, alone and looking bewildered over on Carrot Island.

  “What in the world is he doing over there?” Adam wondered aloud.

  He ran into the warehouse from the dock to tell the others what he had seen. They all followed him outside so they could see the sight for themselves.

  “Well, I’ll be damned,” said Boaz. “That sure is Martin’s horse! What the hell is he doing over there?”

  “I don’t have the foggiest idea!”

  Adam shook his head, while Elliot and Joe just stared at the poor creature, who was obviously confused about what he was supposed to be doing.

  “What are y’all waiting for?” said Boaz. “Somebody go on and get in the boat and get over there and help that horse. And see if Martin’s crazy arse is over there.”

  Adam and Elliot climbed in and were soon rowing across the creek. Within minutes they pulled the periauger up on the shore of Carrot Island, which was a marshy island that ran parallel from the eastern edge of the Beaufort waterfront. They slowly started approaching the horse.

  Whisky made no effort to move or run away. He was standing there as though he was waiting for Martin to come and get him.