by Howe, A. E.
“I’ll admit that the solution it offers doesn’t seem practical,” Josephine said without backing down.
“Trust. You have never fully trusted me. You believed that I hunted your grandfather and his family. And you think I’m lying to you when I say that there is no way for us to break this bond.”
“You don’t make it easy to trust you.”
“Nonsense. You don’t want to trust me. Maybe you can’t trust me. Is that it? Is there something that makes you unable to trust me?”
“Wait a minute. I’m not the one who came in here snooping around. How did you know the book was behind my lounge? You positively pounced on it,” she shot back.
“You didn’t fool me by holding up that other book.”
“But how did you know it wasn’t the one I’d been reading?” She detected a chink in his self-righteous armor and pressed her advantage.
“I… could tell,” he faltered.
“How?”
“I heard you turning the pages from the hall. Not the pages of that decoy.” He pointed at the book she’d pretended to be reading.
“You were eavesdropping on me. Admit it.”
“I… can’t help that my hearing is superior. Bah! How many times do we have to go over this? There is no way out of our dilemma. Unless you want to burn me alive.”
“I can’t be trapped like this,” Josephine said, voicing her frustration. “What kind of life do I have if I’m hobbled to you?” She said it too harshly, but at that moment it was how she felt. If he wouldn’t let her have a relationship with him, then who else could she find who’d be willing to forever share their life with a strange man in the basement?
“What about me?! Do you think I enjoy drinking that moldy blood you supply for me?”
“I go to great expense to get that for you.”
“We can’t keep having the same argument over and over. You are being unreasonable. You’ve lived a privileged life and just can’t accept that you’ve run into a situation you can’t buy your way out of!” he said, punctuating each word with his anger.
They stood a foot apart and glared at each other.
“Get out!” Josephine said coldly.
“Delighted.” Blasko turned on his heel and strode to the door. He opened it with dramatic flair and stepped through, closing it behind him with exaggerated care.
Josephine threw herself onto the bed and buried her face in her pillow to muffle her screams of anger and exasperation.
Chapter Thirteen
Blasko turned to see Grace step quickly into the bathroom.
“Y’all don’t need to be fightin’ when that wolf-thing is prowlin’ our town,” Grace said as he walked by the open bathroom door. To hide her eavesdropping, she was collecting the laundry, a task she usually did in the morning.
Blasko was going to walk on by, but thought better of it and stopped. “What have you heard about the creature?”
In the time that he’d spent in Sumter, he’d learned that there were two distinct communities, separated by a color line he didn’t fully understand. But he’d learned that the men and women of the black community often held knowledge that wasn’t available to the white folks.
“I got a cousin who seen it,” she said, putting the dirty clothes in a wicker basket.
“Last night when the Handlins were attacked?”
“That’s right. Funny thing, he said he seen that thing go behind the garage, but it never come out from back there,” she said, lifting the basket.
“Did he see anyone else around the same time?”
“I’d have to think about that. ’Course I’d think a might better if I wasn’t carryin’ this heavy basket,” she said with a coy smile.
Blasko bristled, but took the basket from her.
“What exactly did your cousin see?” Blasko asked as he tried to navigate the stairs while carrying the basket.
“He said he saw a monster go ’round back of the garage, and when he went to look and see what it was doin’, he saw an Indian walkin’ away.”
“An Indian?”
“That’s what he said.”
“I didn’t know there were any Natives in this area.”
“My grandmother was part Creek. There’s a lot of folk got some Indian in them. Not many full-blooded, though. Most of them were taken out west a long time ago,” Grace explained.
“I’d like to talk to this relative.”
“George. He lives a block east of my place. You can go by my place and my brother Ronnie will take you over to George’s house.”
Blasko set the basket down at the foot of the stairs and headed for Grace’s house.
Josephine heard the front door open and close. She looked out the window to see Blasko strolling toward the street. Once she was sure he was gone, she headed downstairs and straight to the kitchen to fix a bowl of Anna’s blackberry cobbler. Every summer, Anna canned bushels of blackberries to use during the winter months. For Josephine, they were a comfort food that reminded her of summer breezes and warm rains.
“I see you stuffin’ yourself with cobbler,” Grace said, coming into the kitchen. She took the opportunity to give Josephine her own scolding. “You and the baron don’t need to be fightin’ when there’s a monster tearin’ this town apart.”
“You know I had an argu… a discussion with the baron, and you see me eating cobbler, but you came in to give me a hard time anyway?”
“With your father gone to a better place, you need someone to speak gospel to you,” Grace said, getting a bowl of her own from the sideboard.
“And you think you’re the right person to take on that job?”
“Who else you got? I guess you got a bunch of friends I don’t know about hidin’ under the table that know all about you and the baron?” Grace said mockingly, looking under the table before filling her bowl with a hearty portion of cobbler.
“You didn’t even want the baron in the house when he first came here,” Josephine reminded her.
“I might’ve mistook his strange ways for the devil’s ways. Maybe they are, but he helped me and he helped Ronnie. My preacher talks about hypocrites about every other Sunday. I won’t be one of them.”
“Our relationship is… complicated,” Josephine allowed.
Grace broke into a hearty laugh that almost had her choking on the cobbler. “Lord almighty, I ain’t never seen a relationship between a man and a woman that wasn’t.”
“Didn’t you want me to marry Bobby Tucker?”
“No sense standin’ on the platform wavin’ to a train that left the station yesterday.”
“I can’t marry the baron.”
“There’s bein’ married and there’s bein’ together.”
“I think you’re seeing a relationship that isn’t really there.”
“You either don’t know me or you don’t know yourself. I’ve seen you and the baron.” Grace shook her head and took another bite of the cobbler.
“You’ve heard us too. Everybody in this house eavesdrops on everyone else. Do you really think we are going to get together?”
“Every woman, and pretty near every man, has felt trapped by their husbands, wives or lovers. You know why?” Grace said with a thoughtful tilt of her head.
Josephine felt like she was hearing Grace for the first time. Not her servant, not a paid companion, but the woman, Grace.
“Why?”
“’Cause you are trapped. That’s what love is. A big ol’ bear trap.”
“That’s a lovely image,” Josephine said with a smile. “With an attitude like that, I can see why you haven’t married.”
“You don’t know everything about me, Miss Josephine. I might not have gotten tied down, but I’ve stepped out with two gentlemen and one of them had my heart,” Grace said, suddenly very serious. “Just ’cause you’re trapped doesn’t mean you can’t be happy. The man I loved didn’t trap me. I was free to go and it made me miserable. I wanted him to want to hold onto me as much as I wanted to ho
ld onto him.”
“I see your point. Who was this lost love of yours?” Josephine asked, curious to know more about Grace’s life. She felt guilty that she’d been so involved in her own life that a woman who she’d spent more time with than anyone outside of family was a stranger to her in many ways. The events of the past year had broken down the barriers between them, but there was a lot she didn’t know.
“I don’t think you’d know him. He’s gone off to New Orleans anyhow. I ’spect I won’t see him again. He seen himself as a musician. His name was Gunner Henderson.”
“Where’d you meet him?”
“He worked with Ronnie back when Ronnie was working for the railroad. I was eighteen and he was almost twenty-seven. We went out a couple of times, then Daddy heard him talkin’ about us goin’ down by the river to the juke joint and the two of them almost got in a fight. Gunner didn’t come ’round much after that and, about a month later, he went down to New Orleans and I haven’t heard from him since. A cousin told me he was playin’ regular at a few clubs down in the French Quarter.”
Josephine did the math and figured out that it had been almost fifteen years since Grace had seen her musician, yet there was still an almost visible tie that bound her to him. She looked at Grace and caught her eye.
“When we put an end to this monster, maybe we’ll take a trip down to New Orleans. I haven’t been there since Papa and I went ten years ago.”
Grace dropped her eyes down to her cobbler, but Josephine thought she saw a slight smile raise the corners of her mouth. “Guess I’d need to go to keep you company.”
“Question is, would we dare leave the baron at home alone?” Josephine said and smiled herself. Then she remembered the pain of separation caused by their blood bond and some of her irritation came rising right back to the surface.
“What are they gonna do about the sheriff?” Grace asked. Josephine suspected that she’d seen the cloud settle over her again and changed the subject in order to keep Josephine from dwelling on the fight.
“I’ve got an idea how to handle it. I’ll just need everybody to cooperate.” I’m going to have to use some of the political skills that Papa tried to instill in me to pull it off, she thought.
“Mr. Bobby could do the job fine,” Grace said.
“I don’t think the governor will appoint Bobby to serve out Logan’s term. He’s going to be looking for someone with more gravitas.”
“You mean a big man. I guess you’re right. You got someone in mind?”
“I do. Someone we could count on.”
“Who?” Grace wasn’t going to let it go.
“Colonel Etheridge.”
“Ohhhh, that man scares me. I went with my aunt once to clean his house. There were animals on the wall and under glass bowls that I’d never seen. Now, though, I will say he’s got the guns. That’s for sure.”
“The colonel’s a good man. Plus, he understands what we’re dealing with.”
“He’ll listen to you. You’re his goddaughter.” That seemed to settle the question for Grace.
Josephine wasn’t so sure that would be enough to persuade him. Etheridge didn’t like dealing with politicians and bureaucrats. He’d had enough of that in his former life. If he had to do any elbow-rubbing to get the job, he’d most likely refuse.
Blasko stood for a moment outside of Grace’s house before knocking on the door. Her brother Ronnie and his family had been living there since he’d lost his job and been picking up piecework when he could get it. Blasko had helped him out of a tight spot when Ronnie had been suspected of killing a man.
“Baron, what are you doin’ here? Is Grace okay?” Ronnie asked when he opened the door.
“Grace is fine. I want to talk with her cousin George. She said you can take me over to his house.”
“Sure! What do you want… Oh, you must have heard he seen the monster. He’s been tellin’ everyone he meets about it. I’ll just get my coat and hat.”
As they walked through the cool night air, the streets were deserted. Fear of more attacks had everyone staying indoors. Blasko noticed that faces would occasionally appear at the windows of houses as they passed. One of the silhouettes was holding a shotgun, while another had a baseball bat.
“Are you not afraid to be out here with the monster?” Blasko asked Ronnie.
“Scared enough. I’m waitin’ at Cousin George’s house and walkin’ back with you.”
“If this creature is what I think it is, then you have reason to be cautious.” Blasko wondered if the rest of the town was this empty. It might be telling to see who was and wasn’t afraid to be out and about. Was François still walking to his séances?
“This is it,” Ronnie said and opened a gate that swung awkwardly on a bent hinge. They walked up the dirt path to the porch. No sooner had Ronnie put his weight on the wooden steps than a voice came bellowing out of the house.
“Who’s out there?”
“It’s Ronnie, Cousin George.”
“What the darn fool you doin’ outside?” George said, but stopped when he opened the door and saw Blasko’s shadowy figure standing behind Ronnie. “Who dat?” he asked, alarmed again.
“This is the baron who lives at Miss Josephine’s. Grace told him about you seein’ the monster.”
George seemed to consider whether he wanted to talk with the stranger.
“George, he helped get me out of jail.”
“I remember that. I guess y’all can come in,” he said, holding the door open. “Your sister should learn not to talk so much,” he muttered under his breath as they walked past him.
The house was shotgun-style, like most in the neighborhood. George offered them a seat on a sofa in the front room. A walnut radio the size of a footlocker sat on the floor, softly playing jazz music. George clicked the radio off and sat down across from them.
“I saw it, sure ’nough,” he said as though someone had claimed he hadn’t. George had a broad face and dark eyes that seemed to challenge them to argue with him. His bear-paw-size hands clasped the arms of his chair.
“I want you to tell me everything you saw,” Blasko said.
“You won’t believe me,” George said, sticking out his chin.
“Perhaps I will.”
“I warned you,” the man said, before taking a deep breath and plunging into his story. “I was walkin’ home from my job at the grocery store. Used to have a good job drivin’ a truck. Best I can do now is workin’ at the grocer’s when he needs a truck unloaded. He lets me drive a truck sometimes, but—”
“George, he doesn’t want to hear about your troubles,” Ronnie chided him.
“Yeah, yeah, okay. I was walkin’ home from the grocery when I get near the garage. I always kinda look in their yard to see what they’re workin’ on. That’s when I seen this… thing creepin’ alongside the garage lookin’…strange, real strange. Like an animal, but not. One minute I thought it might be a dog. Like that big ol’ dog the Benders got. But it weren’t no dog. The thing was as big as a man, and it went from walkin’ like a dog to standin’ up.
“I thought I was seein’ things. Maybe I’d eaten some rotten food or somethin’. Leaned against the electric pole and just watched it ease up past the corner of the building. I didn’t know what to do, I was sort of frozen. Finally, I convinced myself I hadn’t seen anythin’. I started walkin’ again. I tried to keep my eyes on the road, but my head kept turnin’ to look at the garage. That’s when I saw a man at that water pump they got ’round back. He stood up straight and started walkin’ away. All he had on was a cloth around his middle, like an Indian. His hair might have been a little long too.”
“What color was he?”
“He wasn’t black. Could have been brown. Light brown or white, hard to tell. I wasn’t gettin’ no closer with that beast around. It was funny, seein’ that man after just seein’ the dog thing. Either one of them would have been enough freaky stuff for one night, but seein’ both almost at the same time…
Maybe I did imagine him up. I know I’m not goin’ to no police with that story. They’d have me locked up for somethin’. I’ve had enough trouble with the law. For sure.”
“George got arrested for stealin’ cigars when he was in high school,” Ronnie explained.
“The woman said I done that was crazy. She couldn’t tell one black person from another. I’d been in her damn store one time when Momma needed some eggs. Didn’t touch her old cigar. Wasn’t anywhere near there that afternoon,” George grumbled, rubbing his arm nervously.
“Do you have any idea who the man might have been?” Blasko asked.
“No, sir, I don’t. I wouldn’t know any man that would go walkin’ around nearly naked in the middle of the night.”
“Which way did he go after leaving the garage?”
“He headed east. I know ’cause I wanted to make sure he wasn’t headed toward my house. I felt kinda bad not warnin’ him about the monster, but I figured he wouldn’t believe me anyhow.”
“Was he tall or short, fat, skinny?” Blasko asked, disappointed at the lack of information.
“Medium all around, I’d say.”
“How old do you think he was?”
“Guess middle-aged. Maybe forty. Something like that.”
It didn’t sound like François LeSauvage. Blasko spent another twenty minutes probing George for answers before finally giving up.
He walked with Ronnie back to his house, then headed over to the boarding house. He found Matthew on the front porch, this time with the usual group of codgers who lived at the house. They spent most of their waking hours sitting on the porch giving a running commentary of everything that went on in the county, state and country. All of it was colored by their six decades or more of experience.
“What you hear about the sheriff?” one of the old men asked Blasko. They all knew that he lived in the basement of Josephine’s house, giving him the opportunity to be privy to a lot of information about the community.
