Georgia hugged her arms to stave off the cold. Her grandmother’s last words in the letter echoed in her mind. Take care of Alphonso.
“What do you mean, ‘end it’?”
“She thought I was your grandfather for a while...her dead Henry come back to life. Isn’t that charming? But one day, she tried to stab me with a knife...and I chased her out here and then—” He bowed before her as if the rest was unspeakable.
She remembered her grandmother’s words from the letter again, the knife in the sink, the empty glass of gin in the library. He wasn’t lying. He was...
The trees and bushes around her started to spin. Then, the whole world turned upside down. The clouds and stars seemed to swirl down to her feet, and the earth rose up above her head. Somehow, she kept her balance, but her voice quavered as she tried to understand what he was saying. “My Grammie...you killed her?” A tear rolled down her cheek and froze near her chin.
He came closer, and she edged backwards through the arbor into the rose garden. She could hear the guests’ laughter far off in the direction of the house...too loud and too far off to hear her scream.
“I fooled you as well, didn’t I?” he asked as backed her further into the garden until she stumbled over a shovel lying on the ground and came to a stop, balancing on the rim of the fountain.
“You see...I died here at this house in 1900. MargaretCrawford was to be my bride that day, but she refused my proposal...just like you. I drowned her because I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing her and releasing her to anyone else.”
Georgia leaned away from him as the cold clouds of air from his mouth spewed forth a putrid scent of decay and foulness that was even more potent than his horrible words.
“And poor Virginia...so lonely for her Henry...she had that meddlesome psychic try to bring him back. But, when I heard her voice calling out in the darkness...I came...I pushed myself back into this world...born again like a new baby.”
“Daniel...really...you’ve had too much to drink. This is nonsense! Let’s go back to the party and—”
“No. You’ve embarrassed me. You turned me down as if I’ve been nothing more than your gardener and servant for these last few months. I thought there was something special between us.”
He reached out and caressed her cheek like he had done so many times before. But, this time, it was a sinister touch...a threat of what was to come.
“You look so much like her...my dear Margaret. Her blood is in your veins.” He scowled. “Blood that thinks it’s too good for a lowly gardener...and I’m even more loathsome than that. I picked rags and ate from garbage bins in my youth. Then, I made my way out west and found that I had a knack for charming my way into better situations. I never thought I was a murderer before I drowned her. But then, when I came back...it was instinct...like a lion knows to kill its prey for food. I had no choice.”
She still didn’t believe him. This wasn’t her Daniel. He must have taken some sort of drug tonight during the party. This was Hyde...some drugged out fantasy coming from a dose of cocaine or heroin.
“Daniel...please...let’s just go inside and talk about all this. It’s freezing out here.”
He reached out and grabbed her hand. Then, he pulled the ring off her finger and flung it into the darkness behind them. “You didn’t want that anyway. I stole it from a dead woman’s hand.”
“That’s crazy. You’ve had too much to drink...”
“I only wanted you to love me...to stay with me and be with me forever in this house. And when I had this second chance at life...I only killed because I had to.”
He stepped closer, pinning her against the edge of the fountain. “Do you love me?” he asked as he peered into her eyes and held both of her hands against the cold stone.
She saw his eyes flicker from the raging fire within. At first they were black holes, hollow depressions in the faint shadows of moonlight, then they sparkled like green glitter and lit up into fireworks of gold, orange, and brilliant crimson. She wondered if someone had drugged one of her drinks. Daniel’s harsh nonsensical words and now...his strange changing eyes were all too overwhelming to have any part in reality. How should she answer him?
“Tell me you do, and we can leave this party right now and run off together to get married.”
She still stood silent...too afraid to speak...to say the wrong thing.
“Your hesitation is your answer.” His hands shot upwards and wrapped around her neck. They squeezed like a python’s coils as his fingers buried into her flesh, clamping down on her windpipe and preventing her from uttering even a whisper of despair.
As she struggled, she lost traction in the snow, and she tumbled backwards, her head cracking through the thin layer of ice in the lower tier of the fountain. Then, he forced her down under eight inches of icy water.
She fought back, knowing that she had only seconds left to live if she didn’t find a way to get away. Her hands clawed at his clothing...the skin on his arms...and reached for those horrible mesmerizing eyes.
Her fingers found one, gouging him just enough to make him relax his grip a little. She thrust her head out of the water and gasped for air. Then, the shock of the frigid water brought her vocal chords to life, and a loud bloodcurdling scream burst from her mouth.
But, he grabbed her hair from behind, spun her around, and forced her face back under the water. She fought him, trying to find footing again in the slippery mud with her twisted broken heels...but he was too strong.
All those years of nightmares came true as she found herself submerged under the water...about to drown.
Though, it was winter, and her assailant wasn’t highlighted in silhouette with the fiery red cannas behind the fountain, she remembered the suit and tall hat he wore at Halloween. It was the groomsman’s attire that he had worn when he drowned her in her dreams. His name wasn’t Daniel. It was AlphonsoGiovanni. He was her ancestor’s gardener and she was—
Her dying thoughts were cut off as she heard a shout from above the water. The pressure holding her down lessened. She took the opportunity to rise up and heaved in gulps of the beautiful icy air. As something distracted him, she inched herself away from him and almost stumbled into a deep hole. He held onto her hair, but she wrenched herself away and let him have a fistful of it as her body shook with convulsions.
“Alphonso!” a gruff voice boomed from the shadows.
A tall figure emerged from the rose brambles at the back of the garden. He had cottony wisps of white hair and sideburns that ended in a pointy beard at his chin. There was a young girl behind him with long stringy hair and a listless stance. Something looked wrong about them...very wrong. Their eyes were hollow black sockets and their skin was mottled and marred by strips of decayed flesh.
The man pulled a gun from his pocket and pointed it at the spirit. Its silver barrel reflected the moonlight, highlighting a glimpse of the ivory grip between his fingers. “You goddamn bastard!” he gurgled.
“Crawford!” the spirit replied. “It’s been such a long time. I was sure I’d see you in hell.”
She heard a gunshot and saw the spirit fall backwards with a thump onto the ground. For a moment, his body lay still with his glowing eyes wide open to the heavens above. Then, the light went out in them and his body began to dissolve into a curl of black smoke. It spread out over the ground...then seemed to vanish down into the earth.
Her body was cold, and she was so tired and confused—she couldn’t move or scream now if she wanted to.
She saw the old man with his hand still stretched out. There was no gun in it, but a curl of smoke rose up from his fingertip. Then, his body and the girl’s began to dissolve. They turned into a white mist that spread out over the top of the garden, then rose up and disappeared into the clouds.
Cold. So cold.
Frost had begun to turn her wet hair into icicles, and her body shook violently. Since she couldn’t will her frozen limbs to move, she just wanted to close her eye
s and go to sleep. She collapsed onto the ground, curling into a ball and closed her eyes as her sobs alternated between each shiver.
But, a moment later...she felt strong arms around her torso, rolling her onto her back. Then, she felt pressure on her chest, pumping and pushing, followed by warm tender lips that covered her mouth and breathed in more air. She choked and spat out the remaining cold water from her lungs.
When her eyes opened...she looked up into the bluest eyes she had ever seen and knew it was KarlBauer.
“Georgia? Are you alright?”
She gave a weak nod with her chin then wrapped her arms around his warm neck as he picked her up off the ground.
“It’s alright. It’s all over now. Let’s get you back to the house before you freeze to death.”
As he carried her towards the house, she heard footsteps behind them and craned over his shoulder to see who it was.
She was surprised to see a woman—the same crazy psychic woman from the carnival who had invaded her house—following quietly behind them. Something white gleamed in her hands, and she held onto it with clenched fists.
It took a moment for Georgia to realize that the pointy things sticking out through her fingers...were bones.
Chapter 85
Opal stowed the bones that Karl had found under the fountain next to the patio before opening the back door for them.
The guests inside parted to make way as Karl carried Georgia in and laid her on the sofa. He told the nearest person to call 911 and get an ambulance there quickly. Then, he wrapped his jacket around her.
“I almost lost you,” he said as he pulled an afghan off the back of the couch and draped it over her for more warmth. Then, he kneeled beside her, stroked her forehead, and held her shivering hands.
Opal stood next to them, fielding off questions from the partygoers, telling them that Georgia had just had an accident outside in the snow.
By the time the paramedics arrived, Georgia was sitting upright, saying that she felt better and refused to go to the hospital. The guests came by one by one to express their concern and thank her for the party as they left.
When the house was empty, except for the three of them, Karl turned to her and said, “Ma...I’ll go make us some coffee.”
“Ma?” Georgia asked. “Your—”
“Yes. He’s my son. I took back my maiden name after I was divorced years ago.”
Georgia began to stammer out apologies about the way she had treated her.
Opal patted her hand. “Never mind that now. I’m sure I seemed like a crazy rambling loon. I’m so sorry I brought this all upon us.” Then, she explained everything from the beginning, holding out no details.
“I was just trying to help your grandmother. She just missed your grandfather so desperately—she wanted me to help her talk to him one more time. When I did the séance, I accidentally used some very ancient...and very bad words in the process. When his monster broke through, he was unstoppable.”
“Daniel?”
“Alphonso,” Opal corrected. “I know how hard all this is to process. There are many things in this world that can’t always be seen or heard, but they’re here...just as sure as the air, or atoms, or electricity.”
Georgia told her about all her years of terrible nightmares that she now knew were some strange link to the history of the house and almost foretold her death. She laughed at the fact that she had painted dozens of paintings with unreal creatures like fairies and elves...but hadn’t realized that a true unworldly being was right under her roof. “He seemed so charming...so perfect...what woman could have resisted him?”
Opal squeezed her hand. “You can relax in this house now. He’s gone.”
“But...you said that your Aunt Grace said the bones had to be—”
“Maybe her method would have worked. But, thanks to your great great grandfather Crawford’s spirit, AlphonsoGiovanni is dead once again.
Georgia shook her head as she took the warm cup of coffee from Karl. “But, if he wasn’t real...how could he die?”
“I guess it took another spirit of his ilk to do it. I don’t know if a real gun would have done the trick. Maybe, he just had to believe that he died again...and that’s all that it took to get rid of him.
“I hope you’re right, Opal. It will be a long time before I stop worrying that he’ll come back.”
Chapter 86
May
KarlBauer leaned across the quilt laid out next to the fountain in the rose garden.
“Does a day ever pass when you don’t think about New Year’s Eve?” he asked as he strummed his fingers down Georgia’s back.
“No...and it probably never will. But, I try to focus on the positive things. Like the fact that I sold eighteen paintings that night...and now I have a contract with a gallery in Soho.”
“That’s my gal,” he said. “But...throwing a shindig like that and almost getting drowned by a ghost—I’d say that’s a pretty hard way to get some publicity, so you could get your art in a gallery.”
“Oh...shutup!” Georgia said as she punched him in the arm. “Are you going to eat any more of that potato salad?”
He added a large scoop to his plate then took a sip of iced tea. “I’m sure it helps your peace of mind to know that Alphonso’s bones are gone from the property.”
“Yes. We couldn’t take any chances. Thankfully, they’ve been cremated and scattered to the four winds.”
He gestured towards the fountain. “You’re not afraid of keeping this here after almost dying in it and knowing about the grave that used to be underneath?”
“No. The Kansas History Society has contacted me about adding this house to their register of Victorian homes, and it’s an historical piece of the property. Besides...I don’t have that nightmare any more. Now, that that evil man is gone from my life...I only dream of flowers and butterflies,” she laughed as a Painted Lady flitted over their heads.
“And me...I hope.”
She smiled and gave him a quick smooch on the lips. “Of course.” Then, she popped a grape in her mouth and rested her head on her hand. “After all this time...you’ve never told me. What made you believe your mother that night at the party when she convinced you to start digging under the fountain?”
“I once saw Alphonso wandering out by the railroad tracks by the Dirkson’s farm...not too far from where that homeless man was found murdered. All these years with my mother talking about ghosts and spirits and talking to dead people...I never believed a word. But, after I saw that guy disappear into a cloud of smoke before my very eyes...I thought I was losing my mind and that I might be losing my sanity. As much as I doubted her crazy story, I couldn’t get that sight out of my head. If things hadn’t turned out as they did...I might have turned in my badge for awhile and taken a very long break.”
“That would have been a shame, given that you’ve been elected as the new Sheriff of Calathia.”
They looked up and watched the clouds for a few moments, enjoying the sunshine and the cool breeze coming off the river. But, a moment later, she jumped up and began walking away.
“Hey...where are you going? You can’t leave a handsome guy all alone on a picnic blanket.”
She turned around and gave him a quizzical half-smile. “You know...” Then, she kept going towards the rose bushes at the far end of the garden. She looked closer at one particular rose bush that was nearly engulfed by the others around it. On this shrub, the blooms were very dark red...so dark that they looked like black velvet. Though, it was early afternoon, there were dewdrops still glistening on the petals. She leaned down and inhaled the exotic musk and clove-like perfume of the closest bloom then she stooped down towards the base of the bush.
“I’m getting awful lonely over here...”
She ignored him as she felt her way through the thorns down to the ground and fumbled in the dead leaves and debris underneath until she found what she was looking for.
As she ran back to the blanket,
she held up a perfect full bloom for him to see.
“Nice rose. What’s the big—”
She tossed an old copper tag covered in the tarnish of bluish-green verdigris onto the blanket.
“What’s this?” he asked as he picked it up.
“Read it.”
Karl squinted to read the words in the bright sunlight. He scratched some of the coating off with his nail. Then, his jaw dropped. “This is it? The infamous Black Diamond?”
Georgia beamed. “It’s a black rose...quite the novelty a hundred years ago.” She twirled the flower in her fingers. “See how these dew drops glisten in the light?”
“Like diamonds.”
Georgia nodded. “WilliamCrawford probably guarded this bush with a shotgun day and night. When word leaked out about his mysterious Black Diamond, he let everyone think it was a jewel instead of a rose just to keep them off guard.
“How are your sister and nephew going to feel about inheriting a silly rose bush?”
"Well, I’m not too worried about Stevie. Now that he’s enlisted in the Navy, he’ll be busy for a few years. The service should help to pacify his wanderlust and thirst for buried treasure.” She laughed. “Although...before he left for boot camp, he did mention something about moving to Australia when he gets out and digging for Opals in CooberPedy.”
“And your sister?”
“Hmmm...after she gets over her tantrum that our grandmother left her a ‘stinkin’ rose bush’, I’ll bet she’ll come to her senses. I’m guessing that this heirloom rose is a lost variety. She can have it bred out by a professional multiplier, sell rootstock from it for years and get royalties for every plant it produces. If she plays her cards right...she could parlay this out into quite a fortune.”
“That sounds a little mean of your grandmother to keep this secret all these years and make it such a riddle.”
“I guess that was her way of getting her last word in at the end. Maybe, she hoped that Marsha would eventually spend more time over here with the kids and eventually figure it out. I have a hunch that she’ll develop an interest in the joy of gardening very soon.”
The Gardener Page 35
