by William King
I have to say that the thought had crossed my mind that Cassandra was not as lovable as Elizabeth had informed me that she had been. It had never crossed my mind to ask anyone else about Cassandra, except Elizabeth. Since she was the one who had hired me to do the job in the first place and I believed what she had told me to be the truth, and never second guessed her or questioned her. Why in the hell had I not thought to ask anyone else about her aunt Cassandra? It seemed as if I had a brain cloud, something that was blocking me from doing any critical thinking. What has changed to let me see this clearly now? Especially if some supernatural force has been blocking me from seeing all this time? There were the servants, the MacDougal’s, Clarence, and the Purdue’s? What is the matter with me? I scolded myself for the lack of my capabilities. I was too busy letting my own feelings get in the way of a job to do. Be careful said a little voice inside my head, let that happen too often and you might overlook something very important that could end up getting you or someone else killed.
I thought this was ridiculous, and it sounded crazy to me as well. Whatever this evil supernatural force was, it was trying very hard to break my spirit and confidence in Elizabeth. Well it was going to have to work harder than that to break my will, and I was definitely not quite ready to fall apart, nor lose my faith in Elizabeth now. But then again, maybe this supernatural force was not trying to break my spirit at all. Maybe Elizabeth’s aunt had just done a superb job at brainwashing her into thinking that she was a kind and lovable old lady. The seed of doubt was already planted deeply within my head, and it kept growing stronger and stronger every minute. I watched Elizabeth carefully throughout her aunt’s funeral, and she sure was not showing any of the emotions that she should have been showing under the circumstances. She seemed as if she was void of all the emotions that she should have been showing. In fact, she was void of all emotions. The strangeness in her must have been solely due to that evil bitch Bastelet’s early morning visit with her. She alone was the one responsible for the way Elizabeth was acting. But why?
When the funeral was over, Elizabeth told Lyle and Hillary that they could hitch a ride back to the Manor with Elizabeth and I. Therefore all four of us walked out to the Jeep and got in. It was a quite ride back to the manor, not one of us tried to start a conversation. I was positive that Lyle and Hillary had noticed Elizabeth’s estranged behavior in the vehicle, but they quietly sat in the back seat, holding one an others hand all the way back to the Manor. Once we arrived, Elizabeth pulled the Jeep in under the carport and shut off the engine. All four of us opened the doors at the same time, as if it was planned that way, and walked over to the house, still, not saying a word to one another. Once Elizabeth had unlocked the door the four of us walked inside and went our separate ways. Elizabeth went straight to her mother’s room to rest because I had suggested that she might rest a lot easier there without any disruptions back at the funeral.
I went directly to the library to try to sort out some things about Elizabeth’s behavior back at the funeral, closing the double sliding doors behind me for privacy when I heard a knock at the entrance doors.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It is me Lyle, may I come in?”
The double doors to the library slowly slid open and Lyle and Hillary walked in.
“Yes Lyle, what is it that I can do for the two of you?”
They both looked at each other for a moment and then Lyle said “It is Elizabeth, are we imagining things, or is she acting rather weird?”
“No Lyle, you and Hillary are not imagining things, Elizabeth is acting weird. That is why I decided to come to the library, and why I had the doors closed. I needed to do some critical thinking without anything disturbing Me.”
Lyle replied, “Oh, I am so sorry to have bothered you Mason, Hillary and I will leave.”
“No need to do that Lyle. I needed to have a talk with the both of you anyways. Now is as good of time as any. I should have spoken with the both of you about the matter at hand when I was first introduced to the both of you. However, at the time, I had not thought much of it, but it is so obvious now.”
“What is so obvious now Mason?”
“I should have asked you two about Elizabeth’s aunt Cassandra,” and then I told them everything that had occurred prior to Cassandra’s funeral.
“Lyle, I want to help Elizabeth, but in order for me to do so, I need answers to the unanswered questions that remain.”
Therefore, I asked them about Cassandra, and they basically told me the exact same thing that Elizabeth had told me. The only difference in their story was that Lyle said that the children in the small town of Dripping Springs had always taunted Cassandra, calling her a Witch because she lived in the marshlands of Devil’s Elbow, all alone in an old run down shack like a hermit.
“Cassandra never harmed anyone in this small town mind you, she would just look at them with tears in her eyes, and say, ‘It is time that you children get on home now’. There had never been any case of wrongdoing by her hands. Cassandra was just a lonely old lady that lived alone.”
“I am sure she did not Lyle. Did you and Hillary work here at the time Cassandra and her husband had lived on the Devil’s Island?”
“Yes sir, we sure did.”
“Did Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood ever visit them on the island?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, Elizabeth’s father had made numerous trips to the Devil’s Island. However, he never wanted his wife to know about his visits. He always told her that he had some business to do elsewhere. I always thought of it as odd that he never wanted his family to visit Cassandra and Laurence, but he never offered to give me any explanations about his feelings, and I never asked.
“We never heard them quarrel with the exception of one time, and that had been the reason for the quarrel. Cassandra’s husband Laurence, which was Elizabeth’s father’s brother, had already passed away at the time, so she had returned to England. Gwendolyn wanted to visit her a few weeks afterwards, and that is when they argued bitterly, because he had not wanted her to go see her. Nonetheless, Bartholomew finally agreed to let Gwendolyn go, but informed her that she was not to make the visiting a regular occurrence.
“However, Bartholomew never agreed to Gwendolyn taking Elizabeth to see her aunt Cassandra. He always said that Cassandra was a senile old woman, and a bad influence on Elizabeth.”
“I must say Lyle that is a rather interesting story. Hillary, do you or Lyle remember just when Bastelet had come to work for Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood?”
“Mason, which Bastelet do you mean?”
I paused for a second and said, “What do you mean Lyle?”
“Oh, I suppose that you had no way of knowing that her mother, after whom she was named worked here for quite some time, and was the head mistress to Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood.”
“No Lyle, I had not been aware that her mother had worked here as well. I would however be very interested in what you can remember about that time period.”
“We only know what we heard, as we never asked any questions. However, we do know that she was the head servant to Elizabeth’s mother at one time. That was until she had some sort of disagreement with her, and afterwards she had resigned from her duties. She had packed up her belongings and left the same day, and was never seen or heard from again. That is to say until her daughter had come to apply for a position here, and she was hired right on the spot. I had thought the whole thing was very strange, but needless to say, it was none of my business.”
“Lyle, you say that Bartholomew would tell his wife that he was going on a business trip somewhere else, when in fact he would be going to visit his brother Laurence on the Devil’s Island? Lyle, may I inquire as to how you had come to know about this information?”
“Yes Mason that is correct, and as to how I acquired this information. Well, one day I happened to overhear Bartholomew talking with one of his stable boys in the barn while I was walking by. He had instructed the boy to ride in
to town and book him a passage on the first available steamer to Devil’s Island. He had given the stable boy explicit orders, and I even heard him tell the boy if he revealed this information to anyone he would have the boys throat cut from ear to ear, and have his tongue pulled out from within his throat.
“I know personally that this was right after he had told Gwendolyn that he would be gone on a business trip to France for some time to attend some sort of financial matter, as Hillary had told me that she had overheard him telling her in the house. I had never let him know that I knew for fear that he would accuse me of spying on him. The next time he had made the trip to the Devil’s Island, I had personally booked his passage myself, and he had given me the same orders that he had given the stable boy.
“Mason, you have got to understand that I was a very young man at the time, and Bartholomew’s statement had left quite an impression on me, and that is for a fact. He had never talked that sternly to me again about anything, and I had never told a sole, I swear on my mother’s grave!”
For some unknown reason, I got the feeling that Lyle had been talking more to an unseen listener rather than to me. Nonetheless, I asked, “Lyle, did you and Hillary get along with Bastelet? I mean, did you become friends over time?”
Their facial expressions dramatically changed, not for the better when I asked them the question. They were silent for a brief moment, and looked strangely at one another when Hillary spoke up and said, “No Mason, we did not get along at all. Bastelet spied on us constantly. Bartholomew thought she was very kind, but she had an evil streak within her. She had liked no one around her except for Bartholomew, and she made it known.
“When his eyes were watching, she was an angel, but when he was gone, she was the closest thing resembling the Devil that I have ever seen. She was evil, pure evil at that! Almost like a dreadful demon, you could say. There were even those rare occasions when she had seemed to be everywhere at the same time. You would swear that she had been in one place, blink your eyes and there she was in another. A demon I tell you, that is what she was, an evil spirit of some sort sent here to torment us.”
“Thank you Hillary, for being so honest with me, but I think it would be wise, at least for now, not to let Elizabeth hear you say these things, she might get the wrong impression. Hillary can you tell me right off hand if Bastelet and Cassandra ever had any disagreements with one another, about anything?”
She spoke up rather quickly, “Those two were like a couple of angry Bulls in the same pasture, competing for the remaining heifers. Bastelet could never fool, nor could she ever outsmart Elizabeth’s aunt. She saw right through her fake persona. One day I was walking up the stairs and overheard Bastelet make the statement that sometime soon, she was going to burn out Cassandras eyes. Do not get me wrong, Bastelet was quick as a cat, and as sharp as its claws, but was in no way a match for Cassandra. It seemed as if each one of them was daring the other to take the next step, but only with their eyes. You know what I mean Mason?”
“Yes Hillary, I believe that I do know exactly what you mean. I was under the impression that Cassandra was never allowed at the Manor?”
“You are not mistaking. However, there were the times when Mr. Blackwood was gone on one of his so-called business trips, Cassandra would come to the Manor.”
“Oh, alright Hillary, that explains a lot. Did Bastelet ever go with Bartholomew to the Devil’s Island?”
“Mason, I could not answer that question and be one-hundred percent sure. However, I do seem to recall a couple of times when Bastelet and Bartholomew were away at the same time. There would always be two or three day’s difference in their arrivals and departures, but yes, in my opinion, I would say that it was quite possible.”
“How would Bastelet explain her absence Hillary, I mean, what would she tell Gwendolyn?”
“She would always tell me that she was going to see her only brother because he had suddenly become very sick. Right before she would leave she would always receive a letter that had been postmarked from White Heaven, and she would pack up and leave, sometimes for an entire month.”
“Oh, I see more clearly now, thank you very much for the information that you have given me Hillary. I really do appreciate the cooperation from the both of you. You two have been very helpful.”
“Mason, I wonder if we might ask a favor of you?”
“Yes Lyle, what is it that I might do for you?”
“Well Mason, Hillary and I would rather Elizabeth not know that we had spoken to you about these things. She may not understand, and we would not want to do anything she might disapprove of. You understand our situation, don’t you?”
“Lyle you may rest assured that Elizabeth will never find out about our talk from me.”
“Thank you Mason, we both appreciate it more than you could imagine.” Hillary smiled at me, and her facial expression revealed a not so worried look on her face and she turned and left the room. Lyle followed behind her, but before leaving the library, grabbed for the doors when I said, “Do not bother closing the doors Lyle, I will not be needing anymore time alone to think, as you and Hillary have told me the information that I needed, and I will be going up stairs.”
“Alright Mason, see you later.”
For some unknown reason, I could not stop myself from gloating, as my first impression of Cassandra had been right all along, and my suspicion that she was not the absent minded, senile old lady that she pretended to be was now confirmed. I knew now that Cassandra was in fact a rather cautious and very careful person. I might go as far to say that I thought she had reminded me of my own foster mother, Charlotte Kingsley. What a relief this talk turned out to be. I should have spoken with Lyle and Hillary back when I was first introduced to them about all this. It would have saved me a lot of aggravation and mind splitting headaches. Nonetheless, it was all in the past, and I now had a new perspective on everything. Therefore, I decided to go find Elizabeth, and tell her what I thought we should do next.
I walked out of the library and headed upstairs to find Elizabeth. I could not wait to tell her that we now had a place to start looking, and that place was White Heaven. I wanted to have a talk with Bastelet’s brother that is if he was still alive, and in order for me to do that, we had to take a trip to White Heaven. When I got to Elizabeth’s mother’s room and walked inside, I found Elizabeth seated in the recliner in front of the fireplace, relaxing and soaking up the warmth of the fire. At first she looked as if she was in some sort of a trance, but as I got closer, a smile appeared on her face as I said, “I thought I would find you up here Elizabeth. I came to see if you would like to take a trip to White Heaven with me tomorrow?”
She noticed the note pad and pencil within my hand and asked, “Why in heaven’s sake do you want to go to White Heaven? Is there something there that could give us some information pertaining to what is going on?”
“Oh my god Elizabeth, have you lost your faith in me already? Nevertheless, if you must know, I have a clue that I want to follow up on. How about it, would you be interested in going with me?”
She laughed almost like the woman I had first met at the Blackwood Manor, back in South Carolina, as she replied, “Why yes Mason, I would love to get out of this house for a while. I think that I might enjoy the trip, but what is the specific reason for going to White Heaven, or are you going to leave me in the dark?”
“Leave you in the dark, no way. I have found out that Bastelet had a brother that lived there, and if he is still there, I would like to speak with him, that is all.”
“How in the world are you going to go about finding this brother of hers?”
“Well, first off, I found out that his name is Vincent Branstone, which is not an uncommon name to say the least. Therefore, the first thing we should do is look him up online. I shall start my search in the yellow-pages to see if he is listed, and if not, I will just have to hack into the Department of Motor Vehicles to see if this Mr. Branstone has a current driver’s li
cense or registration, which is where I will find his address.”
I walked over to the side of the bed where I had set my luggage bag, unzipped it, grabbed my laptop, and started searching, and what do you know, in less than five minutes I found him, and yelled, “I found him, this is all too easy!”
“What in God’s name makes you think that Mason, things surly have not been easy for us so far?”
“This does!”
As I handed her a small piece of paper I said, “Here is the address of the man we are looking for. His addressis666 Leave Street.”
Elizabeth looked at me with disbelief on her face after I told her the address, which then it dawned on me as well, 666 Leave Street. I thought, what the hell, here we go again with these weird names and satanic numbers.
Elizabeth replied, “Do you want to know something else. I almost believe that you missed your calling. You should have become a detective, a private eye, maybe an FBI agent. I think you are pretty smart for a young man, and an American at that.”
I smiled at Elizabeth and said, “Since this is your territory Elizabeth, you may have the pleasure of driving us there.”
“Sure, why not, it is not like I have something better to do with my time!”
Elizabeth had me get Lyle and Hillary and bring them up to her mother’s room, where she informed them that we were going to take a ride to White Heaven tomorrow morning. She told Lyle and Hillary to wait, here at the house for our return, and told them that they would be just fine here until we got back, as we will not be gone too long.
“Alright Elizabeth, you and Mason have a good night’s sleep, Hillary and I will see you in the morning, bright and early.”
