The Ghosts Of New Orleans (A PARANORMAL RESEARCH AND CONTAINMENT DIVISION (PRCD) CASE FILE)

by Reid, Terri

  Eloise nodded, “Of course, that’s probably exactly what happened – thank you, Sergeant.”

  They slowly climbed the stairs, Anderson following Eloise. Halfway up she stepped down on the next stair without looking and felt it crack beneath her feet. Before she could react, Anderson had wrapped his bulky arms around her waist and lifted her to the next stair.

  “You have to watch these stairs, ma’am,” he said. “Dry rot sets in and you just don’t know where you’ll end up.”

  “Thank you for your help, Sergeant,” she said. “You probably just saved my life.”

  “Be a shame for a fine specimen like you to fall to your death,” Anderson commented.

  Eloise froze for a moment, his words sending a chill down her spine.

  “Are you okay, ma’am?” he asked, walking up behind her.

  She turned and smiled again, “Yes, Sergeant, just checking for dry rot.”

  They finished climbing the stairs and walked into the east wing.

  “Sergeant, do you know anything about knocking?” Eloise asked.

  “Knocking, ma’am?”

  “Yes, knocking on walls to see if there are any secret passages.”

  Anderson nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I’ve found my share of secret passages in my day.”

  Eloise smiled. “Great! You take the south side and I’ll take the north side. I’m looking for a leather bound journal. If you find something like that, just yell.”

  “Begging your pardon, ma’am, but don’t you think we should stick together, just in case Delphine tries to attack you again?”

  Why did Sergeant Anderson saying Delphine’s name bother her, she wondered? Once again, she felt there was something there, just beyond her reach. She shook her head and responded to the Sergeant.

  “No, I think we’re safe for now. Besides, my amulet will protect me from her.”

  “Well, I’d prefer that you search the south side, I’ll take the north.”

  Eloise shook her head. “Sergeant, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were afraid to go over there by yourself. I want to take the north side; you take the south side, no arguing Sergeant.”

  Without waiting for a response, Eloise walked into the first room on the north side of the east wing. This room seemed brighter than any of the rooms they had searched before. She turned around and realized that this room had windows instead of plywood.

  “Well, this is nice,” she said aloud, turning off her flashlight.

  She started tapping on the walls, hoping that she could distinguish the difference in sounds when she came across a passageway or hidden vault. She noted that the room had also been swept clean and the drywall had been patched in several areas. Along the east wall there had been a lot of drywall resurfacing. Eloise moved over to the east wall and started tapping. No sooner had she begun that she heard a hollow wooden sound.

  “Okay, that’s weird,” she said. She knocked again and once again heard the hollow sound. She put her hands on her hips and looked around the room.

  “If there’s a secret passage, there has to be a lever,” she said to herself.

  She looked around the room, nothing but flat drywall. She moved to the small closet that was adjacent to the east wall. Instead of cobwebs, the closet was also swept out. “Hmmmm, someone’s been taking care of this area.”

  She ran her hands along the shelves above the closet clothing rod. Nothing but dust. She stepped inside the closet and ran her hands above the door trim on the inside of the closet. Above the right corner of the frame she felt a small metal lever.

  Taking a deep breath, she pulled on the lever. The side of the closet opened up.

  Eloise stopped. Should she call to Sergeant Anderson?

  She didn’t know what she would discover on the other side of this door. She fingered the amulet for a moment. Considering Anderson’s reaction to her earlier request, he might keep her out of the room until he could call for backup. Well, repenting was always easier than asking permission. She turned on her flashlight and stepped through the doorway.

  The light beam shone into the space she had entered. She could tell that the room beyond was very large, as if someone had taken three bedrooms and knocked down the connecting walls. She looked down, the floor was tile rather than the carpet found throughout the rest of the house. Eloise flashed the beam up and across the wall and found a light switch. She walked over and flipped the switch on. She heard the soft vibrations of a generator and then saw the flicker of fluorescent lights.

  Eloise turned back to the room and gasped aloud. The room was filled with modern day torture devices. It was as if Delphine had moved the insidious devices forward in some kind of bizarre time machine.

  Across from her was a shiny metal table with thick leather bindings at each corner. Eloise walked over and examined it. She could see traces of blood and scratch marks near the upper bindings as if someone had driven their fingernails into the metal surface.

  Suddenly, the body of a woman was lying across the table. Eloise gasped and stepped back. The woman was naked and her arms and legs were bound down. She had long blonde hair and looked like a teen-ager. Her mouth was taped shut and her body was covered with cuts and bruises.

  Eloise felt sick as she watched the woman scratch her nails across the surface of the table, like a trapped animal trying to escape. The woman’s eyes were filled with pain and fear. She turned and looked at Eloise, pleading for help.

  “How can I help you?” Eloise asked. “What can I do?”

  Without responding, the woman slowly faded away. Eloise moved backwards, her hand cupped over her mouth and tears streaming down her face.

  She bumped into something and turned to see a stainless steel table with axles attached to each end. Attached to the axles were two sets of cables with bindings at the end. Eloise eye’s widened as she touched the bindings – it was the modern version of the rack, an ancient torture device that slowly pulled the victim apart.

  Once again the body of a young woman appeared in front of her, strapped to the cables. Eloise gasped as she recognized this one from the photo in the Missing Persons fax. She had long black hair and an olive complexion. Eloise watched as the cables tightened and her body was stretched on the rack. The girl’s mouth was also taped, but Eloise could see by the anguish in her eyes and on her face that if she could hear the spirit’s voice, the scream would have shattered her heart.

  “Oh, God,” she prayed. “Let me help her.”

  Eloise reached up to the cables, trying to loosen them and stop the pain, but her hands slipped through the images before her. Once again, the girl turned and looked into Eloise’s eyes, pleading for help. Then she too faded away.

  Eloise ineffectually wiped at the tears streaming down her face. These were not images from the distant past, there girls were recently murdered. Could Delphine have the power to commit murder and continue her inhumane legacy throughout the centuries?

  Eloise looked around the room and in the back corner she saw a device that looked like an upright sarcophagus. Almost against her will she was drawn to the device. The container was closed except for a small door placed about five feet above the ground. Eloise flipped the latch that held the front panels together. The panels sprang apart so quickly that Eloise had to jump back in order to avoid being hit by one side. Inside the container 12-inch blades protruded at regular intervals from the sides towards the middle of the unit. The blades were pointed in such a way that when the container was closed, they would mesh tightly together. At the bottom of the inside of the container was a heavy steel mesh floor and underneath was a metal container. Eloise realized that it was a modern day Iron Maiden.

  “That’s where the blood goes,” said a soft voice behind Eloise.

  She turned and gasped at the sight of a beautiful African-American woman whose body was riddled with stab wounds.

  “Oh, how could anyone do this to you?” Eloise cried.

  “I thought he was coming to help me,” sh
e whispered. “He was in a uniform and everything. I thought he was coming to help me.”

  Tears slid down her cheeks.

  “He? Who did this to you?” Eloise asked.

  The girl stared over Eloise’s shoulder and her eyes widened in fear. “He did,” she whispered, “Please don’t let him hurt me again.”

  Eloise turned quickly and her heart stopped for a moment as Sergeant Anderson walked toward her from the end of the room.

  “I called to you ma’am, and you didn’t answer, so I got concerned.”

  Eloise took a deep breath, remembering that Sergeant Anderson could not see the spirit that had just testified against him.

  “I’m sorry, Sergeant, I was just coming to get you,” she said. “I was just amazed at all of the equipment I just found in this room.”

  Sergeant Anderson’s gaze never left Eloise’s eyes.

  “So, ma’am, what do you think all this equipment is for?” he asked.

  Eloise shrugged, slowly moving away from the sarcophagus. “I can’t figure it out,” she lied, “Perhaps some kind of medical equipment.”

  Sergeant Anderson shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am, but something tells me that you know a lot more than you’re saying.”

  He moved his burly body so he stood between Eloise and the passageway.

  Eloise smiled, “Sergeant, I really don’t understand what you mean and we need to continue our search. So, I suggest that we move on.”

  She moved briskly towards the exit, trying to bluff her way out of the room. But before she could reach safety, she was caught by the waist and lifted up into the air. Eloise screamed, kicked backwards and connected, her hiking boots striking a soft fleshy portion of the Marine’s body. The strong arms dropped her and she fell onto the floor as Sergeant Anderson doubled over in pain.

  Eloise scrambled to her feet and ran out of the passageway. She stopped and flipped the lever closing the door behind her, hoping that it would buy her a little time. She ran down the hall, but rather than running down the stairs, she continued into the darkened west wing. She ran past all of the rooms she and Sally had examined only a few days before, pausing to crack the doors open slightly. Then she ran to the end of the hall and searched desperately for the secret lever the little spirit had used to open the secret panel.

  Eloise turned towards the hall in panic when she heard the sound of the passageway being opened on the other side of the house. She switched off her flashlight and prayed that the darkness of the hall would hide her long enough to find the lever. She moved her hands quickly along the edge of the wall, searching for a knob or a lever.

  She heard his footsteps coming down the hall, pausing for a moment at the staircase and then moving on into the west wing. The pounding of Eloise’s heart seemed louder to her than his footsteps, but she forced herself to concentrate on finding the lever. She heard him pause at the first bedroom and heard the door open wider. Then she heard the crash of more plaster falling from the ceiling.

  She almost smiled, Good! She thought, maybe it will knock him out.

  But footsteps slowly coming up the hallway proved that he was still intact. Once again he paused outside a bedroom and then opened the door and moved inside.

  Finally, Eloise found a small button at the base of the wall. She pressed it and the panel moved to the side with the loud squeal of an un-oiled hinge. As Sergeant Anderson exited the bedroom, Eloise dove through the opening.

  Frantically, Eloise searched for the lever on this side of the doorway to close the door. She could hear the footsteps getting closer and closer. She could hear his harsh breathing. He was no longer stopping and looking in the bedrooms, now he was headed down the hall right towards Eloise.

  She ran her hands over the frame and through the cobwebs on the opposite side of the wall where the lever had been. The footsteps stopped. Eloise peered through the darkness and saw Sergeant Anderson’s legs a few feet from her hiding spot. Finally, she felt the lever, but hesitated to pull it for fear the sound of the panel closing would give her away.

  Sergeant Anderson moved toward the panel and Eloise held her breath. Suddenly, the attic door was flung open, covering the panel. She heard Sergeant Anderson’s heavy footsteps above her as she pulled the lever and closed the panel. She leaned back against the wall, taking deep breaths and deciding what to do next. She knew that she couldn’t stay in the house, sooner or later, Sergeant Anderson would figure out where she was.

  She reached around and pulled her backpack in front of her. She opened her cell phone and was disappointed, but not surprised, to see that she had no service. She dug around inside her backpack and found the extra set of keys for the SUV. Now at least she had a way to escape.

  She slowly made her way down the dark and narrow stairs. She paused and held her breath when she heard Sergeant Anderson storm down the attic stairs above her, but instead of coming towards the panel, he headed back down the hallway. Eloise leaned against the wall and took a shuddering breath. Then she quietly made her way down the rest of the dark staircase.

  Paul flew down the highway, following the incessant blinking of the GPS tracker from Eloise’s SUV. He turned off on Highway 624 and sent the speedometer to over 100 miles per hour down the Hopedale Highway. Suddenly, the blinking stopped. Paul adjusted the controls, but nothing happened. He flipped the unit off and on, but again received no response.

  Paul opened his cell phone and saw that he had no service. He threw the phone against the dashboard and swore.

  “Now what the hell am I supposed to do?” he yelled, pounding the steering wheel.

  Instantly he felt a burning sensation against his chest. He moved his hand up to his collarbone and felt the little packet he wore around his neck. It was definitely getting warm.

  He remembered finding it draped across the bedpost the morning after he had dreamt about Eloise. It reminded him of the amulet that Maria had given Eloise and he wondered if it was some sort of protection for him against Delphine. He had tied it on, next to his dog tags and worn it since.

  He pulled it out from under his shirt and held the packet in his hand.

  “I don’t know how this works, but I need to find Eloise,” he said aloud. “Please, please help me.”

  “Perhaps you do not understand, but you do believe,” Maria said, appearing in the seat next to him. “She is in grave danger. Perhaps we are already too late. We must hurry.”

  Paul floored the accelerator. “We can’t be too late.”

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Eloise reached the bottom of the staircase. She stretched her arm forward and felt for the door knob in the darkness. She grabbed the knob and slowly turned it. At first it seemed to be locked. Eloise took a deep breath, turned it again and pushed it with her body. The door suddenly swung open and Eloise fell forward. She felt strong arms grabbed her around her neck and head.

  “This time no kicking,” Sergeant Anderson whispered into her ear and he wrapped his leg around her legs. He moved his large hand over her mouth and nose and pressed against them. Eloise twisted her body and fought for air, but Anderson held her tightly. She was no match for his strength. She tried to bite his hand, but he held it tightly in place. Eloise flashed back to the Gulf, the bodies surrounding her, the lack of oxygen and the black spots before her eyes. This time, however, Paul was not there to save her. This time, she knew, when all went black it could be forever. At least, she thought as the blackness finally overwhelmed her, Paul will be safe.

  Eloise’s first thought was that her head hurt, her second, as she tried to sit up, was that something was wrong. She opened her eyes and her heart dropped. She was back in the room in the east wing and she was bound to the metal examination table. The table had been tilted, so she lay in a 45 degree angle, her head higher than her feet. She turned her head and saw Sergeant Anderson seated in a chair next to the table. He was slowly sharpening a long narrow knife.

  He smiled at her and Eloise could see the madness.

  �
�I wanted to wait until you were awake,” he said cheerfully.

  Eloise pulled at the bindings. “Why are you doing this?”

  Sergeant Anderson stood up and walked over to her. He slid the knife down her blouse and cut off the first button.

  “I have to,” he answered simply, “the voices tell me to do it.”

  “Does Delphine want you to do this?” Eloise asked.

  Sergeant Anderson shook his head. “No, she didn’t want me to have you for a specimen,” he said. “She made me send those men to the cemetery and she made me send you to Big Al. Then she even tried to get you with those alligators.”

  He smiled at her. “But you escaped,” he ran a rough hand over her head and through her hair, rubbing the ends of her hair between his fingers. “You escaped because you wanted to be here with me.”

  Eloise shook her head. “No, I escaped because I need to stop Delphine.”

  He shook his head and frowned. “No, not because of my great-great-grandma. Because of me.”

  “Delphine is your ancestor?” Eloise gasped.

  His hand trailed down, over her cheek and down to her neck.

  “Uh, huh,” he said carelessly, rubbing Eloise’s neck, “She talks to me sometimes.”

  “Did you know that she was trying to kill me the night on the beach?”

  Anderson nodded. “Yeah, I told her to stop, that I wanted you for a specimen,” he said. Then he traced a finger across the scratch on Eloise’s cheek.

  “She shouldn’t have done this,” he muttered, “She knew I wanted you perfect.”

  Eloise shivered.

  “Do you like the way I touch you?” he asked, “The others liked it a lot. They said they didn’t, but I could tell, they really liked it.”

  “Were there many others?”

  Sergeant Anderson smiled broadly, “I can show you.”

  He walked across the room to an old built-in cupboard. He grabbed the handles of both sides of the cabinet doors and flung them open. Eloise felt nausea rise to her throat. Inside on the shelf, she could see at least a dozen gallon-sized glass jars each containing the head of one of his victims floating inside.