The Secrets of Taylor Creek

by Michael Merson

  “Boys! Mrs. Stormie is talken’ at ya!” Sissy said, getting the two’s attention.”

  “Mrs. Stormie, we’re fine. We’d like to thank you for putting this out for us today,” Willie answered as he removed his ball cap and then reached over and removed Sam’s for him.

  “Yesum, we’s just fine,” Sam added and took his hat back from Willie.

  “Please, everyone, sit down. Willie, if you would be so kind and offer a blessing for this meal, I’d surely appreciate it,” Stormie said as she placed the pitcher of tea down and slid into a seat.

  Nathan was listening to Sam give the blessing but did not close his eyes as customary. He wanted to look at the beautiful woman on his right. She bowed her head along with everyone else, but he couldn’t tell if she had her eyes closed because they were hidden behind her dark sunglasses.

  Does she see me looking at her? He thought to himself. For a moment, he was worried that she was looking at him, and now she was wondering why he was looking at her.

  It was right before he heard Willie say, “Amen,” that he noticed what appeared to be a bruise in the corner of Stormie’s left eye. He tried to get a better look, but everyone lifted their heads, and the table erupted into a flurry of conversations, mostly from Sam and Willie, who began asking questions about the long pier and whether or not Sissy or Stormie had ever caught any fish off of it.

  Nathan was fascinated with Stormie. He admired how she maneuvered the conversation with Sam and Willie from fishing along Taylor Creek to hunting for Blackbeard’s hidden treasure. She made the two of them feel welcome at her dinner table. He didn’t know what it was, but he found himself at a loss for words, which was unusual for him. He wanted to hear her voice, her laughter, and see her smile. She was, indeed, the most attractive woman he had ever seen in his life.

  Once more, Stormie switched gears and moved the conversation in Nathan’s direction, and what he and his two fellow crime fighters had been doing all morning. The two ladies enjoyed a long laugh as Willie, with some commentary from Sam, detailed Mr. Nathan’s hopeless search for the alligators that he thought lurked in the dark waters and tall grass along the shores of Beaufort. The lunch date seemed to fly by just as his previous lunch with her had done. He wished once more that he could prolong the day and found himself thinking of somehow doing just that.

  The ladies refused to allow their guests to help with clearing the dishes. The two G-Men were ordered to the pier where they were to use their fishing poles to capture and identify any and all fish that were trespassing in the area. Nathan sat on the pier and watched the boys fish for a little while before deciding to take a walk down the shoreline.

  Chapter 24

  “Where is he?” Ben said as he stood in front of the courthouse with a delighted Emma. She was smiling and standing next to Ben, eagerly waiting to go on their trip.

  “He knew you were coming, didn’t he?” Emma asked as she checked her make-up in the small compact mirror.

  “Hell, yes. He’s the one who called your place this morning and told me to be here at one-thirty. If it weren’t for him, we could’ve been in the hotel in Savannah by now,” Ben explained as he angrily looked up and down the street.

  “And, where’s the in the hell is Amos? I was hoping that son-of-a-bitch would be here to wash the car before we left.”

  “That lazy good for nothin’ is probably drunk somewhere. He’ll come by Monday morning asking the judge to forgive him like he always does,” Emma said as she closed the compact and placed it back in her purse.

  “Finally, here he comes,” Ben said as he saw the car cruising down the road toward them with its unmistakable blue light on top. The couple stood on the sidewalk impatiently as Sheriff Carter parked along the curb in front of them and got out.

  “It’s about time, Dwight! We have been here for thirty damn minutes!” Ben explained rather angrily as Sheriff Carter walked around the front of the car and stepped onto the sidewalk next to them.

  “Well, I’m sorry, but Charlie White called this morning, and he said he had something to do and couldn’t watch that nosey FBI man today.”

  “Who’s watchin’ him then?” Ben asked.

  “I was until he got in a boat with Pastor Turners boys around nine this morning. The three of them took off up Taylor Creek.”

  “What in the hell is he doing with them?”

  “I don’t know. He just climbed into their boat, and off they went,” Sheriff Carter answered as he removed his hat and rubbed the sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief.

  “Well, shit! Where’s Amos?” Ben asked as he looked back toward the courthouse.

  “He called the office late this morning and left a message with my deputy saying he was sick.”

  “My ass, he’s sick! More like hungover,” Ben remarked in disgust as he looked at his watch.

  “We gotta go. Dwight, you make sure that everything is ready for the Gentlemen’s Social next week. I’m inviting a lot of very important people to it, and I don’t want anything screwing it up.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Sheriff Carter asked as Ben and Emma got into the car.

  “I don’t know Sheriff, but maybe you could do what you’re paid to do like finding out what happened to those nigger girls before the FBI does. I mean, do you really think that the governors, the state attorney generals, and any other wealthy campaign supporters that I’ve invited to my Gentlemen’s Social are gonna show up if we or our town are associated with a bunch of murdered nigger whores? Use your damn head.”

  “I’m working on it, and I’ve been working on it! You just do what you need to do to get elected. I’ll take care of the other stuff,” Sheriff Carter said loudly as Ben and Emma sped away from the curb.

  Fuck him! Dwight thought as he walked back to his car.

  ***

  As Nathan walked down the shoreline, he occasionally found a smooth flat stone in the sand that he would pick up and attempt to skip across Taylor Creek. While he searched for the next stone, he thought about the murdered girls.

  Well, I think they were murdered anyway, he thought to himself.

  But why did Sheriff Carter write them off as accidents? What was his connection to this?

  “You seem deep in thought,” Stormie said as she walked up behind him very quietly. She had taken off her shoes, but she was still wearing her hat and the large sunglasses that hid her beautiful eyes.

  “I’ve found myself deep in thought many times since I arrived here,” Nathan responded.

  “Maybe it would help to talk to someone. It helped me yesterday,” She said as she moved closer to him.

  He could smell the aroma of her perfume, and it made him want her. He knew it was wrong, but he had an urge to pull her into him and kiss her madly. He felt that she had the same urges, but she too knew it was wrong.

  “Maybe talking to someone could help,” he said.

  “You know I’ve been told that I’m a pretty good listener,” she said as she looked up at him from behind the dark sunglasses.

  “What would you like me to tell you?” He thought about the investigation and knew that sharing any information about it with her was probably not a good idea, but what else was there to talk about?

  “You can talk about anything you’d like,” she answered.

  “What if I told you that you remind me of Jacqueline Kennedy?”

  “And exactly how would you know what Jacqueline Kennedy is like? I mean, does my outfit remind you of one you’ve seen her wearing in a magazine or something?” She asked as she spun around, allowing the bottom of her dress to fly up slightly.

  “No. I really don’t read a lot of magazines these days.”

  “Then how would you know?” She asked suspiciously as she moved closer to the shoreline and looked over the water. She held her hands behind her back and swayed slightly as if she were dancing to the sound of music that only she could hear.

  “Because I was part of her protection team for a little
while when I first came to the bureau,” he answered as he moved closer beside her.

  “I thought the president and the first lady were protected by the Secret Service.”

  “They are, most of the time, but when the first family goes to visit other places, the FBI sends agents ahead of them to make sure everything is ready. You know there are more FBI agents than Secret Service agents working in the federal government. When you’ve had a president that was as popular as President Kennedy was, it could get pretty busy for everyone.”

  “Did you ever talk to her?”

  “A little but nothin’ like you would expect.”

  “Like what? What did you say to her?” Stormie asked excitedly.

  “Oh, I don’t know, let me think,” he said as he looked to the sky and thought for a minute.

  “I think I once asked, ‘Mrs. Kennedy will you run away with me?’“ Nathan said, making light of the Dallas incident and the actual conversation in which he spoke to the former first lady.

  “Oh, Nathan, you did not ask her that!” Stormie declared as she reached over and jokingly hit her fist on his arm.

  “You never met Jaqueline Kennedy, did you?”

  “Actually, I did. But the only thing that I really said to her was, ‘Can I get you anything?’”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “And…Did you ever get her anything?”

  “Just a glass of water,” Nathan still didn’t feel the need to share the other details of his few memorable minutes with Mrs. Kennedy.

  “What was she like?”

  Before Nathan thought of something to say, he heard someone running over toward them. He turned and saw Sam standing near the pier, holding his pole in one hand and a fish in the other.

  “Mrs. Stormie, I gots one of those trespassers for ya.”

  “That’s great, Sam. Make sure you take him home with you,” Stormie yelled back.

  “Mr. Nathan, we need to be a-goin’. Our daddy wants us back a little early to help clean the church. If we leave now, we’ll have time to drop you off at your place before gettin’ home.”

  ***

  Emma sat close to Ben as they sped down the highway toward Savannah. She used her left hand and rubbed the back of his neck as he sat there, driving the car without saying anything. He had not said anything to her since they left the courthouse.

  Their trips together in the past were filled with plans for the future. The two of them shared their deepest fantasies and how they imagined their life together in the Governor’s Mansion would be. Emma thought about the many parties she would host there and the many other parties she would be going to where she would be introduced to people as North Carolina’s First Lady, Mrs. Benjamin Arrington.

  “Who else will be at the dinner tomorrow night?” She asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s just a small dinner with my old friend Johnny,” Ben answered as he looked over and placed his arm around Emma and pulled her closer.

  “You said it was a dinner. I thought there would be lots of people.”

  “Did you?”

  “Will he be alone?” Emma asked.

  “I don’t know,” Ben answered and rubbed her shoulder.

  “I mean, is it gonna be a real dinner, or is it one like the things we’ve done in the past?”

  “It could be like that. Is that all right?”

  “I guess. But…”

  “But what Emma? You seemed to enjoy yourself the last time.”

  “I know, but are you planning on sharing me with Johnny, or is it just gonna be the two of us? You know some of your friends hurt me.”

  “Emma, I won’t let anyone hurt you this time.”

  “That’s what you’ve said before, but…”

  “But nothing. You agreed that you would do anything and everything to help us get elected. That’s what we’re trying to do, right, honey?”

  “Yes, but…”

  “No buts Emma. We both must make sacrifices. It hurts me too when I see you with other men. The men I share you with are very powerful, wealthy, and influential. We need their support for the election. The best way to get their support is to have power over them.

  “I know, but I just want to make sure that…”

  “Hey, no more of this. Nothin’ will happen to you. I’ll be there the entire time. You’re my gal. Right?” Ben asked as he pulled her head closer and kissed her red pouty lips. He knew how to comfort her while controlling her at the same time.

  “Yes, but tell me more about how it will be for the two of us after you’re Governor Arrington.”

  “All right,” Emma closed her eyes and laid her head down in Ben’s lap as he talked about the types of parties that a governor’s wife like she would be one day, held at the Governor’s Mansion.

  He then told her that the two of them would be invited to the White House one day, where they would meet the president and first lady. Emma fell asleep dreaming of how people would one day soon admire her.

  She believed that people would finally listen to what she had to say. She, in her own right, would be respected, but more importantly, Emma Rodgers would prove to her mother that she was wrong about her. She would make something of herself.

  And Damn the others she left in Philadelphia.

  Chapter 25

  Sam, Willie, and Nathan were offered the use of the Arrington’s bathroom before climbing back into the boat for a long ride back to the bed and breakfast. Nathan waited on the porch for his turn in the guest bathroom, where he took advantage of the few precious minutes that he had left to speak with Stormie.

  It was there on her large wraparound porch that she told him how she and Ben had decided to build their home here on Taylor Creek after they were married. She told him that she’d always admired and loved the look of these types of homes and decided that she would build this one here.

  “Ben and I could’ve moved into his family’s 1890 plantation-style home near Galant Point, but that would’ve required Ben’s mother, who was still alive at the time, and I to live under the same roof. Living under the same roof as ‘that’ woman was something that I couldn’t possibly stomach,” Stormie explained right before Willie walked out onto the porch.

  “Sam and I’ll wait for you in the boat, Mr. Nathan. Thank you for lunch, Mrs. Stormie,” Willie said as he leaped off the porch and ran toward the pier.

  “I had Sissy pack the rest of that pie for you and your brother,” Stormie yelled.

  “Thanks.”

  Nathan stood there for a moment, looking at her before going inside. It didn’t matter that the sun was slowly going down in the west or that she was on the porch. Stormie kept the hat and sunglasses on, covering her eyes. He desperately wanted to know how she had come to such a place like this in life. He was aware that he barely knew her, but he wanted to know more.

  “I’ll only be a minute,” he said before he opened the screen door and walked inside the home.

  “Take as long as you need.”

  The Arrington home was just as beautiful on the inside as it was on the outside. The floor was a dark, honey glazed hardwood that ran wall to wall where it was met with 6” white baseboards that flowed into an elegant blue and white wallpaper. He determined that everything in the home from the wallpaper design, to the couch, to the chairs, and even the doilies on the tables were specifically picked out by the woman of the house. He thought that certain things in life fit everyone’s personality, and it’s those things that told others about who people were individually. He felt that Stormie’s home told visitors that they were welcome there.

  Nathan didn’t spend much time in the bathroom, and he was soon back out on the porch, where he found Stormie, sitting in a chair that overlooked her front yard and Taylor Creek. She sat there as her hair blew in the afternoon breeze. She was waving to Sam and Willie, who were quickly disappearing in the distance as their boat bounced along the waves.

  It was the sound of a car starting up that made hi
m turn toward the side of the house where he watched as Sissy drove by and waved to the two of them. He politely waved back and then watched as the black Buick made its way onto the main road. Nathan then turned back toward Stormie and realized that her dark sunglasses and hat were now lying on the table. He walked over and looked at her bruised and swollen eye. Nathan thought about asking her what happened, but it would have been a question they both already knew the answer to. He did, however, wonder how long the abuse had been going on.

  “Is it that bad?” She asked.

  “No. You can hardly notice,” he answered unconvincingly.

  “Yeah, right! I look like I went one round with Muhammad Ali.”

  “Really, it’s not that bad. Trust me, I’ve seen worse.”

  “You’re kind. I still don’t believe you, but I’ll pretend that I do.”

  “Where did everybody go?” He asked.

  “The boys didn’t want to get into trouble with their daddy for being late, so I told them I’d drive you back to where you were staying. Sissy visits with her man friend over in New Bern every second Friday of the month, so, I guess all you’ve got left for company is me. I hope you don’t mind,” Stormie explained as she turned toward him and smiled.

  “No… I don’t mind as long as your husband doesn’t mind me being here when he gets home,” Nathan said as he looked back down the driveway half expecting to see Ben Arrington’s car pulling into the driveway.

  “My husband is gone away on business until late next week,” Stormie said as she stood, walked off the porch, and headed back toward the pier.

  Nathan stood there for a moment and just watched her walk away. She moved across the lawn gracefully. She appeared to float on the air as she walked.

  “Are you coming?” She asked without turning back toward him. He quickly found himself lost for an answer. It was another first in his life, and he didn’t know what to do or say, so he did what felt right and stepped off the porch.