She explained that no one really knew where the horses came from, but it was widely believed that they swam to shore after the boats they were in sank during fierce storms. Nathan listened as his tour guide continued on about the history of the area while they peacefully drifted. He was really enjoying the day and the company he was with. He didn’t know how it could get any better.
“Wanna’ go for a swim?” Stormie asked as she removed her cover and stood there in her white two-piece bathing suit. The two smiled once more at each other right before she dove off the back of the boat.
***
The note was on the kitchen counter where it would be easily found read:
Stormie went to New Bern be back Monday.
Enjoy livin’ Baby!
Sissy
He found the note when he entered the house through the back door that led into the kitchen. He looked around the house and didn’t find anyone, but he wasn’t disappointed. He didn’t think anyone was home except for maybe the colored woman, and he thought that she might be fun if he found her there alone.
He knew that Ben and Emma were out of town and he’d seen the FBI man and Stormie in her boat earlier when he was at Harlowe Creek. When he arrived at the Arrington home, he saw the colored woman leaving. He could have stopped her, but he didn’t have the urge to kill her like he’d thought he would earlier.
He waited for nearly an hour before going to the back of the home and finding the back door unlocked. He made his way into every room, closet, and drawer. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but he would know it when he found it.
Chapter 29
Nathan removed his shirt and stood on the back of the boat, looking down at Stormie.
“You goin’ to get in?” She asked as she treaded water from behind the boat. She liked what she saw. She had imagined that Nathan was well built, but she never imagined that he would be as muscular as he was.
“Yeah. I just know it’s gonna be cold, and I’m trying to brace myself for that,” Nathan answered.
If he told the truth, he was amazed at everything that was happening, and he wanted to take it all in. He knew this simple leap from the boat was a leap into something big that could have consequences, both good and bad.
“Look out!” He yelled as he leaped up into the air, flipped backward, and then splashed down in the water, sending water over her.
Stormie wiped the water from her face, laughed out loud, and then made her way over to the ladder. She grabbed the ladder and turned around to find him behind her. He reached both arms around her waist and grasped the ladder with both hands behind her waist.
“I was beginning...” she started to say as he moved in closer and kissed her.
Stormie looked into his eyes, let go of the ladder, wrapped her arms around his neck, and her legs around his waist. The two were intertwined, feeling their way around the other’s bodies as they drifted along with the current. Neither knew where they were going, but they both wanted to go.
***
He had spent the day roaming around the house. He laid on her bed, smelled her pillow, and then put it in his arms and squeezed it tightly. She smelled much better than the others. He believed that she even smelled better than Emma.
Eventually, he made his way into the laundry room, where he found Stormie’s dirty clothes in a basket. He started going through the pile looking for the right pair, and soon he found them just as he heard off in the distance the sound of the boat returning to the dock.
He looked out the window and watched as the two secured the boat, unloaded a few items, and started walking up to the house.
They’re not expecting anything.
She’s beautiful, he thought to himself as he placed her panties to his face.
Chapter 30
Nathan and Stormie made it back to the house just before dark. He helped tie the boat off and carried their belongings up to the house. The two entered the back door, where Stormie found the note that Sissy had left and read it.
You little!!! She thought to herself.
“Something wrong?” Nathan asked.
“No, Just a note from Sissy. She wanted to let me know that she’s going to New Bern until Monday.”
“Okay. I guess I’ll just…”
“Run up and take a shower. That’s a good idea. I’ll start working on a little something for dinner. You were planning on eating with me, right?”
“Yes. I brought clean clothes with me in my bag.”
“Well, then you run on up and use the shower in my bedroom. It’s the room at the end of the hall when you get to the top of the stairs. There should be clean towels hanging up.”
“All right then, I’ll go on up.”
“Just yell down if you need something.”
Nathan left Stormie in the kitchen and made his way upstairs. He walked in the bedroom and saw a cherry wood Victorian style bed, matching dresser, armoire, and nightstands. The bed was covered in a baby blue and white quilt. Off to the right was the bathroom. Nathan walked in and began to undress.
Nathan was removing his shirt when he heard a noise like someone was walking in the hallway. He walked into the bedroom and looked around but didn’t see anyone. He then went over to the door that led into the hall, but once again, no one was there. Nathan shrugged it off, walked back into the bathroom, turned on the water, and finished undressing. He then stepped into the shower.
This is great, he thought.
Stormie was looking through the refrigerator when she found pork chops, spinach, and corn in the refrigerator. It made her smile. Sissy had prepared an evening meal for the two of them before she left.
“What am I going to do now?” She asked herself right before she heard something or someone in the living room.
“Nathan, is that you?” She asked out loud as she walked out of the kitchen and into the living room.
Nathan was just finishing his shower when he heard the wood floor creaking in the bedroom. Once again, it sounded as if someone was walking around.
“Stormie, is that you?”
Nathan waited for an answer and stood there, listening for a minute, but there was no response. He stood back under the water and finished washing off the soap. He was about to get out when the shower curtain slowly opened. Nathan was pleased to see Stormie standing there naked. She smiled at him.
“I thought we could finish where we left off earlier,” she said just as he reached out for her and helped her into the shower. The two had gone pretty far with each other earlier out on the water. Now they were about to go much further.
The dinner stayed in the refrigerator as the two lovers spent the night in each other’s arms until the morning hours.
***
He had waited in the house for the two of them to come inside. He hid in the closet, and when he saw the FBI man come into her room, he thought he was going to be discovered. He had prepared his knife and was ready to kill him if he had opened the door.
He waited for him to get in the shower before quietly making his way downstairs. Once downstairs, he thought about taking her as she worked in the kitchen alone. But if she screamed, the FBI man could’ve possibly heard her, and he would have gotten caught. In the end, he decided to sneak out the front door when he had the opportunity, only taking the small souvenir with him for now.
***
Nathan and Stormie spent the next day by the water and in the bed talking and holding each other.
“When do I get to find out about Nathan Emerson?” Stormie asked while lying on his stomach with his arms wrapped around her.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything. Where are you from?”
“Well, I grew up over near Winston-Salem.”
“Really? Right here in North Carolina,” Stormie said, surprisingly.
“Yeah.”
“Tell me more,” she insisted as she wrapped the quilt around herself and laid her head against his chest.
“All right. My
parents owned a small farm where they grew peanuts. My father made most of his income by repairing cars and farm equipment. My mother did odd jobs and of course, took care of the house and me. My father said that taking care of me was a full-time job by itself. They were good parents, and they supported me in everything I did. I mean every July 24 they threw me an amazing birthday party, they were at every football game, and they were there when I signed my scholarship to play football at Oklahoma. Then, on December 31, 1957, they were driving down to Miami, Florida, to watch me play in the Orange Bowl when they were killed in a car accident as they got into town around eleven that night.”
“Oh, Nathan, I’m so sorry,” she said as she sat up, looked at him, and then caressed his cheek.
“I didn’t find out about the crash until after we won the game against the Blue Devils. But, during the entire game, I kept looking for them in the area that they were supposed to be sitting. Finally, after the game, I went into the locker room, and that’s where the police were waiting for me. They pulled me aside along with one of my coaches and asked if I knew Robert and Sara Emerson.”
“That’s horrible! How did they know where to find you?”
“Apparently, they found one of my old jerseys in the back seat that my mom would wear to the games. They put two and two together and came to the stadium.”
“That’s horrible! How did you get through that?”
“Well, I had their funeral, and then afterward, I went back to school to finish the year. I spent the summer at the farm, and then in the fall I started law school at Duke and stayed there until I graduated in ‘61. One day, an FBI agent came by one of our classes and told us that the FBI was looking for people with law degrees. I applied with the FBI in February, and in April, they offered me a job, and well, here I am.”
The two of them took turns telling their life stories. Stormie told him about going to school at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and that she didn’t like school very much, but her daddy wanted her to graduate, so she took extra classes over the summer and graduated in three years with a degree in History.
She also told him that people pressured her to get married after her father died. They told her that a farming business of the size that she now owned was no place for a woman. She explained how she had been invited to a party by an old college friend and when she arrived, Ben was there. She shared how Ben had pulled out all the stops trying to impress her, and it had worked. She had been hypnotized by his charm. After about six months of dating, he asked for her hand, and she’d accepted.
Nathan told her about working on significant publicized cases involving Civil Rights violations and about the time he spent Thanksgiving working in Dallas the day before and after President Kennedy was assassinated.
“You were there? Stormie asked and sat up once more.
“Yeah, I was there. When I told you that I spoke to Mrs. Kennedy, well, that’s when it was. I wasn’t on the street when he was killed. I was driving around with some of the city cops. We were checking on some of the locals who had made threats to the President. The assassination came across the radio, and we were directed to go to the hospital and help with security there,” Nathan explained.
“Is that when you spoke to the first lady?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“I couldn’t imagine.”
“She was just sitting there, and no one was speaking to her. I still remember seeing her wearing her blood-stained clothes. I never felt more sadness for someone than I did at that moment. For some reason, I just walked up to her and asked her if I could get her anything.”
“I thought you were just teasing me the other day,” she said and then laid back down and pulled him close. She laid there, wondering what would come next for the two of them.
There’s so much to learn about this man, she thought to herself before falling asleep in his arms.
Chapter 31
Monday, July 11, 1965
Nathan left Stormie’s home just after noon and passed Sissy, who was coming up the driveway. He smiled and waved, and she smiled even more as she waved back at him. He shook his head, knowing that she was very much aware that he had spent the weekend with Stormie. He and Stormie didn’t talk about their future. Neither one acknowledged or even hinted that there was a future for them. They simply agreed to be professional in public and to contact each other when it was safe.
When Nathan entered his room, he found a note that had been slipped under the door. It was from Preacher:
I stopped by after church to tell you that someone has been spreading rumors about you and Stormie Arrington. Watch your back!
P.
Nathan read the note and shook his head in disbelief.
Did someone see us on the water together? Did someone see me at the house? The sheriff or one of the other tails may have, but I was careful not to be followed on Saturday… Wasn’t I? He asked himself.
Nathan spent most of the day replaying the weekend in his mind. He then reviewed his notes and looked over the files once more. He planned to travel to New Bern tomorrow and try to locate Warren Prater. Before going to bed, he took Preacher’s advice and placed the chair under the doorknob before turning off the light.
***
Tuesday, July 13, 1965
Nathan left Beaufort around ten and arrived in New Bern shortly after eleven. He drove over to the Marine base, and after stopping for gas, he was told that coloreds in the area ate at the New Bern Diner for lunch. He found the restaurant and went in and took a seat at the bar. After a few stares from the other patrons and waiting for someone to take his order, the owner came over. He was a large black man with large hands that held a meat cleaver.
“You lost?” He asked.
“No. I’m Agent Emerson with FBI, and I was hoping to ask for your help in locating someone,” Nathan answered as he displayed his credentials.
“I doubt I’ll know who you’re looking for.”
Nathan saw where the conversation was going and didn’t think he was going to get any information in the diner, so he decided to just order something to eat.
“Can I have a menu, please?”
“Why?” The large man asked.
“Look, I’m just looking for a man named Hoot,” Nathan barely got the name out of his mouth before a man at the end of the bar leaped from his chair and ran out the door. Nathan quickly spun around and ran after him. He chased the man to the side of the diner, and that’s where the race began.
The man had a head start, and he took off leaping over fences and cutting through people’s yards, but Nathan stayed with him.
Nathan was sprinting with everything that he had inside himself after the man. He was about to lose him when the man ran into the side of a moving car. The man slid across the hood head first and came to rest on the other side of it. He tried to get up and run again, but Nathan grabbed him and held him on the ground.
“Stop! I just want to talk.” Nathan pleaded.
“I ain’t got nothin’ to say, and I ain’t did nothin’!”
“I know, so quit already!” Nathan ordered.
“Then, what you want?”
“I’m looking for a guy named Thurman. He goes by Hoot. Is that you?”
“No, man. Hoot’s my uncle.”
“What’s your name?” Nathan asked, hoping for the answer he was looking for.
“I’m Warren Prater. I don’t even live here. I’m just visitin’.”
“Then you’re the person I’m looking for,” Nathan said proudly.
“Why you lookin’ for me?” Warren asked.
“I’m looking into the deaths of the girls over in Beaufort. I was told that you found Delia Snipes.”
“I did, but I told Sheriff Carter everything,” Warren said as he brushed himself off.
“What about the camera and the pictures you took?”
“What are you talking about?” Warren asked as if he didn’t know what the FBI agent was referring to.
&n
bsp; “The pictures you took with the stolen camera.”
“Oh. I didn’t do anything with them. I mean that I didn’t get them developed or nothin’, I kept them in the camera.”
“Where’s the camera now?”
“In the trunk of my car back at the diner.”
“Let’s go,” Nathan said as he placed his hand on Warren’s back and pushed him back in the direction of the diner.
Chapter 32
“I don’t give a damn how busy you are!” Ben screamed into the phone.
“I knows you don’t,” Sissy said.
“You just tell Stormie that I’ll be back in town on Thursday and not Friday as planned.”
“I’ll tell her when I see’s her.”
“Fine!” Ben screamed as he slammed the phone back down. “Damn her!”
“What’s wrong? Why are we going back early?” Emma asked as she came out of the bathroom.
“We need to get ready for the parties this weekend.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“I’m going to the costume party with Stormie on Friday,” Ben announced.
“Why are you bringing her? I thought we were spending this week and the weekend together after the party. You said she wouldn’t go. What’s changed now? Are you jealous because she’s with the attractive FBI agent now?” Emma asked as she walked back toward the bathroom.
Ben stood up and grabbed her and pushed her onto the bed.
“I’m not jealous of anyone. Get that through your damn head. Now listen. I need to make it look like I’m a caring husband up until the time we put her in the ground. I need people to see us together. I need to dance with her, swoon over her, and make people think I love her.”
“Okay, but why go back early?”
“If I know Stormie, she’ll come up with an excuse not to go with me. We need her to go. I need Agent Emerson to go too.”
The Secrets of Taylor Creek Page 16
