She hurried to the exit and was caught by Mel who stopped her advancement of the parking lot nearby. “Are you okay, Kayla?” Her question snapped her out of the trance she was held in.
“I’m not sure. Were you…?” Kayla stumbled as Mel took her by the arm and led her from the burial grounds and onto the sidewalk just outside the cemetery.
“This place has a way of twisting one’s mind into tiny pretzels. Are you more settled now?” Mel soothed.
Kayla inhaled and released a puff of air. “I’m trying to be okay, Mel. Whatever that was, I could not identify that woman. I thought it was you.”
Mel nodded and whispered, “It was a Voodoo Priestess. She is known to gather those here who have certain gifts. I wouldn’t come back if I were you, Kayla. This place,” Mel’s words streamed out, “Might suck you in and never spit you out.” Her advice sunk in.
“I won’t. That feeling was too overwhelming, and I don’t like being out of control. I had no control of my thoughts in there.” Kayla pointed at what she thought was that woman.
“Always ask her to release you so you can move on with your life, Kayla. It’s the best way to avoid what happened to you to happen again. You’ll be alright.”
Kayla nodded and whispered what Mel told her. “I will be okay. That feeling of not being in control is not with me anymore. I have never encountered that before in my entire life, and I don’t wish to do it again anytime soon.”
Mel acknowledged what Kayla was telling her. “I need to get going. We will talk another time, Kayla.” She hurried off to see the same man Kayla previously saw her with.
“Whoever that man is he sure gets around.” Her words went unanswered. When she looked up and watched the tour exit the cemetery, the same woman who pulled her back into the tour came up and smiled. “I’m doing better now,” Kayla informed.
“I can see that. Maybe these places aren’t for you. You’re perhaps too sensitive to walk among the dead.” She held a bronze colored purse closer to her body. After turning around and walking away, Kayla felt a light breeze whip through her hair.
“Yeah, you’re right about that.” Kayla went to walk down the street, caught a taxi and headed back to the hotel. When she arrived and got out, Detective Tyler was waiting for her near the front door of the hotel.
“Where have you been, Kayla? I tried calling, but you didn’t answer.” His eyes roamed up and down to ensure she was safe.
“I have been touring a few cemeteries, and I found where two Blackwell family members are buried.” She scrolled to the photos on her cell phone and showed them to him. “These cemeteries are not cemeteries I wish to ever visit ever again.”
“Why is that?” He asked without looking at her.
“They’re haunted, detective.” Kayla’s words encouraged him to look up at her.
“Why do you say that?”
“I’ll tell you another time, Detective Tyler.” Kayla took her phone from him and headed inside the hotel with him trailing her every step.
“Mel was at the cemetery. I wonder if she was following you.” Detective Tyler sat in the dining hall with Kayla on the other side of the table. “You caught a picture of her.” He pointed at her phone. She went to look at her photos and frowned.
“Weird, right?” Kayla asked. “I found it strange she was inside staring at her family graves, and I bumped into her just outside the place too. She was also with that same guy we saw her with earlier, remember?”
“I remember. What would Mel be doing there besides visiting the burial place of her parents?” Detective Tyler raised his brow.
“Okay, I know what you’re thinking.”
The detective leaned on one arm near the elevator and stared at her with half-open eyes. “What am I thinking, lady?”
Kayla shook her head. “I’m not psychic or anything, detective. You most likely are thinking I’m over thinking all this, am I right?”
“In a small way.” He pinched his fingers together.
“I know this has taken me through numerous paths, but I’m certain of one thing, I have narrowed my list down to three suspects thus far, detective. Would you like to know who they are?” Kayla eyed him with enthusiasm.
“Do tell.” He stepped into the elevator with her.
“I believe Mel has something to gain by Harris’ death. He was related to her, they were brother and sister. She said nothing about anything going haywire between them, but we know things do trot down the wrong path from time to time. Next, I present to you, Liz Blackwell. She is also related to Harris through blood. My only question is this: What would she have to gain by his death?” Kayla tapped her fingers on her arm. “Then we have Mel’s estranged aunt, Melinda. No one knows where she is, and I’m betting she’s still alive and kicking somewhere, Tyler.”
“That’s quite a list, Kayla. Can you prove anything about this family and their whereabouts during Harris and Mary’s murders?”
Kayla exhaled. “I cannot prove anything at this very moment in time. It’s frustrating. I still don’t know for sure if Harris is Mel’s brother. Nothing shows any family relation in the census.”
“Is that what’s bothering you, Kayla? We can go back down to the library and check out their census material and family trees. They have just about everything dating back to the mid-1800s.” He leaned back as if he just told her whodunnit.
“I think that would be a great idea, Detective Tyler. We should go later today if that’s okay.” She looked up at him and unlocked her hotel room door. She entered and went to grab a heavier jacket where they left once again.
“Let’s go after we eat at the café.” He guided her down to his car and held open the door where they drove to the café, ordered and sat down. When their food arrived, he quickly finished his meal as Kayla took her time cleaning up her plate, and when she was on her feet, a strange man walked past with a cane held in one hand.
Detective Tyler held a hand to her arm and said, “Just a minute, Kayla.” He hurried outside to catch the old man, and what Kayla saw next, was him directing the man inside where he paid for his meal and sat the old man down at a table nearby. “Please help him if he needs it,” Tyler whispered something into his ear. He stood erect and headed back to Kayla near the front door of the café.
“What was that all about?” Kayla questioned walking by Detective Tyler’s side over the sidewalk.
“George is the blind man who wanders through New Orleans once a week, and when I catch him, I ensure he at least has a meal on my dime.” Detective Tyler trotted over the pavement to the car and got in. Kayla opened her own door as she slid onto the seat and they drove to the library where they headed inside to search for a Blackwell family tree about this case.
Detective Tyler steered Kayla downstairs to an area where old books and scripts were held. After slipping on gloves and moving into a room with a door, the librarian reminded them to never touch any paper without gloves on.
“I promise.” Kayla was grateful to be in such a musty room with old leather bounds and cardboard boxes filled to the brim with thousands of pages of history. “I feel so at home here.” She started going through what she thought might contain Blackwell ancestors and wound up coming up blank.
Detective Tyler ended up finding his ancestry and became enamored with it beyond belief, so Kayla was on her own searching for what past ancestry she could dig up. She carried stacks upon stacks of pages to a table and stood with eyes roaming through each. Nothing of substance was cropping up before her. All she needed was that one page to tell her something pertinent.
“Here is a Blackwell living next to my grandfather, Kayla.” Tyler showed the faded page to her.
“What’s the name of the Blackwell family member? I can hardly read it.” Kayla squinted at it until her eyes ached. “It’s too light to read.” She went to find something to see it better with and came across a magnifying glass resting on a table nearby. “This might work.”
She handed it to Tyler who began to
read what he could see. “It is W. L. Blackwell and his wife Elizabeth Blackwell living near my grandfather. They had one child named Melinda Blackwell. Who is that? Is that Mel?”
“She is supposed to be Elizabeth’s sister, but maybe they said she was their child. How old is the kid?” Kayla leaned in and listened to what he was about to say. When their elbows bumped, they both apologized.
“It’s been torn off, Kayla. It’s most likely lost to the hills of papers in here.” He held it up and shook his head. “I will keep searching.”
“I will too.” She dug through his box and found another page. This time is had every attendee of the local church. “Does this look familiar?”
Detective Tyler smiled. “My parents attended this church and so did I growing up.” He used the magnifying glass to read off names that didn’t mean anything to Kayla. When he came to his family, he nodded and kept going until he read off numerous Blackwell folks. “We have the previous names you mentioned and here is Henry Blackwell. Down two is Eliza Blackwell.”
“I wonder if that is who Henry married. I bet it is. Any other names?” Kayla peeked through the glass and read a Melinda Morris-Blackwell. “That is Elizabeth’s sister.” He raised her hand in the air. “We need to keep looking, detective.”
“Yes, you take this box and this magnifier. I will grab the other box next to it over here where I found the first page.” Tyler went to fetch it when Kayla continued to delicately look through the box for any other pages that would tell her who was who in the Blackwell family.
After what seemed like another hour, Kayla finally came across something extraordinary. “I found W. L. Blackwell attending church without his wife, Elizabeth, but she had Mel and Harris with her. It shows they are both her children.” She sat in a chair nearby and showed it to Tyler.
When he looked at it closer through the magnifier. “Nope, it doesn’t say Harris is related to him, Kayla.”
“Doesn’t that happen often? I know in census years it is all too frequent. Not all information is written down.” Kayla pushed for him to look again.
“It says brother,” was what he said. “Mel and Harris were siblings in here. At least we know that to be true.” Detective Tyler handed it back to her.
“At least that’s true. There has to be more to this story, detective. All families have hidden secrets.” Kayla continued to find more church records and slowly but surely that Blackwell family removed themselves from the church over the years. “And they left the church here for good. I wonder why.”
“What, was the last record and who was there?” Tyler looked over her shoulder.
“Elizabeth and Mel and Melinda, but no one else. Harris is no longer here. At least Elizabeth believed they still needed to be in God’s presence every week.” Kayla inspected the record closer and saw Elizabeth was a widow. “She is widowed right here, see!” Kayla shoved it at Tyler.
He looked at it and agreed with her. “I wonder what happened to W. L. Blackwell. Mel is only fourteen years old here. I wonder if he passed away.”
“Look again.” Kayla wanted him to notice all their ages.
“They are fairly young to have children these ages. Another goof on the part of the church.” He gave it back.
“Are we sure about that? I wonder if Mel’s father wasn’t older than Elizabeth by a long shot. Didn’t they marry early? At times they married older men back then.”
“This isn’t all that long ago, Kayla. Sure, the 70s were a torrid time. You’re in such a hurry to marry, I say.” The detective shook his head.
“I absolutely agree with you on that. Marriage should not be rushed. It’s too important to jump into when neither party is not ready.” Kayla snapped a few pictures of what she found. “I feel this was a total bust today.”
“Not exactly. Look at this record here.” Detective Tyler showed Kayla what he found and when they examined it closer, he added, “Harris is related to Elizabeth, but W. L. Blackwell is not his father in this record.” Tyler raised a brow at her. “There is only one thing to say about this if it’s real…”
“Elizabeth cheated on her husband W. L. Blackwell, but with who?” Kayla noticed no other Blackwell was mentioned in that record. “Where is this from?”
“Another county, Kayla. Elizabeth must have moved out of the house to give birth, and in this record later on down the road, no more Elizabeth, just Harris, and Eliza.” Detective Tyler lifted his shoulders and looked at her when he relaxed them.
“Eliza is Liz’s grandmother. I still think Eliza was her mother. It’s just a hunch.” Kayla lifted one shoulder and dropped it.
“What now?” Tyler pulled off the gloves and tossed them into the garbage.
“We keep looking for any more family skeletons. One more is sure to fall out of this Blackwell closet.” She looked up at the librarian who pointed at her watch. “But not today, detective. It’s time to go.”
Chapter Eleven
“I just got back to the hotel, Callie, please don’t push all this on me right now.” Kayla sat on the bed with one of the hotel towels still on her head after the shower. “I didn’t know you were calling me today.”
“Stan is distraught with you, Kayla. He wants to press charges after what you did to him, and you need to pay the remaining rent due here at the house for the final three months of the lease. It’s the least you can do, Kayla. After all, Stan might propose to me, and we will be living together. He will then take over his half the rent.” Callie’s voice came through.
“I thought you two broke up, Callie. Isn’t that what you told my dad and me?” Kayla frowned. Her mind wandered to a happier time with Callie before Stan.
“We got back together forever this time, Kayla. Stan wants to be with me, and there is nothing you can do about it.” Callie snapped.
“I think you should be with him if that’s what you want, Callie.”
“It’s what I want, okay.”
“Okay, I will send the last of the money, but please don’t marry that man,” Kayla begged while chewing on her nail. An old habit suddenly came back to her.
“I’ll be fine, Kayla. Please give me the money so we can move on with our lives.” Callie’s tone was confident, yet defiant. “I know you care about me, but this is my life, Kayla and there is nothing you can do about it.”
“Okay, I bet Stan doesn’t want you talking to me anymore, right?” Kayla shouldn’t have said anything because Callie went into another crying fit. This was Kayla’s time to stop talking and proceed to send the funds to the manager. She wanted to add that her occupancy is now null and void, and she wanted to pay what was due on her end. “I’ll send the money as soon as I get off the phone with you, Callie.”
“Thank you so much. Please don’t call for a while because Stan wants it to be just him and me.” She said goodbye and hung up.
Kayla went to her bank account and stared at her phone. “Thanks, mom.” She mumbled when she transferred the money and scrutinized at what was left. Over five million still sat untouched. “Thanks for leaving me with your family funds.” She wiped a tear from her eye and watched as another million entered her account.
After getting out of her bank account, she set down her phone and headed into the bathroom, tore the towel off and reminisced about her friendship with Callie. It was over, for now, but whatever happened in the future should be reinforced by whether Stan was in the picture of not. “I prefer he never comes around again.” Her anger welled up, and when she looked at the hotel room door while dressing, a folded piece of paper was slipped under it.
Kayla waited a minute after putting on her clothing, and went to pick it up, unfold it, she read the word ‘leave’ on the cream torn cream sheet in red ink. Her heart began to thump inside her chest rapidly when she raced to her cell phone and called Detective Tyler. He didn’t answer so she left a message and dialed her dad. He wasn’t responding either. Kayla rested on the bed and began to breathe in slow easy breaths and exhale them when Detective Tyler
called her back.
“Hey, what’s up, Kayla?”
“I need you to come over right away. Please. Something happened here in my hotel room.” Her voice had a hint of fright to it.
“What’s wrong?” He was pulling himself together, and Kayla could hear him loading his weapon and dressing. “I’m on my way.” He had her on the phone until he arrived. It was nice to have him sooth the ruffled edges.
Kayla opened the door to her hotel room and stood back when she pointed at the paper sitting on the nightstand. “It’s there. Someone wants me gone and off the trail.” She rubbed her arms with opposite hands and went to sit on the bed with hair still soaking wet.
“Blow dry your hair Kayla, and I will call my boss.” Detective Tyler held the cream-colored slip in his left hand and pulled out of baggie to put it into it with a gloved right hand.
She nodded and went to do what was asked of her. With her hand, she clutched the dryer and proceeded to blow warm air through her wet hair. The heat began to calm her inner senses, and after a few minutes, her hotel room was swarming with cops once she set down the dryer. Still, in her pajamas, Kayla felt unnerved and embarrassed that they were making this into something more significant than a slip of paper.
“What’s happening, detective?” Kayla held onto her brush in one hand.
“They are searching for a bug, Kayla. We found one under the desk where the television is.” He held it up in a resealable bag. “Someone doesn’t want you looking for Harris’ killer.”
“I had no idea this was going to turn in a huge problem for you and for me. Maybe, I should go home.” Kayla went to the closet and pulled out her suitcase when the detective stopped her. “I’m obviously in danger here.” She blurted.
“If you feel it’s best, Kayla. I think you’re overreacting by jumping the gun here. Wait until we know more.” Detective Tyler stepped back and watched her pack everything into the suitcase and carry it to the door.
He held a hand to his ear and added, “We’re moving you to another room for the time being. It might be best if you are in there with someone watching over you outside the door.” A female officer persuaded Kayla to follow her from the room and down the hall to a tiny hotel room already waiting for her.
Kayla's Chronicles- Will Travel For Murder Page 12
