by Keta Diablo
"No, ma’am."
She relaxed and felt the tension leave her taut muscles. "That’s good. If you see him will you give him this note? It’s extremely important he get this."
She handed him the note, embarrassed to see how her hands shook. Even mentioning that man’s name unnerved her.
Before she had Charlie drive her back to the ranch, Healy had him stop at the livery stable, where she left another note for Aaron.
That was all she could think to do. Now she had to get back to the ranch before anything bad happened.
* * *
Abbott sat just where she’d left him, but slouched over, one arm almost touching the floor. Cora stood beside him. She looked up at Healy with eyes full of sadness.
"No!" Healy shouted.
Abbott jumped up. Healy closed her eyes and sighed in relief.
"I fell asleep," he said, blinking.
Healy took her seat again, her heart still pounding from the fright he gave her.
She took a deep breath. "Let’s resume where we left off. You were telling Cora you never stopped loving her."
"That’s right. Cora is—was—the finest wife a man could ask for."
Healy listened to Cora’s response. "Cora wants to know if you still loved her, why did you stop loving her? She thought that part of your marriage was something you mutually enjoyed." She felt herself blushing, now well aware of what loving could be like, picturing Aaron’s face full of passion above her.
Abbott let out a long breath. "I couldn’t watch her go through that anymore."
"What? What couldn’t you watch her go through anymore?"
"Trying to have babies. She couldn’t...and when she did, she lost them. Five babies in ten years of marriage. It tore her up. Changed her."
Cora caught her attention. "She says she wanted to give you a child more than anything. She couldn’t bear your disappointment. She imagined every time you looked at her, you wished you were married to someone else."
"I was over that, stopped caring if we had a child. We have Charlie to leave the ranch to. All I wanted was to live my life beside the woman I loved. That was compensation enough for me. I seen many people go through life in a loveless marriage. But, we had that love. Cora and me. I thought...and then she died on me."
Cora heaved with ghost tears.
"Ask her why she was up on that cliff?" said Abbott.
"Abbott, Cora can hear you just fine," Healy said in a quiet voice. "You don’t have to speak through me to talk to your wife."
Tears poured down Abbott’s haggard face. "Why? Cora, why?"
When she had Cora’s answer, Healy had to put her hands over her eyes for a second to calm herself. "She said she heard from an Indian woman that there’s a plant growing up the mountain that would increase a man’s ardor. She wanted to get that plant...or die trying. She wanted her man back. I’m so sorry for the both of you."
"Cora," said Abbott, putting his hands out in the general direction of his deceased wife.
Cora placed her dainty hands on top of his large callused ones. It broke Healy’s heart to know they couldn’t feel one another.
"She says she wants you to get on with your life. Find a new woman to love. Have children. But she warns you to be careful."
"She’s leaving me again, isn’t she?"
Healy nodded. Abbott cried quiet tears and then pulled himself together. "So, she’ll leave the bedroom now. I won’t see her anymore?"
Healy listened to Cora. Her blood went cold and the hair on the back of her neck prickled. "Abbott, Cora’s never been in your bedroom. She says she couldn’t watch you with another woman. The manifestation in your bedroom is...."
"You can stop right there." Healy looked up. Erline stood in the doorway with a shotgun pointed at her head.
Chapter Fifteen
Abbott tried to rise to his feet, but he was swaying and looked half-dead. "Hold up there, Erline. Put that thing down."
"Sit down you, old fool! I intended to kill you slowly, but little Miss Smarty Pants ruined all my fun. Now I’ll have to shoot you both. She goes first."
Healy heard the sound of the hammer being cocked. She closed her eyes. Here is where I die.
The sound of a single gunshot rent the air. Healy felt nothing. When she opened one eye, she saw a neat hole in the middle of Erline’s forehead.
Abbott stared, open-mouthed at a spot behind Healy. She spun around. Aaron stood framed in the doorway, still posed for action. Standing sideways, one arm remained level with his shoulder, a colt peacemaker at the end. One eye, still taking aim.
A terrible roar coming straight out of the deepest, hottest bowels of Hell blasted them. The deafening sound filled the room. Healy put her hands over her ears, yet the shrill shrieking ricocheted around her skull.
The sound came out of Erline’s mouth. As they looked on, her mouth grew in size until her face became a gaping hole, still emitting that ghastly sound. Then the mouth seemed to swallow her, turning the woman inside out, until a whirling black shadow was all that remained of Erline.
The shadow wavered in a black column for a moment and then flew apart. Black sooty wind like a cyclone blew around the room, blinding them. Healy felt her body buffeted with stinging, hot wind. The stench of sulphur and rot made her gag.
She found herself immobile in the grip of something strong, pinning her arms to her sides, pushing down on her head.
Then like someone blowing out a candle, it ended. The sound stopped. The air stilled. Healy struggled to free herself, delivering a sharp elbow to her capturer. She opened her eyes as Aaron let his arms drop from her. He didn’t seem aware of her beside him now. Abbott stood at the table, shaking.
The room appeared to be the same Arizona ranch house she’d walked into earlier. There was no hint anything unusual had taken place, not even scorched ground where the demon had stood.
She looked up at Aaron but he stood, frozen to the spot, staring at the empty spot where Erline had been. Healy put her hand on his arm, bringing him back to attention. His bewildered look met hers. "How am I supposed to write up a report on this?" he said, in an awestricken voice.
"Thank God you got my note or we’d be dead."
He knitted his brows in confusion. "What?"
Abbott’s body hit the floor with a soft thud.
* * *
Together Healy and Aaron revived Abbott and guided him into bed. Charlie was dispatched to get Amy Buck, who would stay with Abbott until he recovered. Amy’s husband rode off to fetch the doctor.
Aaron treated Healy in a cool manner. It surprised her how much his attitude hurt her. She saw nothing in his eyes when their gazes met. Just as well. I’ll be leaving now anyway.
"I blame myself things got this far. I noticed a strange odor yesterday but didn’t recognize it as arsenic until today. Who knows how much she fed him since? He’s markedly worse today," Healy said, after they’d left Abbott dozing.
Aaron brushed past her. "It can take a long time to die of arsenic poisoning. I doubt one day made a difference."
He walked with long strides toward the kitchen. Healy followed behind. "I knew something was not right about that woman. She said she was from Ohio, but her accent put her farther south. And she was so mean!"
In the kitchen, Aaron inspected tins on the open shelves lining the walls. Healy leaned against the cast iron stove, watching him.
"If only meanness were a crime we could lock people up for," he said looking at her with narrowed eyes. "I know who I’d start with."
"I missed all the signs. I was looking in another direction entirely...and I had other things on my mind."
"I understand how that can happen." He sorted through cabinets, his long, broad back to her.
"And looking back, I’m certain Erline pushed me off the porch when I hurt my ankle. It did cross my mind she was to blame, but it seemed so preposterous she’d do something like that."
"People surprise you."
"But what was she
after? Why kill sweet Mr. Foster?"
"Women act in mysterious ways. All sweet one moment, crazy the next."
"I don’t understand why she didn’t kill him right away if that was her plan."
"Playing wife for weeks, even months was her pattern in the other murders. She killed them slowly over time. She enjoyed toying with them and watching them suffer. We’ll probably never know what motivated her or who she really was. She went by different names each time. I looked through her stuff, but there wasn’t anything personal. No clue to her identity. Hey, are you going to stand there flapping your jaws, or do you want to help me out here?"
"I assume you’re looking for the poison. But, Aaron, I don’t understand. You shot to kill. If you’d merely wounded her, all these questions would be answered."
"Do you remember the part just before I shot her how she had a gun pointed right at your head with her finger on the trigger? I couldn’t take the chance of merely wounding her. You’re welcome by the way."
"I’m confused. How do you know so much about these murders?"
"It’s my job to keep track of the bad guys—and gals."
When it appeared he wasn’t going elaborate, Healy sighed and got on with her task. She moved around the kitchen and ran her hands over the crockery on display while Aaron pulled open drawers in a drop-leaf table sitting in the middle of the room. Next, Healy looked behind the cast iron pans and skillets hanging from pegs on the wall. When she tilted the last skillet in line, something metallic clanked on the hardwood floor. A tin rolled to Aaron’s feet.
He stood up triumphantly with the tin in his hand. "Rat poison." He opened the tin with long fingers. "It’s half full. I don’t think she’s given him too much yet. You can take that off your conscience."
"Oh, to deliberately hurt a man! I don’t understand."
"It is hard to fathom."
"Well, I’m glad you got there when you did. I wasn’t sure you’d get my note."
"What is this note you keep referring to?"
"When I knew what Erline was up to and I couldn’t find you at the hotel, I left notes all over for you. Well, two notes. I could only think of two places you’d be sure to turn up."
"Did you? I didn’t get any notes." He looked directly at her with the first hint of emotion in his face since getting Abbott into bed.
"Then how...."
The back door burst open. A stout woman stepped into the kitchen followed by Charlie. She looked from Healy to Aaron. "I got here as fast as I could. Where is that poor man?"
"I’m Healy Harrison, and this is detective Aaron Turrell."
The woman took Aaron’s hands. "I heard you saved the day."
"Glad to be of service, ma’am."
Amy put her hands on her hips. "Well, I better see to my patient. You know, I thought there was something not right about that woman right from the start."
Charlie turned to Healy, eagerness in his voice. "Can I take you back to your hotel now, Miss Harrison?" Charlie pushed a flop of brown hair off his forehead as he pushed out his chest.
Healy watched Aaron out of the corner of her eye. Sadness weighed her down. "Yes, thank you Charlie."
Aaron grabbed her by the elbow. "That won’t be necessary, young Charlie. I’ll be escorting Miss Harrison back as I’m going that way myself."
"You don’t have to do that."
"I said, I’m taking you home. And before you get all contrary on me, might I remind you I just saved your life."
Chapter Sixteen
She was so tired after the events of last night followed by the events of the day, Healy found herself nodding off. Being lulled into sleep was easy to do while swaying side to side in the saddle, but every time she jolted awake when her face fell against Aaron’s back. Then she’d find her hands had slipped down from his waist to his nether regions.
Memories of last night played back through her mind now she had leisure to ponder everything that transpired. How intimate they’d been.... She placed her hands up to his waist again, and held on with the minimum pressure while sitting back as far as possible.
Aaron hadn’t said a word since they rode off, and Healy wondered if he regretted being saddled with her—literally—once again. She couldn’t help but admire the black curls escaping from under his hat and the broad shoulders in front of her.
The beauty of the sky took her breath away. The setting sun streaked the sky all shades of red, orange, and pink.
Aaron pulled off the trail and headed toward an outcrop of rocks.
"Where are we going?"
He didn’t answer, but in a bit he stopped his horse. He got off and pulled Healy down to him.
"You and I are going to have a little chat before we get back to the hotel, because I do not mean to get locked out of your room again tonight—standing there in the hall in my nightshirt." He spat the words.
"Don’t expect a repeat performance. I think we’ve established that was a mistake."
"If we can put aside the mysterious behavior in the bedroom last night, I’d rather move on to the more mysterious events of today, like how I ended up shooting a ghost, or whatever that thing was."
"It was a black shadow manifestation, and you couldn’t have killed it. You killed a real woman. I think the black shadow attached itself to her, absorbing her energy. Absorbing her in the end. A black shadow is far more serious than a ghost. Ghosts are confused but generally not malevolent. But black shadows are pure evil. I should have gotten that. Instead I got sidetracked by a ghost. It did strike me as odd Abbott could see the black shadow but not the ghost of his wife. But things have been so odd since I’ve been out west. I really haven’t been myself, or I...."
Aaron pulled her after him—none too gently. When they reached a flat rock, overlooking a flat plain below with a ribbon of a creek running through it. He put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her down to a sitting position before settling down next to her.
"Can we start at the beginning?"
"As you wish. I started seeing ghosts when I was a child. At first I didn’t know what they were, but when I was...."
He waved her off. "No, no, no. Not that far back I want to start with this morning."
"Oh, well, I went back to the ranch...."
"And I’m talking first!"
"Aaron! You’re being so..."—manly—"gruff."
"Yeah, well, I didn’t get much sleep last night and then I had a hellish day in every sense of the word, so yes, I’m a little short on patience."
"I thought you Pinkertons have a motto. ‘We never sleep.’"
He narrowed his eyes. "Are you going to be sassy, or are you going to let me talk?" Healy closed her mouth and nodded.
He glared at her before speaking. "So, let me tell you about my day."
"All right."
"I started my day by wasting time waiting for you to come down to the lobby. Then I got the telegram from agency I’d been waiting for. Can you guess my new assignment?"
"Can’t imagine. Bank robbers?"
"No, it seems I was to track down and capture a lady posing as a mail-order bride, who’s left a trail of dead men in the middle of the country. The latest report says she’s moved on to new territory. Tucson to be exact. Naturally I thought of you."
"Thank you."
"It all suddenly made sense. You, an attractive, young lady traveling by herself, acting very mysterious, pretending to be blind."
"We cleared that up. I wasn’t pretending to be blind."
"Anyway, something was off. I couldn’t get a read on you, which isn’t like me. Then you disappear during the day with no explanation of what you’ve been up to and come back to hotel by yourself at night."
"Not so much by myself, was I?"
He held up his finger. "You being a mail-order bride fit. Some prospective husband puts you up in a hotel while you spend the day getting to know one another. This morning I asked the bellman where you went when you left the hotel during the day and he said a wagon pick
ed you up and delivered you back in the evening. Like you were going out of town. A wagon driven by a good-looking, young man."
"Nice work, but I’m not a mail-order bride."
"It sure was looking that way to me. So I did two things. First I sent a telegram off to St. Louis."
"You had me investigated?"
"You better believe it. Then while I waited to find out who you were, I went to all the hotels to see if any of them put up a mail-order bride recently."
"That’s a lot of ground to cover. There must be a number of hotels in Tucson."
"But not that many a bridegroom wanting to make a good impression would set up his bride in. That narrowed it down some. I found there was one mail-order bride followed by one wedding in recent months and that was—"
"Abbott Foster. That’s how you found me."
"In the meantime, I got a telegram from a Pinkerton agent in St. Louis, which put my mind completely at ease."
"You know I’m a detective just like you?"
"I wouldn’t say just like me, but yes, I know you’re an agent for some crazy ghost investigation agency."
"And you don’t mind?"
"Let’s just say, finding out I’d fallen in love with a lady who gets rid of ghosts sits a whole lot easier than finding out I was in love with a stone cold killer."
Healy tried to speak around the lump in her throat. "In love?"
"Mind you, if things had not unfolded the way they did today, seeing a ghost with my own eyes...."
"Not a ghost. A black shadow manifestation."
"Whatever. If I hadn’t seen it myself, I might have walked away after hearing you hunt spooks for a living, because that sounds plumb loco. No matter how much I love you...."
"You love me?"
"Yes!" he shouted in exasperation. Then he went very still. "Do you think you might love me a little bit too?" he asked in a quieter tone, looking down at his feet.
"I don’t see dead people when I’m with you."
"Well, that’s a start I reckon."
"No, really, when I’m with you my heart is full of only you. It means...I love you, Aaron Turrell. Even though first you think I’m a prostitute and next you think I’m a killer mail-order bride."
