Michael nodded. “McEachern is a disrupter.”
“A what?”
“He wants to change the system Lucais has built. He wants—”
“He wants to run Lucais and his buddies out of town.” Elizabeth finished the sentence.
“You knew this?” Anger was my first reaction. That she’d failed to be honest with me and Reginald and had essentially put us at risk. We would have come to help her anyway, but at least we would have known what we faced. With Reginald still missing and some strange watchers out in the barn, I wasn’t happy with my client.
“Ruth and I suspected Slater was dabbling in things that he shouldn’t have been.” Elizabeth looked contrite. “I didn’t know for certain, but I should have voiced my concerns to you.”
“The night Ruth was killed, was Slater there?”
“He was. He was trying to talk Ruth into coming forward with the names of all the men who’d used her. He thought she could convince Lucais to let her go. Use the list of names as leverage.”
“And the journal. What is that writing?”
“I don’t know.” Elizabeth sank down into a chair. “I’ve thought and thought, but I can’t figure it out. It has to be some kind of record of events.”
“May I see it?” Michael asked.
We’d left the book with Elizabeth because we weren’t certain of our privacy at Hattie’s. She was an honorable woman, but there was no telling who might slip in and out of her house while she was doing laundry or in town. Reginald and I had agreed the journal was safer here.
“I’ll get it.” Elizabeth went into her bedroom. There was a soft exclamation, and she returned with the journal in her left hand and something else in her right—a large dark feather.
Chapter 17
I stood up abruptly, staring at the feather. “Where did that come from?”
“It wasn’t there earlier,” Elizabeth said. “I would have seen it.” Both Michael and Elizabeth turned to look at me. I was the only adult who’d been in that room.
I gaped at them both. “It doesn’t make sense, but I think it’s from, uh, from the dream.” I wasn’t certain how to explain what I’d experienced to Michael. I could hardly understand it myself. Reginald would understand, but Michael was another story.
“Gabriel was here. In my bedroom. You spoke with him. He left the feather.” Elizabeth made statements that sounded almost like accusations. “He’s never left physical evidence before.”
“He was with me, but it was in a dream. And I did speak to him.” My focus was on Michael, who was agitated, though he worked to hide it. I reached out to him. “We can explain all of this, but it’s going to sound…crazy.”
Michael stared at each of us in turn. “Gabriel? What are you talking about? How did a buzzard feather get into your house and why does it warrant such a reaction?” he asked. “You two act as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“It’s not a ghost and it isn’t a buzzard.” Now that he said it, the feather could easily have come from some of the giant black vultures I’d seen around Mission. They had a six-foot wingspan and they were powerful, though ugly, especially the ones with their semi-bald red heads. “Gabriel, this entity, was in my dream. Prominently in my dream.”
“You dreamed of Hildy, and what else?” Elizabeth’s tone gave me no clue if she was distressed for my safety or worried about what I might have seen.
“I saw Hildy, but also my husband. I saw Alex first. I was with him when he died on the battlefield in France.” No matter what anyone said, I believed I had been there with Alex on that horrible day. I had been allowed to give him comfort. I had been with Hildy, too, though it hadn’t really been me and she’d found no comfort from whatever presence I’d been inhabiting.
“Raissa…” Michael came toward me and I let him put a hand on my back. His warm touch was welcome, grounding me to this moment in time and place. “You’re pale.”
“What else did you see?” Elizabeth asked.
“No other dreams, but I saw him. Gabriel. He was in the bedroom with me and Callie. He’s…magnificent.” The sensual memory made me flush.
“And Gabriel is who?” Michael asked.
“An archangel.” Elizabeth spoke softly but firmly.
“You believe an archangel was in that bedroom?” Michael had trouble grasping my truth. “You’re dreaming murders and consorting with archangels? You expect people to believe that?”
“I do.” I had come a great distance from where I’d looked askance on Elizabeth’s version of events. “I doubted Elizabeth before. I thought it was merely an intense dream that she’d experienced. No one can truly dream the truth of a past event, or so I thought. Now I know the truth. The dreams come from Gabriel. And he’s given Elizabeth and me a gift that can cut or heal.”
Elizabeth nodded, and her shoulders sagged. “Thank goodness you believe me.” She looked at Michael. “I know how impossible all of this sounds. I do. But you have to trust us, that we’re telling the truth.”
“You ask too much,” Michael said. “You must all leave Mission now. As soon as Reginald returns, load up the car, take the baby and leave. The danger is only beginning. Ghosts and archangels are not going to protect you.”
I had to make him understand. “I’ve seen ghosts intent on revenge, hungry creatures that feed on the sexual desires of men, evil spirits that reincarnated in a relative to claim vengeance. I’ve seen dead girls who couldn’t talk because their throats were cut and their heads almost severed. I don’t find it impossible to believe that an angel might visit, or that he might bestow the ability to divine the truth.”
“And you’re sure it was an angel?” Michael’s fingers circled my arm. He didn’t grip me tightly, but I felt his intensity.
“It had wings.” I pointed to the feather. “Not white, like I expected, but darker. Light and dark gray, like storm clouds. I couldn’t see him that well because it was dark in the room.”
“I see.” Michael let me go. He tried to hide his reaction, but he wasn’t successful. He was upset. “As I said, we have to leave here. Now. All of us.”
“We can’t leave Reginald.”
“We should. We must.” He waved at Elizabeth. “Grab some things for the baby. This place is not safe for you. We can leave Reginald a note. We can call your uncle to come and get you—all of you—as soon as we’re at a place with telephones or telegrams. Hurry. There’s no time to waste.”
“We’re not leaving Reginald. At least I’m not.” I pointed out the window where Michael’s car was parked in the darkness. “We don’t even know that we can leave. Will the car run? Will we break down on a dark road, easy picking for those evil men or whatever it is you fear?”
From the bedroom, Callie’s coos became more pronounced. There was excitement in her little chirrups and goo-goos. Elizabeth went to attend her.
“Raissa,” Michael pulled me closer so he could whisper. “Lucais is not the real danger here. Not at all. We have to get away.”
“Then who is the danger?”
He shook his head. “You have to trust me.”
“No, I don’t.” Mule-headedness was a family trait, and I barely knew Michael.
“If you value your life and Elizabeth’s and Callie’s, you’ll do as I ask.”
Something in his eyes, his hand that grasped mine and held it, touched me deeply. I wanted to believe him. More than anything I wanted to run hard, away from Mission and the building tragedy. But I couldn’t. “I’m not leaving Reginald.”
“We can—” His response was cut short by the sound of shouting from outside. He stepped in front of me instinctively. “Stay here and start helping Elizabeth pack.”
He didn’t leave any room for disagreement as he strode out of the house. I went to the window that looked out on the front porch. To my intense relief, Uncle Brett’s car slammed to a stop in the front yard and Reginald leapt out. Behind him came the sound of a gunshot and more yelling. Reginald ran to the porch. “Does Elizabeth have
any guns?” He herded Michael back inside. “Hurry, if there are weapons, get them.”
“Who’s out there?” I asked, rushing to them both.
“A lynch mob.” Reginald took a moment to grasp my hand for reassurance. “I drove through them. Men in green hoods. I believe if I’d stopped, they would have killed me.”
“I know,” I said. “They wrecked Michael and me. We’re okay, but they gave us a warning to get out of town. They mean it.”
Elizabeth, holding Callie, joined us. “I’ve gathered Callie’s things.”
“It won’t do any good. They have the road blocked. If we try to get through, they’ll wreck us or shoot us. Do you have any guns?” Reginald asked.
“In the bedroom. Two shotguns, a rifle, and three pistols.”
I looked at Elizabeth. She had an arsenal for a woman who lived alone.
“When I came looking for Ramone, I knew it might be dangerous. I can handle a weapon if I have to.”
“Good,” Michael said, “because we all may have to. If they try to breach the house, we have no choice but to defend ourselves. They will hurt you. They will likely kill you and your baby. Do whatever you must to stay alive.”
Michael was right, but he’d also said that a graver danger came from someone other than Lucais Wilkins and his minions. He would tell me, when all of this was over.
The windows were open, and we could hear the angry mob moving closer to the house. Reginald grabbed the guns and doled them out after he’d made sure they were loaded.
The pistol he gave me was heavy. “I’m better with a rifle,” I said.
“The pistol is better for up close. Point it at the person and pull the trigger. You probably won’t hit them but you’ll let them know we mean business. This is our lives, Raissa. You can’t hesitate.”
When I lifted the gun to sight down the barrel, I knew I could use it if I had to. “Okay.”
The first flicker of a torch could be seen at the edge of the yard. Reginald stepped onto the front porch. He fired a shot into the air and raised his voice. “You need to leave. We’re heavily armed and we will defend ourselves.”
There was no answer. The mob had suddenly grown quiet, which was somehow more frightening than their loud catcalls and yells. The lone torch remained where it was, and though it was impossible to see clearly, I guessed there were at least a dozen men.
“Leave now.” Reginald gave them until the count of five. He fired the shotgun in the direction of the torch. There was a startled yell and the torch was dropped to the ground. “You want more of this, come and get it.”
There was a surge of movement on the edge of the woods. I couldn’t clearly see what was happening, but I knew we were being rushed by the men.
“Fire!” Reginald called out. Elizabeth’s rifle blasted through the kitchen window. Reginald and Michael were crouched low on the porch, firing as fast their weapons would allow. I emptied the pistol in the direction of the men.
Bullets pinged into the wood near the parlor window and I dropped to the floor. Outside I heard shots hit the front porch and the side of the house where the kitchen was. The men were firing back, but we had better cover.
“Go again,” Reginald called out. I’d re-loaded and emptied the six-shooter once again.
Two men cried out in the darkness.
“Luther’s hit! Luther’s hit,” someone called out. “They shot him!”
“Charge again and see who else gets hit,” Reginald called out.
“You’ll pay for this!” The male voice came out of the fringe of trees.
“Bring it now,” Reginald said. “You’re cowards, jumping out of the woods, wrecking people, trying to harm women and children. Come on now and face grown men who are armed. Let’s see how brave you are.” He waited. “You’d better get going or I’ll come after you.”
“You’re a dead man.” A car’s headlights cut the darkness and for a moment the hooded men were illuminated in the headlight before the car turned. There was cursing and grunting as our attackers loaded their wounded and the car retreated.
Reginald stood on the porch in the silence that followed. After ten minutes, he came back inside. “They’ll ambush us on the road if we try to leave.”
“Our best bet is daylight,” Elizabeth agreed. “There’s a farm road that goes around the property. We might be able to get on the other side of the blockade, but we can’t do it in the dark. We can take Mariah, too, and drop her at Hattie’s. She’ll take care of her.”
“I’d feel better if we could go now,” Michael said. His gaze strayed to the bedroom and I wondered what he was thinking.
“At first light,” Reginald said. “We only have one reliable car and we can’t afford to bog it somewhere or hit a stump or hole.”
Michael nodded. His gaze went not to the window but back to the bedroom. “We should stay awake.”
We had a number of hours to wait for the sun. I didn’t dare ask what he feared in our sleep, because I thought I knew. Gabriel.
* * *
“Where have you been?” I sat across from Reginald at Elizabeth’s kitchen table. “I’ve been worried sick.”
“Victoria. I went to ask a few questions, and for gas. It’s a longer trip than I expected.” He nodded to Michael. “I brought some in a can for you, but I don’t know that your car will be going anywhere.”
“I don’t know how badly the car is damaged,” Michael admitted. “Taking one car would be smarter anyway.”
“How did you wreck?” Reginald asked.
“Raissa and I were run off the road coming home from dinner. By a miracle, neither of us were seriously hurt.”
Reginald pointed at my head. The goose egg was still big, but it was going down. “They could have killed you.”
What he said was true, but there was no point belaboring the dangers all around us. “Did you find out anything in Victoria?”
“Actually, a lot,” Reginald said. “A young woman was attacked there. With an ax.”
“Who?” Michael and Elizabeth spoke simultaneously.
“Is she alive?” Elizabeth continued.
“She’s alive, but not easy to question. I did talk to some people who knew her. Her name is Mary Jane Brady. She’s from out in the country, and she’d just taken a job as a clerk at the dime store in Victoria. I couldn’t get a lot of information because there’s something…hinky about what happened. I did find out the girl was struck on the shoulder with an ax, but she managed to get away. She’s been hiding at her parents’ home for months and she refused to talk to me. Several deputies arrived while I was outside the home. They said they were guarding her.”
“Guarding her?” I asked. “So they fear she’ll be attacked again?”
“Or maybe they fear she’ll talk to the wrong people,” Reginald said darkly.
“Did she see her attacker?” Michael asked.
“She won’t say.”
“So perhaps the person she saw is known to the police and someone they intend to protect.” Elizabeth vocalized what we were all thinking. “They might want to prevent her from telling what she knows.”
I shook my head in confusion. “But this is Victoria, not Mission.” I could accept that a small village as isolated as Mission could be completely corrupt, from the lowest law officer to the judge. But Alabama had larger towns and cities where the justice system had taken root and worked. Supposedly. “Surely they’re protecting her from a possible future attack.”
“I came to Mission looking for Ramone,” Elizabeth said. “His last letter to me was about a young woman—a girl, really—attacked by a man with an ax. It happened in Victoria. Not Mission. But Ramone said in his letter he was headed here.”
“Did Ramone mention the girl’s name?” Michael asked.
“He did. Daisy Evans. I tried to find her, but she was gone. I was told she’d moved away. It’s hard for a woman to ask questions about such things, even in Victoria. No one would tell me what happened or where the girl had g
one. And my brother was gone too. He’d vanished. I found two people who said they knew him and that he’d just failed to show up on a job building some cabinets. That wasn’t like Ramone. He was a good worker and a skilled carpenter, when he wanted to be. They said he’d been talking about selling his wares up around Mission, so that’s why I came up here.”
“How does a murdered woman and child in Mission tie up with two women attacked with an ax in Victoria and your missing brother?” Reginald asked Elizabeth.
“I wish I knew.”
It was time to spring my plan on Reginald and I knew he wasn’t going to like it. “Reginald, I know we have to get out of town fast, but we can’t leave without Hildy Morse’s body. We need to get her to a medical doctor who can do a real autopsy.”
Reginald stared at me in abject horror. “You think we’re going to steal a body?”
“We have to.”
“You want to add body snatching to the list of things we can be hanged for?”
“We need proof that she was murdered. I saw her murder, but no one is going to believe me.” I rushed on. “She was slugged so hard I think her neck snapped and she was thrown in that well. I saw it, Reginald.”
He drew in a breath slowly. “How did you see this?”
I looked to Elizabeth for confirmation. “I saw the angel and he gave me the ability to see things in dreams.”
“Not an angel,” Michael interjected.
Michael didn’t know what I’d seen. I’m sure I sounded delusional to him. Who would claim that they’d seen an archangel, much less spoken to one? Not even the feather would convince him, because most people were completely unaware of the spirit realm. “I saw Gabriel, Reginald. He showed me what happened to Hildy in a dream. I lived it, just the way Elizabeth lived Ruth’s murder.”
“I don’t know what’s really going on here. The only thing I know for certain is that we have to get out of this place,” Reginald said, “before I start dreaming.”
“We’re hamstrung until daybreak.” Elizabeth put on a pot of coffee. It was late and we were exhausted, but none of us would sleep with the possibility that the angry mob would return.
A Visitation of Angels Page 15
