by Bobby Akart
“If only the walls could talk,” muttered Dr. Reitherman as his eyes examined the original horsehair plaster walls and vintage crystal chandelier.
“Oh, but they do, of course,” said Mimi in her soft, frail voice.
Becker’s eyes grew wide. “It’s haunted?”
Ma, who stood nearly six feet tall like Harper, gently patted Becker on the back. “Don’t you worry your little head none, dearie. Haunted is such an ugly word. It leaves the impression of something mean-spirited. That’s not at all the case here. Of course, we have relatives of the past who still reside in Randolph House, but they are incapable of haunting.”
Harper laughed out loud. “No, the Randolph family is full of partiers, both past and present. Let me show you.”
They glanced into the ladies’ parlor on the right and the men’s parlor on the left before entering the grand ballroom. The fifty-foot-wide, eleven-hundred-square-foot space was made for dancing.
“Wow!” exclaimed Becker as she dropped her bag and immediately danced across the room as if she were Tchaikovsky’s sugar plum fairy. She happily skipped away, raising and lowering her arms like a bird preparing to take flight.
Dr. Boychuck was impressed with the wood detail of the grand ballroom. “Two fireplaces?”
He’d escorted Ma into the room, so she took him up to one of the fireplaces with matching mantels. “These are quite historic. They were originally installed in the old Heard House that was built in 1824. In May of 1865, Jeff Davis held his final meeting there with his cabinet before the Confederate States of America was dissolved. When the building was raised to make way for a new courthouse, our ancestors acquired these beautiful mantels and surrounds to install around the fireplaces in the ballroom.”
Harper discussed the building history of Randolph House. “Back in the day, homes often started out small. In fact, in 1795 when this was originally built, it was a simple two-story with a kitchen and a single bedroom above it. At the time, it faced east toward the street we drove in on.”
Ma continued. “Then in 1820, Miss Maria Randolph—who, by the way, is a lineal descendent of Pocahontas—expanded the home. She was an elegant lady and the center of the social scene at the time. All the Randolph women share her genetics, as Miss Maria stood over six feet tall.”
“Her name is pronounced like Mariah, but it was actually spelled like Maria,” added Harper.
Ma wandered through the ballroom and gestured as she spoke. “Over the years, the east and west porches were enclosed to become the morning room and the dining room. The exterior porches to the rear of Randolph House were enclosed to include a downstairs master suite, an oversized kitchen, and more storage. Other than that, she’s stood proud for over two centuries.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes. Proud and beautiful like her hostesses.”
Mimi, who’d been attached to Dr. Boychuck’s arm the entire time, squeezed him a little tighter. “You are a most interesting man, Dr. Woolie. Perhaps we could share a brandy in the parlor after supper?”
“Oh, man. Watch out, Woolie. My Mimi doesn’t take no for an answer.”
Mimi swatted at her great-granddaughter. “You hush, Harper Randolph. Don’t you have some homework to do?”
The group burst out laughing. Harper’s family had become their family. The only one in the group who hadn’t spoken other than during the introductions was Kwon. While Ma and Mimi led everyone to the dining room for supper, Harper pulled Kwon aside.
“Hey. Are you doin’ okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. More than good, actually. It’s just, well, this is a little overwhelming. This is a world that I thought only existed in the movies.”
Harper understood. “Time stands still here. You look around and see homes like this one built in the 1700s with many, many more built prior to the Civil War. Unless you’ve spent time in the Old South, you wouldn’t believe a place like this could possibly exist.”
“How old are Ma and Mimi?”
“Ma is seventy-four and Mimi is ninety-two.”
“You come from an amazing gene pool, Harper.”
She furrowed her brow and a wave of sadness came over her. She’d grown close to Kwon and felt she could trust him with an aspect of her personal life she rarely shared.
Chapter Forty-Three
Randolph House
Heard’s Fort, Georgia
“Every time I return to Randolph House, memories are everywhere. There are those from adulthood, such as when Joe and I got married in the backyard. But childhood memories, both good and bad, are the most prevalent.”
“Harper, there’s no need to talk about anything uncomfortable if you don’t want to,” interrupted Kwon. “I shouldn’t let my mood force you to go to a place that’s—”
“No, please. It’s fine. Listen, you and I risked our lives together. You saved my life more than once. I’m okay, you know, spillin’ my deep, dark secrets.”
“It’s up to you.”
Harper nodded and motioned toward the sunroom. Tonight’s meal was a potluck-style, take-what-you-eat-and-grab-a-seat type of gathering. Ma and Mimi wouldn’t pressure her to join right away. Besides, from the sounds of laughter and excited voices emanating from that side of the house, it was apparent the two of them had not been missed.
“My father, Jack Randolph, was a special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. I’m an only child, the apple of his eye and the son he never had, all wrapped into one. To call me a daddy’s girl would be an understatement.” Harper paused and sighed. Kwon reached for her arm, but she smiled and nodded.
“It’s fine. Daddy was involved in a lot of things for the GBI. When I was a kid, meth houses began to spring up around Thomson, which is down the road about thirty miles. He and his partner were constantly busting the houses, arresting the bad guys, and destroying the product.
“It wasn’t long before drug dealers out of Atlanta moved in to fill the void. But, instead of meth, they were pushing heroin, which made a comeback about that time. As they became successful pushing horse all the way into Augusta, organized crime got a sniff of the action and took over.
“In any event, they didn’t take kindly to the war on drugs being waged by Daddy and the other GBI agents. One Saturday, the start of a weekend when he was supposed to be off, he and I went hunting. It was the end of the day and he got a call from his supervisory agent. They’d gotten word of a drug deal going down in Thomson and they needed him.
“He took me home, hurriedly got his gear together, including his vest, and raced down to Thomson. Because he was late to the raid, he wasn’t fully briefed on the mechanics of the takedown. In fact, he was only supposed to be in a support role, but that’s not how my daddy did his job. He was one of those cops who ran toward the gunshots, not cower behind a wall.”
Harper gulped and fought back the tears. She gathered herself and continued. “The raid went bad because the GBI was outnumbered. Plus, the people they were up against weren’t the usual gangbangers. They were trained and heavily armed. Daddy, while trying to help another agent who was taking on fire, was killed. His Kevlar could only cover up so much, you know?
“I was only nine and my mom had just turned thirty-four. We had Ma and Mimi to help support us, but it wasn’t enough. My mom slowly descended into the abyss. Over time, a psychosis took over, leaving her completely unaware of her surroundings. Ma and Mimi tried psychotherapy. Nothing worked, and eventually her dissociative amnesia became so severe that her doctors said she was no longer safe outside a long-term mental health care facility.”
Kwon exhaled. “Is there any chance for improvement?”
“No. They’ve tried everything. For a while, I tried visiting her, but her lack of recollection only made her frustrated and then increasingly violent. My last visit didn’t end well. Not at all.”
“I’m sorry, Harper. I don’t know what to say.”
Kwon reached out and hugged her as she fought back tears.
“You know,
I don’t either, anymore. I feel terrible for her. Ma and Mimi do as well. We had our own lives to live, so we’ve moved on. The memories hit me again before I arrived at DARPA. Mom is in a residential treatment facility in Virginia, just south of Richmond.”
“When was the last time you saw her?” Kwon asked.
“It’s been a long while. As I said, it went horribly wrong, with her hurting herself in a tirade and me running out of the facility bawlin’ my eyes out.”
“If I can ever do anything for you, please tell me.”
“I will. I thank God that Joe introduced us.”
Becker bellowed across the ballroom, loud enough to stir up some of the apparitions who wandered the home at night. “Food’s getting cold and Woolie has practically scarfed down all the mashed potatoes.”
Harper and Kwon laughed. “Aren’t we a bunch of misfits?”
Kwon agreed. “Is it possible to create a comedy show about a bunch of misfits, as you call us, who search the planet for the next deadly disease?”
“Yeah, I firmly believe this group can generate enough material to make even that subject laugh worthy.”
Kwon led her across the ballroom, where they joined the boisterous bunch around the dining table. Glasses of wine were filled. Bellies were protruding over waistbands slightly more than when they arrived. And laughter filled the air as everyone enjoyed the moment.
For Harper, this was just what the doctor ordered, except Joe wasn’t there.
Chapter Forty-Four
Randolph House
Heard’s Fort, Georgia
The group slept well during the night except Becker. All five of the bedrooms upstairs had their own full bathrooms. Harper slept in her old bedroom known as Nestle Down. It was the original bedroom when the house was first built. When she was a very young child, she’d adopted it because it was smaller and cozier than the other four guest suites, known as eighteens because of their size—eighteen feet by eighteen feet, plus the bathroom.
Homes were square and boxy during the turn of the eighteenth century. They were often designed in a two-over-two style, meaning two upstairs windows on each end of the house directly above two downstairs windows. Toward the latter part of the 1800s, especially in rural communities, additions and wings were added to accommodate growing families or loved ones who couldn’t afford their own home.
That night, Becker’s experience was different from the guys’. She slept in what Harper used to call the scary room although she’d never say that out loud to anyone. It was the master bedroom of Archibald Colley, an Army colonel who was the bunk mate of General George Patton at West Point. Colonel Colley served in World War I alongside Georgie, as his friend had been called since their days in college.
After the war, he left the service and married into the Randolph family. As was customary during that point in time in the South, he and his wife, Mary, slept in separate bedrooms although they loved each other dearly. When she died of smallpox, he was heartbroken and lived out his days at Randolph House, angry at God for taking his beloved wife.
Harper was convinced Colonel Colley’s spirit remained, and over time she came to accept why he was angry. To pacify him and ease his pain, she set up a shrine, of sorts. The original writing desk from the 1920s that Colonel Colley used to write letters was still in the room. She traveled to an antique store in Augusta one day and found a copy of the 1909 West Point Howitzer, the U.S. Military Academy’s yearbook. Photographs of Colonel Colley and General Patton graced the pages, extoling their accomplishments in literary studies and sports.
She found other items in Ma and Mimi’s storage boxes full of Randolph House memorabilia. Over time, she created this shrine in his room, and the ghost of Colonel Colley seemed to relax. Harper guessed that Becker’s high energy must’ve stirred him up somehow.
While everyone heartily ate the homemade biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, and sausage links, Becker seemed to be in a daze due to lack of sleep. Harper recognized the look. Until she built the shrine, she’d had it, too.
“Say, Becker, how’d you sleep?” Harper couldn’t resist. Everyone kept eating, but Dr. Reitherman glanced at Harper and then over to the weary epidemiologist, who hesitated to answer.
“Okay. I had a lot on my mind.”
“Like what?” Harper asked, trying to hide her teasing intent.
“Um, who’s Mary?”
Mimi snickered and Ma elbowed her mother.
Harper responded, “She was a Randolph. The grandniece of Miss Maria. Why?”
“I kept hearing her name last night. “But it was a man who was saying it. And he was so sad.”
Harper speared a sausage link and bit off an end. She spoke with her mouth full. “You were probably dreaming.”
“No, I was wide awake. I heard a sound, kinda like a chair moving across the room. But it wasn’t in my room. It was in the front bedroom where Woolie was sleeping.”
Harper knew what that was, too. For years, she was the sole inhabitant of the spacious upstairs. For fun, she’d take turns sleeping in the different bedrooms. Ma and Mimi didn’t mind as long as she made the beds back proper. She’d heard the chair sliding across the floor when she’d slept in that bedroom as a child. She’d try to downplay the ghostly activities to calm Becker’s nerves.
“It’s an old house that creaks and cracks. It’s just your imagination.”
Becker pursed her lips and looked around at the others. “Just the same, um, Kwon? Would you mind changing rooms with me?”
Kwon’s eyes darted from Harper to Ma and Mimi. “Sure, if it’s okay with our hosts.”
“They’ll be okay with it, right, you guys?”
Harper burst out laughing. “Three weeks ago, I watched Becker go toe-to-toe with National Guardsmen armed with automatic weapons. She was like the Tasmanian Devil. Also, she crawled through an air-conditioning duct trying to help us escape the lockdown. Something goes bump in the night, and she’s done.”
The group had a hearty laugh at Becker’s expense. In the end, she got her way.
“I’d like to take a walk around the town,” said Dr. Boychuck.
“Me too,” Dr. Reitherman chimed in.
“Okay, I’ll be your tour guide. Before we head out, I’d like to show you where Joe and I got married. Also, a special garden I made with Ma and Mimi.”
Everyone helped the ladies clean up but were eventually run out of their kitchen. The two old biddies, as Joe referred to them, were very territorial about the kitchen, especially when guests were in residence. Nobody was allowed to lift a finger unless they were prepared to suffer their wrath.
After Kwon and Becker made the guest room swap, they all met by the carriage house located behind the circular driveway to the rear of Randolph House.
“Thirty-some years ago, Ma and Mimi ran Randolph House as a bed and breakfast. It filled their need to host events while supplementing their income. For several reasons, they chose to focus on themselves and family. As you can see, a lot of the entertaining aspects of the place are still here.
“In the 1800s, this carriage house was once used to keep their horse-drawn buggies and horses. When Colonel Colley bought his first car, he converted it to a garage. Ma and Mimi later enclosed it to be used as an indoor gathering place in case it rained.”
Kwon pointed at two large white columns positioned in front of an enormous magnolia tree. “What are those for?”
“They used to host weddings here, including mine.”
“You and Joe were married out here?” asked Becker.
“Yes, we were. It was fabulous. It was in May and the flowers were in full bloom. Mimi, who was Belgian, speaks excellent German in addition to her native French. She used to say, die Blumen sprechen, which translates to the flowers are speaking.”
“This is incredibly beautiful,” said Becker.
The group slowly walked toward the magnolia tree full of white flowers. Dr. Boychuck was the first to notice a trend.
�
��All of the flowers in this area are white.”
Harper couldn’t resist. “Yes. Yes. Yes.”
Dr. Boychuck laughed. “Very funny, young lady. I promise, after you send me back to Las Vegas, you will always remember this part of me.”
Harper hugged the aging medical examiner. “I will remember everything about you. Squishy, too. I’m sorry he missed all the action.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes. I can assure you we will have many evenings to converse about my days in Atlanta with you nice people.”
Dr. Reitherman led the way past the magnolia. “It’s a moon garden.”
“Very good,” said Harper. “How did you know?”
“My grandmother had one in Munich. Being in Bavaria, she lived in a much cooler climate. Many of her flowers bloomed late in the day.”
Harper nodded her agreement. “It gets very hot and dry here in the summer. Many of the night bloomers don’t like the stifling Georgia heat the afternoons bring.”
“Well, it’s remarkably well-maintained, Harper. This, just like the rest of the place, is a real gem.”
The SUV taxicab slowed as it passed them. It turned through the block columns at the east entrance to Randolph House. Harper stood a little taller, and tears began to stream down her face. Before the vehicle came to a stop, the passenger door swung open and Joe began to step out. He was met with the force of an NFL linebacker as Harper crushed him with a much-needed embrace.
For more than a minute, the two held one another, tears flowing down their faces. A couple with that kind of deep love should never be apart, but it was the life they led. It made for some very happy, tearful reunions, especially after the last few weeks.
The rest of the group stayed in the moon garden, allowing the loving couple to enjoy their moment. After they broke their embrace and laughed at themselves in embarrassment, Joe paid the driver and left his bags in the driveway. He joined the rest of the visitors and introduced himself to Dr. Boychuck.
