Dumping Grounds (Joshua Stokes Mysteries Book 1) (18 page)

The ghost of old Annie had turned toward each wall of the room during her incantation and now stood in front of Emma. Emma was fascinated by the event.

She had never been one to discount that ghosts existed and after what happened the previous day, it seemed natural to her that Annie would want to speak to her.

“You’se can go now, Miss Jeanette,” said the ghost of Annie. “I’se cleared the way fo you an you’se don’t have nuthin’ to be feared of here. You go on, now,” Annie exclaimed, waving toward the shelves.

“But, I’m not Jeanette, Annie, I am Emma. Emma Carr,” Emma said, wanting to be truthful, but old Annie was not as accepting as she hoped.

“Yes, you is. We all come back, Miss Jeanette, we all comes back. Dats why you is here. Don’t you see?

You is Miss Jeanette, only diff rent,” Annie said, nodding her head. “Dem Copeland’s, dey comes back too, but dey is still cursed. Dey won’t never mount to nuthin’, Old Annie seen to that!”

Annie was no longer see-through. Her form, made human, almost solid.

She again waved toward the shelves. Now that the sun was above the tree line, Emma could see well in the room. She looked closer at the shelves. The bottom shelf was wide, maybe a foot and a half, while the next shelf up was not quite as wide, and so on. The shelves were like a ladder leading upward out of the cellar. Emma looked up to where the ground above had caved in with the rotted timbers. At the end of one wall of shelves, the ground was crumbled away near about to the top shelf. If the shelves would hold her weight and not collapse, she could climb right out of the cellar.When Emma turned back toward where Annie’s ghost stood, she was gone.

Emma put her foot on the shelf and pressed her weight down, testing the step. It seemed strong enough. She reached upward and grabbed a hold of the upper shelves, then climbed out with ease. As she stood, surveying the surrounding area, the only sign that anything had occurred was the caved in earth.

Emma half expected to see the plantation and surrounding grounds as they had been when she was leaned out the upstairs window, but there was only the ruins of what once was, those days gone forever.

Emma could still see everything clearly in her mind, the plantation, the grounds, and the people. The memory of Jacob’s arms holding her tight just before he was killed. Emma wondered why was she being shown all of this. Then Annie’s words “We all comes back” echoed through her mind. Was she really the reincarnation of Jeanette Moffett? Emma had never given much thought to the afterlife or to reincarnation.

She knew what reincarnation was, but it was not something that had ever come up in any conversation she’d held nor was it anything her parents or grandparents had ever talked about. Well, its no use worrying about it right now, thought Emma. What I need to think about is getting home without getting caught again.

Emma headed away from the area where she knew the underground rooms were. She did not want a repeat of previous events. When she was sure she had cleared the walls of the plantation house, she turned her attention to the structure she had seen the day before.

The old building had looked solid, and Emma thought that maybe there was something in there she could use. She looked in every direction, but saw no other structures. This caused her to question the reality of being back in her world, the real world.

Was she still asleep in the cellar, dreaming?

Emma turned toward the river looking for the large live oak and the magnolia trees. They were there, but much larger. This only stood to reason, because much growth takes place in the span of a hundred and fifty years. Emma headed toward the trees. They were uncommonly green amid the surrounding deciduous trees, which were just starting to put on new growth for spring. The live oak and magnolias were evergreens. Emma had learned that on her grandparent’s nursery. Both were big sellers for use in ornamental landscaping because they kept their leaves and color year round.

Emma wondered if the trees were brought to the area from Virginia, which was supposed to be where they originated. Mobile County was full of them. They had to have been planted many years before the 1850’s because when she saw them from Jeanette’s bedroom window, they were already large. This made Emma believe that there had to of been some other residence on the site besides Caledonia. Emma loved history. One day, if the Lord was willing, she would research her theory, she decided.

Emma wandered back down to where she knew the old dock was. She was surprised by how deep and swift the river was. There was no way she was going to try to swim across; she was not that strong a swimmer. Floating down the river with the current was one thing, fighting against it, was another.

She turned her attention to the road leading to the plantation. She could follow it and see where it took her. It was overgrown, but she could still make out its path.

The heelless shoes were not the greatest for hiking through the thick underbrush, but they would have to do; they were all she had. After retrieving the jacket she had discarded the day before, Emma set out at a brisk pace. She loved the smell of the forest and its many different scents drifted into her nostrils as she walked.

After walking about ten minutes, the trail seemed to disappear and Emma did not want to become lost so she retraced her steps and headed back toward the plantation. There had to be another road. She knew that people frequented the old plantation, many, out of curiosity. That was why there were so many tales of the place.

When she got back to where she started, she turned right. She decided to walk around the circumference of the site with hopes of finding another trail.

About half way around the site Emma came upon another road; this trail was more defined. It appeared that it had been in use for quite some time; the ruts were deep. There were no tire tracks though; therefore, she figured it had been a while since anyone had driven that road to the plantation.

Again, Emma set out walking. She hoped that this trail would lead her to safety.

This route was not as thickly surrounded as the other trail was and Emma could tell that it had been cleared a few years prior. What trees were growing was not as mature as the others were. After a short distance, the trail turned and headed back toward the river.

When Emma reached the river, the road ran alongside it. She soon found herself standing at the end of the trail.

Emma saw an old cabin with porches, front and back. She could tell that the house was very old, but well maintained. There was an older model pickup truck parked in the front yard and from the looks of the road leading out, was well traveled.

Emma was not about to just flounce up to the door and knock. She was scared of who might be inside. What if it is a bad person or someone like her captors, she did not know if she could survive another ordeal like that. Emma found a good vantage point along the edge of the forest and squatted down to wait and watch.

After about an hour, she could wait no longer. Emma had not seen a single sign that anyone was home and her growling stomach was forcing her to seek food. There had to be something to eat inside the cabin, after all, someone lived there. She could tell from the fresh tire tracks that had to of been made after the rain from the day before.

When she reached the front porch, Emma suddenly stopped. There was an old dog laying in the porch swing. The dog twitched his ears, raised his head, and then flapped his tail a couple of times, but he did not growl or bark nor did he move, therefore Emma eased the screen door open and then reached for the doorknob. It was locked!

Emma was sorely disappointed, but she was not going to let it daunt her. She eased the screen door shut and then walked around to the back porch. Just as she was about to open the screen door, she felt something behind her.

Tom Stringer had some explaining to do, and, as soon as he found him, they were going to have a heart to heart, thought Joshua as he headed toward Tom’s trailer west of Wilmer. Tom had always been contrary as hell, but ever since Willie and Lacey’s murders, he had not seemed right in the head.

Joshua had known Tom since Tom was in diapers, and he had always suspected that something was wrong with him. He and Willie were alike in many ways, but where Willie had always been loud and happy go lucky acting, Tom was sullen and quiet. One never really knew what was going on inside his head.

The body in the lake was Cassie Bohannon. She too, had been stabbed repeatedly. It was plumb overkill, on both she and Joe Dyas.

It did not take that much stabbing to kill a person.

Whoever killed them was extremely violent or angry, maybe both. A killing like that was what the profilers had begun calling, a crime of passion.

Joshua hoped his suspicions were wrong, but he doubted it. His gut instinct was usually right, and his gut was telling him that for whatever reason, Tom Stringer murdered both Cassie Bohannon and Joe Dyas.

When Joshua drove into Tom’s front yard, Tom was sitting in his usual spot under the oak tree, drinking beer with his cousin, Johnny Treble.

Joshua could see immediately that they were both about plastered. He unsnapped his holster, just in case they wanted to give him any trouble.

Tom looked at Joshua with disgust as Joshua got out of his patrol car.

“What the fuck you want, Stokes?” Tom asked, his lips curling into a sneer as he slurred his words.

“Yeah, you ain’t got no biz ness messin’ wit us, we ain’t done nuthin’ wrong,” Johnny Treble chimed in, slurring his words worse than what Tom had.

Joshua quickly assessed the situation, calculating how much they’d had to drink by the empty beer cans laying on the ground beside them, also noticing that there was a half empty jug of shine sitting next to Tom’s chair.

“You’re right, Johnny,” Joshua said softly, hoping to placate their drunken egos with soft voiced sincerity. “But I need to talk to Tom a minute and then I’ll leave you two to your drink.”

“What if’n he don’t wanna talk wid ya,” Johnny replied and was drawing another breath to say more, when he got the hiccups, then every time he started to say something he would hiccup.

After several failed attempts, Johnny got quiet. Then just sat there staring down at the fire pit.

Tom looked up at Joshua, sneered again, and then said, “You know sumthin’ Sheriff, I ain’t ever liked your ass a tall, not one bit. Just to have to look at you gripes my ass. You never cut us any slack when we was boys.”

Joshua knew that Tom was referring to himself and Willie, and he knew that Tom was incorrect in his remembering; he had cut them plenty of slack.

He’d caught Tom and Willie skipping school and drinking a number of times, before he hauled them home to their daddy. He had let them slide several times, because they were just hanging out at the river drinking beer with a few other boys, not really bothering anyone. All of that was before they were old enough to drive.

Once they started driving and drinking it was a different story. They were not only risking their lives, but others as well. He could not knowingly let that go on. While Joshua was still there that day, their daddy tore their asses up with a razor strap and then took the truck keys away from them.

Joshua felt at the time, that their daddy whipped them for his benefit, but maybe he was wrong. Bill, their father, was always straightforward. The next day, he saw Tom and Willie driving the truck again, but this time at least, they were at school and they were not drinking, he had checked.

Joshua looked Tom dead in the eyes and said evenly, “Well Tom, to be honest, I don’t like you very much either, but that is neither here nor there, that’s not why I am here. I need to talk to you about Joe Dyas.”

As soon as he said Joe’s name, Joshua saw Tom sneer again, his sneer pretentious and pompous, as if he himself was superior to everyone else.

“That stupid piece of shit, high-yeller niggra; alls he had to do was go on about his business, but no, he had to come stick his black nose where it didn’t belong. It got him kilt.” Tom’s words solidified Joshua’s gut instinct and Joshua wondered if Tom was just so drunk that he did not care what he said, or if he simply thought that he was above the law. Either way, he was going to have to take him in; he had as much as admitted to killing Joe Dyas. He was sure that Tom had also killed Cassie Bohannon.

“Tom, I am going to have to take you in, you know that, right.”

“You and what fucking army, Sheriff. Looks like you’re on your own to me.”

“I might be on my own, but I have to uphold the law.”

“Yeah right, just like y’all done when Autry kilt Willie.”

“The circumstances were different--”

“Y’all didn’t lift a goddamn finger to help us look for Willie!” Tom exclaimed, his voice rising in anger.

“Willie was already dead--” Joshua began to say, before Tom cut him off again.

“But, we didn’t know that, neither did you, Jeth’row; you and that Barney Fife deputy of yours. If y’all hadda done your job and looked for him when we told y’all he was missing, at least Lacey might still be alive, but you sorry sumbitches wouldn’t even attempt to look for him. Y’all almost got Hannah kilt too!”

“You can’t go blaming all that on us; besides, we have protocols we have to follow, Tom. We are suppose-”

“Fuck your protocol, Sheriff,Autry’s death was justified.”

“Never said it wasn’t, but I can’t rightly see any justification for killing Joe Dyas or Cassie Bohannon, no matter what.”

“Well, I could and I did. Her mouth overloaded her ass when it come to put up or shut up. Joe should have stayed out of it and done his job. He was supposed to be planting azaleas, not snooping around peeking through windows and listening to white folks business!”

“What happened, Tom?”

“That little hussy kept giving me the eye, flirtin’ and a smiling, and then when I made a move on her, she comes all unglued. Damn prick teaser, that’s what she was.”

“If she didn’t want to have anything to do with you, why didn’t you just leave, Tom? You didn’t have to kill her.”

“I didn’t plan on doing it, just sorta happened. She was all flirty til I made a pass at her, then she hauled off and slapped me, so I slapped her back. Several times, cause it felt good. Then I throwed her ass on the bed and was gonna take what she’d offered. That’s when that damn half-breed niggra come a runnin’ in there and tried to stop me. He was the one that got that butcher knife. I just showed him how to use it.”

“Why did you stab, Cassie?” Joshua asked again.

“After I stuck Joe, she started screaming and carrying on, trying to run past me and it just happened, I don’t know why it happened, it just did. I was mad as hell!” Tom said.

Joshua reached behind him, unsnapped the handcuffs from his belt, and stepped closer to Tom Stringer.

“Tom Stringer, you’re under arrest for the murders of Cassie Bohannon and Joe Dyas. You have the right-” Joshua could not get out the next word. He felt something hot penetrate his side and then he heard an explosion and smelt the acrid odor of gunpowder. All of his breath left his body; he could feel himself falling.