American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory (28 page)

Alec nodded, eyes only partially
opened as he climbed out of bed. “Yeah, dude,” he stumbled as he got out of
bed. “Thanks. Is Mom awake?”

“No,” Nash said. “Let’s you and I
handle this for now, if you’re okay with that. I’m afraid it’ll just upset your
mother, especially if we get into the subject of the epithets and all.”

“Good idea,” Alec staggered towards
the bathroom. “I’ll be right down.”

Nash closed the door softly behind
him, moving down the hallway and checking on Penelope and Wolfgang before he
went downstairs.  Cracking the door open, he saw Penelope sleeping on her side
and the dog stretched out at the bottom of her bed.  He whistled softly to the
dog, who leapt off the bed to come with him.  Closing the door softly, he took
the dog downstairs to let him do his doggy business, letting him back inside
before he went to open the front door.

By the time he walked out onto
the front porch, he could see his brother pulling up as well as three or four
other contractors, ready to continue the restoration of Purgatory.  Nash
watched the people from the State climb out of their cars and he went out to meet
them.  He approached a silver-haired, heavy set man with a pair of glasses
perched on the end of his nose.

“Hi,” Nash extended his hand.
“I’m Nash Aury.”

The man quickly shifted his books
and paper pads to the opposite hand and shook Nash’s hand amiably.

“Sheriff Aury, it’s a pleasure to
meet you, sir,” he said in a booming Louisiana drawl. “I’m Bob Whitney, Senior
Field Archaeologist for the State. I can’t tell y’all how excited I am to
finally be at Purgatory. This place has quite a history.”

Nash nodded. “Yes, it does,” he
agreed. “When I called yesterday, I spoke with Dr. Mann about the situation
here. Did he explain everything to you?”

Dr. Rob Mann was the Regional
Director for Archaeology for the State.  He had happily taken Sheriff Aury’s
call, even on a Sunday.  Dr. Whitney nodded firmly.

“Gladly and thoroughly,” Dr.
Whitney confirmed. “He said you found an old family crypt underneath the house.
I have to tell you, I’m dying to see it. I’ve never heard of one built
underneath a house, so this will be a first.”

Nash smiled at the man’s
enthusiasm. “It’s something else, that’s for sure,” he agreed. “We only found
it yesterday and called y’all right away.”

“Well, sir, we’re delighted,” Dr.
Whitney turned to the two other people with him.  One was a silver-haired
African American woman and the other was a very young Caucasian girl with dark
hair and big blue eyes.  Dr. Whitney indicated the silver-haired woman first.
“This is Dr. Myla Clarke, a cultural historian, and this young lady is Lucy
Hennig, an intern.”

Dr. Clarke extended a slender
hand to Nash. “Sheriff Aury, it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you,” she said
in a deep, lovely voice. “One of my areas of expertise is the pirates who used
to infiltrate these lands and I’m extremely familiar with Louis-Michel Aury.
It’s such a thrill meeting one of his descendants.”

Nash greeted the woman kindly.
“I’m flattered, thank you.”

Dr. Whitney had apparently had
enough of the introductions. He was eager to get started. “We’d love to take
look at your crypt, Sheriff,” he said, indicating the house. “Shall we?”

Nash nodded, turning to the house
just as Alec emerged.  In his faded jeans, wrinkled t-shirt and flip-flops, he
looked like he just walked off the pages of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad.  He
was slovenly stylish, not unnoticed by the young intern. Nash introduced
everyone when Alec drew close.

“This is Alec Jentry, the owner’s
son,” he said. “Alec is responsible for this find, in fact. He’s the one who
found the secret door.”

Alec shook everyone’s hands as Dr.
Whitney looked rather curiously at Nash. “I thought you were the owner,
Sheriff?”

As Nash thought on the
complicated reply, Alec spoke up. “He and my mom are getting married,” he
explained, yawning. “He’s practically the owner.  He sold her the house and
when he marries her, he’ll get it back, so what he says goes.”

Nash tried not to react to Alec’s
hurtful statement as he led everyone inside the house.  Immediately, Dr.
Whitney and Dr. Clarke were entranced with the place and Nash turned a few of
the working lights so they could see everything.  Dr. Whitney was a man in love
as his gaze moved over the entry.

“Look at this place,” he sighed.
“That’s the beauty of having it in the same family for so long. There are so
few changes.”

“Dr. Whitney,” Dr. Clarke was in
the central hall, pointing to the staircase. “Look at the self-supported
staircase. A truly amazing architectural feat.”

As Dr. Whitney and Dr. Clarke
inspected the main staircase with awe, Nash began to smell coffee.  He noticed
the kitchen light was on and he peered inside.  Elliot was standing in front of
the coffeemaker dressed in a sparkly gray velour designer jogging suit, her
hair pulled into a stylish ponytail. She looked radiant and lovely, even at
five-thirty in the morning, and Nash slipped up behind her and wrapped his big
arms around her torso, nuzzling her neck.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he
murmured, kissing her head. “I was trying to let you sleep in a little.”

Elliot grinned, snuggling against
him. “That’s okay,” she said. “I heard the cars drive up, too, so it’s not like
I’ll be able to sleep much longer with the contractors here.”

He nodded, conceding the point.
“True,” he kissed her lips. “The people from the State are here.  I was just
getting ready to take them downstairs.”

Elliot opened her mouth to reply
when Alec walked in. “Hey, mom,” he greeted, going to the refrigerator and
yanking it open. “Did Nash tell you the people from the State are here?”

“He did,” she replied. “I’m ready
when they are.”

Nash glanced at Alec, who immediately
shook his head. “Not right now,” Alec told her. “Let the men handle this for
now. Can you please make me some cheesy scrambled eggs with ham? I’m really
hungry.”

Elliot was going to argue with
her son but the request for food naturally made her give in to his demands.
“Sure, I guess,” she appeared a little hurt that she was being left out. She
looked at Nash. “Are you hungry?”

Nash nodded. “Sure,” he said. “We
shouldn’t be too long. Besides, it’s nasty and wet down there. You don’t need
to be down in that mess. We’ll tell you everything they said.”

She thought on that and
eventually shrugged. “Okay,” she turned for the refrigerator. “I’ll make some
breakfast for everyone. Is Beau here?”

“Yes, he’s here.”

“He’ll smell the food and come
running.”

“You know my brother well.”

She grinned at him and began
busying herself with the food as Nash slipped out after Alec.  He caught the
kid as they made their way back to the people from the State, still inspecting
the self-supporting staircase.

“How did you do that?” he asked
softly.

Alec looked at him curiously. “Do
what?”

“Make her stay out of it? I
thought we were going to have a fight on our hands.”

Alec grinned. “You just have to
know how to handle the Jentry women,” he said confidently. “Requests for food will
always be promptly obeyed. Stick with me, Sheriff. I’ll teach you a thing or
two.”

Nash laughed softly but as he did
so, he was reminded of the comment that Alec had made outside about marrying
Elliot and getting the house back. He felt the need to clarify things, for his
own sake.

“Hey, Alec?” he said softly.

Alec looked at him. “What?”

“I’m not marrying your mom just
to get the house back. I’m marrying your mom because I love her. I don’t give a
damn about getting the house back.”

Alec looked confused for a moment
before realization dawned. “I know, dude,” he said sincerely. “I didn’t mean it
the way it sounded. I just meant that you’re the boss and can make decisions
about the house.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah, dude. If I thought you
were marrying my mom just for the house, I would have buried your body in the
back yard long before now.”

“You’re starting to scare me.”

Alec burst out laughing and Nash
grinned, shaking his head at the kid.  He was truly coming to appreciate the
relationship they were establishing, like the relationship he had with his own
boys. He treasured it. By that time, they were back over at the staircase,
collecting the people from the State and showing them the secret door.  The
inspection of the door alone took the next two hours. 

***

Nash eventually had to go to
work, leaving Alec with the State historians and Elliot with Hallie, the
preservationist from Tulane.  Elliot spent several hours with the woman, going
over the original paint colors for the interior of the house, which they
discovered had originally been a plain whitewash. Not wanting the entire house
to be Institutional White, Elliot and Hallie spent hours going over white
pallets that would complement the rooms. 

They eventually chose a series of
soft whites that would work magnificently with the original exterior color,
which was a peach color with big white pillars and white trim.  With the paint
colors selected for all of the rooms and the exterior, Elliot felt as if a
weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Finally, progress everyone would be
able to see.  Purgatory was beginning her transformation.

Hallie eventually left to go and
talk to the painters, leaving Elliot with some time on her hands.  Alec was
still down in the crypt with Dr. Whitney and his intern, while Dr. Clarke was
outside, sitting in the car with her laptop computer and chatting on a cell
phone. 

Elliot went upstairs to find her
daughter lying on her bed with the dog, messaging on her computer, so she left
the pair alone and went to her bedroom to envision how it would be laid out
once it was painted.  Still, everything was bunched up in the middle of the
room, away from the walls.  She would be glad to get it back to normal.

Flopping on to her bed, she
picked up her cell phone and dialed Nash.  On the fourth ring, he picked up.

“Hey, darlin’,” he greeted. “I’m
so glad you called. How are you?”

Elliot smiled simply at the sound
of his voice. He made her feel all warm and cozy inside. “Good,” she cooed.
“How are you?”

“I’m always good when I’m talking
to you,” he said sweetly. “What are you doing?”

“Well,” she rolled over onto her
back, staring up at the ceiling. “Hallie and I just picked out all of the
colors for the house. Did you know the walls were originally whitewashed? I
can’t stand stark white walls. I’ll need a straightjacket to go along with
them.”

He laughed softly. “What are you
going to do?”

“Well, since I really wanted to
stay true to the original colors, we selected harmonious white shades that are
softer and more muted,” she assured him. “Hallie’s talking to the painters
now.  Hopefully we can start getting the place painted by tomorrow.”

“Good,” he said. “I think you
should… wait, hold on a second….”

He covered the receiver but she
could hear him talking to someone else.  Eventually, he came back on the line.

“Honey, I’ve got to run,” he told
her. “I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”

“I love you too. See you later.”

He made a kissing noise into the
phone and hung up.  Elliot set the cell phone back on the nightstand and looked
around for her laptop, realizing she had left it in the kitchen. Heading
downstairs, she ran into Dr. Clarke as the woman was coming in from the
driveway. She smiled at the handsome black woman.

“Dr. Clarke,” she greeted. “How
do you like my house so far?”

Dr. Clarke sighed happily. “It’s
a truly remarkable example of an untouched Spanish Colonial home,” she said.
“I’m just in awe of it.”

“Good,” Elliot said. “What a
fascinating job you must have, studying these places.”

Dr. Clarke held up a finger. “Ah,
it’s not studying the home,” she clarified. “It’s studying the people who lived
here, their life and culture.  Purgatory is truly in a class by itself because
of its relationship to the pirates that sailed the river.”

“How is that?”

“Well,” Dr. Clarke began
thoughtfully. “Before I came here, I knew generally of the place and its
history, just like I know of most of the houses along the River Road and beyond.
I knew that Louis-Michel Aury had an entire colony going on around here, as the
men that sailed with him also had homes in the area. That’s why they used to
call this place the Devil’s Bayou.”

Elliot nodded. “Nash told me
that.  It’s an amazing story.”

Dr. Clarke nodded. “Yes, it
really is. Essentially, Purgatory was the center of a vivid and prosperous
city, one that used profits from privateers and pirate raids to thrive. 
Whereas most cultures during that time were dependent upon trade or
agriculture, Purgatory was almost entirely dependent upon the spoils from the
pirates. This house was built on theft, death and destruction.”