Markers (Joshua Stokes Mysteries Book 3) (16 page)

Twenty-Six

Discoveries

Joshua tucked the folders under his arm and walked across the courtyard to his office. When he entered, he could tell his office had just been cleaned; it smelled of Windex and Old English furniture polish. He laid the folders down, opened the window, and then sat down at his desk. He stared at the closed folders for a moment then lit a smoke and sucked down a lungful, he was deeply thoughtful. He wanted to read them, but at the same time, he felt he was prying, digging into his mother’s personal business when he had no right to, but h
e did have a right, right?
He argued with himself
.
She was his mother -
She had been gone for years,
he had every right to read them;
whatever affected her, affected him. When he thought this, he thought of what he would want. He would not want people digging through his personal business no matter who they were. However, he would be dead so there would not be a damn thing he could do about it, unless he haunted them. He laughed at himself for thinking foolishly. Joshua sat up straight and opened the folder dated 22, Jan 1919. He was glad Sandy went a little further back in the records.

{The State of Alabama vs. Anna L Touart} Joshua wondered about the first and middle name separation, but knew this had to be his mother.

Anna L Touart a Minor - Aged 12

Primary Guardian: Department of Child Welfare - State of Alabama

Case #200314

Docket #19192

Charge: MURDER

Joshua almost dropped his cigarette out of his mouth when he saw that his mother was being charged with murder when she was just twelve years old. He knew that Margie Redfeather had said that Annaleigh killed her father, but she had good reason to kill him. He never dreamt that she was charged for the crime.

He took a long drag off his smoke and kept reading. What it boiled down to was that the State was sending her to a mental health facility to be evaluated by a psychiatrist before the case could proceed to court. - The psychiatrists report was in the file, but he could not really understand some of the medical lingo used. From what he did understand of it, he gathered that it had concluded that Annaleigh was suffering from shock. She was a child that had witnessed her mother’s death at the hands of a mentally unstable father that also intended to kill her and her siblings. While he was sleeping, she took the gun he used to kill her mother and shot him with it. She then took her little brother and sister and walked toward the nearest city. She and her siblings were taken into state custody.

Joshua knew the younger children were adopted-Annaleigh was not. Was it because of her history, he wondered.

The paperwork stated that she refused to go home to the reservation, and threatened to kill herself if they sent her back there… to Joshua that meant returning to her life on the Rez, must have been worse than the idea of living in an orphanage.

In his mind, he could almost visualize his mother crossing her arms and closing herself off from those around her. Joshua concluded that his mother was not crazy as a child, just fiercely protective over he little brother and sister. She was probably angry in addition to everything else - it could not have been an easy thing for a twelve year old to witness her mother murdered, especially by her father. Your father is supposed to love and protect you…

At the end of the file, it stated that Anna L Touart was to be removed from the Tutwiler facility in Tuscaloosa and placed in the Episcopal Church Home for Orphans in Mobile County, Alabama where her siblings were already enrolled.

So, thought Joshua, my mother’s brother and sister were placed in the orphanage while she was sent to an asylum to be evaluated… that must have been hell for her.

The next file was dated 20 July, 1927 -
Damn,
thought Joshua - I was only two months and a week old when this happened… Instantly, he thought of Imogene Lee. She had gone insane after having children. She had a nervous breakdown shortly after she gave birth to each of her three children. She had to be institutionalized for a month or so and medicated before she could care for them.

Doctor Lightfoot finally told her that she did not need children; and he told her she needed to stop having them. She took it literally and set fire to her house with her husband and children inside. He wondered if that was what happened to his mother… did her breakdown have something to do with giving birth - was that why he did not have any brothers or sisters… He glanced at the last file - it was dated six years later - 23 Oct 1934.

Joshua lit a cigarette and kept reading.

This warrant was similar to the first except instead of the State of Alabama’s name as the plaintiff it had his father’s name. The charge was child endangerment and possible danger to self and others. He looked at the next file and opened it to the same page - the charges were the same-child endangerment and possible danger to self and others. Joshua wondered if he was the endangered child. Did his mother have another child and harm it-he had many questions that he feared would go unanswered. He set the last file aside and read. There was a statement from the plaintiff (his father) included on a sheet of yellow legal-sized paper. He recognized his father’s neat handwriting right away. He stated that his wife had become very paranoid. She said that the ghost of her father kept appearing on horseback near her house; she said that he had come to seek revenge-that he was after her child. She had hidden their son in the attic, and then would not tell him where the child was, because she feared the spirit of her father would hear her and get to him first.

Joshua sighed. He did not remember any of that, however, he himself
had
seen the rider on horseback several times, but he never felt threatened by him. He did not know the rider was his maternal grandfather… he had always felt that the ‘Spirit Rider’ was warning him of impending danger. The night the lightning struck him, the rider had appeared to him - as he had several times during the time Emma was held by the psychotic Dixon brothers. The plaintiff also stated that his wife was six months pregnant and he felt that she was endangering their unborn child. She would not listen to reason and kept insisting that her father’s spirit was there to take her children away from her. Joshua stubbed his cigarette out in an ashtray and then lit another one. What happened to the unborn child, his brother or sister… did his mother carry the child full term. Did she miscarry? Was it stillborn?

Joshua leaned back and propped his feet on his desk. His mother was not crazy - she was just able to see through the thin veil that separated one world from the other. Back then, it was probably harder for people to comprehend-maybe they thought that anyone that could see ghosts were crazy. Even his mother must have thought that she was going bonkers… Margie had admitted that she saw ghosts. And, according to Margie, Annaleigh’s father saw them too. He also had heard that Indians were big believers in the supernatural… However, his mother was extremely young when she lived on the reservation, she may not have been exposed to many of their beliefs before her parents deaths. She was so young when her father killed her mother and then she killed him to protect herself and her siblings - she never stood a chance of having a happy existence. She never had a choice in the matter. What was
choice
anyway, thought Joshua.

“Choice is just an illusion, Hoss - it’s a delusion that’s deceptive in its simplicity of tricking someone into thinking they have an option.”

“Yep, Papa, you’re right” Joshua replied aloud. He dropped his feet from the desk, stacked the files together and then slid them to the right hand corner. He closed the window and left his office. Now that he had read the files, his queasy stomach had disappeared and been replaced by low rumbles of hunger. He was going to drive to the Causeway, eat lunch at the Oyster House, and then, he intended to go see Vivian Bradley.

Joshua drove through the tunnel and emerged on the Causeway; however, instead of stopping at the Oyster House as he first intended, he drove to the Blue Gill, parked and went inside. He requested a corner booth near the jukebox and after the host seated him, he heard a familiar voice speak.

“Well, if it isn’t Joshua Stokes. You know, we’re going to have to stop meeting like this, Sheriff.” Her tone of voice, sounded mischievous.

Joshua might have been surprised, but he wasn’t. In some odd way, it was just as he had imagined it would be when he opted to eat there instead of the Oyster House. He turned toward the woman’s voice and looked directly into her eyes. He felt the same warm sensual sensations he had felt the first time they met.

There was a definite chemistry between them…

Twenty-Seven

Choices

“Choices can make you or break you, Hoss.” That’s what his granddaddy told him in the same breath he’d just told him that they were an illusion and gave him the speech of choices being deceptive and the simplicity of tricking someone into thinking they have options. However, when given the chance to make your own decisions, you do have options, thought Joshua. He had made the choice to keep driving. To go past the Oyster House to the Blue Gill - he knew that if he went to the Blue Gill he was likely to run into Carolyn D'Iberville. She had told him that she ate lunch three or four times a week at the Blue Gill, he was just lucky that he had chosen the correct day or so he thought.

“Would you like to join me,” Joshua’s straightforward invite seemed to please her.

“I
would
, but I am meeting an old friend; she should be here any moment.”

“Oh,” Joshua responded, slightly deflated. The thought had never crossed his mind that she would have a lunch date. “Maybe some other time then…”

“That would be lovely, dear. You’ll have to give me a call… or, you could come to my house for supper tomorrow tonight,” she suggested. “I can’t wig out on my friend Alice; she is driving all the way from Jackson. She and I have a book signing in Fairhope tonight where we are both guest speakers.”

“Frankly, I’m not sure I can make it tomorrow night,” Joshua responded. “The way things have been going, it’s hard to make plans ahead of time.” He saw a look of disappointment cross Carolyn’s face. “If I see that I can, I’ll give you a call,” he added.

Just then, a man walked up to Carolyn’s table.

“Excuse me for interrupting Ms D’Iberville, but you have a phone call.” Carolyn smiled graciously, “Thank you, Marcus” she said to the man, and then turned toward Joshua and said, “Please, excuse me Joshua, I will be right back.”

After Carolyn left her table to take the call, a waitress came to take his order. Joshua ordered a platter of fried oysters-and, since he decided he was taking some personal time and not going back to the Sheriff’s Office, he ordered a bourbon and branch with the branch on the side. He had contemplated leaving, but his conscience would not let him - it would not be polite to walk out without saying anything, besides, it was only eleven a.m. he had all day to enjoy his lunch and he could chat with Carolyn until her friend arrived. The server brought his drink - he told her to go ahead and bring another one, he would need it. He lit a cigarette and swallowed back half the glass of whiskey then got up and headed toward the jukebox. He dropped a few quarters in and selected over a half a dozen songs. One of which, was a song titled ‘Maggie May’, by Rod Stewart - every time he heard it, it reminded him of Carolyn.

“
All I needed was a guiding hand, but you turned into a lover and oh what a lover
”

When he turned to go back to his table, he saw that Carolyn had seated herself there and was sipping her wine. She smiled, but did not speak until after he had sat down.

“I always seem to enjoy your choices in music, Joshua dear.
If
I were a vain person, I would think that one could have been written just for me…”

“It does give me pause to think of you every time I hear it - but in a good way,” Joshua replied, gazing directly into her eyes. She held his gaze but a moment and then looked away. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ began playing and its slow relaxed pace seemed to relax them.

“Well, it seems as if dear Alice is going to be running late. She is just now leaving Jackson.”

“Car problems?” Joshua asked.

“No, her mother is getting older and requires a nurse when Alice leaves town. The nurse had
car problems,
” Carolyn smiled. “Alice had to wait for her to arrive before she could leave. She is caregiver for her mother; the poor thing has her good days and bad days. She keeps Alice occupied.”

“She can be thankful she has her mother,” Joshua replied. “Many of us don’t have the luxury.” As soon as he said it, he wished he hadn’t; he saw a look of pity in Carolyn’s eyes. He did not like people to feel sorry for him.

“Have you found any new information on your mother,” she asked.

“Some, but not much - still looking” he said and threw back the rest of his whiskey. No sooner had he sat the glass down than the server was back with another glass. She asked Carolyn if she wanted her glass of wine refreshed.

“No, I’m good,” Carolyn replied, and smiled at the server.

Once the server walked away, Carolyn smiled at him and said, “Since Alice is running late, it appears that I will have several hours to kill. When we finish our meal, would you be kind enough to drive me home. I took a taxi here expecting Alice to drive me home.” Joshua nodded his head in the affirmative. Moments later, the server brought their meals. Joshua was mostly silent and let Carolyn do the talking. She talked about how she and Alice had met in college and remained lifelong friends.

“We were both studying journalism, but both of us wanted to write the next great American novel,” said, Carolyn, eyes sparkling. “Our professor, William Gay, whom we both fell in love with before the semester was over, taught us to not be the learned - but be the learner, the student… I will never forget what he said-he said, “
Do not to try to master your characters thoughts or control your characters actions. Watch what they do; listen to what they have to say
.
Let them tell you their story!
” - “He said that if we give total control to them to their development, the characters will tell the story the way it should be told - all we have to do is write it down.”

“Is that what you do; let the character tell the story?”

“Most definitely,” Carolyn smiled. “If we relinquish control and set our thoughts free, they tell us what we need to know, where we need to go, and who we need to talk to - the same is true in life. If we go with our intuition it will lead us in the right direction.”

Joshua smiled. “Are you telling me I need to follow my gut?”

“Yes, that is what I was implying, Joshua… it is what I did when I was working as a reporter all those years before I began writing novels. I’m just trying to help.”

“I appreciate it, Hun, honestly I do; and although I have doubted its leadership ability before, I always follow my gut-it rarely leads me astray. Speaking of which, the other day I saw you and Joe Barnes leaving the FBI offices. I did not know you two knew each other…”

“Oh yes,” Carolyn smiled. “Joe and I go way back. We met when I was working as a reported here in Mobile - he is always a dear when it comes to helping me when I am writing a story.” Carolyn was almost blushing; this intrigued Joshua.

“Are you working on a new book?” he asked.

“Yes, yes I am… do you remember the last time you and I were here and I began to develop a plot to a story and you joined in?”

“Yes - I do recall us talking about it,” Joshua replied, somewhat relieved.

“Well, I took it and ran with it. I am writing a delicious love story in which a rich older woman falls in love with a handsome detective 20 yrs her junior. I set the location in Biloxi, Mississippi-I set many of my stories there because it is home to me… I needed Joe’s input on some of the police jargon I had written. I wanted it to be believable.”

“Are they swept away by a storm?” he asked, remembering that they had talked of a hurricane blowing in and separating the lovers.

“A storm of emotions,” Carolyn said softly.

Joshua wondered if Carolyn truly had fallen in love with him, or if she was simply letting the ‘characters develop’. He smiled and touched her hand.

They talked, ate, laughed, and drank, totally enjoying each other’s company. However, when it came time to leave and Carolyn took hold his arm as they walked to his car, he swore he felt her fingers tremble. He glanced down at her and she smiled up at him; her lip trembled. Why should she be nervous, he wondered, he was the one that had butterflies in his stomach. He had always felt the student in the relationship. He felt she was superior in every aspect. Her nervousness caused him to feel protective toward her. He placed his free hand over the one she had on his arm and lightly squeezed it as he smiled back. It was nearing 1 p.m. If his estimations were right, they had nearly three hours before her friend was due to arrive.

When they drove up to Carolyn’s antebellum style home, the butterflies that filled Joshua’s stomach became more active. Why did this woman affect him the way she did? Carolyn seemed totally at ease; it was almost as if she were a different woman than the one he left the restaurant with; Joshua did not dwell on it. Carolyn was beautiful, she was refined, and for several hours, she was all his…



Joshua opened his eyes. He stared at the dark green object with a darker leaf pattern that seemed to flutter in a breeze and move along the darker object… for a moment, he felt he was lying outside amid the forested trees. It took staring at it for a minute, and blinking his eyes several times, to realize that the pattern was on a window shade, which was visible through a thin curtain. Where had that come from he wondered. He was lying in bed, but none of that registered at first because it felt surreal. His body was numb with sleep and his mind foggy.

“What the hell,” he mumbled.

“Twilight segues into soft obsidian night as fireflies flicker, lighting shadowy crevices of the days fading light, before total darkness descends gently over the land. And day after day, I, a mere mortal, am witness to this wondrous event.”

“Huh,” he mumbled. He looked over his shoulder and saw Carolyn lying on her stomach looking toward the double doors leading out to the balcony.

“Its just a little something I wrote in that love story I was telling you about earlier.”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” he said softly.

“You were exhausted, darling. At least I know I still have it,” she smiled.

Joshua liked the way she called him, darling. He rolled over and turned the same direction she laid. He pulled her to him and kissed her softly. Carolyn responded, but he could tell she held back. Once he released her lips, she whispered. “Cool your jets, tiger. We don’t have time for a repeat. Alice is in the guest room freshening up. I also need to get dressed; we have a little over an hour before our engagement at the Flyleaf Bookstore. Of course, you could go with us - I would be pleased to have such a handsome escort; I am sure Alice would too. If you did not want to do that, you could wait here until I return. We would have the rest of the night after that. From how hard you were sleeping, you could probably use the rest.”

Joshua rolled over onto his back and sighed. Carolyn’s huge four-poster bed had to be the most comfortable bed he had ever lain in; it was not too hard nor did it swallow you up as some beds did. It was like the bed in the Goldilocks and the Three Bears fairytale, it was
just right
.

“It is definitely worth considering,” he said as he stretched even further, spreading his arms and legs. Carolyn crawled astraddle him and locked her thighs to his hips.

“The choice is yours, darling, but I wish you’d stay,” she leaned forward and nibbled his left ear and mumbled, “We could make love and then walk down to the beach and go for a midnight swim.”

“I’m not too wild about salt water,” he murmured against her cheek.

“I have a pool.”

“That’s right, you do don’t you…” There was a light tap on the door and then it swung open simultaneously with a woman saying, “Excuse me for interrupting, but Carolyn, you need to get your ass in gear or we’re gonna be late for the book signing-Oh, damn! It looks like your ass is already in gear.”

Carolyn chuckled.

“Joshua, this is my friend Alice. She has been dying to meet you. Alice, this is
the
Sheriff.” Joshua peeked over Carolyn’s shoulder.

Alice whistled. “I wouldn’t be worried about being late either if I had
that
between my legs!” Alice did not look exactly as he had pictured her in his mind; she was somewhat disheveled with a wild mane of red hair that fell in layers around her shoulders.

“Mm,
Yummmmy
,” she said, stretching out the m’s in yummy and eyeing his body. He wondered just how much of him was exposed. He knew his face turned a little red; he felt the heat of it. “Nice to see-I mean meet ya, Sheriff!” Alice exclaimed loudly.

Joshua could not speak so he just nodded.

“I hope to see more of you, real soon,” Alice said, raising her eyebrows several times. “Chop - chop, Carolyn,” she yelled, clapping her hands together. “Get your ass to moving woman - and by that I mean get your ass
dressed
, we got to go!” she turned to leave, closing the door behind her as she left the room.

“I’m sorry if Alice embarrassed you. She is a little
out there
,” Carolyn said, as she got off him and out of bed. “I should have known to lock the door when I returned from letting her inside earlier.” Joshua could not believe he had slept soundly through Carolyn’s getting out of bed and letting her friend inside and then returning to bed.

“I think I’ll be alright,” he mumbled. “Never been caught naked in bed with a woman by a strange woman before, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.”