2 Yule Be the Death of Me (18 page)

As she was
driving out to the Cayuga Union Cemetery, she decided against her better
judgment to just go to Natalie’s trailer and look for some answers directly.
After all, she was practically there by the time she reached the cemetery
anyway.

She knew that
if one of Sheriff
Rigsbee’s
officers found her there,
she would be in a heap of trouble, but it was Joshua she was more concerned
about. She had kept some of her findings from him because she didn’t want him
to worry. He had enough on his mind with everything going on in town.

As she pulled
into the trailer court she was relieved to see no patrol cars parked anywhere.
She carefully navigated the road, avoiding some new potholes that opened up,
pulling alongside the trailer where she had watched the entire saga unfold not
too long ago.

Natalie’s
trailer looked dark inside, and there were no footprints in the snow to
indicate anyone had been there for quite some time. Vivienne stepped out of her
car and charged forward toward the front door. As her feet crunched in the
snow, she heard a voice call out.

“She’s not
home. Why don’t you vultures go chase another story?”

Vivienne
turned toward the voice and saw a man dressed in a puffy blue winter jacket
with an orange hunter’s cap on his head. “I’m not with the media.”

The man tipped
his head to the side. “Then what are you doing poking around this trailer
court?”

Vivienne
pointed to Natalie’s trailer. “I was hoping to visit with my friend. She’s had
a rough time of things here lately.”

The man walked
toward her, his boots crunching the snow with his heavy steps. “I know that.
I’m here neighbor.”

Vivienne
searched her memory quickly. Sally Rollins had mentioned a neighbor that had
heard a gunshot the day Eddie was attacked. His name was on the tip of her
tongue. “Of course, Sally Rollins mentioned you.” She stalled for time.

“I don’t
associate with her kind.” The man stopped in front of her and wiped his red
nose with his gloved hand. “Always sticking her nose in other people’s business.”

“You’re Gus
Holt.” Vivienne snapped her fingers.

“I am.” He
eyed her suspiciously. “And you are?”

“Vivienne
Finch. I own a bakery down on Main Street in town.”

Gus nodded.
“I’ve heard about you. You were part of that whole Mona Clarke murder mess a
while back.”

Vivienne
gulped. “Well, a small part.”

He sniffed the
cold air. “Like I said,
ain’t
nobody been home for a
few days now.”

“Do you happen
to know where they are staying?” She asked.

“I don’t stick
my nose into other folk’s business.” He folded his arms.

“Mister Holt,
mind if I ask you a question about the day Eddie Robertson was attacked?”

“Shot.” Gus
corrected her. “I know a gunshot when I hear one.”

“But the
medical staff found no evidence of a bullet wound on Eddie anywhere.” Vivienne
explained. “How can that be?”

Gus shook his
head. “I only know what I know. I told the police and I’m telling you that I
heard a gunshot that day and no one is going to convince me otherwise.”

“Do you think
maybe it was someone’s television turned up loud? Those home theater systems
can really surprise you.”

Gus scoffed at
her theory. “You sound just like those Keystone Cops downtown.”

“I’m just
trying to figure out the truth of what happened here.” Vivienne pleaded. “For
Natalie and Connor’s sake.”

“That’s all
well and good, but I don’t have any other answers for you.”

Vivienne
wanted to go snoop around the trailer for clues, but that wasn’t going to
happen with Gus standing guard. “Well then, I guess I wasted some gas coming
out here for nothing.”

“Sorry I can’t
help you, Miss Finch.” Gus apologized and glared at her. “Was there anything
else?”

“No.” Vivienne
gave him a little smile and headed back for her car. “Thank you for coming out
to let me know she wasn’t here.”

“Anytime.” Gus
waved and stood his ground.

Vivienne
pulled away, wishing she had a spell handy to make nosy neighbors disappear.
She’d have to ask Nana Mary about one the next time she saw her.

As her car
rounded the corner onto Cemetery Road, Vivienne spied a little kid running
across the road. She slammed on her brakes, as the car skidded sideways off to
the side and hit a small snow bank.

The little kid
laughed and threw a snowball at her windshield. Vivienne gasped when she
recognized the little imp. It was Connor. Dressed in a little black coat with a
white hat and mittens, he gave her a smile. “Hey, don’t run off.” She yelled
and exited the car. Connor turned around, giggled at her, and ran up the snow
bank and into the Cayuga Union Cemetery.

“Connor.”
Vivienne yelled after him. “I need to talk you.”

There was a
faint giggle as a reply. Vivienne locked her purse in the car and gave chase
through the snow. “Connor, I need to talk to you and your mom. Please come
back.”

“Hide and
seek.” Connor squealed with delight. “Come and find me.”

Vivienne
hurried up through the main gate of the cemetery expecting to see Connor’s
white hat bobbing along the headstones. She paused for a moment to listen for
his footfalls, but was greeted with silence. Thankfully, the snow was a little
deeper out here in the countryside and she was able to easily track his little
boot prints. “Connor, I don’t have time to play a game today. Can you tell me
where your mommy is?”

There was no
answer.  The late afternoon sun was hanging low in the western sky, the
shadows from the tombstones grew long against the white snow on the ground.
Vivienne followed his twisting little path without much effort, stepping
further and further upwards toward the civil war monuments and the cannons. “Hey
Connor, I bet you can’t find the big cannons in here.  I’ll bet you can’t
find them before I do.”

Suddenly, she
saw the white hat leap upwards from behind a large marble stone and run off
toward the cannons. “Yes I can.” He yelled back.

Vivienne
charged ahead, careful not to trip on any of the smaller stones that had fallen
over onto the ground. At last, she could see the large cannons looming ahead,
their capped nozzles raised skyward. Connor was standing between them, he
giggled and pointed at her. “Slowpoke.”

“You won,
Connor.” Vivienne managed to speak between breaths as she trudged through the
uneven ground. “You beat me fair and square.”

“I won.” He
jumped up and down with excitement.

Vivienne was
only a few steps from him when suddenly she felt her legs give out
unexpectedly. She threw her hands upwards in shock as the ground disappeared
below her and she was swallowed up into the cold darkness. With a muffled
scream, she tumbled downward into a sinkhole where a forgotten grave had been.

*          
*           *

She awoke
inside a room that smelled of old wood and lavender. It was dark, but there was
a sliver of light peeking out from behind some boards that covered a small
window. Her senses told her that she was in the throes of one her memory trips
into the past.

Unlike the
last time, she felt more grounded and part of the memory.

“You shouldn’t
have come here.” A familiar voice spoke softly from the darkness. “You were not
meant to see this.”

Vivienne
coughed in the stale air. “Where am I?”

“My prison.”
The voice replied. “The place where I was strangled to death by Edgar
Rothwell
.”

“Who are you?”
Vivienne coughed again and pulled herself up from the cold floor.

A pair of
slender white hands slid under her arms and helped her to her feet. “It’s me.”

Vivienne
pivoted around to come face to face with Natalie Burdick. “Natalie.”

“You shouldn’t
have come here.” She spoke softly.

“What happened
to me? I was just in the cemetery with Connor.” Vivienne felt disoriented and
weak.

Natalie glared
at her with cold, dark eyes. Her features were gaunt, her pale skin pulled
tight against her skull. Her dark hair was a tangled mess that cascaded over
the familiar dark uniform she had seen her in during her vision in the
Rothwell
mansion. “Now you are here.”

“Where is
here, exactly?” Vivienne looked around the barren room. She could see peaks
where the roof angled upwards.

“The
Rothwell
mansion.” Natalie replied. “In the attic. After
Edgar strangled me, he stored my body up here until he could find a proper hiding
place for his crime.”

“I couldn’t
find the attic.” Vivienne explained. “Is it one of the secret entrance deals?”

“He had it
covered up, after my death. He didn’t want any evidence to be found.” Natalie
stepped aside and revealed a blue-tinged figure wearing the same dress as her,
tied up in a wooden dining chair. Streams of old blood, dried black, crusted
her face. “He left me here for two days before he retrieved my corpse and
stuffed me inside the old cannon in the cemetery.”

Vivienne
gasped. “Why did he do it?”

Natalie walked
over to her corpse and gently caressed the strands of hair that began to fall
out in clumps. “He killed all of us because of my son.”

“Jacob?”

Natalie’s face
contorted into one of great pain. “His real name was Connor, after my father.”

“When the
Rothwells
adopted him, they named him Jacob.” Vivienne
followed along.

“They stole my
child from me along with his rightful birth name.” Natalie’s voice cracked.
“Stole the life of the great man my son was to become.” She broke down into
frantic tears. “Poisoned by the father he loved unconditionally.”

 “Why did
Edgar kill all of you?” Vivienne demanded.

“Because
Connor was his own flesh and blood.” Natalie dropped to her knees and began to
cry. “He blamed that poor soul that worked on his railroad to cover up the fact
that we had improper relations.”

“It was
consensual?”

“I was young
and stupid. I believed him when he said we could start a new life together
somewhere far away from Cayuga Cove.”

Vivienne
walked slowly over to Natalie. “He couldn’t leave his wife or daughter.”

Natalie shook
her head. “I spent four years being a servant to that evil woman. Guarding my
tongue when she scolded and threatened to fire me. Scrubbed every inch of her
home until the skin on my hands was so raw and cracked that they bled daily.”

“His
frustration at the situation turned to contempt.” Vivienne nodded. “Contempt
turns to rage.”

“He raged at
the world. He raged at the church which taught him his sin would damn him to
burn in the lake of fire. He raged at the wife whom all love was drained long
before I came into their lives.” Natalie continued. “He raged at the lack of
control that a man of his means should have. In the end, he raged at all of us
and destroyed himself in the process.”

Vivienne
couldn’t help but think of the symbol of evil, the snake eating its own tail.
“I’m so sorry.”

“They’re not
sorry.” Natalie looked up at Vivienne.

“Who are you
talking about?” Vivienne wondered.

“All of them
in the town. Those that keep secrets and act as if they are pure as snow.”

“You’re
talking about Eddie Robertson, Eunice Kilpatrick, Nathaniel and Tristan?”
Vivienne took a step back. “What do they have to do with what happened to you?”

Natalie sprung
forward like a cat and knocked Vivienne to the floor with a thud. Her eyes were
dark as the night sky and her smile twisted upwards almost to her ears. “I
cannot rest, so I will make them all pay for the sins of the past. Why should I
alone be made to suffer for eternity?”

Vivienne tried
to fight her off, but the weight on her chest was unbearably heavy. “I can give
you peace if you let me.”

“Peace?”
Natalie cackled maniacally. “It’s too late for reparations. For too many years
I have haunted the streets from the shadows, unable to do anything but observe.
But, thanks to the witch that opened the portals, I now have the power to walk
among you and punish the guilty.”

Vivienne
gasped as the weight of Natalie began to push the air from her lungs.

Natalie threw
her head back and let out a scream that roared like the wind in a winter storm.
The room began to shake, the boards rattling as her crescendo rose higher and
higher.

A bright light
exploded from the attic roof above. “Vivienne? Can you hear me?” Joshua’s voice
echoed faintly.

“No.” Natalie
screamed in frustration as more light poured into the attic.

Vivienne could
see a hand inside the center of the light. A warm, flesh-colored hand that
seemed more real than her surroundings. She reached upwards and clasped onto
it. The attic dissolved away, revealing a wall of earth surrounding her.

“I’ve got
her.” Joshua’s voice filled her ears.

She felt
herself rising into the air, as Natalie grabbed onto her legs and tried to pull
her down. Vivienne started to kick in frustration.

“She’s
fighting me.” Joshua’s voice returned. “Don’t let go of my hand.” He ordered.

“This isn’t
over, witch.” Natalie hissed. “I’ll take them all to the grave before this
Yuletide.”

Vivienne felt
the grip on her legs loosen. One of her boots slipped off as she was pulled out
of the ground. Her eyelids fluttered for a moment and then she saw the
cemetery.

“Oh, thank
God.” Joshua leaned forward and swept the dirt off her face. “Can you breathe
okay?”

Vivienne
blinked, the bright light began to fade to a more tolerable level. She coughed
up some dirt that tasted terrible in her mouth. “Water.”