Blackwater Spirits by Miriam Grace Monfredo

Author:Miriam Grace Monfredo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mystery, history, civil war, native american, war, slaves
Publisher: Miriam Grace Monfredo

***

can't you make that horse move any faster?" Abraham Levy shouted to Cullen over the clatter of carriage wheels.

Glynis, seated beside Cullen, thought the horse was moving quite fast enough. Though obviously not for Abraham, who, from the rear seat, had shouted the same thing several times since they left the Fall Street livery. He had arrived while she and Cullen waited for a horse to be harnessed. When he heard Neva was on her way to the Grimm farm, he insisted on going with them. Glynis wondered if he realized that his extra weight was what slowed their progress.

Cullen didn't answer Abraham, but continued to peer intently ahead into the gathering darkness. The two small carriage lamps were little help. Glynis had offered to take the reins because, she told Cullen, she had made this trip so many times in the past week she didn't need light. But she shouldn't have bothered. No man was going to let a woman drive, not while he could draw breath.

When they turned off Black Brook Road into the Grimm place, the house ahead looked dark. But from under the barn door shone a wedge of light. The three of them climbed from the carriage, the men walking directly to the barn, while Glynis paused to study a rectangular shape, under a clump of white birch some yards away. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she gradually confirmed it to be a wagon. Tied behind it, and what had first caught her eye, stood the distinctive black and white paint horse. She couldn't imagine what Jacques Sundown might be doing there.

As she began to walk toward the horse, Glynis heard voices coming from the barn. When she turned to look the door had swung open to silhouette Cullen and Abraham. A third figure was there also, dressed in a full skirt, that looked like Neva Cardoza. Glynis stood indecisively, thinking that if she went to join them, Jacques might leave before she found out why he was there.

As she watched, two of the backlit figures in the door moved away from the barn. The other—from his height, Glynis determined it to be Cullen—went on inside. Glynis started toward the pair, but they hurried to stand under the spreading branches of an oak, remaining apart for only a moment before they merged into a single shape.

Although thoroughly astonished, Glynis smiled to herself and waited until the two separated before she went toward them. Neva, in a shaken voice, was saying, "...and I couldn't do anything for him. Nothing!"

Abraham clearly intended to draw her close again, so as Glynis approached them, she spoke loudly. "Neva, what's happened?"

The two jumped and hastily moved farther apart.

"Glynis, you frightened me," Neva said, her voice still unsteady. "Of course," she added belatedly, "I'm glad you're here."

Under the circumstances, Glynis did not find this convincing. "What's happened to Obadiah?" she asked again.

"He's dead," Abraham answered.

Glynis inhaled sharply at the abrupt announcement, and yet she wasn't totally surprised. Either Neva's words had prepared her, or she had begun to anticipate death at every turn.

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