Chapter 16 It’s Getting Worse #4
That night she ran her hand over the waxy black leaves of the willow tree.
It had grown three feet already and though ominous, it was rather lovely and a striking addition to the garden.
She spoke kind words to it, telling it she hoped it grew strong and tall and wild and good, and then she curled up underneath the peach tree, finding sleep waited to take her into its gentle arms to quiet her mind for the night.
The next morning Eloise came inside from her deep sleep to make them coffee.
As she pressed the grounds there was a knock on the front door.
She wrapped her thick, caramel cardigan around herself tightly and peered out to see a tall man in a uniform.
She stepped back and frowned looking down at herself in leggings and peach slippers with feathers.
Her hair was a mess so she twisted it up with a clip it as she pulled the door open and smiled.
"Hi, how can I help you?"
"Ma'am. I'm Officer Craig Peterson with the SPD. Is Ursula Cambridge home? I'd like to ask you and her a few questions."
Panic filled her chest but she nodded slowly as her thoughts raced. "Sure, I'll go get her. Why don't you come inside?"
But as she opened the door wider, the door moved half an inch and then wouldn't budge as if stuck. She frowned and pulled harder until it finally gave and she smiled at the frowning officer.
"Uh, if you want to have a seat here," she waved to the cognac velvet couch as she made her way to the staircase. She hurried up the steps, keeping her feet light until she walked into Ursula's bedroom, closing the door behind her.
Ursula popped her dark head out of the bathroom.
"Hey, what's up? Please tell me you made coffee. I did not sleep well last night."
"Yeah. But I may need to make more because we have a visitor."
"Yeah? Kind of early," she said as she pulled on jeans.
"An officer Craig Peterson with the SPD."
Ursula paused buttoning her jeans and looked up at her with concern. "Great," she said. "Think there are more weird things happening around town? And why don't these jeans fit? They," she tugged, "fit," tugged again with another grunt and then held still as she got them buttoned. "Yesterday."
Eloise shrugged. "Weird things, probably," she said then pointed to where Ursula was holding up her shirt with the jean waistband digging into her pale stomach.
"You look great. Hormones suck. Let's go hormone-jeans shopping later.
" Then she told her to hurry. "But don't like, be too fast. Don't want him to think we're trying to hide anything. "
"Right. Chill. Nothing has happened." She threw on a grey chunky knit sweater and threw her hair up into a ponytail. "Why do I feel like we hid a body?"
"No, we'd remember that," she joked pulling a smile from Ursula. "Okay, see you down there."
"Eloise!" she whisper-yelled. An auburn head popped back into her room and Ursula pointed at her. "Hormone jeans is brilliant."
Eloise winked before leaving once again.
Eight minutes later, all three of them were sitting in the living room each with a mug of coffee in hand.
"Do you know a Rob Sandis?"
Dread filled both of them from head to toe.
"Know of," Eloise said.
"Unfortunately," Ursula said at the same time and Eloise gave her a quick, wide-eyed look. "Sorry, yes. I haven't seen him in a few months since he ran for mayor and left town."
"I've literally never met the man," Eloise said.
The police officer nodded, a look of superiority on his face.
He was tall, over six feet, and had long, dangly arms, narrow shoulders and he was clearly balding but was clinging on to the hair left by combing it over.
It was hard not to look at the strands with the obvious comb marks in the yellowish hair trying to stretch over shiny skin.
Eloise pictured those little sandboxes executives had on their desks that they raked with the tiny wooden rakes to calm themselves from the corporate pressure.
"Did you know he got married yesterday?"
"We heard," Ursula responded.
"Did you know he got married in town and he is stuck in a yawn?"
"I'm sorry?" Eloise said as Ursula moved to the edge of her seat.
"As he was saying his vows Rob Sandis yawned, and to his claim, he heard a ringing that was otherworldly," he squinted, reading something from his tablet. "And now he has been perpetually yawning ever since."
Both women were shocked silent. Officer Peterson waited with a look of impatience on his long face. The click click click then low ding of the large grandfather clock broke the silence.
"Huh," Eloise finally said and looked to Ursula who shrugged.
"That sounds like a very serious medical condition," Ursula said.
"Like," Eloise's eyes half-closed as her mind worked creating a mental picture. "He just keeps yawning? Over and over?"
"Correct."
"That is exhausting. Have you tried making him go to sleep?"
He frowned. "He's being seen by a specialist now. But,"
"But, what?" Ursula asked. "Officer, a man who you know had a quarrel with myself and my friends, and more importantly this house and its history, heard a ringing that was, what was it?"
"Otherworldly," he supplied, a redness creeping up his pale neck.
"Right. Otherworldly. And he cannot stop yawning. And you're in our living room because?"
"Well, some people seem to think you might know something about that."
"I grow plants," Ursula said, matter-of-factly. "And Eloise makes coffee."
"Extremely delicious coffee," she added. Ursula nodded.
"Right, well, some would say,"
"Who?" Eloise asked interrupting him. She tilted her head.
The red creeping up his neck touched his face, which was the slightest shade of orange. "That doesn't matter. What does matter is that multiple people in this town are having really odd things happen to them. And you, and this house, and your group of...women keep being brought up."
"I love that we're popular," Ursula said calmly, "but unless you have something concrete or an accusation that holds value, we're going to consider this a nice visit where we've met a new friend and offered him coffee."
Eloise didn't hold back her smile as she stood.
"It really was nice meeting you, officer.
If we hear anything about the goings on around town, we will be sure to let you know so that you can add it to your notebook of gossip.
" She paused when he looked up at her. "Unless you would like to stay for a treat?
I have elderflower scones that are to die for. "
Ursula also stood and they both looked down on the man in uniform sitting there, as his neck and face held that interesting shade of red. He looked up at them, an uncertainty in his eyes and posture. What had started in his control had flipped.
"Mmm, maybe another time," Eloise answered for him. "Now if you will excuse us, I need to go to the coffee shop and Ursula has a busy day as well."
They walked to the front door, which opened before Eloise had started pulling and she had to put her weight behind it or it would have flung exuberantly against the wall. Ursula's eyes widened the slightest and she smiled at the officer who was now striding towards the wide open door.
"Have a lovely day," they both said waving and giving him a friendly farewell. They both held themselves tightly as he walked down the steps and one of the wood boards lifted causing him to stumble.
Breaths were held.
He righted himself and looked at the steps, that were thankfully back in their place, and he shook his head before getting into his patrol car and driving away.
Tension took over what was usually a carefree and calm atmosphere in this house. The air moved differently, the windows kept opening themselves the slightest and then closing.
"Okay," Ursula said as the door slammed itself shut. "Obviously not a wanted guest."
"Everything has felt a little...off, right?"
She nodded in response.
"I," Eloise bit her lip trying to find the words. "I smell things."
"What do you mean?"
"You know how I've always had a really good nose?"
She nodded. "Yeah, you have the nose of a bloodhound. Or a pregnant woman."
"Right, well I thought it was just this perimenopause situation, that weird smell thing, but I don't know. Lately, I've been smelling a disturbance. Like the air is frenzied and you know that feeling right before a storm?"
"Yeah. I swear, I thought I was going crazy, but my plants have been doing odd things.
Turning odd colors, leaves curling in, that black willow?
Slaps me whenever I walk by. And I didn't want to scare anyone but I have found random sprigs of the black prince snapdragons popping up throughout the garden. "
"Didn't want to scare anyone? Scare us! We need to know what's going on, because this is all weird."
"You kept your dangerous guy secret from me," she pointed out and something flared in Eloise.
She pointed at Ursula. "That's not fair. That's different."
"How?" she asked, hands on hips, her stance strong.
"Because that was, is, about me and my past."
"Oh yeah? And if he comes here, where we both live, or heaven forbid when Bess is here, what then? Then it's still only about you?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying," she said shaking her head, feeling the truth of Ursula's words land heavy, but feeling a flame of shame that shifted to defense.
"I'm saying that whatever is going on in this town is bigger than us.
And we need to tell each other when something is off like the snapdragons. "
"A literal abuser, someone who possibly tried to murder you, left you a message in The Black Cat and you kept that from me. I think that's a little bigger than flowers."
The air was sparked. It smelled like heat and rubber and Eloise tried not to breathe it in too deeply.
"Those are separate!"
"How do you know?!" she flung her arms wide, her porcelain cheeks flushed.
"I," she made a sound in the back of her throat, thought of seeing the back of him disappearing at The Dancing Snail.
That familiar darkening started again. She felt the air double its thickness and pulling it into her lungs was like drinking through a clogged straw.
"I don't know. I just...they're not the same.
I can't talk about this," she said, panic lacing her words.
Ursula's eyes flared with anger. She wanted to say something, tell her she was about to lose control but the words wouldn't form. Everything was closing in.
"I need air," she got out as she started walking through the living room when Ursula's words stopped her in her tracks.
"Right. Run. Like you do. Don't face something difficult just because it's a little messy. Just like when your dad passed and you didn't know how to face it."
Everything stopped. The air that had started smelling like fire and heat went blank. A darkness inside of Eloise swelled and she couldn't name it, she wouldn't. She turned slowly, her amber eyes sparking.
The world closing in stopped as she looked at her friend, the slashing of her words echoed in her green eyes. "Don't," she whispered and then the dizziness descended on her.
Ursula swallowed visibly. Thoughts, possibly a whisper of regret passed over her green eyes, which did look like they were sparked, but then it was gone. "You don't face shit when it gets hard, Eloise."
Eloise pushed the panic aside and grabbed at anger as she took one step forward.
"And you do? How long did it take you to walk away from a man who treated you like you were an option, Urs?
Hmm? How many years did I hold up a mirror and ask you to look at yourself disappearing?
A decade? He didn't care about you and he called me names and you ignored it, waved it off like it was a silly joke.
But it hurt," she pressed a fist to her breasts, remembering the ways he would find to call her things like wildly incompetent or an odd bird, never trying to hide his derision.
"It hurt watching you disappear." Her voice lowered dangerously.
"And how would you know if I dealt with losing my dad? You weren't there to know."
It was Ursula's turn to shift through internal feelings of pain. But she, like Eloise, found that one lever of stubborn pride that they had a penchant of finding when least helpful.
She shook her head slowly the anger between them an empty trench now filled with a raging river. "Go on. Run away," she said.
Eloise settled back on her feet at the blow and nodded once.
A sad smile ghosted her lips. "Right. We've been here before.
Famous last words from last time." She stepped forward and lowered her voice.
"I may sometimes run from big, cavernous things, Urs.
But you bury them and act like they don't exist and you push people away.
So yeah, I've got some serious shit to deal with, but please don't throw stones. "
And then she turned and walked to her room where she grabbed a bag of her things and left.
Casper whined as she opened the front door.
She kissed his head softly and left the house where Ursula watched her walk down the walkway from her bedroom window.
Sulphur was at Eloise's side, the cat flickering a look up at the window before woman and cat disappeared into the grove of trees.
Last time she didn't watch. Last time she sat on her small, cracked patio at her midwestern house and did exactly what Eloise said; buried it.
Last time she lost something that required her to heal.
This time, she watched her friend become swallowed by the trees and held hope in her lungs for a different outcome.