THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN FOR PLEASURE NOT PROFIT AND IS NOT INTENDED TO
INFRINGE ON ANY KNOWN COPYRIGHT
ELOISE
Sequel to Collier D'Or
[pic]
A Bonanza Story
By Kate Pitts
In the dark, cold depths of the water the only signs of the winter storms that raged above were the stirring of the currents. Restlessly moving across the lakebed, they caught up small stones and particles of debris as they went, carrying them along for a while before setting them down, perhaps to be caught by the next current in the next storm.
The morning was calm, although the night had been marked by high winds and torrential rain, the sky rent asunder by jagged forks of lightning. Now, in the fall sunshine, the lake lay serene, scarcely a ripple breaking it's surface as Etta Parker walked beside it. The daughter of a local homesteader, Etta was just twenty one, a slim, pretty, young woman with long auburn hair caught back in a knot and grey eyes, that at the moment, were fixed on a small object lying at the water's edge. Bending gracefully Etta scooped the thing up and found herself holding a small metal box covered with tiny writing. Flicking the catch that held it closed, she gasped as she saw the contents. Water had leaked inside and the green velvet that lined the box was in a sorry state, practically rotted away, but the golden necklace that lay coiled on top of the remains of the material was in perfect condition. Gently lifting it out, Etta examined it in delight, a tiny oval locket, delicately etched whorls decorating it's surface. It was the prettiest thing she'd ever seen. Etta wondered for a moment how such a beautiful object had come to end up in the lake and who it could have belonged to. No matter, she thought, it was obviously unwanted and now it was hers. Fingers closing possessively over the necklace, Etta tucked it into her pocket and headed home.
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"Oh, Doctor Martin." Sarah Parker exclaimed in relief as she opened the door of the small cabin. "I'm so glad you've come." "It's Etta, I understand." Paul Martin took off his hat as he entered the house. "She's not well?" "I'm so worried about her, Doctor." Sarah twisted her hands together as she spoke, concern etched on her brow and in her dark eyes. "It started a couple of weeks ago, she'd been for a walk by the lake and when she came in she complained of feeling tired. We didn't think much of it but she's just got worse and worse. She's so tired she can't get up from bed and it's hard to rouse her even to eat or drink." "I see." Paul said with a frown, he'd known Etta for some years and the girl was usually a bright and energetic young person. "You'd better let me see her." Wordlessly, Sarah crossed the room and opened Etta's door, standing aside to let Paul enter. Inside the bedroom it was dim, the drapes drawn against the morning sun. Beside the bed Etta's father, Bill Parker, got to his feet as the doctor came in, and offered him the chair he'd been sitting in. "I've been tryin' to get her to take some broth." He told Paul as the physician opened his medical bag. "But she just won't eat anythin'." Paul Martin's heart sank in dismay as he turned to examine the girl who lay in the narrow bed, though he tried to keep his expression neutral for her parent's sake. The young woman he'd seen just a few short weeks before at a dance in Virginia City had almost disappeared, leaving just a shadow of herself behind. Etta's thick, auburn hair was dank and lifeless, her skin sallow, and her grey eyes, usually so full of life, looked up at him listlessly, dark shadows staining the skin beneath them. "Can you tell me what the problem is, Etta?" The doctor asked gently, feeling for the girl's pulse and finding it faint and sluggish beneath his fingertips. "Your mother says you feel tired all the time." Etta nodded slightly, even the small movement seeming an effort. "Do you have any pain?" Paul asked, checking now for signs of a fever and finding none. "No." Etta whispered. The word, uttered through dry, bloodless lips, was barely perceptible to the listener. "I see." Paul tried to smile reassuringly at the girl as he gently examined her eyes, noting that the whites were yellowed and the pink rims had faded until they were almost as pale as her skin. As he carefully felt Etta's neck for any signs of lumps his hand caught the chain of a small golden locket lying in the hollow of her throat. "What a pretty necklace." Paul said, hoping to draw some response from the girl. "Is it new?" "Necklace?" Sarah spoke from behind him, looking over his shoulder at her daughter. "Why, wherever did you get that from, Etta?" With a quick motion, startling both her mother and the doctor, Etta brought her hand up to grasp the locket. "It's mine!" She said with a defiant look at her mother. "Don't touch it." "Of course I won't." Sarah told her soothingly, adjusting the covers around her daughter as the doctor got up from the bedside. She wondered where the girl had come by such a valuable looking piece, it looked more expensive than Etta's beau, Charlie Stevens, could ever have afforded. The serious look on Doctor Martin's face drove the speculation from her mind however and, telling Etta she'd be back in a moment, she followed her husband and the doctor from the room. "I'm so sorry." Paul Martin said softly as Sarah closed the bedroom door behind her. "I don't know what ails Etta but I'm afraid that things don't look good." He put a consoling hand on Sarah's shoulder as the woman began to cry. Looking over at Bill, the man suddenly aging before him, Paul suppressed a sigh. Moments like these were something a doctor dreaded.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Saturday night social was in full swing, the people of Virginia City enjoying the lively music, the food and the company. From his seat against the wall, Doctor Paul Martin caught sight of the familiar figure of his friend, Ben Cartwright, and raised a hand in greeting. "Evening, Paul." Wending his way through the crowd around the refreshment table, Ben paused to help himself to a couple of glasses of punch, before joining the doctor. "No patients this evening?" "Not a one." Paul said with a smile as he took the glass that Ben held out to him. "Everyone hale and hearty." "Well that's good to hear." Ben settled himself in the chair next to his friend and took a sip of the punch. "By the way, what's this talk I hear in town about one of your patients and a miracle recovery?" "Etta Parker!" The doctor exclaimed. "It was a miracle all right, and that's the truth of it, Ben. The girl was at death's door, in fact I was just about to send for Reverend Jones when." He broke off and gestured across the room to where a group of young people had just come in. "Well, see for yourself." Looking over, Ben saw Etta, the girl was standing by the door, a crowd of young men around her. "Just over two weeks ago I'd have laid odds that girl was dying." Paul said softly. "Now she's as healthy as she ever was." Etta certainly looked well, Ben thought. The girl had always been pretty, but tonight she seemed to positively glow. With her shining auburn hair in tumbled curls around her shoulders, and her blue dress showing off her slim figure, it was no wonder that the young men of Virginia City were flocking around. Seated at a table a little further around the room, Etta's father, Bill, also watched his daughter. A worried frown creasing his brow as he listened to the young man who sat at the table with him. "I tell you, Mr. Parker." Charlie Stevens was saying, distress obvious in his voice. "Etta just don't want to know me no more. She told me it was all over." "Did she say why?" Bill asked, turning to look at the young man. Charlie had been Etta's beau for two years now and the pair had been intending to marry the following spring. "Give you any reason?" "No she never." Charlie shook his head sadly and leaned closer to Bill. "You know something." He said quietly. "She just don't seem like my Etta anymore Mr. Parker, not since she was ill." Bill's frown deepened at the words and he looked over at Etta again. He agreed with what Charlie had said, Etta didn't seem like herself anymore. Since her miraculous recovery Bill and Sarah's loving, caring, daughter seemed to have turned into a cold, selfish, individual. Even more disturbing, and Bill shivered slightly at the thought, was that sometimes he would catch Etta watching him and it was as though he caught a glimpse of another person hidden behind his daughter's grey eyes. Those same grey eyes were narrowed now as Eloise Champenois noticed Bill watching her from across the room. She knew that both Bill and Sarah had become suspicious, that they sensed something was wrong. A sly smile touched her lips as she thought of what she intended to do. She had what she wanted, a new body, a whole new life, and nothing was going to get in the way of that. Etta Parker's body suited Eloise for now but Etta's parents didn't. She thought of the sleeping powders that Dr. Martin had given Sarah to help her sleep, and which now stood on a shelf in the Parker's kitchen. With those, and a lamp, Eloise would deal with Bill and Sarah and, if all went as she intended, getting rid of them would help with her plan to get even with Adam and Joe Cartwright for throwing the locket into the lake.
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The ride back to the ranch had seemed a long one to Ben, tired as he was from a hard days work. He'd had trouble keeping awake for the last hour of the social and was pleased to get home and to bed. Adam, Hoss and Joe hadn't been far behind him knowing that, as always, they'd need to be up early the following morning. The household were all deeply asleep when, in the early hours of the morning, a lone horse came galloping into the yard. Dismounting rapidly the rider rushed over to hammer frantically on the ranch house door. Adam was first down the stairs, grabbing his robe on the way. By the time he'd opened the door to a distressed Etta Parker both Joe and Ben had appeared and sounds from above indicated Hoss was on the way. "Oh, Mr. Cartwright." Etta gasped, seeing Ben behind Adam. "Please come.a fire.my parents." "A fire?" Ben reached for his hat and jacket. "At your place?" "Yes." The girl nodded, her face white with fear. "I woke up and smelt smoke. I tried to open my bedroom door, but the flames." She broke off as sobs shook her slender body and Ben put a compassionate hand on her shoulder. "I got out of the window." She continued, getting herself under control. "But my parent's room was ablaze. The lamp must have fallen over or something. I shouted and shouted but they didn't wake. Oh, Mr. Cartwright, I'm so afraid." "Get dressed, boys." Ben ordered. "I'll saddle the horses." As his sons headed back upstairs to grab shirts and boots, Ben turned back to Etta. "You stay here with Hop Sing, my dear." He said gently. "He'll look after you." "No." The girl shook her head determinedly. "I have to go with you. They're my mother and father." Ben didn't argue, just nodded understandingly. He did wonder why Etta had come to the Ponderosa for help when the Double J ranch was closer to the Parker's place, but he supposed that in her panic the girl hadn't been thinking straight. By the time Etta and the four Cartwrights arrived at Bill and Sarah's home there was nothing at all that could be done. The wooden building was practically gone; just it's blackened skeleton remained, flames licking lazily around it. "I'm so very sorry, my dear." Ben put a consoling arm around Etta's shoulders as they stood beside the smouldering remains. "So sorry we couldn't save them." "Oh, Mr. Cartwright, what am I going to do?" Etta looked up at him, tears running freely down her face. "I've lost everything. My parents, my home." "Do you have any other family?" Ben asked softly. "Anyone that we can contact?" "No." Etta shook her head. "There's nobody, nobody at all. Oh, what am I going to do?" Turning, she laid her head on Ben's broad chest, weeping frantically. "You can stay with us." Ben offered, awkwardly stroking the girl's hair in a gesture of comfort. "At least until we sort something out." "Thank you." Etta looked up at him, grey eyes shining with gratitude. "Thank you so much." "It's the least we can do." Ben assured her gently. "You come on back to the ranch with Hoss and me. Adam and Joe will ride into town and let the sheriff know what's happened." "The sheriff!" Etta exclaimed in alarm, as Adam and Joe mounted up. "But it was just an accident Mr. Cartwright. A horrible accident." "I'm sure it was, my dear." Ben reassured her. "But the sheriff has to know and, well, other people need to be informed." "Yes, of course." Etta looked over at the charred remains of the house. "I suppose arrangements will need to be made." "We'll talk about it later." Ben told her quietly. "When you've had a little time to think about things." Etta nodded and allowed herself to be led over to her horse. Getting into the saddle, she couldn't resist a last look back at the burnt out cabin as Hoss and Ben mounted beside her. It was at that moment that Joe walked his horse over for a quick word with his father. He was the only one that saw the expression on Etta's face. Later he wasn't even sure of what he saw, putting it down to a trick of the moonlight or the vagaries of grief. But at the time the satisfied smile that curved Etta's lips and the gleam in her grey eyes sent a cold shiver crawling up his spine. He was glad to turn away from the girl and head off to Virginia City with Adam.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Standing before the mirror in the room the Cartwrights had given her, Eloise ran her hands appreciatively over Etta's body. She felt a momentary pang of regret for the loss of her own voluptuous curves and her long blonde tresses but was well satisfied with Etta's auburn hair, slender waist and flat stomach. It was good to be a real, solid presence after so long. So very long, Eloise mused, letting her mind wander back in time to the days before the curse had held her captive. 1750, and the town of Versailles near Paris, home to the court of Louis XV. Eloise's mother, Josiane, had been a courtesan, the mistress of a wealthy Duc and Eloise, his unacknowledged child, had been raised to a life of privilege. Unlike most girls she had received a good education and was well read and versed in the fine arts. As Josiane grew older and her looks faded the Duc turned his attentions elsewhere and Eloise and her mother found themselves evicted from their fine apartments, eventually finding a home in the less salubrious area of the town. Forced to earn a living, Eloise had found work serving in a café and it was there that she met Georges De Marigny. Georges was a wealthy young man from a good family, handsome and dashing. Eloise had soon fallen for his charms. The only problem was his wife, Danielle, who occasionally accompanied him to the café with their small son, Marc. Despite declaring his love for Eloise, Georges soon made it clear that he wasn't willing to leave his wife and child. Besotted with the man and determined to have him for herself Eloise had spoken to her mother's brother, Pierre, an apothecary. Telling him that the house was overrun with rats, Eloise had managed to obtain some poison. The next time Charles had brought Danielle to the café Eloise had sprinkled the poison in her rival's chocolate. But then it had all gone horribly wrong, Danielle gave the chocolate to Marc, and before Eloise had time to stop him, the child had drained the cup. Learning of what had happened, and horrified at being implicated in the death of a child, Eloise's Uncle had confessed all to Georges and Danielle. Eloise was sentenced to death. With a shudder Eloise brought herself back to the present, she had no wish to recall her wait for execution and the visit from Danielle De Marigny. It was there, in her tiny cell, that she had first heard the words of the curse that would bind her to the De Marigny family. Standing before her, green eyes cold and vengeful, Danielle had told the jailer to snip off a lock of Eloise's hair. As the man obeyed and handed the blonde tress over, Danielle had closed her fingers around it and looked down at the young woman responsible for the death of her child. "When you are dead." She had said harshly. "This relic of you will remain and I will see that you are bound to it forever." Eloise heard later that Danielle had visited a wise woman, a sorciere, and had the hair cursed by her. Whatever had been done, the curse had worked, and Eloise had been bound to the locket that contained her relic. A wraith forever seeking for an escape, a way back to life. Finally, with the body of the unfortunate Etta, she had succeeded. Eloise smiled at the reflection in the mirror, catching a hint of her own blue eyes beneath Etta's grey orbs, now she could live again and nobody would be allowed to stand in her way. Now she would finally get her revenge, both on the woman who had kept her from eternal rest and the men who had thwarted her last attempt to take a body.
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It seemed half of Virginia City were at the graveside as Bill and Sarah Parker were laid to rest; the couple had been well liked. Etta, dressed completely in black and with a veil shielding her face, clung to Ben's arm as she gracefully accepted the condolences offered by the Parker's friends and neighbours after the service. She appeared the very picture of a grieving daughter and Joe, standing with his brothers, tried once again to put aside the feeling of unease that the girl had aroused in him since the night of the fire. In the three days that she had been staying at the Ponderosa Etta had seemed to be genuinely distraught over her parent's death and Ben, Hoss and Adam all rallied around the young woman trying to be supportive of her and help her through her grief. Joe had tried his best to be sympathetic to Etta; after all though she wasn't a particular friend, he'd known the girl for a number of years and liked her well enough. However every time he tried to talk to her the memory of the look he'd seen on her face that fateful night began to intrude. It wasn't as though Etta welcomed his attempts at conversation either; in fact Joe got the distinct impression that, for some reason, she didn't much like him. The funeral over, several of the Parker's closest friends accompanied Etta and the Cartwrights back to the Ponderosa. As they stood around the great room, talking of Bill and Sarah and how sad it all was, Joe found himself next to Etta's ex-fiancé, Charlie Stevens. "Didn't think you'd be here." Joe observed, as Charlie turned from the elderly lady he'd been talking to and greeted him with a handshake. "Not after what happened between you and Etta." "I'm here to pay my respects to her parents." Charlie told him, a slight slur to his words betraying the fact that he'd had quite a bit to drink. "They were good to me. Even after Etta said she didn't want to marry me we was still gonna be friends." Raising the almost empty glass he held in his hand he tossed back the whisky it contained. "They were a nice couple." Joe agreed, grabbing a bottle from the tray on the table and refilling Charlie's glass. Catching hold of the young man's arm, he drew him over towards Ben's desk and away from where Etta was sitting on the couch, a group of women hovering compassionately over her. "Treated me like a son." Charlie continued, draining his glass once more and holding it out to Joe. "Good whisky you got there." "Did Etta get along well with her parents?" Joe asked quietly, tipping a few inches of alcohol into Charlie's glass. "No problems between them?" "'Course not." Charlie answered quickly. "They loved her and she loved them.at least." He looked at Joe with a frown. "Why you asking?" "Oh, no particular reason." Pouring yet more whisky, Joe attempted to change the subject. "How's your Pa?" Eyes narrowed Charlie stared at Joe for a moment, ignoring the question. "You know something." He accused eventually. "Something about Etta." "No I don't." Joe denied. "It's just that.well.this is probably just my imagination, but.she didn't seem too upset at her parents dying." "That's a purty harsh thing to say." Charlie accused, but there was no heat in his voice. "She sure enough looked sad today." "Yes." Joe agreed, turning away. "Just forget it, like I said, just my imagination." "Wait a minute." Charlie caught hold of Joe's arm. "I didn't say you were wrong. You see I reckon Etta changed when she was ill." "Changed how?" Joe asked with interest, turning around. Putting his glass down on Ben's desk, Charlie perched himself beside it. "I spoke to her Pa about it." He said quietly. "The night he died. See, after Etta was ill she changed, it almost seemed like she weren't the same person any more." "What did Bill say?" Joe asked, leaning close and speaking softly. "Did he agree?" "Yep, he sure did." Charlie gave a dry little laugh. "He was even thinking of getting Doc. Martin to take a look at her. I don't know Joe, perhaps being so ill changed her, or perhaps it was her new beau, but she sure ain't the sweet girl I knew anymore. That don't mean she had anything to do with her parents death." He added quickly, seeing the look on Joe's face. "You can get that thought right outta your head." "I don't think that." Joe told him, though the idea had crossed his mind. "Who is her new beau anyway?" "Don't know." Charlie shook his head sadly and picked up his drink. "Someone with more money than me that's for sure. Etta said there ain't anyone, but someone musta given her that necklace. I love her, Joe, why ain't that enough for her?" "What necklace?" Joe asked idly, losing interest in the conversation now Charlie was growing maudlin over his lost love. "Thought it was just some purty little gewgaw when I saw it first." Charlie told him, gulping his drink down and reaching to take the bottle of whisky from Joe's hand. "But when I got a closer look I could see it was real gold. It's a little locket with kind of swirly decoration on it, musta cost more than I earn in a month." Listening to Charlie, Joe felt himself grow cold. 'It couldn't be.' He told himself, glancing over to where Etta was sitting, Adam and Hoss talking to her. 'That locket was at the bottom of the lake. wasn't it?'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Joe's initial reaction on hearing about the locket was to grab Adam and tell him what Charlie had said, but he quickly realised that he needed to wait until Etta was out of the way. If what he suspected was true, and the locket really was the one that he and Adam had thrown in the lake, then it was possible that Eloise Champenois had returned with it. A shiver of fear ran through him at the memory of the night he had woken to find Eloise in his room, the night he had almost died. When the waters had closed over the little box and it's eerie contents he had thought that was the end of the matter, but now he wasn't so sure. It was night by the time Joe got his chance to speak to Adam alone. Etta, declaring herself worn out by the strain of the day, had headed off to bed as soon as the last mourner left, and Hoss and Adam followed her up when the evening chores were completed. Joe was forced to wait impatiently for his father to finish some paperwork before Ben too headed for bed. Even then Joe gave it another half an hour to be sure that everyone was safely asleep before ascending the stairs and quietly letting himself into Adam's room. Standing with his back to the door Joe waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, before walking quietly across to the bed and gently shaking his sleeping brother. "What the." Adam came awake immediately and bolted upright, staring confusedly at the dark figure beside him. "Joe? What's the matter?" "Shhhh!" Joe warned in a whisper, perching himself on the edge of the bed. "I need to talk to you." "At this hour?" Adam asked incredulously, reaching over to the table beside the bed and fumbling for a match to light the lamp. "Couldn't it wait till morning?" "No." Joe shook his head. "I have to tell you something about Etta, and I don't want her hearing. Or Pa and Hoss either." "About Etta?" Adam struck a match and held it to the wick of the lamp, adjusting the flame before turning back to his brother. As light illuminated the room he could see how worried Joe looked, and raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What's happened? Don't tell me, you asked her out and she turned you down?" "I wish that's all it was." Joe told him. "But this is something really bad. You remember Eloise Champenois?" "Not something I'm ever likely to forget." Adam said dryly, plumping up his pillows and sitting back against them. "What's that got to do with Etta?" "I think she has Eloise's locket." Joe said softly. "Eloise's locket!" Adam echoed disbelievingly. "She can't have the locket, Joe, it's at the bottom of the lake." "I thought so too." Joe said. "But then I talked to Charlie Stevens and he told me that Etta has a locket just like it, he described it." "So?" Adam asked. "There must be other lockets like that one. You've got one yourself, remember? The replica I had made up in San Francisco in case Pa asked about it." "And that's safe in my room." Joe told him. "I checked. But it's not just the locket, Adam. Charlie was saying how Etta had changed, even her father had noticed it. You know what Eloise Champenois was trying to do to me, perhaps she succeeded with Etta." "You're letting your imagination run away with you." Adam said soothingly. "It wouldn't be surprising if Etta changed a little after her illness. It doesn't have to mean she's possessed if that's what you're implying." "And that's another thing." Joe got to his feet and began to pace the room restlessly. "The illness. I heard her mother talking about it when she made that miracle recovery. The symptoms she described were just like I had, the tiredness, the." "But she recovered." Adam pointed out. "And she seems fine. I was talking to her yesterday afternoon, discussing literature, and she struck me as a charming young woman." "Discussing literature!" Joe said, stopping in his tracks. "She couldn't have been discussing literature. Not Etta Parker." "Why not?" Adam asked, puzzled by Joe's assertion. "She seemed pretty well read to me." "You remember when Etta's folks came here, don't you?" Joe asked, Adam nodded, he did indeed recall the Parker's arriving. "It was my last year at school." Joe continued. "And Etta was in my class. Her parents had travelled for a long time and Etta hadn't been to school much. Oh, she was bright enough to talk to but she hadn't had a lot of schooling, she couldn't read real well at all." "Are you sure?" Adam sat forward. "It might be that she's had extra tutoring since you were at school together." "I'm pretty sure she hasn't." Joe told him, sitting down on the bed again. "Don't you see, Adam, it all adds up. Etta has that locket and Eloise has finally got what she was after. A new body." "Even if I admit there's a possibility of that being so." Adam said slowly, beginning to wonder if Joe might be right. "I don't see how we can find out for sure." "We could try and get a look at the necklace." Joe suggested. "Then at least we'll know if it is Eloise's." "And how do you suggest we do that?" Adam asked. "We can hardly ask her about it." "No, I guess not." Joe said thoughtfully. "But." He looked at Adam, a hint of excitement in his eyes. "You could ask her out, try to get a look at the necklace then." "Ask her out?" Adam recoiled slightly. "If she's Eloise I want nothing to do with her. That woman, thing, whatever it was.it was evil, Joe, frightening." "She seems to like you." Joe told him. "And she doesn't like me. If we want to know if she's really Eloise we'll need to get a look at that necklace, and you're the one that stands a chance of doing it." "I guess so." Adam agreed reluctantly. "Though I don't much like the idea." "Don't worry." Joe assured him confidently. "I won't be far away and if she is Eloise I have an idea how to get rid of her." "Oh, yeh?" Adam inquired with a touch of sarcasm. "How?" "Just ask her out." Joe told him. "And then I'll let you know what to do."
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By the time Adam sat down at the breakfast table the following morning he was beginning to have second thoughts. In the bright light of day it seemed inconceivable that the pretty young woman opposite him could be anybody else than Etta Parker. Joe's arguments of the night before, which had sounded so convincing at the time, could all be easily explained away. Etta could have been tutored without Joe's knowledge, her illness could have changed her, and the locket she wore might not be the one that they had dropped into the lake. However there was one inescapable fact that decided Adam to carry through the plan, and that was that Joe wouldn't be satisfied until they'd done so. Knowing from experience that his brother was unlikely to let the matter drop, it seemed easier to ask Etta out and assure himself that the locket wasn't Eloise's, than to have Joe keep pestering at him. The opening that he needed to do that was supplied unknowingly by his father who, passing Etta a cup of coffee, asked what she intended to do with her day. "I don't have any plans Mr. Cartwright." Etta took the cup that Ben held out to her and put it down on the table. "I might just stay here and read if that's all right with you." "It would be a pity to stay indoors on such a beautiful day." Adam put in smoothly, smiling across the table at the young woman. "I have the afternoon free, perhaps you might care to accompany me on a picnic? We could take the buggy and drive up by the lake." "That sounds nice." Returning his smile, Etta accepted the invitation. "I'd love to come." "I'll be back about noon then." Adam told her as, breakfast finished, he got to his feet. "See you then." Leaving the house through the kitchen, so that he could ask Hop Sing to make up a picnic basket, Adam headed for the barn, unsurprised to find his youngest brother following him moments later. "I'm impressed." Joe said with a grin, as he watched Adam saddle his horse. "That was quick work." "I'm not so sure about this, Joe." Tightening the cinch on Sport's saddle, Adam glanced at his brother doubtfully. "She seems perfectly normal, perhaps we're wrong about her being Eloise." "You've only got to get a look at the locket." Joe told him earnestly; worried that Adam might be about change his mind about the whole thing. "Then we'll know for sure." "And suppose it is Eloise's?" Adam asked, reaching for his horse's bridle. "What do you suggest we do then?" "I was thinking perhaps." Joe hesitated, unsure what his brother's reaction would be to his next words. "Perhaps an exorcism." "A what!" Adam exclaimed in surprise, jerking round to look Joe in the face. "We can't get involved in something like that. It could be dangerous. You don't know what you might be dealing with. Anyway, have you any idea how to go about it?" "Well, no." Joe admitted ruefully. "I read about it once, but they didn't give any details. I thought I'd ride into Virginia City this morning and speak to Reverend Jones. Ask his advice." "As far as I know it's only Catholic priests that carry out exorcisms." Adam told him, recalling what little he knew on the subject. "So Reverend Jones wouldn't be much help. What were you going to tell him, anyway? That we have an evil spirit on the Ponderosa? That's its possessed Etta Parker? You think he'd have believed you?" "Why not? It's the truth isn't it?" Joe responded, his voice beginning to rise angrily. "We don't know that." Adam pointed out. "And even if it is true Reverend Jones would likely think you've taken leave of your senses if you told him about it." "So what do you suggest we do?" Joe demanded, irritated at having his plans so easily brushed aside. "You know how to get rid of her for good? 'Cause what we did last time sure didn't work." "I was thinking about it after you went to bed last night." Adam told him. "Trying to remember what it said on that box that the necklace was in." "You said it was a curse, that whoever wore the thing would die so Eloise could live." "But there was something else." Rubbing his forehead Adam tried to bring the wording to mind. "Something about a relic." "A relic? What does that mean?" "Well, literally it means something that's survived from the past." Adam explained. "An object or custom." "Perhaps it means the locket itself." Joe suggested. "Or the box." "There is another meaning." Adam said softly. "It can mean the remains of a dead person." "There aren't any remains." Joe began, then stopped as he realised what his brother was referring to. "You mean the hair?" Adam nodded. "The hair inside the locket." He said. "Eloise's hair." "So we need to get rid of that?" "I think we should try it. That's if it is the right locket." "So what do you want me to do?" Joe asked, moving closer as Adam quietly outlined his plan for that afternoon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Smoothing the folds of the black gown, Eloise grimaced at her reflection in the mirror. She knew that to wear anything other than mourning clothes might cause comment, but how she longed for something bright and pretty. Ben had ordered her two dresses from the seamstress in Virgina City, both of them black. They would have looked better with Eloise's own colouring; her blonde hair would have made quite a contrast against the dark material. Etta however, just looked pale and wan in the gown. Pinching her cheeks in an effort to bring at least a little colour into the pale face reflected in the glass Eloise smiled to herself as she thought of the afternoon ahead. Talking to Adam after the funeral she had, to her surprise, found herself growing quite attracted to the man, and, judging by his invitation at breakfast, he had felt the same way. Turning from the mirror Eloise sank down on the side of the bed and considered her options once more. Etta Parker's parents hadn't been rich and the inheritance coming to her from them was a small one. Not enough to buy her the kind of lifestyle she desired. Adam Cartwright, on the other hand, was rich, heir to a third share of the Ponderosa. If he took a wife she would share in those riches, and inherit that share if anything should happen to Adam. The gleam that appeared in the young woman's eyes and the satisfied smirk that curled her lips would have been recognisable to Joe if he had seen her at that moment. Eloise had intended staying with the Cartwright's just long enough to wreak her revenge on Adam and Joe. But it had been a very long time since she had enjoyed the company of a man and Adam was undeniably both handsome and desirable. A dalliance with him was a pleasant thought, even better if she could get him to fall in love with her. By the time she descended the stairs to meet Adam in the great room at noon Eloise had made a decision. If things went well this afternoon she would let Adam live, at least as long as he continued to show an interest in her. For Joe she had other plans.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Unfolding the chequered cloth that Hop Sing had supplied and arranging it on the grass, Adam began to unpack the food from the picnic basket. He glanced over at Etta as he did so; the young woman was sitting on the ground, gazing out at the lake, her black dress spread out around her. "Pretty isn't it?" Adam asked, following her gaze. "I never tire of this view, however many times I see it." "It's magnificent." Turning to look at him, Etta smiled sweetly. "And so quiet and peaceful." "A perfect place for a picnic." Picking up a plate of chicken Adam held it out to her. "Hope you're hungry, Hop Sing has put so much food in here he must have thought Hoss was joining us." As Etta reached for a small piece of chicken and began to eat, Adam surreptitiously scanned the trees behind her looking for some sign of Joe. He hoped that his brother wasn't far away; if this was indeed Eloise he really didn't want to be alone with her. "Is something wrong?" Noticing his distraction Etta swivelled round to see what he was looking at. "Somebody there?" "No." Adam denied quickly, turning back to the picnic basket. "I thought I saw something move, probably just a squirrel." "Good." Taking another bite of her chicken, Etta edged a little closer to Adam. "I wouldn't want anybody to interrupt us. It's nice with the just the two of us, a chance to get to know each other better." "I'd like to find out a bit more about you." Adam told her, battling the urge to move away as she moved closer still. "I knew your father, of course, most people in Virginia City did. Plus, I know you were at school with Joe, but that's about all I know." "I don't really want to talk about me." Smiling archly Etta put down the remains of her food and looked over at him. "I'd rather talk about you." "Me?" Adam laughed softly. "What do you want to know about me?" Dropping her head coyly, Etta looked down at her hands. "I'd like to know if you find me attractive?" She asked, her voice almost shy. "Do you?" "You're very pretty." Adam told her, his attention caught by the gleam of gold that had been revealed when Etta lowered her head. Reaching out he ran a finger down the back of the girl's neck, studying the gold chain and trying to assess its strength. "Very pretty." Giving a little shiver of pleasure Etta raised her head, turning a little to look directly into his eyes. Her mouth parted slightly and, recognising the invitation, Adam lowered his lips to hers, fighting against a feeling of repugnance as he thought of just what he might be kissing. As the kiss deepened he brought his right hand up to her face for a moment, before sliding it down the side of her neck, his fingers seeking the chain of the necklace. Lost in the kiss, Etta didn't notice until she felt the sharp tug at her throat. "I'm sorry." Adam apologised, suppressing a sigh of relief that the chain had broken so easily. "I got tangled up in your necklace. I think I've broken it." "It doesn't matter." The look on Etta's face belied the words as she reached beneath her dress and drew forth the broken chain and locket. "I expect it can be mended." "I'm sure it can be." Adam assured her, taking the necklace from her hand before she could protest. "Let me take a look at it." "It's all right." Etta made a move to take the locket back but Adam turned away, standing up and making a pretext of holding the piece to the light. His back to her, he needed no more than a quick glance to confirm that this was indeed Eloise's necklace. Hoping that the horror that had risen in him didn't show in his movements, Adam quickly pulled the locket from the chain. At the same time he opened his left hand and dropped the replica that Joe had given him that morning to the ground. As Etta bent to pick up the oval of gold, he slipped Eloise's locket into his pocket. "I've got it." Closing her hand around the duplicate, Etta straightened up. "I'll take it into town, get it looked at." "I insist on paying for the repair." Adam told her, relieved that his switch had worked. "It was my fault after all." Handing over the broken chain he was about to sit back down when Etta turned on him, her face a mask of fury. "This isn't mine!" She screamed, throwing the replica aside. "Where is it? Where's my locket?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Etta's shouted words were loud enough to reach Joe, standing watching the couple from his hiding place back in the trees. Appalled that the plan had failed he quickly broke from cover and started quickly towards his brother and Etta, only to be brought up short by what he saw. Fingers of ice seemed to creep along his spine and the hairs on his neck tingled as he watched Etta advance toward Adam. The girl's movements seemed strangely jerky, uncoordinated, almost like those of a puppet. Even though he was still some distance away Joe could see that her mouth was open wide, as though she was screaming in terror, but he heard no sound. The sensation that gripped him now could only be described as terror as, from Etta's open mouth, spewed forth what appeared to be a stream of glistening white fog, which enveloped the young woman's slim figure. It swirled wildly around her before coalescing into a shape that Joe had seen once before, the spirit of Eloise Champenois. With a trembling hand Joe reached into his pocket, groping for the matches Adam had told him to bring, hoping that he would get a chance to use them. Though shocked and shaken by what had just happened, Adam had nevertheless recognised Eloise immediately. This time the spirit was complete, her features intact, not half missing as they had been when he had seen her in Joe's room. She stood facing him, a young and beautiful woman with white blonde hair cascading down around slender shoulders and over the voluptuous curves of her bosom. Her face was pallid, the only colour the deep blue of her eyes. Eyes that now radiated hatred as she looked at Adam. She made no move towards him, and yet he found himself quite unable to move, coldness creeping slowly over his body as her eyes gazed into his. He tried desperately to look away but somehow couldn't and with a feeling of apprehension he realised the power that this ethereal figure held. "Adam!" The panicked shout from behind Eloise made her turn away momentarily, releasing Adam from her thrall. Looking up he saw that Joe was just yards away, watching Eloise uneasily as she turned in his direction. Hurriedly, Adam reached for the locket, taking it from his pocket with numb fingers. "Catch, Joe!" He yelled, throwing the golden oval as hard as he could and watching it arc above Eloise and land just behind his brother. As Joe bent to retrieve it, Adam moved towards Eloise, seeking to draw her attention back to him. Snatching up the piece of gold, Joe fumbled frantically with the catch, not daring to look round to see what was happening to Adam. As the locket came open, revealing the piece of hair that it held, the air around him suddenly vibrated with sound. A high-pitched keening of such volume and power that Joe longed to drop the necklace and shield his ears. Trying desperately to ignore the noise he pulled his knife from his boot and prised up the small oval of glass that had kept the hair safe all these years. As he did so the keening grew even louder, filled with a terrible note of despair, and so intense that pain shot through Joe's head and he dropped to his knees, groaning. "You're finished, Eloise, done for." Adam's words, taught and tense, came faintly to Joe through the agony, renewing his courage, and gritting his teeth, he reached for a match. Head feeling as though it would explode, Adam watched Joe through a haze of pain, keeping his gaze away from Eloise as her eyes sought his once more. He prayed that Joe would find the strength to fight against this terrible sound. To do what had to be done. He could only hope that he was right and that destroying the relic would also destroy Eloise. Cupping the lit match in his hand Joe held it out to the hair, relieved when the aged tress, dry and brittle from the years, caught alight immediately. As it did so the keening stopped as quickly as it had started and, relieved, Joe twisted round to look at Eloise. As the relic began to burn, a fearful scream suddenly erupted from deep within the ghostly young woman, as, to Joe and Adam's dismay, her long blonde hair appeared to catch on fire. Phantom flames blazed around her head and began to lick their way down her body. Even Adam was frozen with fear, and the two brothers could only watch in fascinated horror as Eloise writhed and twisted in agony before them, guttural moans torn from her. Then slowly, the flames ebbed away, and with them went Eloise, vanishing as though she had never been. Left behind, lying crumpled on the ground, was the body of Etta Parker.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I don't understand it at all." Dr. Paul Martin straightened up from his examination and scratched his head in consternation. "Just don't understand it." "You reckon she just up and died?" Sheriff Coffee asked, looking from Adam to Joe, his expression as baffled as that of the doctor's. "Nothing happened to her?" "As you can see, there's not a mark on her." Adam said, casting a glance down at Etta's body, then looking quickly away, his stomach turning at the memory of the kiss he had shared with her. "I went to get some water from the lake and when I came back that's what I found." "And you." Roy turned his attention to Joe. "Did you see anything?" "Nope." Joe shook his head, trying his best to adopt an innocent expression and hoping that he didn't look as shaken as he felt. "I was with Adam, down by the lake." "I see." The sheriff's tone of voice clearly stated that he didn't quite believe the two Cartwrights. However there was no evidence of foul play, though the entire thing was very odd. Walking over to join Dr. Martin he took another long look at the body, pursing his lips in thought. "Mighty strange." He said at last. "It is that." Paul Martin shut his medical bag with a snap. "But you can see the evidence for yourself." "I see it." Roy agreed shortly. "I just ain't sure if I can believe it. I done seen Etta Parker only yesterday and yet." He shook his head in disbelief. "Yet this body has quite clearly been dead for a number of weeks." Paul finished for him, signalling for the men they had brought from town to collect Etta's body. "It's the strangest thing I ever came across." Behind the doctor Joe and Adam exchanged a glance. When they had first seen the already decomposing remains of Etta Parker they had been reluctant to report her death. But, as Adam pointed out, questions were sure to be asked if she just disappeared. "Do you need us here anymore?" Joe asked, as the sheriff's men carefully wrapped the body in a sheet of dark cotton. "No, you might as well get along home." Roy told him, watching the men load the body onto the waiting buckboard. "I'll be out to see you later." "How come she knew the locket wasn't hers so quickly?" Joe asked his brother quietly as they walked over to the waiting buggy, Cochise hitched behind it. "It sure looks the same. And how come she just stood there, didn't come after either of us?" "I think it was because of the hair." Adam told him, reaching into his pocket and drawing forth both lockets. "It's like I said, the hair was the relic that kept Eloise here. She needed to be close to it to keep control of Etta's body. Once she lost the hair she couldn't function as Etta anymore. Then when I threw the necklace to you it landed too far away from her. She couldn't get back to it or move forward. That cry was all she could do to try and stop you destroying the relic." "So, you think she's gone for good now?" "I hope so." Adam stared down at the two lockets in his hand, lost in thought for a moment. Then, handing the replica to Joe, he turned and walked quickly back to speak to Roy. "What was that about?" Joe asked him curiously, as with a nod and a wave for the sheriff, Adam returned to his side. "I told Roy that Etta had treasured that locket." Adam said, climbing up into the buggy and taking up the reins. "Asked him to make sure it was buried with her." He looked out at the lake as Joe sat down on the seat beside him. "Seemed the right thing to do." He continued softly. "To give the locket a decent burial, something it's possible its owner never had." "I wonder how it happened?" Joe mused, as Adam flicked the reins and set the buggy moving. "How she came to be cursed in the first place." With a wry smile, Adam glanced round at his brother before turning his attention back to the road. "That." He said quietly. "Is something we shall never ever know."
THE END.and this time it really is.
© Kathleen Pitts. October 2002.
ELOISE
Sequel to Collier D'Or
[pic]
A Bonanza Story
By Kate Pitts
In the dark, cold depths of the water the only signs of the winter storms that raged above were the stirring of the currents. Restlessly moving across the lakebed, they caught up small stones and particles of debris as they went, carrying them along for a while before setting them down, perhaps to be caught by the next current in the next storm.
The morning was calm, although the night had been marked by high winds and torrential rain, the sky rent asunder by jagged forks of lightning. Now, in the fall sunshine, the lake lay serene, scarcely a ripple breaking it's surface as Etta Parker walked beside it. The daughter of a local homesteader, Etta was just twenty one, a slim, pretty, young woman with long auburn hair caught back in a knot and grey eyes, that at the moment, were fixed on a small object lying at the water's edge. Bending gracefully Etta scooped the thing up and found herself holding a small metal box covered with tiny writing. Flicking the catch that held it closed, she gasped as she saw the contents. Water had leaked inside and the green velvet that lined the box was in a sorry state, practically rotted away, but the golden necklace that lay coiled on top of the remains of the material was in perfect condition. Gently lifting it out, Etta examined it in delight, a tiny oval locket, delicately etched whorls decorating it's surface. It was the prettiest thing she'd ever seen. Etta wondered for a moment how such a beautiful object had come to end up in the lake and who it could have belonged to. No matter, she thought, it was obviously unwanted and now it was hers. Fingers closing possessively over the necklace, Etta tucked it into her pocket and headed home.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Oh, Doctor Martin." Sarah Parker exclaimed in relief as she opened the door of the small cabin. "I'm so glad you've come." "It's Etta, I understand." Paul Martin took off his hat as he entered the house. "She's not well?" "I'm so worried about her, Doctor." Sarah twisted her hands together as she spoke, concern etched on her brow and in her dark eyes. "It started a couple of weeks ago, she'd been for a walk by the lake and when she came in she complained of feeling tired. We didn't think much of it but she's just got worse and worse. She's so tired she can't get up from bed and it's hard to rouse her even to eat or drink." "I see." Paul said with a frown, he'd known Etta for some years and the girl was usually a bright and energetic young person. "You'd better let me see her." Wordlessly, Sarah crossed the room and opened Etta's door, standing aside to let Paul enter. Inside the bedroom it was dim, the drapes drawn against the morning sun. Beside the bed Etta's father, Bill Parker, got to his feet as the doctor came in, and offered him the chair he'd been sitting in. "I've been tryin' to get her to take some broth." He told Paul as the physician opened his medical bag. "But she just won't eat anythin'." Paul Martin's heart sank in dismay as he turned to examine the girl who lay in the narrow bed, though he tried to keep his expression neutral for her parent's sake. The young woman he'd seen just a few short weeks before at a dance in Virginia City had almost disappeared, leaving just a shadow of herself behind. Etta's thick, auburn hair was dank and lifeless, her skin sallow, and her grey eyes, usually so full of life, looked up at him listlessly, dark shadows staining the skin beneath them. "Can you tell me what the problem is, Etta?" The doctor asked gently, feeling for the girl's pulse and finding it faint and sluggish beneath his fingertips. "Your mother says you feel tired all the time." Etta nodded slightly, even the small movement seeming an effort. "Do you have any pain?" Paul asked, checking now for signs of a fever and finding none. "No." Etta whispered. The word, uttered through dry, bloodless lips, was barely perceptible to the listener. "I see." Paul tried to smile reassuringly at the girl as he gently examined her eyes, noting that the whites were yellowed and the pink rims had faded until they were almost as pale as her skin. As he carefully felt Etta's neck for any signs of lumps his hand caught the chain of a small golden locket lying in the hollow of her throat. "What a pretty necklace." Paul said, hoping to draw some response from the girl. "Is it new?" "Necklace?" Sarah spoke from behind him, looking over his shoulder at her daughter. "Why, wherever did you get that from, Etta?" With a quick motion, startling both her mother and the doctor, Etta brought her hand up to grasp the locket. "It's mine!" She said with a defiant look at her mother. "Don't touch it." "Of course I won't." Sarah told her soothingly, adjusting the covers around her daughter as the doctor got up from the bedside. She wondered where the girl had come by such a valuable looking piece, it looked more expensive than Etta's beau, Charlie Stevens, could ever have afforded. The serious look on Doctor Martin's face drove the speculation from her mind however and, telling Etta she'd be back in a moment, she followed her husband and the doctor from the room. "I'm so sorry." Paul Martin said softly as Sarah closed the bedroom door behind her. "I don't know what ails Etta but I'm afraid that things don't look good." He put a consoling hand on Sarah's shoulder as the woman began to cry. Looking over at Bill, the man suddenly aging before him, Paul suppressed a sigh. Moments like these were something a doctor dreaded.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The Saturday night social was in full swing, the people of Virginia City enjoying the lively music, the food and the company. From his seat against the wall, Doctor Paul Martin caught sight of the familiar figure of his friend, Ben Cartwright, and raised a hand in greeting. "Evening, Paul." Wending his way through the crowd around the refreshment table, Ben paused to help himself to a couple of glasses of punch, before joining the doctor. "No patients this evening?" "Not a one." Paul said with a smile as he took the glass that Ben held out to him. "Everyone hale and hearty." "Well that's good to hear." Ben settled himself in the chair next to his friend and took a sip of the punch. "By the way, what's this talk I hear in town about one of your patients and a miracle recovery?" "Etta Parker!" The doctor exclaimed. "It was a miracle all right, and that's the truth of it, Ben. The girl was at death's door, in fact I was just about to send for Reverend Jones when." He broke off and gestured across the room to where a group of young people had just come in. "Well, see for yourself." Looking over, Ben saw Etta, the girl was standing by the door, a crowd of young men around her. "Just over two weeks ago I'd have laid odds that girl was dying." Paul said softly. "Now she's as healthy as she ever was." Etta certainly looked well, Ben thought. The girl had always been pretty, but tonight she seemed to positively glow. With her shining auburn hair in tumbled curls around her shoulders, and her blue dress showing off her slim figure, it was no wonder that the young men of Virginia City were flocking around. Seated at a table a little further around the room, Etta's father, Bill, also watched his daughter. A worried frown creasing his brow as he listened to the young man who sat at the table with him. "I tell you, Mr. Parker." Charlie Stevens was saying, distress obvious in his voice. "Etta just don't want to know me no more. She told me it was all over." "Did she say why?" Bill asked, turning to look at the young man. Charlie had been Etta's beau for two years now and the pair had been intending to marry the following spring. "Give you any reason?" "No she never." Charlie shook his head sadly and leaned closer to Bill. "You know something." He said quietly. "She just don't seem like my Etta anymore Mr. Parker, not since she was ill." Bill's frown deepened at the words and he looked over at Etta again. He agreed with what Charlie had said, Etta didn't seem like herself anymore. Since her miraculous recovery Bill and Sarah's loving, caring, daughter seemed to have turned into a cold, selfish, individual. Even more disturbing, and Bill shivered slightly at the thought, was that sometimes he would catch Etta watching him and it was as though he caught a glimpse of another person hidden behind his daughter's grey eyes. Those same grey eyes were narrowed now as Eloise Champenois noticed Bill watching her from across the room. She knew that both Bill and Sarah had become suspicious, that they sensed something was wrong. A sly smile touched her lips as she thought of what she intended to do. She had what she wanted, a new body, a whole new life, and nothing was going to get in the way of that. Etta Parker's body suited Eloise for now but Etta's parents didn't. She thought of the sleeping powders that Dr. Martin had given Sarah to help her sleep, and which now stood on a shelf in the Parker's kitchen. With those, and a lamp, Eloise would deal with Bill and Sarah and, if all went as she intended, getting rid of them would help with her plan to get even with Adam and Joe Cartwright for throwing the locket into the lake.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The ride back to the ranch had seemed a long one to Ben, tired as he was from a hard days work. He'd had trouble keeping awake for the last hour of the social and was pleased to get home and to bed. Adam, Hoss and Joe hadn't been far behind him knowing that, as always, they'd need to be up early the following morning. The household were all deeply asleep when, in the early hours of the morning, a lone horse came galloping into the yard. Dismounting rapidly the rider rushed over to hammer frantically on the ranch house door. Adam was first down the stairs, grabbing his robe on the way. By the time he'd opened the door to a distressed Etta Parker both Joe and Ben had appeared and sounds from above indicated Hoss was on the way. "Oh, Mr. Cartwright." Etta gasped, seeing Ben behind Adam. "Please come.a fire.my parents." "A fire?" Ben reached for his hat and jacket. "At your place?" "Yes." The girl nodded, her face white with fear. "I woke up and smelt smoke. I tried to open my bedroom door, but the flames." She broke off as sobs shook her slender body and Ben put a compassionate hand on her shoulder. "I got out of the window." She continued, getting herself under control. "But my parent's room was ablaze. The lamp must have fallen over or something. I shouted and shouted but they didn't wake. Oh, Mr. Cartwright, I'm so afraid." "Get dressed, boys." Ben ordered. "I'll saddle the horses." As his sons headed back upstairs to grab shirts and boots, Ben turned back to Etta. "You stay here with Hop Sing, my dear." He said gently. "He'll look after you." "No." The girl shook her head determinedly. "I have to go with you. They're my mother and father." Ben didn't argue, just nodded understandingly. He did wonder why Etta had come to the Ponderosa for help when the Double J ranch was closer to the Parker's place, but he supposed that in her panic the girl hadn't been thinking straight. By the time Etta and the four Cartwrights arrived at Bill and Sarah's home there was nothing at all that could be done. The wooden building was practically gone; just it's blackened skeleton remained, flames licking lazily around it. "I'm so very sorry, my dear." Ben put a consoling arm around Etta's shoulders as they stood beside the smouldering remains. "So sorry we couldn't save them." "Oh, Mr. Cartwright, what am I going to do?" Etta looked up at him, tears running freely down her face. "I've lost everything. My parents, my home." "Do you have any other family?" Ben asked softly. "Anyone that we can contact?" "No." Etta shook her head. "There's nobody, nobody at all. Oh, what am I going to do?" Turning, she laid her head on Ben's broad chest, weeping frantically. "You can stay with us." Ben offered, awkwardly stroking the girl's hair in a gesture of comfort. "At least until we sort something out." "Thank you." Etta looked up at him, grey eyes shining with gratitude. "Thank you so much." "It's the least we can do." Ben assured her gently. "You come on back to the ranch with Hoss and me. Adam and Joe will ride into town and let the sheriff know what's happened." "The sheriff!" Etta exclaimed in alarm, as Adam and Joe mounted up. "But it was just an accident Mr. Cartwright. A horrible accident." "I'm sure it was, my dear." Ben reassured her. "But the sheriff has to know and, well, other people need to be informed." "Yes, of course." Etta looked over at the charred remains of the house. "I suppose arrangements will need to be made." "We'll talk about it later." Ben told her quietly. "When you've had a little time to think about things." Etta nodded and allowed herself to be led over to her horse. Getting into the saddle, she couldn't resist a last look back at the burnt out cabin as Hoss and Ben mounted beside her. It was at that moment that Joe walked his horse over for a quick word with his father. He was the only one that saw the expression on Etta's face. Later he wasn't even sure of what he saw, putting it down to a trick of the moonlight or the vagaries of grief. But at the time the satisfied smile that curved Etta's lips and the gleam in her grey eyes sent a cold shiver crawling up his spine. He was glad to turn away from the girl and head off to Virginia City with Adam.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Standing before the mirror in the room the Cartwrights had given her, Eloise ran her hands appreciatively over Etta's body. She felt a momentary pang of regret for the loss of her own voluptuous curves and her long blonde tresses but was well satisfied with Etta's auburn hair, slender waist and flat stomach. It was good to be a real, solid presence after so long. So very long, Eloise mused, letting her mind wander back in time to the days before the curse had held her captive. 1750, and the town of Versailles near Paris, home to the court of Louis XV. Eloise's mother, Josiane, had been a courtesan, the mistress of a wealthy Duc and Eloise, his unacknowledged child, had been raised to a life of privilege. Unlike most girls she had received a good education and was well read and versed in the fine arts. As Josiane grew older and her looks faded the Duc turned his attentions elsewhere and Eloise and her mother found themselves evicted from their fine apartments, eventually finding a home in the less salubrious area of the town. Forced to earn a living, Eloise had found work serving in a café and it was there that she met Georges De Marigny. Georges was a wealthy young man from a good family, handsome and dashing. Eloise had soon fallen for his charms. The only problem was his wife, Danielle, who occasionally accompanied him to the café with their small son, Marc. Despite declaring his love for Eloise, Georges soon made it clear that he wasn't willing to leave his wife and child. Besotted with the man and determined to have him for herself Eloise had spoken to her mother's brother, Pierre, an apothecary. Telling him that the house was overrun with rats, Eloise had managed to obtain some poison. The next time Charles had brought Danielle to the café Eloise had sprinkled the poison in her rival's chocolate. But then it had all gone horribly wrong, Danielle gave the chocolate to Marc, and before Eloise had time to stop him, the child had drained the cup. Learning of what had happened, and horrified at being implicated in the death of a child, Eloise's Uncle had confessed all to Georges and Danielle. Eloise was sentenced to death. With a shudder Eloise brought herself back to the present, she had no wish to recall her wait for execution and the visit from Danielle De Marigny. It was there, in her tiny cell, that she had first heard the words of the curse that would bind her to the De Marigny family. Standing before her, green eyes cold and vengeful, Danielle had told the jailer to snip off a lock of Eloise's hair. As the man obeyed and handed the blonde tress over, Danielle had closed her fingers around it and looked down at the young woman responsible for the death of her child. "When you are dead." She had said harshly. "This relic of you will remain and I will see that you are bound to it forever." Eloise heard later that Danielle had visited a wise woman, a sorciere, and had the hair cursed by her. Whatever had been done, the curse had worked, and Eloise had been bound to the locket that contained her relic. A wraith forever seeking for an escape, a way back to life. Finally, with the body of the unfortunate Etta, she had succeeded. Eloise smiled at the reflection in the mirror, catching a hint of her own blue eyes beneath Etta's grey orbs, now she could live again and nobody would be allowed to stand in her way. Now she would finally get her revenge, both on the woman who had kept her from eternal rest and the men who had thwarted her last attempt to take a body.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It seemed half of Virginia City were at the graveside as Bill and Sarah Parker were laid to rest; the couple had been well liked. Etta, dressed completely in black and with a veil shielding her face, clung to Ben's arm as she gracefully accepted the condolences offered by the Parker's friends and neighbours after the service. She appeared the very picture of a grieving daughter and Joe, standing with his brothers, tried once again to put aside the feeling of unease that the girl had aroused in him since the night of the fire. In the three days that she had been staying at the Ponderosa Etta had seemed to be genuinely distraught over her parent's death and Ben, Hoss and Adam all rallied around the young woman trying to be supportive of her and help her through her grief. Joe had tried his best to be sympathetic to Etta; after all though she wasn't a particular friend, he'd known the girl for a number of years and liked her well enough. However every time he tried to talk to her the memory of the look he'd seen on her face that fateful night began to intrude. It wasn't as though Etta welcomed his attempts at conversation either; in fact Joe got the distinct impression that, for some reason, she didn't much like him. The funeral over, several of the Parker's closest friends accompanied Etta and the Cartwrights back to the Ponderosa. As they stood around the great room, talking of Bill and Sarah and how sad it all was, Joe found himself next to Etta's ex-fiancé, Charlie Stevens. "Didn't think you'd be here." Joe observed, as Charlie turned from the elderly lady he'd been talking to and greeted him with a handshake. "Not after what happened between you and Etta." "I'm here to pay my respects to her parents." Charlie told him, a slight slur to his words betraying the fact that he'd had quite a bit to drink. "They were good to me. Even after Etta said she didn't want to marry me we was still gonna be friends." Raising the almost empty glass he held in his hand he tossed back the whisky it contained. "They were a nice couple." Joe agreed, grabbing a bottle from the tray on the table and refilling Charlie's glass. Catching hold of the young man's arm, he drew him over towards Ben's desk and away from where Etta was sitting on the couch, a group of women hovering compassionately over her. "Treated me like a son." Charlie continued, draining his glass once more and holding it out to Joe. "Good whisky you got there." "Did Etta get along well with her parents?" Joe asked quietly, tipping a few inches of alcohol into Charlie's glass. "No problems between them?" "'Course not." Charlie answered quickly. "They loved her and she loved them.at least." He looked at Joe with a frown. "Why you asking?" "Oh, no particular reason." Pouring yet more whisky, Joe attempted to change the subject. "How's your Pa?" Eyes narrowed Charlie stared at Joe for a moment, ignoring the question. "You know something." He accused eventually. "Something about Etta." "No I don't." Joe denied. "It's just that.well.this is probably just my imagination, but.she didn't seem too upset at her parents dying." "That's a purty harsh thing to say." Charlie accused, but there was no heat in his voice. "She sure enough looked sad today." "Yes." Joe agreed, turning away. "Just forget it, like I said, just my imagination." "Wait a minute." Charlie caught hold of Joe's arm. "I didn't say you were wrong. You see I reckon Etta changed when she was ill." "Changed how?" Joe asked with interest, turning around. Putting his glass down on Ben's desk, Charlie perched himself beside it. "I spoke to her Pa about it." He said quietly. "The night he died. See, after Etta was ill she changed, it almost seemed like she weren't the same person any more." "What did Bill say?" Joe asked, leaning close and speaking softly. "Did he agree?" "Yep, he sure did." Charlie gave a dry little laugh. "He was even thinking of getting Doc. Martin to take a look at her. I don't know Joe, perhaps being so ill changed her, or perhaps it was her new beau, but she sure ain't the sweet girl I knew anymore. That don't mean she had anything to do with her parents death." He added quickly, seeing the look on Joe's face. "You can get that thought right outta your head." "I don't think that." Joe told him, though the idea had crossed his mind. "Who is her new beau anyway?" "Don't know." Charlie shook his head sadly and picked up his drink. "Someone with more money than me that's for sure. Etta said there ain't anyone, but someone musta given her that necklace. I love her, Joe, why ain't that enough for her?" "What necklace?" Joe asked idly, losing interest in the conversation now Charlie was growing maudlin over his lost love. "Thought it was just some purty little gewgaw when I saw it first." Charlie told him, gulping his drink down and reaching to take the bottle of whisky from Joe's hand. "But when I got a closer look I could see it was real gold. It's a little locket with kind of swirly decoration on it, musta cost more than I earn in a month." Listening to Charlie, Joe felt himself grow cold. 'It couldn't be.' He told himself, glancing over to where Etta was sitting, Adam and Hoss talking to her. 'That locket was at the bottom of the lake. wasn't it?'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Joe's initial reaction on hearing about the locket was to grab Adam and tell him what Charlie had said, but he quickly realised that he needed to wait until Etta was out of the way. If what he suspected was true, and the locket really was the one that he and Adam had thrown in the lake, then it was possible that Eloise Champenois had returned with it. A shiver of fear ran through him at the memory of the night he had woken to find Eloise in his room, the night he had almost died. When the waters had closed over the little box and it's eerie contents he had thought that was the end of the matter, but now he wasn't so sure. It was night by the time Joe got his chance to speak to Adam alone. Etta, declaring herself worn out by the strain of the day, had headed off to bed as soon as the last mourner left, and Hoss and Adam followed her up when the evening chores were completed. Joe was forced to wait impatiently for his father to finish some paperwork before Ben too headed for bed. Even then Joe gave it another half an hour to be sure that everyone was safely asleep before ascending the stairs and quietly letting himself into Adam's room. Standing with his back to the door Joe waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, before walking quietly across to the bed and gently shaking his sleeping brother. "What the." Adam came awake immediately and bolted upright, staring confusedly at the dark figure beside him. "Joe? What's the matter?" "Shhhh!" Joe warned in a whisper, perching himself on the edge of the bed. "I need to talk to you." "At this hour?" Adam asked incredulously, reaching over to the table beside the bed and fumbling for a match to light the lamp. "Couldn't it wait till morning?" "No." Joe shook his head. "I have to tell you something about Etta, and I don't want her hearing. Or Pa and Hoss either." "About Etta?" Adam struck a match and held it to the wick of the lamp, adjusting the flame before turning back to his brother. As light illuminated the room he could see how worried Joe looked, and raised a quizzical eyebrow. "What's happened? Don't tell me, you asked her out and she turned you down?" "I wish that's all it was." Joe told him. "But this is something really bad. You remember Eloise Champenois?" "Not something I'm ever likely to forget." Adam said dryly, plumping up his pillows and sitting back against them. "What's that got to do with Etta?" "I think she has Eloise's locket." Joe said softly. "Eloise's locket!" Adam echoed disbelievingly. "She can't have the locket, Joe, it's at the bottom of the lake." "I thought so too." Joe said. "But then I talked to Charlie Stevens and he told me that Etta has a locket just like it, he described it." "So?" Adam asked. "There must be other lockets like that one. You've got one yourself, remember? The replica I had made up in San Francisco in case Pa asked about it." "And that's safe in my room." Joe told him. "I checked. But it's not just the locket, Adam. Charlie was saying how Etta had changed, even her father had noticed it. You know what Eloise Champenois was trying to do to me, perhaps she succeeded with Etta." "You're letting your imagination run away with you." Adam said soothingly. "It wouldn't be surprising if Etta changed a little after her illness. It doesn't have to mean she's possessed if that's what you're implying." "And that's another thing." Joe got to his feet and began to pace the room restlessly. "The illness. I heard her mother talking about it when she made that miracle recovery. The symptoms she described were just like I had, the tiredness, the." "But she recovered." Adam pointed out. "And she seems fine. I was talking to her yesterday afternoon, discussing literature, and she struck me as a charming young woman." "Discussing literature!" Joe said, stopping in his tracks. "She couldn't have been discussing literature. Not Etta Parker." "Why not?" Adam asked, puzzled by Joe's assertion. "She seemed pretty well read to me." "You remember when Etta's folks came here, don't you?" Joe asked, Adam nodded, he did indeed recall the Parker's arriving. "It was my last year at school." Joe continued. "And Etta was in my class. Her parents had travelled for a long time and Etta hadn't been to school much. Oh, she was bright enough to talk to but she hadn't had a lot of schooling, she couldn't read real well at all." "Are you sure?" Adam sat forward. "It might be that she's had extra tutoring since you were at school together." "I'm pretty sure she hasn't." Joe told him, sitting down on the bed again. "Don't you see, Adam, it all adds up. Etta has that locket and Eloise has finally got what she was after. A new body." "Even if I admit there's a possibility of that being so." Adam said slowly, beginning to wonder if Joe might be right. "I don't see how we can find out for sure." "We could try and get a look at the necklace." Joe suggested. "Then at least we'll know if it is Eloise's." "And how do you suggest we do that?" Adam asked. "We can hardly ask her about it." "No, I guess not." Joe said thoughtfully. "But." He looked at Adam, a hint of excitement in his eyes. "You could ask her out, try to get a look at the necklace then." "Ask her out?" Adam recoiled slightly. "If she's Eloise I want nothing to do with her. That woman, thing, whatever it was.it was evil, Joe, frightening." "She seems to like you." Joe told him. "And she doesn't like me. If we want to know if she's really Eloise we'll need to get a look at that necklace, and you're the one that stands a chance of doing it." "I guess so." Adam agreed reluctantly. "Though I don't much like the idea." "Don't worry." Joe assured him confidently. "I won't be far away and if she is Eloise I have an idea how to get rid of her." "Oh, yeh?" Adam inquired with a touch of sarcasm. "How?" "Just ask her out." Joe told him. "And then I'll let you know what to do."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
By the time Adam sat down at the breakfast table the following morning he was beginning to have second thoughts. In the bright light of day it seemed inconceivable that the pretty young woman opposite him could be anybody else than Etta Parker. Joe's arguments of the night before, which had sounded so convincing at the time, could all be easily explained away. Etta could have been tutored without Joe's knowledge, her illness could have changed her, and the locket she wore might not be the one that they had dropped into the lake. However there was one inescapable fact that decided Adam to carry through the plan, and that was that Joe wouldn't be satisfied until they'd done so. Knowing from experience that his brother was unlikely to let the matter drop, it seemed easier to ask Etta out and assure himself that the locket wasn't Eloise's, than to have Joe keep pestering at him. The opening that he needed to do that was supplied unknowingly by his father who, passing Etta a cup of coffee, asked what she intended to do with her day. "I don't have any plans Mr. Cartwright." Etta took the cup that Ben held out to her and put it down on the table. "I might just stay here and read if that's all right with you." "It would be a pity to stay indoors on such a beautiful day." Adam put in smoothly, smiling across the table at the young woman. "I have the afternoon free, perhaps you might care to accompany me on a picnic? We could take the buggy and drive up by the lake." "That sounds nice." Returning his smile, Etta accepted the invitation. "I'd love to come." "I'll be back about noon then." Adam told her as, breakfast finished, he got to his feet. "See you then." Leaving the house through the kitchen, so that he could ask Hop Sing to make up a picnic basket, Adam headed for the barn, unsurprised to find his youngest brother following him moments later. "I'm impressed." Joe said with a grin, as he watched Adam saddle his horse. "That was quick work." "I'm not so sure about this, Joe." Tightening the cinch on Sport's saddle, Adam glanced at his brother doubtfully. "She seems perfectly normal, perhaps we're wrong about her being Eloise." "You've only got to get a look at the locket." Joe told him earnestly; worried that Adam might be about change his mind about the whole thing. "Then we'll know for sure." "And suppose it is Eloise's?" Adam asked, reaching for his horse's bridle. "What do you suggest we do then?" "I was thinking perhaps." Joe hesitated, unsure what his brother's reaction would be to his next words. "Perhaps an exorcism." "A what!" Adam exclaimed in surprise, jerking round to look Joe in the face. "We can't get involved in something like that. It could be dangerous. You don't know what you might be dealing with. Anyway, have you any idea how to go about it?" "Well, no." Joe admitted ruefully. "I read about it once, but they didn't give any details. I thought I'd ride into Virginia City this morning and speak to Reverend Jones. Ask his advice." "As far as I know it's only Catholic priests that carry out exorcisms." Adam told him, recalling what little he knew on the subject. "So Reverend Jones wouldn't be much help. What were you going to tell him, anyway? That we have an evil spirit on the Ponderosa? That's its possessed Etta Parker? You think he'd have believed you?" "Why not? It's the truth isn't it?" Joe responded, his voice beginning to rise angrily. "We don't know that." Adam pointed out. "And even if it is true Reverend Jones would likely think you've taken leave of your senses if you told him about it." "So what do you suggest we do?" Joe demanded, irritated at having his plans so easily brushed aside. "You know how to get rid of her for good? 'Cause what we did last time sure didn't work." "I was thinking about it after you went to bed last night." Adam told him. "Trying to remember what it said on that box that the necklace was in." "You said it was a curse, that whoever wore the thing would die so Eloise could live." "But there was something else." Rubbing his forehead Adam tried to bring the wording to mind. "Something about a relic." "A relic? What does that mean?" "Well, literally it means something that's survived from the past." Adam explained. "An object or custom." "Perhaps it means the locket itself." Joe suggested. "Or the box." "There is another meaning." Adam said softly. "It can mean the remains of a dead person." "There aren't any remains." Joe began, then stopped as he realised what his brother was referring to. "You mean the hair?" Adam nodded. "The hair inside the locket." He said. "Eloise's hair." "So we need to get rid of that?" "I think we should try it. That's if it is the right locket." "So what do you want me to do?" Joe asked, moving closer as Adam quietly outlined his plan for that afternoon.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Smoothing the folds of the black gown, Eloise grimaced at her reflection in the mirror. She knew that to wear anything other than mourning clothes might cause comment, but how she longed for something bright and pretty. Ben had ordered her two dresses from the seamstress in Virgina City, both of them black. They would have looked better with Eloise's own colouring; her blonde hair would have made quite a contrast against the dark material. Etta however, just looked pale and wan in the gown. Pinching her cheeks in an effort to bring at least a little colour into the pale face reflected in the glass Eloise smiled to herself as she thought of the afternoon ahead. Talking to Adam after the funeral she had, to her surprise, found herself growing quite attracted to the man, and, judging by his invitation at breakfast, he had felt the same way. Turning from the mirror Eloise sank down on the side of the bed and considered her options once more. Etta Parker's parents hadn't been rich and the inheritance coming to her from them was a small one. Not enough to buy her the kind of lifestyle she desired. Adam Cartwright, on the other hand, was rich, heir to a third share of the Ponderosa. If he took a wife she would share in those riches, and inherit that share if anything should happen to Adam. The gleam that appeared in the young woman's eyes and the satisfied smirk that curled her lips would have been recognisable to Joe if he had seen her at that moment. Eloise had intended staying with the Cartwright's just long enough to wreak her revenge on Adam and Joe. But it had been a very long time since she had enjoyed the company of a man and Adam was undeniably both handsome and desirable. A dalliance with him was a pleasant thought, even better if she could get him to fall in love with her. By the time she descended the stairs to meet Adam in the great room at noon Eloise had made a decision. If things went well this afternoon she would let Adam live, at least as long as he continued to show an interest in her. For Joe she had other plans.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Unfolding the chequered cloth that Hop Sing had supplied and arranging it on the grass, Adam began to unpack the food from the picnic basket. He glanced over at Etta as he did so; the young woman was sitting on the ground, gazing out at the lake, her black dress spread out around her. "Pretty isn't it?" Adam asked, following her gaze. "I never tire of this view, however many times I see it." "It's magnificent." Turning to look at him, Etta smiled sweetly. "And so quiet and peaceful." "A perfect place for a picnic." Picking up a plate of chicken Adam held it out to her. "Hope you're hungry, Hop Sing has put so much food in here he must have thought Hoss was joining us." As Etta reached for a small piece of chicken and began to eat, Adam surreptitiously scanned the trees behind her looking for some sign of Joe. He hoped that his brother wasn't far away; if this was indeed Eloise he really didn't want to be alone with her. "Is something wrong?" Noticing his distraction Etta swivelled round to see what he was looking at. "Somebody there?" "No." Adam denied quickly, turning back to the picnic basket. "I thought I saw something move, probably just a squirrel." "Good." Taking another bite of her chicken, Etta edged a little closer to Adam. "I wouldn't want anybody to interrupt us. It's nice with the just the two of us, a chance to get to know each other better." "I'd like to find out a bit more about you." Adam told her, battling the urge to move away as she moved closer still. "I knew your father, of course, most people in Virginia City did. Plus, I know you were at school with Joe, but that's about all I know." "I don't really want to talk about me." Smiling archly Etta put down the remains of her food and looked over at him. "I'd rather talk about you." "Me?" Adam laughed softly. "What do you want to know about me?" Dropping her head coyly, Etta looked down at her hands. "I'd like to know if you find me attractive?" She asked, her voice almost shy. "Do you?" "You're very pretty." Adam told her, his attention caught by the gleam of gold that had been revealed when Etta lowered her head. Reaching out he ran a finger down the back of the girl's neck, studying the gold chain and trying to assess its strength. "Very pretty." Giving a little shiver of pleasure Etta raised her head, turning a little to look directly into his eyes. Her mouth parted slightly and, recognising the invitation, Adam lowered his lips to hers, fighting against a feeling of repugnance as he thought of just what he might be kissing. As the kiss deepened he brought his right hand up to her face for a moment, before sliding it down the side of her neck, his fingers seeking the chain of the necklace. Lost in the kiss, Etta didn't notice until she felt the sharp tug at her throat. "I'm sorry." Adam apologised, suppressing a sigh of relief that the chain had broken so easily. "I got tangled up in your necklace. I think I've broken it." "It doesn't matter." The look on Etta's face belied the words as she reached beneath her dress and drew forth the broken chain and locket. "I expect it can be mended." "I'm sure it can be." Adam assured her, taking the necklace from her hand before she could protest. "Let me take a look at it." "It's all right." Etta made a move to take the locket back but Adam turned away, standing up and making a pretext of holding the piece to the light. His back to her, he needed no more than a quick glance to confirm that this was indeed Eloise's necklace. Hoping that the horror that had risen in him didn't show in his movements, Adam quickly pulled the locket from the chain. At the same time he opened his left hand and dropped the replica that Joe had given him that morning to the ground. As Etta bent to pick up the oval of gold, he slipped Eloise's locket into his pocket. "I've got it." Closing her hand around the duplicate, Etta straightened up. "I'll take it into town, get it looked at." "I insist on paying for the repair." Adam told her, relieved that his switch had worked. "It was my fault after all." Handing over the broken chain he was about to sit back down when Etta turned on him, her face a mask of fury. "This isn't mine!" She screamed, throwing the replica aside. "Where is it? Where's my locket?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Etta's shouted words were loud enough to reach Joe, standing watching the couple from his hiding place back in the trees. Appalled that the plan had failed he quickly broke from cover and started quickly towards his brother and Etta, only to be brought up short by what he saw. Fingers of ice seemed to creep along his spine and the hairs on his neck tingled as he watched Etta advance toward Adam. The girl's movements seemed strangely jerky, uncoordinated, almost like those of a puppet. Even though he was still some distance away Joe could see that her mouth was open wide, as though she was screaming in terror, but he heard no sound. The sensation that gripped him now could only be described as terror as, from Etta's open mouth, spewed forth what appeared to be a stream of glistening white fog, which enveloped the young woman's slim figure. It swirled wildly around her before coalescing into a shape that Joe had seen once before, the spirit of Eloise Champenois. With a trembling hand Joe reached into his pocket, groping for the matches Adam had told him to bring, hoping that he would get a chance to use them. Though shocked and shaken by what had just happened, Adam had nevertheless recognised Eloise immediately. This time the spirit was complete, her features intact, not half missing as they had been when he had seen her in Joe's room. She stood facing him, a young and beautiful woman with white blonde hair cascading down around slender shoulders and over the voluptuous curves of her bosom. Her face was pallid, the only colour the deep blue of her eyes. Eyes that now radiated hatred as she looked at Adam. She made no move towards him, and yet he found himself quite unable to move, coldness creeping slowly over his body as her eyes gazed into his. He tried desperately to look away but somehow couldn't and with a feeling of apprehension he realised the power that this ethereal figure held. "Adam!" The panicked shout from behind Eloise made her turn away momentarily, releasing Adam from her thrall. Looking up he saw that Joe was just yards away, watching Eloise uneasily as she turned in his direction. Hurriedly, Adam reached for the locket, taking it from his pocket with numb fingers. "Catch, Joe!" He yelled, throwing the golden oval as hard as he could and watching it arc above Eloise and land just behind his brother. As Joe bent to retrieve it, Adam moved towards Eloise, seeking to draw her attention back to him. Snatching up the piece of gold, Joe fumbled frantically with the catch, not daring to look round to see what was happening to Adam. As the locket came open, revealing the piece of hair that it held, the air around him suddenly vibrated with sound. A high-pitched keening of such volume and power that Joe longed to drop the necklace and shield his ears. Trying desperately to ignore the noise he pulled his knife from his boot and prised up the small oval of glass that had kept the hair safe all these years. As he did so the keening grew even louder, filled with a terrible note of despair, and so intense that pain shot through Joe's head and he dropped to his knees, groaning. "You're finished, Eloise, done for." Adam's words, taught and tense, came faintly to Joe through the agony, renewing his courage, and gritting his teeth, he reached for a match. Head feeling as though it would explode, Adam watched Joe through a haze of pain, keeping his gaze away from Eloise as her eyes sought his once more. He prayed that Joe would find the strength to fight against this terrible sound. To do what had to be done. He could only hope that he was right and that destroying the relic would also destroy Eloise. Cupping the lit match in his hand Joe held it out to the hair, relieved when the aged tress, dry and brittle from the years, caught alight immediately. As it did so the keening stopped as quickly as it had started and, relieved, Joe twisted round to look at Eloise. As the relic began to burn, a fearful scream suddenly erupted from deep within the ghostly young woman, as, to Joe and Adam's dismay, her long blonde hair appeared to catch on fire. Phantom flames blazed around her head and began to lick their way down her body. Even Adam was frozen with fear, and the two brothers could only watch in fascinated horror as Eloise writhed and twisted in agony before them, guttural moans torn from her. Then slowly, the flames ebbed away, and with them went Eloise, vanishing as though she had never been. Left behind, lying crumpled on the ground, was the body of Etta Parker.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I don't understand it at all." Dr. Paul Martin straightened up from his examination and scratched his head in consternation. "Just don't understand it." "You reckon she just up and died?" Sheriff Coffee asked, looking from Adam to Joe, his expression as baffled as that of the doctor's. "Nothing happened to her?" "As you can see, there's not a mark on her." Adam said, casting a glance down at Etta's body, then looking quickly away, his stomach turning at the memory of the kiss he had shared with her. "I went to get some water from the lake and when I came back that's what I found." "And you." Roy turned his attention to Joe. "Did you see anything?" "Nope." Joe shook his head, trying his best to adopt an innocent expression and hoping that he didn't look as shaken as he felt. "I was with Adam, down by the lake." "I see." The sheriff's tone of voice clearly stated that he didn't quite believe the two Cartwrights. However there was no evidence of foul play, though the entire thing was very odd. Walking over to join Dr. Martin he took another long look at the body, pursing his lips in thought. "Mighty strange." He said at last. "It is that." Paul Martin shut his medical bag with a snap. "But you can see the evidence for yourself." "I see it." Roy agreed shortly. "I just ain't sure if I can believe it. I done seen Etta Parker only yesterday and yet." He shook his head in disbelief. "Yet this body has quite clearly been dead for a number of weeks." Paul finished for him, signalling for the men they had brought from town to collect Etta's body. "It's the strangest thing I ever came across." Behind the doctor Joe and Adam exchanged a glance. When they had first seen the already decomposing remains of Etta Parker they had been reluctant to report her death. But, as Adam pointed out, questions were sure to be asked if she just disappeared. "Do you need us here anymore?" Joe asked, as the sheriff's men carefully wrapped the body in a sheet of dark cotton. "No, you might as well get along home." Roy told him, watching the men load the body onto the waiting buckboard. "I'll be out to see you later." "How come she knew the locket wasn't hers so quickly?" Joe asked his brother quietly as they walked over to the waiting buggy, Cochise hitched behind it. "It sure looks the same. And how come she just stood there, didn't come after either of us?" "I think it was because of the hair." Adam told him, reaching into his pocket and drawing forth both lockets. "It's like I said, the hair was the relic that kept Eloise here. She needed to be close to it to keep control of Etta's body. Once she lost the hair she couldn't function as Etta anymore. Then when I threw the necklace to you it landed too far away from her. She couldn't get back to it or move forward. That cry was all she could do to try and stop you destroying the relic." "So, you think she's gone for good now?" "I hope so." Adam stared down at the two lockets in his hand, lost in thought for a moment. Then, handing the replica to Joe, he turned and walked quickly back to speak to Roy. "What was that about?" Joe asked him curiously, as with a nod and a wave for the sheriff, Adam returned to his side. "I told Roy that Etta had treasured that locket." Adam said, climbing up into the buggy and taking up the reins. "Asked him to make sure it was buried with her." He looked out at the lake as Joe sat down on the seat beside him. "Seemed the right thing to do." He continued softly. "To give the locket a decent burial, something it's possible its owner never had." "I wonder how it happened?" Joe mused, as Adam flicked the reins and set the buggy moving. "How she came to be cursed in the first place." With a wry smile, Adam glanced round at his brother before turning his attention back to the road. "That." He said quietly. "Is something we shall never ever know."
THE END.and this time it really is.
© Kathleen Pitts. October 2002.