June 1967
She picked up his tweed jacket and hugged it, inhaling her late husband's scent for the last time. Although it's been six months, Julia still couldn't believe that Eliot was gone. However, he was, and she has to start paying the price for their involvement with a certain, slick warlock who ruined their lives. Although Eliot had brought that jaded man into their lives, she assumed responsibility for her part in it by not alerting her husband of her discomfort with the warlock.
Oh, why did Eliot have to have such a thirst for knowledge? Why did he let this man in their lives? Why didn't I stop him?
Tears began soaking the jacket collar as those thoughts crossed her mind.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Not wanting anyone to see her in such an awful state, Julia hurriedly repacked the jacket into one of the boxes, resealed it, and wiped her eyes with her blouse sleeve, prepared for her long-time housekeeper's inquiry.
"Uh, yes?" she called out, almost quietly.
"Dr. Hoffman, Dr. Woodard is here to see you," called Mrs. Compton.
"Dave," she sighed, relieved. Of all of the colleagues and associates who visited her home, she was thrilled about her friend's arrival. "Uh, send him up here, Mrs. Compton."
"Yes, doctor," said the older woman.
Oh, what would I do without her? thought Julia, grateful every day for her housekeeper's presence.
Mrs. Compton has been a very reliable shoulder to cry on ever since Julia brought Eliot's body back to the states in December 1966. According to the obituary in the society columns, Professor T. Eliot Stokes died from a massive heart attack while on vacation with his wife in Martinique. If they only knew the real circumstances behind it…
When she brought his body back from Martinique, Julia was in complete distress. She had Mrs. Compton to call up Dave for her, and as always, he and his wife came to her rescue. It always has been like that since their college days. She, Eliot, and Dave were considered social misfits: Eliot for his unusual fascination with the occult, Julia for her determination to be a medical professional, and Dave just for being with them. Whenever positive or negative things happen to either of them, two would come to the other's side as their support system. Those were good times then. Now there were two of them to lean on each other.
As soon as she heard Dave's heavy footsteps, she opened the door and greeted him in the hallway.
"Julia," he greeted, with a note of pity in his voice.
"Dave! I'm so glad you came," she weakly beamed.
They hugged for a moment, and then he drew back, taking her hands in his. "How are you? I haven't heard from you since the funeral."
"I'm… I'm bearing up as well as any widow could. How's Edna?"
"She thinks about you constantly," he replied.
"Tell her the same here for both of you. Come inside," she said, strengthening her voice. Julia never much cared to show too much vulnerability.
Julia was in Eliot's bedroom, surrounded by boxes of clothes and shoes. Despite their love for each other, the intellectual couple had separate bedrooms. There was no secret animosity between them, but they shared a secret that made it impossible for them to share a bed, a secret that only Dave knew.
Dave looked around, taking in the brown boxes on the clean floor, the stripped bed against the wall, and the desk and book shelves that were cleaned out. He and his wife, Edna, only visited twice when the prestigious couple wasn't so busy with their lives, but he could imagine that 'study' that Eliot created in his bedroom.
"He had a lot of books, didn't he?" asked Dave, making conversation.
"Yes," answered Julia, wistfully smiling. "If he wasn't in his study, he was in here… reading…researching..."
She gestured to the boxes on the floor. "I have all of his things packed for the clothing drive volunteers to pick up. Mrs. Compton and I worked on them yesterday afternoon. His colleagues from the university had already picked up his books and files."
"Do you need help bringing them downstairs?" Dave asked.
"Well, I was going to ask, but I thought that I should tell you something first," she said.
"What's that?" he asked.
"I'll be staying in Collinsport for a while."
Dave's mouth dropped, surprised. "Julia! Why didn't you tell me in the first place?"
"I'm telling you now," she said, trying to be humorous.
"Well…well, where will you be staying? If I knew you wanted to visit Collinsport, Edna and I would had invited you over to stay with us and the kids."
"Actually, I was already invited by another friend. You may remember her from several hospital charity balls between Bangor and Collinsport."
"Really? Who?"
"Elizabeth Collins Stoddard."
Dave looked as if he would have choked on his saliva. "You're kidding? You're staying with her? At Collinwood? Why in the world would you want to do that?" he asked.
"Elizabeth had donated money to Wyndcliffe on several occasions, and we had kept in touch. She's really a nice person once you get to know her. She and her brother were even nice enough to show up for Eliot's funeral."
"I know, Julia. I was there, too, but don't you think that they are a little… out of our league? I mean, I have nothing against Mrs. Stoddard, but her brother…pfft! He looks down on everyone. And look at where they live! I'm sure you heard the rumors, too."
"Do you really believe in that gossip about ghosts haunting the 'elegant halls of Collinwood'?" asked Julia, amused.
"I don't know, but it may explain why they only have one maid, don't you think?"
"Not every rich family have scores of maids and servants, Dave. Besides, it's just her and her brother now, is it? I read that Elizabeth's daughter, Carolyn, got married and left Collinsport."
"You forgot about Mrs. Stoddard's nephew," reminded Dave.
"Oh, yes! I remember Elizabeth speaking fondly of her nephew. While I disagree with her homeschooling the child, she seems very concerned for his welfare. Didn't Roger's wife recently pass?" she asked.
Dave nodded. "In a fire in Atlanta, sometime last year. That's why he and his son, David, returned to Collinsport. But what you don't know is that the boy is institutionalized at your sanitarium."
Julia was taken aback at the news. When Elizabeth invited her to Collinwood, she never mentioned David being sent to Wyndcliffe. She could have been his personal physician. "That's funny. Why would she neglect to tell me that?"
"Most likely, thinking of you in mourning. She probably didn't want to burden you with her problems."
"But I'm still a doctor at the end of the day!" Julia protested.
"Julia, for six months you closed yourself off to the world until a few days ago. You were in no shape to deal with a psychotic boy."
"Do you know the details of his admittance?"
"I signed off for his admittance."
And you didn't tell me!"
"Julia, calm down! As I said, you were in mourning, and I handled it. In early April, David tried to kill his father by tampering with his break lines. Later, the boy accused some cousin of theirs of being a vampire."
Julia flinched at the term vampire. "Come again?"
"I'm not kidding. The boy actually accused a cousin of theirs of being a real-live, living and breathing, vampire. And when the boy tried to charge at him with a stake and a mallet, Mr. Collins had to restrain him. That was the last straw for the man, and he had the boy committed, against his sister's wishes, to Wyndcliffe."
"Incredible! But either way, Dave, Liz invited me. If there was anyone I should worry about, it would be her brother Roger. Unlike his sister, he's a pompous-ass snob. Yet, I was surprised at the funeral on how remarkably sympathetic he was towards me."
"You mean in the way he clung to you, and waited on you, hand and foot, whenever you needed your punch to be refreshed or a clean handkerchief?" stated Dave, in an implying tone.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Julia, arms folded, with an analytical expression on her face.
"I'm just saying…"
"Well, shove it! He was being polite. Rich people are polite and sympathetic at these…events. Anyway, I'm still going to Collinwood, with the 'ghosts' and all. Mrs. Compton is going to keep up the house for me until I decide whether or not to sell it. I'm not sure what I want to do yet. And my staff and colleagues at Wyndcliffe respect my sabbatical. I just need some time to get myself in order."
"I just wished you would stay with me and Edna," said Dave.
"I know, but Liz already invited me. If Eliot was still here, he would have loved to go to Collinwood to…commiserate with the spirits and ask about their past lifetimes and so forth," she mused, her smile dazzling the morose atmosphere.
"It's nice to know that you still have a great smile, Julia," complimented Dave, smiling in return.
Julia's smile broadened. "I'm surprised that I was able to still do so. What else do you have on your mind?"
"That once you get there, you may not even have a chance to have a peace of mind in that household, whether or not from the ghosts or from the family," he said, flatly.
"Well, I am a psychiatrist, Dave. If Elizabeth or Roger wants to talk about David, then I'll listen. And if I get weary from all of their issues, I'll call Edna to expect an extra at your dinner table. I never knew they had a cousin though. Did you ever meet him?"
Dave shook his head. "Hardly anyone had seen him. I think he's a recluse. And I don't associate with the Collinses, so that's the limit of my knowledge of that individual."
Julia took in the information. "Alright. Well, let's get these boxes moved downstairs, mister."
"That's doctor to you, doctor," said Dave, groaning with a heavy box of shoes in his arms. Both of them laughed as they each carried a box down the stairs.
Later that evening, Julia went over some notes from Eliot's research of the undead that was not collected by his academic colleagues: notes on vampirism. Besides what she saw in the movies, read in books, and listened to Eliot speak on the subject, she found vampirism fascinating, especially since she knows that she will be dealing with a real vampire in Collinwood, as the warlock had commanded. After two hours of going over line by line of information and collecting her thoughts, she replaced the notes in her briefcase, and toted one of her suitcases to her bed. When she opened it, she gazed upon the wooden stake and mallet that Eliot had bought from an eccentric collector. Who knew that these items would one day come in handy?
She resealed the suitcase and placed it by her bedroom door with her other bags. Everything was ready for her early morning drive to Collinwood. Julia had a debt to settle, and a mission to complete. If she failed, then she will be tied to the warlock for…eternity.
Hey! I'm giving a shout-out to Daryl Wor (formerly Dete Wor) for her Julia analysis which has cured my writer's block for this story. Enjoy and let me know what you think since this is my first 1960's storyline fanfic for DS. Thanks for all comments ;)