As the group dispersed with some people decided to walk the scenic path back to the town and some girls were now hovering around Dave, me and Sam walk towards Eddie who was getting ready to walk towards the bus.
"Hey Eddie" Sam called out.
"Oh hey, do you guys want a lift back to the town?" He asked.
"Yeah, thanks a lot" Sam looked at me and we both got into the bus with him.
"Okay, hop on then. Most people who come here prefer to walk back since it's quite scenic" he said looking around.
"Yeah, it's lovely town but such a grizzly history. So did the murders actually stop after the death of Clayton?" I asked.
"Of course they did" he said.
"I saw you shaking your head when Dave was telling us about the 'epic' end of the tale. Why was that?" Sam asked.
"Well you see, history always has its versions. Many people don't wish to reveal the true history cause it might hurt our preconceived ideas of what or who is right or wrong. What you heard is the mutually agreed version of history."
"What is the right version, according to you then? Cos we know for a fact that you are local history buff" I said smiling at him.
"Wow where did you hear that. I won't say a buff but yes I'm an expert. So what do you kids wanna know?"
"Well what really happened?" Sam asked.
"Well Dave is correct upto the part where the black steed came rushing to town with a dead body on it. The sheriff did follow the steed and wasn't heard from until a week later when he was found dead. The version that you heard was what Milford Delaware told the town council. But when the sheriff's body was brought to the coroner, he found striation marks on his neck. So the bullet wasn't the cause of death. He was shot after he had died in order to show Clayton had shot him."
"But why would anyone do that?"
"Exactly, cos Clayton wasn't our man he was framed. He was a mere pawn in the game"
"He was framed by who..." Sam asked.
"By Delaware" I said.
"You are sharp. Yes, you see he was found on the Delaware's estate"
"But Delaware was equally worried about the murders as the others?" Sam said.
"Yeah but the steed was the first clue. As the steed ran across town, Mr Smith who was another of the council members present that day was also estate owner and bred horses on his ranch. You see he was sure that the animal belonged to Delaware"
"How do you know of this?" I asked.
"Well I was writing a book on these murders. I found this as a diary entry from Mr Smith's own personal diary. So this meant that someone in the Delaware household had used the horse and the body as a bait to lure the sheriff onto the estate"
"But why was anyone from the household murdering all these women?" I asked.
"I think it was male member of the household. I say male because if you see the crime scenes you'll see that the victims were mostly women. Very carefully chosen and the way they were murdered as though they were facing punishment for whatever crimes he thought that they had committed. Another similarity that led me to believe it was a man was the fact all these women had dark hair and big eyes and the fact they had broken a heart of some or the other man. For example: Bertha, had turned down a proposal from Clayton himself and Mary the niece had left her husband at the altar. Milford's wife had left him as well."
"So is this your theory or..." Sam was saying when Eddie interrupted him.
"Oh no this was Murtagh theory as well. After the first 3 murders he had realized that there was a pattern here. The fourth body confirmed his suspicions. He also seemed to notice that there were wheel marks and strong 2 pairs of hooves. Dick's testimony only confirmed his fears. In the station diary he mentions looking at wheel marks and horse hooves while talking to the cab drivers. But none of their wheels marks matched. Another reason that he suspected that the killer had been well off, was due to the fact that most women had money and jewelry intact on them. They also hadn't been touched as well."
"Also it seems all murders were committed nearby the Delaware estate. The carriage, the black steed all pointed at Delaware household." Sam said looking at his map.
"Yeah, exactly. So are you guys murder enthusiasts or cops or FBI?"
"Oh we are just writers. We are writing a book on the events that happened here. You seem to know a lot about what happened here. Did you write a book or something?" I asked.
"Yeah I was working on a book but I gave it up. I realized later that there are other important things" he was looking into the distance.
We followed his gaze. I realized that we were in town and that Eddie was looking at the Impala as it came to a halt. And Lydia stepped out. She seemed to be looking in this direction as well. This time it was Sam who elbowed me signaling to get going.
"Okay thanks for the info. I hope we can call on you if we need any more info?
"Oh yes please. I'll be glad to help" finally breaking his gaze from Lydia.
"Sammy, I cannot believe it that you two went on a guided tour while I was busy doing actual work?" Dean said irately walking towards us.
"Clam down okay we went on the tour as part of research. Yamini can you please back me up here please?"
"Yeah whatever Sam says" I said watching Lydia cross the street. "Hey is Lydia married?"
"Maybe, I don't know. Why? "
"I think there is or was something cooking between Lydia and Eddie"
"Really, that's so insightful." Dean said.
"Is that sarcasm?"
"How does that even matter"
I put an exasperated expression and began walking towards a cafe. I really needed a coffee after all this information overload. My brain had a complete shutdown. Just before entering the café something caught my eye. It was a lovely looking gown. It was peacock blue in color. I could see my reflection in the store window. Well it did look fancy.
However, it was nothing compared to what my cousin wore on her engagement. She was wearing green long skirt which was heavy with golden embroidery. And she was wearing like a pink short blouse on top and a drape with embroidery as well. Then she had all jewelry on top of all that golden embroidery. She was so bright that I had to close my eyes and open them slowly to adjust my eyes to the brightness. It also hurt my eyes cause the asylum had a very low lighting and I had been there for I don't know how long. I had come back from there after visiting my brother. The scene was soul crushing to see my brother locked up. He looked pale and small. They had given him sedative to help him sleep.
"You're doing the right thing" my uncle had told me. Yeah, it had made sense since he was sleeping at least. I had convinced myself that. So there she was my cousin Maya beaming and blushing herself to glory. "You should dress up. Mom has kept your clothes on the bed. They're so gorgeous. You're gonna love them." Was this really happening? It seemed so surreal. Here I was going through the worst year of my life and these people were celebrating. You know they could do whatever they wanted but this insistence on me participating in it was frustrating. I went up to my room to find my aunt and couple of my cousin's friends waiting for me. "Oh there you are! Let's get you ready. I know, it's a little too much but honey we cannot be hung up on what has happened in the past. Now be a good girl and join us in the celebration"
With that she left me in the room. The others started to help me. I finished and saw myself. There I was, one of the girls said I was looking pretty. All I could see was that I looked like them, dolled up and plastic. This wasn't me. I had left myself in the asylum with my brother. I asked for sometime alone to myself. I was told to come early as the ceremony was about to start.
I looked at myself long and hard. I hated the girl who I saw in the mirror. It was someone who was too afraid to speak up and to tell people to cut the bullshit and just leave me alone. I wanted to cry just pull away all the make-up and jewelry. Remove these festive clothes and just curl up on my bed. But I couldn't. Cos this bed wasn't mine, so was the room . It was all charity, extended towards me and my brother by my aunt and her family. I couldn't cry cos all the makeup would wear off and they had worked so hard to make me look normal. Wow I had a hit new low while making sure people would not experience inconvenience due to me. I had to carry the charade on.
My flashback was cut short, when I realized there were two more faces staring at me in the shop window. Sam and Dean both looked concerned. I looked up and turned around. "You okay?" Sam asked.
"Of course she is. The dress is so pretty." Dean said and winked at me.
"You do have a dress for tomorrow evening?"
"I'll figure out something"
"Do you have an evening dress in that backpack of yours? Cos it's a black tie event" Sam asked smiling at me as though mocking me.
"Wow I'm out then. I forgot to pack one since I was busy doing 'real' work there"
"Well then shall we go inside?" Dean said giving me his arm.
"Wait why?"
"Cos you have been invited for a ball" Sam said.
"Yeah guys but these dresses are all fancy like its walking into Mrs Pennypacker wardrobe"
"You have to look the part. Come on in and look what the sign says they have everything for everyone" Dean said reading it and leading me inside.
So we entered the store which called itself "En Vogue". It wasn't really big and white like most chains in the city. It was small store with one of those heavy Goth designs on the pillars. It had black and red walls with golden delicate petals and flower designs. There were racks where they had all kinds of dresses on it. And there was an accessory section right at the end, a kind of one stop shop. A girl who was wearing a short tight dress one that makes you wonder how does she get in, with fake blonde hair, lots of makeup and red lips came over to us. "Hey hi there, what can I do for you?" She said beaming at the guys. Typical, forget about the real customer and worry about the cute guys.
"Our friend here needs a dress for an event"
"Hey there, so what is it that you need?" She said genuinely smiling at me.
"Okay...I don't have any idea what to wear cos I've never done this before"
"Oh that's fine, I'm sure your friends and myself will help you find the best dress. So what kind of an event is this?"
"It's a black tie event at the mansion." Dean said adding in.
"Oh are you going for the salsa ball. Will you be dancing as well?"
"Yeah why not" Sam said trying not to smile.
"Yeah why not while we are at it why don't I just show up naked? So it becomes easier for people to point at me and laugh"
Both the brothers were sniggering. "Wow she plans to raise the temperature at the ball?" Dean said laughing.
"Okay...shall we get started?" said the store girl looking at us in a weird way. Clearly she did not share our sense of humor. Wow, did I just say 'our' sense of humor?
"Ahem…yes please" Sam said.
As we were about to begin another customer came in. The girl excused herself and told us that she'll be with us soon. "Wow this could take a while" I said turning to look at the guys. They weren't there. "Guys" I said looking around.
"Hey try this one"
"Are you serious white? Its not her wedding Dean"
"Oh yeah let's see what you got?"
"How about this red one?"
"No reds please and Ooh, am I in my very own version of 'queer eye for the straight guy' episode?"
I got the patented Winchester bitchface number 47 from both the brothers. Wow did these guys practice it or something? "Okay I'm sorry. I really appreciate this help. I'm serious, thanks" I said smiling. With that both vanished again, this time returning with like 5 dresses among themselves.
"Try them" they both said in unison.
Oh man I hated this part. The next hour was spent dissing, laughing or liking or even fighting (mostly by the boys) over dresses I tried on. Laughing mostly at my expense cos I was making faces at every dress, pouting at the vulgar but sexy dresses that Dean had picked up and batting my eyelashes at the Miss goody-two-shoes dresses of Sam.
"Can you guys pick something that manages to show both that I'm an angel and devil at the same time? You know fitting my dynamic personality" I said raising my one eyebrow and giving a crooked smile.
"Oooh so you do know what you are looking for?" Sam said.
"Nun and hooker at the same time. Got it" Dean said. Sam rolled his eyes at Dean. They came back and threw a purple dress over the changing room door.
"Oh here are shoes to go with it" Sam said pushing the black sandals with heels small purple flower attached to it under the door.
"Thanks for not throwing these over" It was an amazing dress of silk chiffon and it was fitted on top and the bottom has nice ruffles to it. It was of a decent length not too short and not long. As I strapped on my shoes and stepped out, I saw the boys look up and do a fist bump.
"That's hot!" I said looking at myself in the mirror. "What do you guys think?"
"Uhm...nice...wow nice" Sam said without looking at me.
"Yeah really...sexy" Dean said with a goofy smile.
"Dean" Sam said.
"Thanks got the feedback" I said trying to avoid my own blush rising. I had never managed to get that reaction out of any member of the opposite sex.
So after that mini makeover session we were back in the Impala (Dean hates the fact that I call it a car) driving towards the mansion. It had started raining and it was getting dark as well. Dean informed us that Lydia had invited us to dinner tonight. I thought to myself, 'wow this guy really gets invited a lot to dinners and lunches with women.' So we began comparing our notes. This was really turning out to be like a real investigation. I was using the word real cos I didn't believe in the curse or the only reason I was a part of this was that I had decided to have an open mind on this trip. To go where no woman had boldly went. Wait, wasn't that from star trek. Besides, the guys had given me some sort of an explanation for the weird marks on my legs. So where was I yeah we were sharing notes.
"So I guess I kinda figured who the woman was that Yaminee saw. It was Annabel"
"Milford's daughter. Why?" I asked.
"Wow so you guys did do some research. Well it seems Milford believed that his daughter was a witch. One of the reasons being that this wasn't the first time that Delawares had seen young girls go missing and then end up dead in their vicinity. This had happened in England as well"
"That's so convenient blame it on the women folk" I said.
"Dean we spoke to someone who believes that maybe the murderer was a man" Sam interjected.
"And it still doesn't explain why sheriff is still haunting the place?" I said.
All of sudden the car came to a halt. It had stopped raining now. "Oh baby, come on now don't do to me" Dean went outside to see what was wrong with baby. I could see in the rear-view mirror that a fog was forming at the end of the road. Sam went out too check out as well. That's when I heard a spine chilling scream which wasn't human.