Memories Of The Old South
Katarina was mad as hell, and glared at the figure in the strange grey uniform, since he was the cause of it all. She also looked over at Samantha, who was slumped over, still passed out. It made her wonder who the man was, and why they were tied up like they were.
"I will ask again, who the hell are you, you fucking asshole, and why are we tied up?" Katarina's accented voice echoed around the empty building, and the man looked at her with interest. He bowed slightly as he regarded her.
"I am Captain Reginald Pettit, of the 2nd Mississippi regiment. I am guessing from your accent that you are not American?" The man responded to her in a voice that had a drawl to the accent, before he gave her a disdainful look "I know that you are not one of our fair flowers of the south, because of your language. A true gentlewoman never uses foul language."
"I am sure that if said gentlewoman was tied to a wooden post in a cold, damp warehouse, she probably would!" Katarina declared, wishing she wasn't tied up so that she could get in the man's face. She gave him a cold glare instead as she informed him "You are hardly a person to be talking about manners, since a gentleman would not tie up two defenseless women!"
"I am an officer in service to the Confederate States of America, and I am righting a wrong that was done to a fellow officer!" Capt. Pettit intoned solemnly, before his lips twisted into a snarl as he looked at Samantha. He strode over and slapped her face, to bring her back to consciousness. Katarina winced as she heard the impact of his hand on the actress' face.
"Ahh, oh, ahhh!" Samantha moaned as she came around, and saw the grey clad figure standing above her. "Good lord, what is going on? Who are you?" Her voice rose to a terrified crescendo as she started to put the pieces together in her mind.
"Mrs. Burns, how nice of you to join the tete-a-tete!" The man affected a pleased tone of voice, as if they were at a garden party. Katarina was confused about why he was calling Samantha Mrs. Burns, but not about her American history.
"Capt. Pettit, even I, a foreigner, knows that the Confederate States of America ceased to exist over ten years. In case you have been missing in action, your side lost!" She informed their captor in a disdainful tone of voice. Katarina now remembered Samantha telling them last night that she was from New Orleans originally. Her best guess was that this officer had some grudge against the actress, or a family member.
"Yes, whoever you are, we did lose! But we lost valiantly and bravely! My unit was stationed at Vicksburg, charged with the defense of the great river fortress. Charles Burns, a loyal and Christian man was my second in command. He was also the husband of that traitor that you call a friend!" Pettit almost screeched as he made his pronouncement.
Katarina turned slightly to look at Samantha, finding it hard to believe that what she was hearing could be true. The Captain saw her confusion, and grinned evilly, before a satisfied expression crossed his face. "I bet she hasn't told you that part of her life, isn't that right Samantha?"
The actress looked up at him in horror, as she realized that this man had known her husband. The thought came to her that he had probably been there when Charles had died. Reginald Pettit saw the way she was regarding him, and he let loose a maniacal laugh that bounced off the walls.
"Oh, now you are figuring it out! Charles always said you were smart. Thank goodness he died so he didn't have to find out what kind of a woman he had married." The grey clad officer looked down at her in disgust, as he explained "Did you know that it was over forty days before we surrendered the fort? We lost more men to sickness and starvation, than to the Yankees! By the end of the siege there weren't even any rats left, because we had eaten them all."
"Ma'am, where are you from, if I may ask?" Capt. Pettit turned to Katarina as he asked his question in a conversational tone of voice. She saw that he must be quite mad, with the way he could switch moods so fast. One minute he was almost shrieking, and the next he seemed quite normal. It came to her that she needed to be careful and stop baiting him, before he did something very serious.
"I am from Russia, Capt. Pettit. May I ask where you are from?" Katarina willed herself to talk in a pleasant tone of voice, so as not to set him off.
"Early in the war we had some military representatives of European powers that came to observe our grand army in action. I believe one of them was a countryman of yours." The officer replied, and then answered her question "My hometown was Vicksburg, Mississippi. While New Orleans surrendered without a shot even being fired, we held out in defense of the Confederacy!"
Katarina was not familiar enough with the individual battles of the war, but she was willing to take his word for what had happened. It was apparent that the officer had taken the loss of his men, and the surrender, personally. His mind had become unhinged because of it, and somehow Samantha was the target of his venom and hatred. Her musings were broken by Samantha starting to say something, but he slapped her again.
"While her husband was eating rats to stay alive this traitor signed the oath of allegiance to the United States of America! She turned her back on the cause her husband was fighting for; isn't that right Mrs. Burns?" Pettit asked in a cruel voice, as he used his booted foot to jab at her leg.
"Instead of staying home and praying for our victory she went to the theater and whored herself out by entertaining union troops! The same troops whose comrades were bombarding us at Vicksburg!" The man was working himself up again, and Katarina saw madness in his pale blue eyes. He wasn't done with his revelations though. "Not only did she go to work for the union army, but she took one of them as her lover!"
Samantha's whole body went limp, as he hurled the accusations at her. She looked over at Jarrod's sister-in-law and wondered how she would ever face her again, now that she knew the truth. "Capt. Pettit you don't understand! I loved my husband, but I had a baby to take care of; his baby!" Samantha wailed, hoping that maybe he would understand why she'd done what she had. She also wondered if Catherine would understand.
"I was captured by the Yankees after Vicksburg fell, but I escaped them soon enough. I made my way to New Orleans, to carry out your husband's last request." Pettit's voice echoed around the room as he told his story "It took him over three days to die and all he did the entire time is talk about you and how much he loved you. He asked me to find you and tell you that he never stopped loving you."
"All the time Charles was dying, crying for you, what were you doing?" Pettit seethed, as bits of spittle showed at the corners of his mouth, before he went on "He led me to believe you were a pure angel, and when I arrived in New Orleans and saw what you really were, it made me sick!"
"You are a traitorous whore, who needs to be executed for your actions! The Lord has anointed me in my cause." Reginald Pettit decreed in a formal voice, as he started walking away. He stopped and turned back to the two women "I need to go get rid of the carriage, so they don't find you. However, when I come back justice will be served!" Both women watched him walk away, and slam the door after him.
"Catherine, I am so sorry about this! You shouldn't be involved, his grudge is against me." Samantha told the Russian girl in a low voice, and then she trembled as she added "I want to explain about what he said, about me." She was sure that the woman was thinking awful thoughts of her, which was deserved.
"Samantha, you don't owe me any explanations for your private affairs." Katarina replied, being concerned about how the actress was holding up. She could tell that the woman's breathing was irregular, and she was shivering badly. The story that Capt. Pettit had told had been so sensational as to almost be made up in his mad mind.
"No, I do owe you that, because it is true!" Samantha announced, as she looked at Katarina out of the side of her eye "I mean it is true, but it wasn't like he was saying. I had a baby, no food, or money, and I'd not heard from my husband in over six months. Piers and Elyse tried to help me, by taking the food the Yankees were willing to give to the Negros, but it wasn't enough for all four of us."
"By then it was clear that the south wasn't going to win the war. Under the occupation, if a southerner signed the oath of allegiance to the union they could work. My family has always been in the theater, and I knew I could get a job as an actress, which I did. I didn't see it as a betrayal, because I was doing it for my son. However, that still didn't solve the other problem." Samantha faltered in her story, and felt Katarina move her arm against hers in sympathy.
"Catherine, an occupying army takes what they want, be it food, alcohol, or women. The threat of rape was very real in a town where the only men were too old or young boys. Piers protected me as best as he could, but I knew that the threat was still there." She paused, taking a deep breath she plowed ahead with her confession "I waited until I had confirmation that Charles was dead, before I became the mistress of a union officer."
"Samantha, you didn't do anything wrong! You were just looking out for your family, and you don't have to explain anything to me." Katarina felt so bad for the woman, trying to imagine being in that circumstance herself. Doing some quick calculations she guessed that the actress was probably only eighteen when it all happened. It was sobering to realize that it was the same age that she was now, and the terror she would have felt.
"Peter Talbot was a gentleman, with an invalid wife. He was kind to me, and my son, and his protection meant I didn't have to worry about being raped anymore. Peter supported my household, and saw to it that we never lacked for anything. So many women lost babies that year, and I felt grateful every time I looked at Charles Jr." Samantha offered up, going on "I am still in contact with him, but our affair has been over for a long time. Catherine, I've never done that again, and I don't want to either."
"I personally admire you for what you did for your son, Samantha! It shows courage and love that you did what you did, and your child is lucky you are his mother." Katarina told her truthfully, knowing that she had set aside her principles to save her baby.
"Just so you know, Jarrod is aware of all this. Peter was a friend of his in Washington DC during the war, and they stayed in touch. When I started receiving the threatening letters it was Peter who suggested I go to Jarrod for help." Samantha went on to explain about the letters, but left out the part about how she and Jarrod had been pretending to be going out. By some miracle the woman had understood what she'd done and why, but she didn't think she could reveal the other deceit without betraying Jarrod.
Samantha's train of thought was broken by how Katarina was squirming around, and wriggling her hands. She was shocked when the Russian girl managed to get one of them out of the ropes, followed by the other one.
"How did you do that? The ropes are so tight!" Samantha asked in surprise, as the woman removed the rest of the ropes. Katarina then went to work on the actresses' knots.
"It is a trick I learned when I was visiting my grandparents in British India, from some of the performers in the bazaar. When you are being tied up you take a deep breath which makes your chest a lot bigger. At the same time you try to keep your wrists as far apart as you can, without it being noticed. That way the ropes are not as tight as they look, and it makes it easy to get out of them." Katarina helped Samantha to rise up, and then started looking around for something.
"Here it is my reticule. Thank goodness he didn't think to look inside it! I guess if you are going to be kidnapped it is best if it is by a crazy person." Katarina announced, as she reached inside her purse and pulled her gun out, much to Samantha's shock. She said as much, which made the Russian girl laugh, especially when the actress asked her if she really knew how to shoot.
"I have been able to shoot since I was ten, because of wolves. Now, I suggest we get out of here now, while he is gone. I presume you know your way around the city, right? I have no idea where we are." Katarina suggested, as she started walking towards the door. She halted when she heard it being opened up, and gestured to Samantha for them to climb the rickety ladder that led up to a loft that occupied half the building. They had barely made it when the door swung open and Capt. Pettit came striding into the warehouse.