Uneasy Spirits: A Victorian San Francisco Mystery (30 page)

The plan was for Biddy to keep an eye on the front door, and Kathleen on the back while Annie and Nate searched the séance rooms and as many of the other rooms in the house as they could in the allotted time. They needed to be gone by eight-thirty, nine at the latest, if they wanted to be sure to miss the return of the house’s occupants. She hoped that an hour would be time enough.

As the cab made its way down Taylor, she distracted herself from worrying about the risks they were taking by turning her thoughts back to the strange story Flora Hunt had recounted the day before about what she called her spirit protectors. Mrs. Hunt had explained that, throughout her life, she would go into a trance state and these protectors would appear. The first came when she was eight and lost in the woods. An old woman took over her body and led her home. Mrs. Hunt later identified the woman as her grandmother, who had died before she was born.

She had said to Annie, “My childhood was relatively happy, until the age of eleven. My father, a carpenter and radical reformer, had been my closest companion, but then something happened to him. He changed. His mood darkened, and he began to spend more and more time at the local tavern, becoming irritated when I tried to talk to him. The greatest betrayal came one evening when he lay in a drunken stupor in the parlor while one of his friends took me on his lap and put his hands on me. That was when Zachariah, my second protector, first appeared. He is the spirit of a young schoolmaster, and he explained the fundamentals of geometry during my ordeal.”

Mrs. Hunt had gone on to say she had experienced ten different spirits during her lifetime. She said, “I believe they are angels sent by God to protect me. They comforted me, spoke through me when I performed, and kept me sane. Without them, I would never have survived my life with Mr. Trainor. When I was on stage, and these protectors came to me, that was the only time I felt completely safe.”

Touched by angels
, Annie had thought as a child when she saw Mrs. Hunt perform.
And Maybelle sleeps with the angels. Could there possibly be a connection?

Mrs. Hunt had gone on to tell Annie that she was convinced these spirit protectors had led her to the small Nebraska town where she had met Mr. Hunt. She said that after Mr. Hunt and his sister had nursed her back to health and helped her obtain a divorce from Mr. Trainor, she had ended her career as a trance medium.

“
I didn’t feel it was right to use my protectors for financial gain. I no longer needed them to give me courage to speak in public, and I have turned my energies to speak on behalf of other women caught in the snares of godless and abusive marriages. These spirits visit me infrequently now, some I haven’t heard from in years.”

At this point Mrs. Hunt had again smiled at her husband and said, “I have my own human protector now, but I know that if I need them, they are with me always, sent by God.”

When Annie had described the work Evie May did for the Framptons, Mrs. Hunt asserted that Maybelle, Eddie, Miss Evelyn, and even the young man Edmund, who Kathleen had met, were probably Evie May’s own protective spirits.

She had said, “Mrs. Fuller, I don’t believe it is an accident that Maybelle and Eddie showed themselves to you. They knew that you would work to save Evie May from the life of degradation that faces her if she stays with Simon Frampton.”

Yesterday, Annie had demurred when Mrs. Hunt said this, but now she remembered how Maybelle clung to her, and she wondered if what Mrs. Hunt said was true. She had, in any event, promised to try and arrange a meeting between Mrs. Hunt and Mrs. Nickerson and Evie May.

As if he could read her thoughts, Nate broke the silence in the cab, saying, “Annie, you never finished telling me about your visit to Mrs. Hunt. Did you find her helpful?”

“
Yes, she not only gave me some useful suggestions about what to look for when we search the séance room, but she also will make inquiries among her Spiritualist friends to see if anyone knows something about the Framptons that could be of help.”

Annie paused. She hadn’t yet mentioned what Flora Hunt had told her about her past, her spirit protectors, or her ideas about Evie May, and she didn’t feel this was the time or place to bring up this subject. Instead, she said, “What might be most helpful is Mrs. Hunt’s willingness to meet with Sukie Vetch, because I got nowhere with Miss Pinehurst’s sister when I saw her this afternoon. Miss Pinehurst had arranged to meet me at the Vetch’s, around three, and Sukie’s husband agreed. However, when the maid showed me into the parlor, Sukie and Miss Pinehurst were in the midst of a heated battle.”

Annie had never met Mrs. Vetch before, and she doubted she would have guessed that this was Lucy Pinehurst’s little sister. Unlike the tall, slim, dark-haired, plain-faced Miss Pinehurst, Sukie Vetch was short and blond with a full figure, a pertly turned-up nose, and a rosebud mouth, which was screwed up at that time into a definite pout. The only things the two sisters had in common were their dark-brown eyes, which were flashing in an identical fashion.

Annie continued, “Unfortunately, Miss Pinehurst hadn’t been able to refrain from telling Sukie about how Evie May pretended to be the spirit of my son Johnny, a child who never existed, and how this proved that the Framptons were frauds. As I entered the room, Sukie was shouting that Miss Pinehurst was just a jealous, dried-up spinster, who couldn’t stand that, even in death, Charlie preferred his mother to his aunt.”

Kathleen, who had been listening closely to Annie and Nate’s conversation, said, “Oh, ma’am. What a wicked thing to say to Miss Lucy. Sukie Vetch sounds like a spoiled brat.”

Annie smiled at Kathleen’s outburst and said, “Miss Pinehurst had intimated that since childhood Sukie had tended to throw a tantrum when she didn’t get her way. Yet, when I walked up to Sukie and saw what a sad state she was in, I confess I felt real pity for her. Her eyes were red-rimmed, as if she hadn’t slept in a month. Her skin was dry and splotchy and pulled too tightly over her cheekbones, and her hair looked unwashed. And her hands, which she had clasped over her stomach, as if she was protecting her unborn child, visibly trembled. No wonder Miss Pinehurst is so worried about her health.”

Nate spoke up. “Did you get to talk to her at all?”

“
No,” Annie said. “As soon as she noticed I had entered the room, she stalked out without speaking to me. Her husband did stay, and he said that he had decided to meet with the spirit of Charlie. This, of course, means he would meet with Evie May, but only with Sukie present. He reasoned that since Sukie called him a liar when he told her about Simon putting pressure on him, if Evie May does ask him questions about Mr. Ruckner or the bank, this might open up Sukie’s eyes. If that didn’t work, he was seriously considering having Sukie committed to a health sanitarium, for her own and her baby’s well-being. Then the poor man began to cry.”

Nate uttered an oath and then said, “You did tell me Mrs. Hunt offered to speak to Mrs. Vetch. What good do you think that will do?”

“
Mrs. Hunt thought that Mrs. Vetch might be willing to listen to someone who was a true Spiritualist, who wouldn’t try to persuade her that contact with her dead son was impossible. She put it this way, ‘Her family is asking her to give up this one connection with her son, without giving her any hope of another way of keeping him part of her life. I can give her that hope.’ It is worth a try. I gave Mr. Vetch her address and told him to contact her.”

“
Ma’am, sir. We are here,” said Kathleen, as the cab came to a halt next to the alley behind Harrison Street.

Nate tapped the hatch on the roof, and when it opened, he reached up and said, “Here’s your fare, and I have doubled it, if you promise to return within the hour and wait for us here.”

Annie heard the cab driver reply, “Yes, sir. Be glad to.” Then Nate opened the doors at the front of the carriage and stepped down to the road. He turned and helped Annie, then Kathleen alight.

Kathleen lifted the lantern they had brought with them, having lit the candle within, and began to lead the way down the dark alley. The first block wasn’t too bad, since the houses were all occupied and the alley had been kept clear of debris. However, when they crossed Fifth and entered the alley behind the Framptons’ house, the general neglect of this block became evident. They had to pick their way past leaning fences, half-dried patches of mud, and piles of odiferous refuse. Annie silently thanked Kathleen for the foresight in bringing the lantern.

“
This is the entrance to the back yard,” Kathleen whispered, swinging the lantern around.

Annie stopped and saw that she was pointing to an overgrown path that led from the alley toward the house, which bulked up against the night sky. A three-quarter moon had started its climb upwards, not yet erased by the nightly creep of fog from the west. Looking up, Annie didn’t see any lights in the upstairs, and she was transported to a night this past summer when she looked up at the darkened windows of a house full of danger and death. A wave of fear raised the hairs on the back of her neck. Nate came up behind her, putting his warm hand on her shoulder, and the spell was broken.

“
Mrs. C. H. Sawyer will hold Materializing Séances in the light, without a cabinet, every evening except Saturday. Honest investigators can call and see for themselves.”
—
San Francisco Chronicle
, 1879

“
I am so glad you made it,” Biddy said. “Everyone’s gone, and Mrs. Nickerson asked me this afternoon if I would mind staying past ten, since she and Evie May are attending a party. They are the ones most likely to return early, so this should give you at least until nine. Kathleen will stay here in the kitchen, and if Albert or anyone else should come in the back way, she can just say I asked her to come visit. What can they do to me, ’cept fire me, and I plan on giving my notice the end of next week, anyway. Larkson’s Woolen Mills are hiring, and I’ve already been promised a job.” Biddy positively beamed.

Annie stood blinking in the blaze of lights from multiple lamps placed around the kitchen, a large but comfortable room that smelled strongly of cinnamon. She was rather overwhelmed by Biddy’s enthusiasm.

Biddy continued, “Mr. Dawson, Mrs. Fuller, please let me take your coats and hat. And take these candles, if’n you please. Not as heavy as an oil lamp and easier to snuff out quick if someone comes.” She pointed to three candlestick holders with lighted candles that sat on the kitchen table, taking up one herself. “I figured you would want to start with the séance rooms. Such luck, Albert was in a hurry this afternoon and let me into the back room to take care of the fireplace. I was able to put a bit of sticking plaster over the lock on the back parlor door as I left, so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting in.”

Annie, content to let the young servant girl lead the way, smiled over at Nate and picked up a candle. As they left the kitchen, Biddy pointed to the door on the left and said, “That’s the door down to the cellars, but I am afraid it’s locked. I did bring a crowbar from home today and stashed it in the woodpile. So if you have time, you might try and break the lock on the trap door on the side of the house.”

Annie muttered to Nate who had come up beside her, “Biddy’s thought of everything. You don’t think she is really a housebreaker in her spare time, do you?”

Biddy held the door to the front hallway open for them, and they could see a lamp burning on the hallstand near the front door. She handed her candle to Annie, turned towards the door to the smaller back parlor where Evie May’s cabinet sat, jiggled the doorknob a little, and then slowly pulled the door open.

“
See, the plaster worked just as I hoped, it kept the little tongue from sticking in all the way when Albert turned the key in the lock. He was in such a rush he didn’t notice. Evie May had been in the room all afternoon with those ‘private sittings,’ poor girl, and I needed to clean out the fireplace and lay the logs for a new fire, as well as dust. He never lets me in those rooms by myself, and I could tell he was anxious for me to finish up so he could go up and get dressed for his night on the town. Sunday nights he replaces his butler togs with a flashy get-up. Shows his real colors, you might say.” Biddy giggled and moved aside to let Annie and Nate into the room.

She darted to the windows and made sure the curtains were pulled completely tight; then she opened the doors to the bigger front parlor and checked the curtains there. Going over to an oil lamp that sat on the mantel, she lighted it, turning the flame to a medium height. Since the lamp was up against a mirror, the reflection increased the visibility in the room enough so that Annie and Nate could move around freely.

“
Ma’am, I will just go out to the front hall now. I’ll shout out if I see anyone coming up the walk, but I think you should have at least an hour before anyone could possibly return. If you want, when you are done with these rooms, I will take you for a quick tour upstairs.” With this statement, Biddy sketched a curtsy and left the parlor.

Annie sprang into action. Crossing to the side of the table where Arabella always sat , she pulled up her skirts and knelt down onto the carpet, saying, “Nate, please come over here and try to lift this end of the table.” Placing her candleholder on the floor, she ran her hand down the table leg under the velvet tablecloth that draped almost to the floor, and Nate came to stand near her and began to lift the edge of the table.

“
Damn, I thought these tables were supposed to be light as a feather, easy for the medium to levitate upwards,” said Nate. “Annie, what are you doing?”