Free Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye by Imari Jade Page B

either.
    Isabella was glad she’d worn flat heels which made her and the mayor about the same height. Her stomach was doing one of those bubbling butterfly things as they danced slowly to the music. The others from the table had joined them so she didn’t feel a bit awkward. She was glad she kept up on the latest dance crazes and wouldn’t look like a complete idiot tonight. The music ended and Malcolm led her back to the table in time for the meal to be served.
    The caterers served a delicious Caesar Salad first, which was her favorite. Accompanying it was thick crusty French bread and butter, followed by Jambalaya, crawfish bisque, blackened red fish…all New Orleans’ staples. Dessert consisted of bread pudding rich in rum sauce, king cake and coffee.
    Isabella knew she shouldn’t have had dessert but what the hell? It wasn’t everyday she got to dine with the mayor.
    * * * *
    Tiffany Jasper and her friend Morris Evans slipped away from the dinner party and decided to take a private tour of Lincoln House before the mayor led his scheduled tour. The building they were in was more than one hundred and fifty years old and considered to be the most haunted and the most frightening location in the French Quarters. Neither of them believed in ghosts and weren’t really interested in the house. They were just looking for a little privacy so they could be alone. The two of them had been in love for nearly four years and were to be married next year on Tiffany’s twenty-first birthday. They came to the party with their parents and slipped away when their folks weren’t looking.
    They found a room on the second floor and walked out onto the balcony to look out at the stars. Tiffany and Morris were holding hands and kissing only a few minutes when Tiffany noticed they weren’t alone. She pointed over to the railing of the balcony about ten feet away.
    Morris turned to see what she was pointing at. Before them sat a naked black man who appeared to be chained to the railing of the balcony.
    “Do you need any help?” Morris asked the man.
    The man shook his head ‘no’ and disappeared before their eyes.
    Tiffany backed up into the room and Morris followed her. She stumbled over something on the floor. Morris caught her before she fell. The room had filled with a foul odor that made them gag.
    “Let’s get out of here,” Tiffany told Morris. Something wet dripped on her shoulder. She ran into the hallway and Morris followed. They stopped in the hall to catch their breaths. “Something dripped on my gown,” she told Morris.
    “It’s a red stain. It looks like blood.”
    Tiffany screamed and ran down the stairs. Morris followed close on her heels.
    * * * *
    No one had to tell Isabella that something was wrong. She sensed it the moment she stepped inside Lincoln House. She knew the legend, yet not too many people believed it. The hysterical young woman named Tiffany crying on her father’s shoulders, told a tale that maybe only she and a few others present believed.
    The mayor left the table to console his guests. Isabella and Ernie slipped away to do a little investigating.
    “You felt it too?” Ernie asked her, as they hurried up to the second floor.
    “As soon as I walked in. You know the tale. This place is full of big bad spirits. Madam Lincoln mistreated her slaves, chained them up, cut them up, and then burned them.”
    “Yes, I know the morbid little tale, Bella. The spirits are still here.”
    “I know,” Isabella said as she entered the room. “I can feel them and their hatred for Madam Lincoln. She was one real mean slave owner.” Isabella stopped talking and stepped further inside the room.
    It was dark except for the moonlight beaming in through the patio glass. “There is something in the room and it smells awful.”
    “I know,” Ernie agreed. “It’s different from all the others. It smells evil.”
    Something dripped on Isabella’s arm. She raised her hand to the moonlight to get a better