When former merchant marine Robert James first steps inside the Egg Harbor City Historical Society Roundhouse Museum, Marion Morris is intrigued. This handsome man has come to this New Jersey town in search of some local history. He's just inherited his aunt's house in Egg Harbor City, and he has plans to refurbish the home, which has been boarded up for years. As Marion, a widow, helps Robert find the information he's interested in, the two begin to form a close relationship and fall in love. But the small town of Egg Harbor City has an ugly secret. Living quietly and unknown among the residents is a serial kidnapper and white slave trader who targets young women. Robert and Marion may want to start a new life together, but this evil man with a fetish for fashion and rattlesnakes has determined that Marion will be perfect as his next victim.

White Ivory from the Museum

A NovelBy Roy Carl Weiler Sr.

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Roy Carl Weiler Sr.
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4620-5038-3

Chapter One

The snake moved slowly, silently across the floor. The girl watched its slow progress toward where she stood. She wanted to scream, but the duct tape over her mouth made that impossible. She had to stand very quiet, very still.

The man in the rocking chair outside the concrete wall that kept the snakes confined continued talking to her as he read the newspaper. "Says here they are still looking for you. It's been a week, and they haven't got a clue." He smirked. "Some people think you ran away. This reporter interviewed your mom; she says you had no reason to run off. You were happy at home and looking forward to going away to college next year. Is that true? Were you happy at home?"

The girl turned her head slightly so that she was looking directly at the man. Her eyes widened as she saw the biggest rattler moving toward the wooden block on which she stood. The man had tied her hands behind her and taped her mouth and then made her stand on the block in the center of the pit. He had told her the block was eighteen inches high and eight inches square. He'd had to help her step up or she wouldn't have been able to. As it was, she needed to stand very straight and very still because the tiny tips of her four-inch heels were right at the back edge of the block, and their pointed toes were just past the front edge. Her feet hurt. She had always worn flats or tennis shoes, except for the senior prom last spring, when she had worn little two-inch pumps.

Now she wore the clothes he had given her: a tight, short black skirt with a wide belt, a white silk blouse, and of course, the four-inch black velvet pumps. The toes were so pointy, the heels so very high, and they hurt her feet so badly she could hardly stand or walk in them. He had told her to practice, as she would soon need to be able to stand straight and still in them for a long time. Today he had brought her to the snake pit. She didn't know what it was, but after he had her standing on the block at its center and he was safely outside the concrete ring, he let the snakes free, telling her they were diamondback rattlers, very poisonous, and the only thing that would keep her safe was staying up on the block and standing very still. Movement would disturb them, and the biggest ones could strike up high enough to reach her, bite her.

She didn't know how long she had been standing up there, but it seemed like hours. She was terrified. She knew that if she fell, at least one of them would surely bite her. As she watched him, the man smiled and pointed at her feet. Looking down carefully, she saw the first snake had reached the block and was moving up to where its head was just below the tips of her shoes, with its tongue flicking in and out, sensing, tasting ...

Chapter Two

Marion was sitting at the kitchen table in the Roundhouse Museum, reading an article in the newspaper about the girl who had disappeared from a nearby town, when the sleigh bells on the front door of the museum chimed as someone came in. Her heels made a tap-tapping sound as she crossed the kitchen tile but were silent when she stepped onto the carpeted floor of the museum proper.

A very handsome man was standing just inside the front door. "Hi, I'm Marion. Welcome to the Egg Harbor City Historical Society's Roundhouse Museum. Please sign our visitor's book."

The man had dark hair and bright blue eyes. He smiled when he saw her and said, "Hi yourself. I'm Robert James, and I've been doing some research about some things to do with Egg Harbor City. Linda—the lady at the library—told me about your museum. So here I am." He turned to sign the book.

Standing next to him, waiting for him to finish, Marion couldn't keep herself from smiling. She felt almost a little giddy, like a schoolgirl. Stop it, she thought, but her face kept right on smiling. She said, "So, Mr. James, what can I do for you?"

He turned, smiling right back at her. "I read an article about an old doctor from the early 1900s and his secret cures and the gold coins he supposedly had hidden hereabout. Do you have any information about any of that?"

"You must mean Dr. Smith. He was real. This museum is in one of the buildings from his Cedar Water Health Resort. But the secret cures and gold coins are only a myth. If you'll look in this display case, we have lots of old photos and things from him and the sanitarium he built. It used to stand across the street and was the main building of the health resort."

Pointing to a photo in the case, he asked. "Is that the old doctor? He sure looks like he was a feisty old guy. Look at that beard, it's down to his waist. Did he really cure people with the waters from around this area?"

"That's him. He was quite a character. It's said that people came from around the world to be treated by him. So I guess he must have cured some of them. We have lots of other things in the museum about Egg Harbor City and stuff that happened here. Are you from the area?"

"Actually, I'm from Cape May. But I've been to Egg Harbor a number of times over the years. I used to come stay with my aunt and her husband when I was a kid. I always loved to go swimming in the lake when I was here on my summer visits."

"They lived in Egg Harbor City? I don't remember hearing of a James family living here."

"She was my dad's sister. She married David Maxwell."

"Oh. Now Maxwell, that's a name I know. We had a mayor who was a Maxwell, and as a matter of fact, we had a president of the historical society who was a Maxwell. Are you any relation, do you know?"

"I do, and I'm sure I'm not related to them. I remember my uncle Dave always said he was the stray dog in this town because he was from a different Maxwell family than all the ones in Egg Harbor City ."

"That's a shame, because we have a lot of family history information about the Maxwells here at the museum, in the genealogy files upstairs. For such a small town, Egg Harbor is lucky to have a strong historical society and this museum. So you're just here for the day?"

"No. As a matter of fact I'm staying at the Tuscany House. My aunt died at my home in Cape May just last month. She had congestive heart failure, and I took care of her the last few years. She left me her house here in Egg Harbor City. It's been boarded up ever since she moved in with me. It was in bad shape when I moved her to my place, so I just let it sit. Now it's mine, and I hope to get it open and in a livable condition. Maybe sell it—I don't know yet. Besides, it has given me a chance to be here and look into the mysteries about Dr. Smith's gold coins and his cedar water cures. I've wanted to do this ever since I read that article, but taking care of Audrey prevented me from getting here until now."

"I told you that's just a myth, an old wives' tale."

"Maybe. But look, it has already let me meet a most charming and helpful lady," he said with a big smile.

Marion felt her cheeks grow a bit warm with the beginning of a blush at the compliment he had given her. And oh my, her heart started to flutter a little, seeing the sparkle in his blue eyes. She thought, He is so handsome. If nothing else, I sure will have a story to tell the girls about what happened today at the museum. They always say it's so boring, how do I stand it? Ha!

Gathering her composure, she gave him a radiant smile...