Nevermore: A Novel of Love, Loss, & Edgar Allan Poe Read Online Free Page A

perfect, that it seemed she might turn her face and smile at them.
    Lenore returned to her seat, and Anita took the chair opposite her.   She composed herself, ordered her thoughts, and then she began to speak.
    "His name was Thigpen.   Abraham Thigpen.   He was supposed to be a lawman.   That is what he said when he took a room.   No one questioned him.   He was well dressed, and armed.   He had a badge.   I remember that it shone like silver, and he wore it on the lapel of a long, dark jacket.   He said that he was tracking a man – a dangerous man.   Again, no one doubted him.   This is a place that attracts shadows.”
    Anita paused.   She glanced at Lenore, but got no response.   The eraser brushed lightly at the drawing, dragging aside a clump of leaves.   The pencil dropped to the paper, and the line of a man’s nose was joined where the leaves had been.   There were still twigs crossing the man’s chin, and a final leaf tangled in his hair to be changed.   Anita continued.
    “He stayed here almost a week.   He was an arrogant man, and crude.   The longer he stayed, the more he drank, and each night he grew closer to losing control. I remember him because…”
    Anita paused again.   Lenore wanted to glance up.   She was aware of the story, aware of the words, and she sensed the pain behind them, but she could not allow herself to be distracted.   Anita would have to continue in her own time.
    “…he tried to have his way with me.   I work in the tavern, but that is all.   I serve drinks.   I clean up.   Sometimes, if they need me to, I cook, or tend to the rooms.   There are other women – there are always other women.   They are here for the men – to take their money and offer…what I do not.   This man, this Abraham Thigpen, did not respect this.   He put his hands on me again, and again.   I asked him to stop.   Others asked him, and then told him, but he would not be denied.   He believed that I was toying with him; that is what he said.   He told me that he was a lawman from a very big city, and that he had seen women like me before – holding out – playing hard to get.
    “I am engaged to be married.   My fiancé Roberto does not come to the tavern.   It is a hard thing for him.   He does not like that I have to work, and he does not like that I work so closely beside drunken men.   One night, against my wishes, he came to see me.   He must have sensed that I was upset, that something was not right.   It was a night when this man – Thigpen – was drinking too much ale.   He stood by the bar; trying to tell stories of the men he’d brought to justice.   I think that by this time, the other men had started to wonder how long he would remain – and why he was not out in the world, bringing more men to justice.
    “I was doing my best to ignore Roberto, who sat at a table in the corner.   He had ordered beer, and he was not used to drinking it.   It was a very busy night.   To make my way through the crowd I had to come very close to many customers.   Sometimes I brushed against them.   Sometimes they joked, or reached for me.   It is part of my job – not a part that I enjoy.   Roberto did not understand, and he grew angry.
    “Then I had to serve ale to Abraham Thigpen.   He was already very drunk.   His eyes did not seem to focus on me, but on some point behind me, and his words – though directed at me – barely made sense.   I brought his drink and turned to leave, but despite being drunk, he moved very quickly.
    "He stood, and put his arm around me.   Before I knew it he had spun me around, groping me with his hands...and his tongue.   I pushed away, but he was strong.   I slapped him as hard as I could, but he did not release me.   No one moved to stop him, and I was afraid.
    "Then Roberto was there.   Before I knew what had happened, he was at my side, and Thigpen was staggering back.   I remember there was blood; the man held his