Page 15 of Ghost
“Sleep well,Ghost.”
While walking over to Elias andFletcher’s cottage, Ray had difficulty wiping the smile from hisface. Another first in a day full of them. He couldn’t help butwonder what tomorrow would bring.
CHAPTER SIX
Ghost
Ghost was shaken. Ray had been tooclose to the mark with his analysis of him. He’d done his best tokeep his cool but doubted he’d done a good enough job to gounnoticed by the astute detective. It would be at this point thatGhost backed away from the danger posed by the man, but he foundhimself wanting more time with him.
After a sleepless night, Ghost foundhimself in the passenger seat of Elias’s truck with the man of thehour behind the wheel. How he’d gotten here was simple. Julia.Nothing more needed to be said for those who’d ever met the womanwho ran the lake house like a well-oiled machine. They were ontheir way to investigate a few of the addresses of interest foundamong the files the evening before.
As Marshall’s scenery flew by, Ghostlooked down at the three addresses on the list. They were scatteredacross the county, and it would take at least half a day to visitall three of them. Julia knew what she was doing when she suggestedGhost accompany Ray on his investigation. Other team members wereresearching further areas of interest on Ray’s compiledlist.
“Do you think there’ll beanything to find in these places after all these years? Anything ofvalue to us?” Ghost asked.
“You’d be surprised whatgoes unnoticed by the general public,” Ray said. “You have to keepyour mind and senses open.”
“I’ll try, but I doubt I’llbe useful. I’m not good at finding the proverbial needle in thehaystack, never have been.”
“Give yourself a chance.You never know what you’re capable of until you’re in the middle ofit, and anything could be a clue.”
As they rolled up to the firstaddress, Ghost’s hopes were dashed even further as he found nothingremarkable about the old barn before them. It looked like everyother graying wood barn in the area.
“It’s a barn,” hedeadpanned.
“Great deduction, Watson.How about we go in and take a look around?”
“Lead on, Sherlock.” Ghostplayed along. He couldn’t remember the last time he bothered tojoke and tease another person.
The barn door creaked angrily as Rayshoved it open. By the overgrowth of vegetation and dusty,web-filled interior, he could tell this barn hadn’t been used in anextremely long time. Ghost coughed as the dust kicked up from thebreeze filtering through the open door.
“Place looks empty,” Ghostremarked as he scanned the area and pointed upward. “Except for thebirds.”
Ray stood with his hands on his hips,scanning the area. Ghost tried to look at the location through adetective’s eyes but still came up with nothing.
“Let’s take a closer lookaround,” Ray said.
“You’re kidding. There’snothing here, Sherlock.”
“Humor me, Watson,” Raysaid with a sexy grin, and Ghost knew it’d be impossible to say noto the handsome detective.
“Fine,” Ghost huffed,shaking his head. “But it’s a wild-goose chase.”
Ray chuckled and headed toward thethree vacant stalls. Ghost still didn’t see the use of lookingaround. No one had been here in years, but he’d play along, so heturned in the opposite direction. Ghost kicked a few stones out ofhis way as he watched the morning sun’s rays filter through the oldwooden beams. He noticed a ladder built into the wall that led upto what had to be the old hay loft.
“Why not,” he mumbledbefore tugging on the boards to ensure the ladder was stillsecurely attached to the wall.
It seemed safe enough, and he beganhis ascent into the rafters. Strangely enough, there were still afew old hay bales in the loft, and most of the floor was covered ina layer of straw. He couldn’t help but think it would have been fungrowing up on a farm compared to the city. There were so manyadventures and places to sneak off to where he could have beenalone instead of being faced with people everywhere as he grewup.
Ghost wandered the large space,finding pretty much what he thought he would. Nothing. He was aboutto call it quits when he noticed something on one of the largertimbers holding up the roof. As he got closer, he could make outthe shape of a heart and quickly realized what it was. Ghostcouldn’t help but smile at the thought of two young lovers carvingtheir initials into the wood to declare their love for alltime.
Ghost pulled out his cell phone andsnapped a picture. He figured it was useless but tried to rememberwhat Ray had said. No matter how small, anything could be a clue.With one final look around, Ghost turned and headed back toward theladder. He was roughly ten feet away when a loud cracking soundechoed through the barn, and the old floor underneath him gave way,sending him down to the first level.
At the last second, he was able tograb onto a floor joist with his right hand, temporarily haltinghis fall, but a few seconds later, it gave way as well. Ghostbraced for impact with the hard ground but was shocked when helanded on something much softer. Whatever it was began to move, andsoon Ghost found himself staring up into the concerned brown eyesof his lumberjack.
“Are you hurt?” Ray askedas he moved his hands over Ghost’s body, likely searching forinjuries.
Ghost took a few moments to see if heregistered any pain, and finding none, said, “No, I think I’m fine,thanks to you.”
