Page 17 of Ghost
The town vet walked out of the barn,and Ghost could feel his cheeks getting warmer. He felt like ateenager getting busted making out behind the bleachers atschool.
Ray turned to look at Ghost and asked,“You still feel okay? Nothing hurt when you stood up?”
Ghost couldn’t help but smile; the bigguy was still worried if he’d hurt himself in the fall. “I’m fine.Besides, I landed on you; perhaps I should be asking if you’reokay.”
Ray smiled wide, bent to give Ghostanother quick kiss before taking his hand and heading for thedoor.
“I feel better than I havein decades.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ray
Had anything ever felt so perfect inhis life? Ray doubted it. All he could think about was kissingGhost again. It didn’t go unnoticed that Ghost wasn’t averse toskin-to-skin contact with him now they’d kissed, but he was leftwith questions. Ghost’s demeanor had changed. Ray wouldn’t pushabout the nophysical-contact rule—Ghost would feel safe enough totell him sooner or later.
The second address was a bust, andthey were on their way to the third location when his cell phonechirped. He checked out the message quickly and grinned.
“Seems I’m good to go onthe whole vay-cation thing. The boss has signed off on it. Lookslike I’ll return to Fire Lake after my conference inVegas.”
“Good to know. Brick willbe happy.” Ghost grinned.
“I hope he’s not the onlyone.” Ray knew he was fishing, but he couldn’t helphimself.
“There may be more than oneperson happy with the knowledge,” Ghost said coyly.
Ray chuckled. “I wonder why theaddress for a barn that used to belong to Jericho Miles’s familywas handwritten on the papers Sophia left in the lakehouse?”
“Yeah, it seems weird. Theplace is nothing special unless you consider teenage loversimportant.”
Ray turned to look at Ghost. “Teenagelovers? Care to explain?”
“Yeah, before my swan divefrom the hay loft, I found an old carving on one of the beams. Itwas a heart with initials in the center of it. You know, the onesteenagers carve into trees to declare love for each other. I took apicture because you said anything could be a clue.”
“Good job. Can you send itto my phone? I’ll have a look at it later.”
“Sure.”
The GPS chimed, letting Ray know theywere nearing the location of the third address. He scanned the areaand snorted when he realized what they’d come across.
“Well, this isunexpected.”
“Okay, I draw the line atwandering through an old overgrown cemetery,” Ghost said with aslight growl.
“It’s okay. You can stay inthe truck while I have a look around.”
“Thank you.”
Ray pulled the truck up and parkedalong the side of the dirt road. The area reminded him of those oldfamily plots that dated back hundreds of years. An old, rustedfence surrounded the perimeter and a large cross was above theentrance gate. It appeared no one cared for this cemetery anylonger, and Ray wondered if the families had died out or movedaway, with no one left to care for it.
The gate was rusted shut, so Raybraced his hand on the bar and jumped over the fence, his bootslanding on the hard-packed Texas dirt. There were shrub brushes andlong grasses dotted around the old tombstones. Some were made ofwood, others rock, and a few looked like marble. Those would be thenewer ones, likely the last people to be laid to rest in thisplot.
Ray thought it best to start with theolder-looking headstones and approached the back of the smallcemetery. The marble gave way to stone and then to wood as hestopped at the back fence. He knelt, moved aside the dried brush,and wiped the last bits of dirt from the wooden plaque. It was hardto make out the name, but the year of death was easier to identify.1864.
He thought that whoever this was mighthave been one of the founding members of Marshall. The name wasworn and six letters long. One name alone, whether it be the firstor last name, was unknown. Ray took a quick picture of it and movedon; he could take his time later to hash it out. He’d be leavingtomorrow for the conference, and Ray knew he’d have downtime tofill.
The next three headstones were thesame shape, so he moved on to the stone models after a few quicksnaps. The names and dates were much clearer now, although stillworn by the elements. The dates ranged from the early 1900s to the1930s, and along with the names came the realization that Ray wasstanding in the Miles family plot. Clues kept bringing him back toJericho Miles and his family, and he suspected Sophia was the onewho wrote these addresses in the files.
Abe Jerome Miles, 1897 to 1928; AnneElizabeth Miles, 1898 to 1929; and on it went. Ray took morepictures, careful not to miss a single headstone. Toward the frontof the cemetery stood four marble headstones with newer and muchclearer carvings. Johnathan Roger Miles, 1901 to 1955, and VeraMarie Miles, 1905 to 1955, were combined in one large headstone,and their inscription read “Together in life and in death”; SusanEllen Miles, 1931 to 1932; a fourth headstone was completelyovergrown in the brush, and a small hedge was planted to one side.Ray believed he’d found the final resting place of the infamousJericho Miles, whom Father Henry Jones allegedly shot on November6, 1954.
