Page 39 of Ghost
“Right,” Ray said, pullingout his phone to review his messages. “The one with the heartcarved into the barn beam?”
“Yes. You said no clue wastoo small. So I took a picture.”
“A.M. and S.M. Hmmm…wait,”Ray said, and Ghost watched him flip through his pictures until hecame to the ones he took at the cemetery. “Shit. Noway.”
“What?” Brickasked.
“Jericho Miles’s legal nameis Allan Jericho Miles,” Ray said. “And yourgreat-aunt.”
“Sophia Matthews,” Bricksaid.
“You mean Jericho Miles andGreat-Aunt Sophia were the ones who carved that heart?” Spencersaid before opening his laptop and typing like a madman.
“They must have beenlovers,” Ghost said.
“Jericho went off to theKorean War in 1951 and returned right before the war ended in July1953. Then there were incidents of Jericho hanging around the lakehouse and Sophia’s parents calling the sheriff to have himremoved,” Spencer said.
“My grandfather,” Rayconfirmed.
“He was reported to be thetown drunk after he returned from Korea, and he was discharged fromthe Army after having a mental breakdown,” Brick said.
“However, until then,Jericho was considered an outstanding soldier,” Rayadded.
“We need to dig deeper intowhat happened to send Jericho over the edge,” Bricksaid.
“And what happened when hereturned to Marshall to be reunited with Sophia,” Julia said. “Ifthey were lovers before he went off to war, do you think he was sodifferent when he came back that Sophia didn’t want to take himback?”
“You were right,” Ghostsaid to Ray.
“Right aboutwhat?”
“That no clue is too small.We wouldn't have put it together if I hadn’t taken that picture.That is if they were indeed lovers,” Ghost said.
“I believe we’re on theright path,” Brick said. “Follow it. Good job, Ghost.”
Ghost looked around the table at theteam and was struck by how much he felt like a part of them and L.H. Investigations. As Ray wrapped his arm around him, Ghost knewhe’d found his home. Now, all he had to do was convince Ray to stayhere and not return to Seattle. Hmm, how could he do that, knowinghow much his lover hated the small-town life? He guessed he’d haveto put his all into making it impossible for Ray to leavehim.
And I have a few ideasabout that.
***
Ray
When they pulled up to the bricktwo-story house that belonged to Mr. Cross, nothing appeared off.Brick had given them a rundown on the person of interest on theirdrive from the lake house. They’d left Julia and Kyle riflingthrough boxes of files Sophia and Ray’s family had kept for anymention of the Berry family or Jericho’s time in theArmy.
Spencer and Harris managed to dig upinformation on Mr. Cross and, more specifically, his father, theformer mayor of Marshall. As it turns out, during the time whenJericho was shot, Ronald Cross was mayor, and Ray’s grandfather wassheriff. It was 1954, a year after the Korean War had ended, andJericho Miles had become notorious for drinking himself into astupor daily and turning up at the lake house.
Father Henry Jones joined thecommunity and took over the local congregation from the retiringpriest. Life appeared to be normal enough, but only a few shortmonths later, Jericho would be dead, and Father Jones would be in aMarshall police cell, arrested by Ray’s grandfather for themurder.
How the hell did they get to thatpoint, and how were the previous mayor, missing vet, and Berrysfamily involved?
“Looks like every otherhouse in this neighborhood,” Conor said. “This is an older part ofMarshall, right?”
“Yeah,” Ray replied. “Someof these houses have been here since Marshall was founded. Thisone’s probably been renovated a few times over the years, but theoriginal framework should still be in place.”
He remembered biking through thisneighborhood when he was a kid and how some of the older residentswatched him go by like he didn’t belong. Being the poor kid withthe law as his family sucked. Being the sheriff provided Ray’sgrandparents and parents with a home, but it wasn’t nearly as niceas the ones in this area. His family may have represented the lawin this county, but no one ever mistook them for upper or middleclass. They weren’t landowners or ranchers. They weren’t part ofthe original settlers or had the money for the best things. Italways surprised Ray how little law enforcement was paid forputting their lives on the line daily.
“Apparently, this is theCross family home. They’ve lived here for several generations,”Brick said.
