Page 44 of Ghost
The touching moment sent chills downGhost’s spine, and the hair on his arms stood on end. It feltalmost as if Great-Aunt Sophia was in the room with them, blessingthis reconnection of the Matthews family tree after decades ofloss. Ghost couldn’t imagine what it had been like for poor Sophia,pregnant and alone. Jericho was fighting in a war a world away withthe possibility of death high, and likely, there were unsupportiveparents more concerned with their family reputation than the youngunmarried woman caught in the middle carrying the child of the manshe loved.
Ghost’s heart went out to Sophia andthe choices she was forced to make. If only Jericho had married herbefore shipping out, who knew how the family dynamic might haveplayed out.
His musings were cut short as Brick’sphone rang. Reluctantly, Brick released Stryker, and Ghost watchedJulia wipe a tear from her eye before the team leader answered thecall.
“Brick here,” he said as hestepped away from the table.
“So now we need to find outwhat happened after Jericho returned,” Ray said as Brick continuedhis quiet conversation over the phone. “And where Sophia might havebeen sent to have her baby.”
“Do we know how long he’sbeen dead?” Brick asked, catching everyone’s attention and changingthe mood instantly. “We’re on our way.”
Brick hung up and faced thetable.
“Cross is dead. Rocko wasable to lead them to his body. Ray, Ghost, Stryker, and Conor,you’re with me. The rest can keep digging through the files.Spencer, you and Harris have a special job. I need everything youcan dig up on land transfers, purchases, and inquiries on anyproperties within Marshall County. Hell, I want to know the who andwhy for every acre of land that’s changed hands in the last eightyyears. If someone so much as sneezed in the direction of Marshall,I wanna know about it.”
“On it,” Spencersaid.
Ghost stood as Ray pulled out hischair and he couldn’t help but soak in these little shows of care.After years as an outsider in a world where Ghost never fit in, henow had a team, a family, and a man who cared for him. It was oneof those proverbial pinch-yourself-to-ensure-it-was-realmoments.
They loaded into one of the severalSUVs the team had acquired over the years, and Stryker drove,allowing Brick to make more calls. It never ceased to amazeGhosthow many contacts the man had.
“Do you think that guy fromthe hardware store killed Mr. Cross?” Ghost asked.
“Jackson? He’s high on thelist,” Conor said. “Or someone from the Berry family.”
“What would they have togain?” Ray asked. “Or perhaps Cross was about to do something tojeopardize whatever they’re planning.”
“Every time I think we’reclearing things up, more shit happens to muddy the water,” Ghostsaid.
“The trick is adding thenew information without losing track of your original mission.Pivot without losing track of the starting line,” Ray said. “Inthis case, our original mission was to find out if the priest trulykilled Jericho Miles and what happened to Sophia’sbaby.”
“Okay,” Ghost said. “We nowknow that Jericho was the likely father of Sophia’s baby and thatwhile he was off at war, her parents forced her to leave to savethe family reputation.”
“Yes,” Ray agreed. “Ofcourse, we’ll have to confirm all this, but it stands to reasonthis is why Sophia kept all the information. Perhaps she wanted totrack down her child someday, or she knew something about what washappening in Marshall but didn’t have enough proof. Leaving thetrail for Brick to come along and put the pieces together. She leftthe lake house to him, and those boxes were hiddenthere.”
“What about Jericho?” Conorasked from the backseat. “Who would have a reason to kill him, andwhy would a priest take the blame for it? Especially a priest whojust arrived in the community.”
Ray grimaced.
“I’ve learned over theyears of working homicide investigations that if it wasn’t a crimeof passion, self-defense, accidental, or misadventure, the easiestanswer is typically looking at who would gain from hisdeath.”
“How would a priest gainfrom his death?” Ghost asked.
“He wouldn’t. Unless we’reunaware of something that has yet to be uncovered. We can alsocross out misadventure because, as far as we know, Jericho wasn’tdoing anything dangerous like playing Russian roulette with arevolver. That leaves us with a crime of passion, self-defense, oraccidental.”
“Why would Jericho attack apriest? Self-defense seems unlikely,” Conor said.
“We’re nearing thelocation. I need eyes open to anything that might have been leftbehind,” Brick said as the SUV slowed.
Ghost could see the flashing lightsfrom one of the cruisers pulled off into a clearing past the oldmill on the outskirts of Marshall.
“How far away was the truckfrom the body?” Ray asked.
“The truck was on theopposite side of town,” Brick said.
“Someone drove him acrosstown to kill him?” Ghost thought that sounded odd.
“Unless he was alreadydead, and they wanted to buy some time,” Ray said.
