7 Never Haunt a Historian by Edie Claire Page A

don’t know. It’d make more sense if robbers did it. But Lester said the house looks just like it did before. Maybe it was tore up when Arch bought it, and he just never put it right.”
    “Sounds more likely. Got a bargain, then got used to it. Arch’d rather hang out on a battlefield than put up a bunch of damn drywall any day.”
    “You got that right.”
    The men’s voices drifted beyond her hearing, presumably as they climbed the stairs. Leigh’s heart thudded loudly in her chest. She had seen the missing wallboard herself, but hadn’t made the connection at the time. So it was true. Archie was searching for something. And whatever it was, Lester knew all about it.
    The question was, what could one seemingly innocent treasure hunt—on a man’s own property, no less—have to do with his sudden disappearance? Could it all, just possibly, be a coincidence?
    Leigh put the pail down under the spigot and turned on the water.
    Coincidence s.
    She believed in them like she believed in ghosts.

Chapter 9
    Leigh studied her daughter’s small, bowed head. Allison had been curled up in her favorite armchair in the living room for the past half hour, her nose buried in a thin paperback entitled A History of the Harmony Line. Warren had offered to take the whole Pack to the season’s last Pirates’ game, but after Lenna opted for some one-on-one time with her grandmother, Allison had also declined, ostensibly in favor of a “quiet evening at home.”
    Leigh couldn’t help but be suspicious.
    “Learning anything interesting?” she asked, absently stroking the geriatric black Persian that had materialized in her lap the second she sat down after dinner. Not to be outdone, her corgi had taken his favored place splayed across her feet. Too bad she had to go to the bathroom.
    “Uh huh,” Allison mumbled, not looking up.
    The doorbell rang. Puzzled, Leigh reorganized her pets and struggled up from the couch. She wasn’t expecting anyone. Her mother had just finished harassing her over the phone an hour ago, and most nonfamily guests had the courtesy to call first.
    She looked through the peephole to see a harried-looking Emma attempting to calm Mrs. Rhodis, who was practically hopping up and down. Leigh swung the door open.
    “Get your driving shoes on!” the older woman cackled with glee. “We’re taking a road trip!”
    Emma’s eyes rolled good-naturedly. “I told her you might be busy, but there was no restraining her from walking over here. Once she wakes up from that medication, she’s up. Took twenty minutes, but she was determined!”
    Adith shuffled in and collapsed onto the couch. Mao Tse hissed and fled. Chewie, who had trotted off on Leigh’s heels when she rose, now sat back down on her feet where she stood. “Road trip?” she repeated.
    “If you’re busy, I can go home and bring the car around to pick her up,” Emma offered.
    “Oh, my girl’s never too busy to untangle a good mystery!” Adith chirped.
    Leigh frowned. As if. “What are you talking about?”
    Adith straightened herself on the couch and took in a dramatic breath. “I found a witness,” she announced. “A real live witness to the goings-on up at Archie’s place way back when. A woman who’s seen the evil. And she’s going to tell us about it tonight!”
    Leigh looked from Adith to Emma, whose shoulders shrugged. “She’s been tying up the phone for hours, that’s all I know.”
    “It’s called ‘networking,’” Adith said proudly. “I learned that on the TV. You ‘leverage your contacts,’ you ‘put yourself out there,’ and voila!”
    “What woman are you talking about?” Leigh persisted. “A witness to what?”
    “So,” Adith continued, oblivious to the interruption, “What I did, you see, was think about who I knew who’d ever lived up around here. And I didn’t know anybody, not directly. But my friend Barbara Jean in Bellevue, she knows everybody. And I gave her all the names Harvey had found