7 Never Haunt a Historian by Edie Claire Page B

poking around in the property deeds and such, and she didn’t know any of them, but she said her cousin Sally spent her whole life up in Ross, and I figured that was closer, so I gave her a call, and then she had this other friend whose sister used to live in Franklin Park…”
    Leigh let her mind wander. She knew Adith well enough to know that everyone in the room was getting the whole story whether they wanted it or not.
    “…And that’s how I found Dora Klinger!” Adith finished triumphantly, several minutes later. “And get this… she’s still alive and got all her marbles, too! At 91! So I told her we’d be up to see her this evening and she said she couldn’t wait. So …” she looked expectantly up at Leigh. “What are you standing around for? Let’s go!”
    “She really lived at Frog Hill Farm?” Allison piped up excitedly.
    Leigh, who had forgotten her daughter was in the room, felt a flicker of panic. The girl was invested enough in this whole mess as it was.
    “For nearly two years!” Adith crowed. “In fact, they were the first owners after the soldier ghost’s family sold it off!”
    Allison slid off her chair and popped up at Leigh’s elbow. “Can I go with you, Mom?”
    Leigh tensed. “I didn’t say we were going anywhere, and besides—”
    “Aw, let her come along!” Adith interceded. “Dora’s in assisted living, and you know how old people love to see young ones about. She’d be doing a service! What’s the harm?”
    Allison blinked her dark, whip-smart eyes up at her mother. “It’s okay if you think I shouldn’t,” she said cooperatively. “I’m sure I’ll be fine here at home… all alone.”
    ***
    Leigh sighed internally as she helped Adith buckle into the front seat of the van. She wasn’t sure what this visit was supposed to accomplish, but she wasn’t going to get Archie any closer to home by sitting around her house worrying, either. Why not help two bored elderly ladies amuse each other for an hour?
    Allison slipped into the back seat, paperback in hand. Leigh studied her daughter curiously. Her jean shorts, tee shirt, and flip flops had been replaced with tan crop pants, a lacy white blouse, dress sandals, and a large, pale blue hair bow.
    “What’s up with the do?” Leigh couldn’t help but inquire. The clothing upgrade she appreciated, but her daughter had not voluntarily tied a bow in her hair since she was seven.
    Allison gave a shrug. “Old people like bows.”
    The ride to the assisted living facility was just long enough for Adith to give a full report on her own exciting afternoon, which had included eavesdropping on the reenactors as they made their final reports to Lester. “None of them found a gun, or a ransom note, or anything really good,” she lamented. “One of them found a baseball cap they didn’t think was Archie’s, but it looked like it had been wherever they found it a whole lot longer than a week, so that didn’t amount to much. Everything else they found on the ground outside was stuff Arch probably dropped—some coins, a grocery receipt, a pen. Nobody thought it looked like he was planning to leave. More like he was spirited off… if you ask me.”
    “Did anyone mention the state of the house?” Leigh asked, thinking of the conversation she had overheard.
    “Oh my, yes,” Adith replied. “Lester got real upset about that. They said it was all tore up, and they couldn’t figure out what Arch was doing. Well, Lester, he’s so protective you know, he told them Arch was redoing the place, but he just wasn’t all that good at it, and besides, he didn’t have the time to fix everything. Got him so agitated it started a nasty coughing fit, that did!”
    I’ll bet, Leigh thought uncomfortably.
    “He didn’t like it when a couple of them made a big deal out of the holes in the yard, either. Lester, he told them that Wiley liked to dig and it was nobody’s business if Arch didn’t mind his own dog digging on his own