“As close as a girl and a ghost can be.” Thoughts of the intimacy they’d shared when he’d written the letter played through her mind, and she smiled. “We did spend a lot of time together. I was doing research on your family, trying to find out what became of them after you left.”
She glanced his way. His damp hair had formed corkscrew curls springing up everywhere. Oh, how she longed to run her fingers through those curls. “You desperately wanted to cross into the light and leave your earthly worries behind. I wanted to give you that gift if I could.”
She explained briefly how she’d gone to town and searched using the internet without getting into the details of how it all worked. “Things are very different in the twenty-first century than they are now. It’s hard to explain all the technology because I don’t really understand it myself.”
“To be honest, I don’t wish for an explanation.” He squeezed her hand. “You’ve a kind heart, Meredith. What did you find during your search?”
“Nothing. I fear the records might have been lost or destroyed during World War II.”
His brow rose, and a look of alarm suffused his features. “The world will be at war? Ireland was involved? When?”
She nodded. “World War II began in 1939 and ended in 1945. I’ve visited many buildings in Ireland that suffered great damage during that war.” She gave him a brief description of the situation leading to the war. “Not only that, but this country will go through a war that begins in April, 1861.” As they walked, she described the events leading to the Civil War and how the Union prevailed over the South’s attempt to secede.
“Unbelievable,” he muttered. “I shall have to share this information with Charles and his kin.”
When they reached the cabin, he let go of her hand and opened the door for her. She preceded him over the threshold and into the warm, cozy cabin, greeted by the scents of stew and biscuits. Her stomach growled again.
Charles sat at the kitchen table, the leather document holder exactly where she’d left it. Oliver stood by the sink washing dishes.
“Is there any food left?” Daniel asked as he pulled out a chair for her at the table.
“Of course. The pot is still warm on the back hob, and the biscuits are in the covered basket there.” He twisted around and jutted his chin toward the counter. As Daniel put their suppers together, the two men talked about her letter, Charles filling him in on the parts Daniel hadn’t yet read.
“Would either of you like to see the article that led me on this journey in the first place?” she asked.
“Aye, I’ve been consumed by curiosity about what else you might have in that wee satchel,” Charles said.
She drew out the papers, along with her phone. “Here it is, she said, handing the copy to Charles. “And this is what is called a smart phone. I have pictures to show you.”
“Is my video of the day we uncovered Klein’s treasure on your cell?” Oliver asked.
“Yes. Judy shared it with me.”
“Cool. Cool.” He joined them at the table. “I have my phone with me as well.”
“Let’s wait to … um … open your … what did you call the wee box?” Charles stammered, his expression one of alarm.
“They’re called cell phones, mobile phones, or smart phones.”
“Oh? After everything else we’ve learned this evening, perhaps it would be best to save that experience for another day. What do you think, Dan?”
“I agree. I don’t know if can handle much more.” Daniel placed a bowl of stew and the basket of biscuits in front of her, along with a butter knife and spoon.
“I thought we might avoid being robbed and murdered by taking our gold to the assayer in Deer Lodge, but that would only leave the three to prey upon others.” Daniel gestured toward her. “We’ve all heard about the old man found by his sluice with his throat slit, and don’t forget the whore and her lover who disappeared. Then there were the two other prospectors who were ambushed and murdered on the way into town. Meredith tells me they’ll rob and murder Frederick Klein next spring.”
“Aye, the same avoidance strategy occurred to me, but we could only do that for so long before they figured things out and followed us. If Joe Biggs is involved, he knows we’ve struck gold. We’ve already taken a few of our hauls to him.” Charles crossed his arms in front of his chest, the newspaper article sitting in front of him. “Thanks to Meredith, you and I might bring those murderous thieves to justice.”
Daniel set a crock of honey on the table next to the biscuits and took the seat to her right. Exhausted and hungry, she was content to eat and listen to the conversation going on around her.
“Aye. We need to do things exactly as we’d planned if we’re to stop them,” Daniel said, looking her way. “Charles and I always take our haul to town on Mondays. Biggs is less busy at the beginning of the week.”
“Smart, but predictable,” she replied.
“How can we present this to Sheriff Ramsey, so as not to sound completely cracked?”
“I have an idea about that,” Oliver told them.
“Do you?” Charles cocked a brow. “Let’s hear it then.”
“Those three men can’t spend all their time hiding out in the mountains. They need to go somewhere for supplies, and they’d want to avoid Garretsville, right? People might remember the three of them if they hung out in town. They aren’t part of the mining community, they’re not ranchers, and they don’t have jobs in town. They’d be conspicuous.”
“Likely so.” Charles nodded. “Go on.”
“We can say we overheard them discussing their plans while we were dining in …” He frowned. “Are there hotels in Missoula? Is it even a town at this point?”
“Missoula?” Daniel said, looking confused.
“They’d know the settlement as Hellgate,” she said, glancing
