“She’s friends with a man who runs a restaurant in Nashville.”
“Ginny worked in a restaurant, then worked with catering for the band before she started singing. What’s wrong with being friends with him?”
“The restaurant is called Dirty Dan’s, run by a man called Marty. He’s an asswipe.”
“I see.”
“She also has a friend that is her ‘stylist.’” Reaper put his fingers in the air to put emphasis on stylist. “She’s a fucking bitch. Ginny gave her a fucking car.”
“Maybe Ginny had a reason to give her the car.” Silas refilled his coffee cup, then lifted the pot in his direction.
Nodding that he wanted a refill, Reaper continued his rant.
“Ginny should have fired Kimmy’s ass instead of giving her a car. Her worst lack of judgment is how she deals with one of the band members who constantly hits on her.”
“What does she do?”
“She tells him off.” Reaper snorted, picking up another piece of pie. “A punch in the nuts would stop real fucking quick.”
“I imagine so. Would you like me to reheat the lasagna for you?”
“No, I’m not hungry.” He wiped the cinnamon from his fingertips onto a napkin.
“If you’re sure, I can show you the map if you’re still interested? I’d offer you more pie, but there isn’t any left.”
“That’s cool. I really don’t like pie.”
Standing, they went up the steps. Each of the doors above were cracked open, except for one; it was shut tight. The tiny hallway was a square with the doors surrounding the small area.
Making a left, Silas led him into a large bedroom with a four-poster bed that took up half the room.
“This used to be our father’s bedroom. I took it after he passed. And this is the map of our property.”
Reaper moved to the wall where the framed map hung. More pictures of the Colemans were placed around the map. There were ten circles colored around the map, each one with a name inside the circle.
Memorizing the map, he saw that Ginny’s and Leah’s parcels were next to each other. If he had kept walking, he would have seen it today. He knew where he was checking out tomorrow.
Taking his eyes off the map, he looked at the pictures, drawn to the ones with Ginny in the images. Another little girl was always with her.
One in particular drew his eyes. Ginny and the other girl both had long hair blowing in their faces. They were sitting on a blanket with a picnic basket in front of them and a tent behind them.
“She was beautiful.”
“Yes, she was.”
Feeling as if he was trespassing on Silas’s grief at seeing the private photographs, he started to step away until a different picture caught his eye. This one was a round black mirror with stars inside.
“That’s unusual.”
“It’s a star map. Our father had them custom-made for each of us. It charts the stars on the night we were born. The one you’re looking at was Pa’s. Mine is over there.” The star chart that he indicted was hanging on the wall over Silas’s bed.
Narrowing his eyes at Silas’s, Reaper went to it. “I don’t know who he paid to do them, but they’re wrong.”
“How?” Silas folded his arms over his chest, leaning against one of the posts of the bed.
“They have two different constellations that have been superimposed together.”
“You’re that familiar with constellations that you can tell just from looking at it?” Silas asked.
“I had to be. When I was in the Navy, more than once my life depended on that ability. These two constellations wouldn’t be in the same part of the sky.” Reaper traced imaginary lines over the mirror to show Silas without touching it. “It’s just not possible. Who did them must have messed up or didn’t know what they were doing. You should ask for a refund or ask them to be done over,” Reaper advised.
“With that kind of mistake, I’m sure they went out of business by now.”
“Could be. I would check and have them done right.”
“I could, but they wouldn’t be the ones our father gave us. They wouldn’t have the sentimental value.”
“I guess.” Reaper didn’t know why it bothered him that the mirrors were fake.
Silas could see he didn’t agree with him. “You think I should replace the mirrors?”
“They aren’t right.”
“Reaper, the stars are never wrong.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
“You’re up early,” Reaper called out so he wouldn’t startle Ginny as she loaded a goat into an wooden stand, with his head