“Good, good.” Oliver’s gaze darted around the platform.
“Miss, my claim is not far from here,” Frederick’s voice whispered through her mind as he indicated the direction they’d be going. “But … my granddaughter … what is it she’s … holding?” The ghost fixed his attention on the photo album.
“Frederick is very interested in the photo album. We still have plenty of sunlight left if you want to show him the pictures before we head for the treasure.”
“I’d love to.” Judy sat down on the platform and placed the album on her lap. “I have pictures from all three of your children’s weddings, and I have family pictures including Prudence and your grandchildren. I’ve always been the family archivist.” Judy glanced at Meredith the second Frederick sat down beside her. “Brr, I can feel him beside me,” she said.
“I’m sure you can, and he’s looking very pleased about seeing the family photos.” He was in fact radiant and visibly moved at the prospect of seeing how his family had thrived and grown over the years.
“Have you ever led a ghost’s kin to buried treasure before, lass?” Daniel asked as he came to hover beside her.
She hadn’t been surprised to find him with Frederick, but Daniel’s presence upset her equilibrium. “Yes, in a manner of speaking,” she said, keeping her voice low and moving away from where Frederick, Oliver and the Schultes were looking at pictures. “It’s not so different from the vow which keeps you earthbound.” Her tone sounded a bit curt even to her, and she drew in a breath and let it out slowly to calm herself. Her confusing and conflicted attraction to him was not his fault.
“Someone stashes away important documents, a valuable family heirloom, money, and they die without telling anyone where those things are. When that happens, it’s difficult for a spirit to move on. They haunt, and more often than you would imagine, the family will seek help from someone like me to resolve the issue.” She glanced at him. “There are websites on the internet, psychic organizations people can turn to.”
“Are you upset with me?”
“Yes,” she blurted before she could think better of it. “I mean … No, not with you but with the situation.” She shrugged. “You’re not like any ghost I’ve ever encountered before, and I’m feeling a little off balance is all.”
His brow creased as he studied her. “In what way am I different?”
Her breath hitched at his look of concern. No ghost had ever cared whether or not they’d upset her before. None had ever attempted to cheer her up or compliment her work ethic either. “What sets you apart is that you show an interest in me. I don’t understand why you care about my feelings. We’re strangers. I’m alive and you’re … not.”
“I see.” He did that staring off toward the horizon thing that all ghosts seemed to do. “I wish I could explain why I want to know you better … why I care. Alas, I cannot. I too find I’m off kilter in your presence. Since you came to Garretsville, I’ve had thoughts and experienced emotions I’ve not had since being alive. It’s as if I’ve been asleep for decades and you woke me.”
Their gazes caught and held for an oddly intimate moment. She turned away first. “Looks like they’re done with the photos.” Judy was stowing the photo album in the backpack her husband carried. “Let’s go find buried treasure.”
Meredith followed Frederick as he led the way to a river running beside a jumble of boulders covering the ground on both sides.
“This way,” Frederick said, gesturing for the group to follow.
He led them along a riverside deer path to cliffs that rose on either side. There the water tumbled over rocky shelves to form a small waterfall. A spruce tree above them grew from a crevice in the rock face, bending in an odd angle as it sought the sun over the years. Beneath that angled tree the trail led to slabs of stone forming a natural stairway. “These steps almost seem manmade,” she commented.
“If they were manmade, I’d wager they were placed here long before Frederick filed his claim,” John said from behind her. “Perhaps an indigenous culture lived in the area at one time, but it’s more than likely they’re a natural geological formation.”
Frederick veered off the trail and stopped beside a ridge of granite protruding from the ground about five