Mrs. Lafferty had not.
They were given rooms next to each other on the ground floor; that made it easy with the dog.
Mrs. Lafferty loved Killer right off the bat.
Matt realized that they were again using the dog’s original name. Killer.
They didn’t have far to go from the parlor to their rooms. He was glad to see that Meg traveled as lightly as he did—one overnight carry-on and an over-the-shoulder bag.
When Killer started to follow him, Meg urged the dog into her own room.
The “hotel” predated the Civil War by three decades; it was furnished with period pieces. Matt found a wall plaque in his room informing him that it had been inhabited by generals from both sides of the “Great Conflict” and, since then, all kinds of ambassadors, attachés and visiting military. When he’d set his bag on the rack, Matt looked out the window onto the Shenandoah. The view was spectacular, even by night. A full moon had risen. And from his vantage point, he could see the river, brilliant and shimmering in the moonlight. He caught glimpses of the old houses and shops perched at an angle along the slope of the hill, and he knew where the park was, as well as the firehouse where John Brown had staged his famous—and infamous—raid.
A fog was settling low at the base of the hill. Even the greatest skeptic might imagine that the dead walked, that history came alive, in such a place.
“Nice,” he murmured aloud. He had to remember to thank Angela for her diligence.
There was a knock on his door and he opened it to find Meg there. “I thought you might be hungry,” she said. “I sure am. We’ve got time to grab a bite and latch on to a ghost tour. Seems like a good way to start.”
“And you’ll know the guide, I assume?” he asked.
Meg shrugged. “The population here is under three hundred—as far as the town itself goes. I’ve been gone awhile, but everyone knew my parents, and they come back every once in a while. So do I, although it’s been a couple of years.”
“Everyone knew Lara, too?”
“I wouldn’t want to say everyone, but, yes...” She hesitated. “I’d really like to get up to Harper Cemetery. We’ll join whatever tour is in session, then go off on our own.”
“I’m at your command,” Matt said.
A slight sniff as she turned around told him she didn’t believe that for a second. He smiled and followed her.
The mist was already rising as they headed out.
Yes, it was going to be an exceptional night for a ghost tour—especially in a cemetery.
9
Killer, it seemed, was coming with them. Even though Mrs. Lafferty offered to watch the little dog, Meg wanted him on their walk. And she knew a charming place up on a hill where they could dine outside with the dog. The food was excellent; the waitress, the busboy, the bartender and the manager all came out to talk to Meg. She’d gone to school with the waitress, and it was with her that Meg spoke the most after introducing Matt.
“So you’re home—in Harpers Ferry, of all places—on your first official job with the FBI?” Meg’s friend marveled. She laughed delightedly, but then sobered. “Because Lara is missing?” The young woman, Melody Jennings, was deeply distressed by that. “You didn’t know Lara?” she asked Matt.
“No, I’m sorry to say,” he replied.
“She’s so smart, funny, beautiful, and so nice! You have to find her.”
“She didn’t come through here? You’re sure?” Meg asked.
“You know how tiny this place is!” Melody said. “If Lara had been here and anyone had seen her at all, everyone would’ve been talking about it. But, hey, if anyone can find her, it’s you. You two had that mind thing going on. Remember when you were kids and Raif Sanderson took her hostage?”
Melody paused to look at Matt again and smile broadly. “It wasn’t a situation that called for the FBI. Raif had a huge crush on Lara. I think we were all about twelve or thirteen. He surprised her up at the cemetery one day—she’d gone for a walk by herself. Then he managed to tie her to one of the gravestones. But when the grown-ups all started going crazy, Meg somehow knew to go to the cemetery.” She laughed. “Raif didn’t sit for a week after that, poor guy. He said he was willing to suffer it all for love. He eventually married an accountant and they moved to Baltimore, by the way,” she told Meg.
“Pure logic that time, I’m afraid. I knew how much Raif loved the cemetery—and how fascinated Lara was by a couple of the stories up there,” Meg said.
Matt thought, however, that she looked contemplative.
He was almost certain there’d been something else that had led her to her friend.
“It’s terrifying, isn’t it?” Melody went on. “She’s missing, and that horrible killer is on the loose. You don’t think...?”