Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1946-12-06
CHAPTER XII

living husband, that she couldn't get
her mind on anything else. Her IA
Their had wanted to marry Alicia;
and Alicia had let him think that
she was free! How Pleasant Grove
was going to laugh at the fool Jim
MacTavish had made of himself!
Because people were talking about
the way he had been pursuing Alicia
and now they would know that
Alicia's husband cared enough about
her to come east for the funeral.
Megan was still sitting in the liv-
ing room when Laurence came back
from his talk with Annie. His brow
was furrowed little and he looked
perplexed.
'That's the darndest story ever
heard" he admitted as he sat down
opposite Megan and folded his arms
across his chest. II don't know
what to make of it-but Annie's not
the imaginative sort. She has al
ways seemed so sensible and level
headed, such good sound common
sense-you wouldn't expect her to
believe in ghosts, would you?"
what on earth are you talking
about?" she asked.
"Annie's just been telling me a
yarn-I told her that I'd have to 60
to Squire Ethridge and pass it on to
him, because he's nominally in
charge of the case here, though Of
course the bright boys from the
county seat will want share in it.
But anyway, this is what Annie told
me-"
He leaned forward and looked at
her straightly.
II suppose you know about that
little old family burying ground at
the foot of the Ridge, just at the
top of your pasture. west of the rock
that you always occupy on your
walks?" he began.
Eyes, know the place, of
course" Megan answered, waiting
tensely, little prickles of chill rum
ming up and down her spine like
icy fingers.
well, it seems that Amos was
coming home night before last bit
late from a lodge meeting" said
Laurence, smiling. at seems that
he'd had some luck with the 'galop-
ing dominos' and he knew that An
ME wouldn't shoot him on sight for
getting home so late. Anyway, it
was somewhere around midnight, or
little later; Amos was passing the
little burying ground when suddenly
he saw something that froze him
in his tracks-and may make him
avoid 'galloping dominos' in the fu-
ture, though that's lot to hope
for"
"You can't possibly mean that he
thought he saw the usual wavering
white figure" Megan almost
laughed.
Laurence nodded. Nothing less"
he told her solemnly. 1T was, he
claimed, at least eight feet tall and
1t didn't have any shape to it, just
sort of like it was being poured, he
expressed it. There was something
shiny about 1.-THE moon was not
quite full, but the light was good in
the meadow. He says the ghost
he's quite sure, of course, that it was
a ghost-floated along the meadow
fence and then went towards the
rusty iron fence. 1t had some
thing in its hand, although he
couldn't see what it was. But he stood
still in the shadow of a tree, and
watched-because he was too para
lyzed with fear to try to run. And
he thought that if he didn't interfere
with its affairs, it might not know
he was around. He says it moved
inside the fence, and bent down
above one of the old graves and hid
something. And then it stood up,
and looked around and moved back
out of the fence and turned away
from Amos-and Amos, recovering
a little from his paralysis, made it
home in practically nothing fat!"
Megan said uneasily. HE had
probably been drinking up some of
that terrible white mule his friend
Pete whips up-and he was seeing
things!"
Laurence nodded. That's the line
I would follow, if it were not for the
fact that that night, possibly a few
minutes before Amos saw the eight
foot-high ghost, woman had been
killed and the weapon has never
been found" he pointed out.
Megan said swiftly, You can't
possibly think that Amos hallucina-
ton had anything to do with-with
that?"
Il don't know, of course" Lau-
renee answered. "But, of course,
any unusual happening that night,
at around that time, will have to be
carefully investigated"
He hesitated a moment and then
he said quietly, "There is no reason
whatever, Megan, for anybody to
know that you were on the Ridge
with Fallon at the time Mrs. Steven
son was murdered"