7 Never Haunt a Historian (31 page)
Read 7 Never Haunt a Historian Online
Authors: Edie Claire
Tags: #ghost, #family secrets, #humor, #family, #mothers, #humorous, #cousins, #amateur sleuth, #series mystery, #funny mystery, #cozy mystery, #veterinarian, #Civil War, #pets, #animals, #female sleuth, #family sagas, #mystery series, #dogs, #daughters, #women sleuths
Harvey looked beseechingly at Leigh. “We should call a museum… or something. What do you want to do?”
Leigh and Warren exchanged another silent communication. “If it’s real, of course it belongs in a museum,” Warren agreed.
“Who do you think we should call, Archie?” Leigh asked.
“The Gettysburg Foundation,” he answered immediately. “They’ll know what to do with it. They’ll send somebody out right away. They’ll want to see the box and everything, and take pictures…”
Leigh reached out and retrieved the jar and lid from Archie’s lap, leaving him with the hat and the letter. A surge of unexpected delight coursed through her.
She stepped back out of the way, then looked around at the assembled onlookers as they began to file politely by, taking a closer peek at the precious relic which—despite the unlikeliest of circumstances—had managed to survive intact for over a hundred and fifty years, nearly ninety of them in her own backyard. Theodore Carr might have been paranoid and senile, or he might have been neither. No one might ever know what had transpired between him and his son at the end. But one thing was for sure. The man knew how to wrap a package.
Leigh slipped off, moved away from the sound of the crowd’s assorted oohs and aahs and Pauline’s “that looks like a damned dead vole,” and pulled out her cell phone.
Her officemate Alice picked up the call immediately. “I’m not saying one word to you, Koslow,” she began with venom, “unless you tell me—”
“Get your best photographer out to my house ASAP,” Leigh interrupted. “I’ve got your concept.”
There was a pause. “You mean it?”
“Would I lie to you?”
“Every other damned day! Is the SOB going to like this one? You know this is our last shot—and we need that account.”
“No, he’s not going to like it,” Leigh answered, cradling the antique, salt-glazed stoneware carefully in her arms. She turned it over and looked again at the crock jar’s bottom. With a finger, she rubbed away a smudge of decaying wool, revealing the remainder of the engraved maker’s mark beneath.
Rinnamon & Co. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“He’s going to love it,” she said with a smirk.
Acknowledgements & Historical Disclaimer
Private Theodore Carr is a fictional character, and as far as I know, the ultimate fate of the hat of General Armistead remains an open question. I confess to completely making up the part about his late wives’ hatpins, but otherwise, I have attempted to stay true to historical facts. There is no unit of reenactors associated with the 102nd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment (at least not so far as I know), but I am in debt to the reenactors of the 38th and 40th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantries for providing such informative websites. Many thanks also go out to those who willingly answered my historical, architectural, and police procedural questions, including Dr. John B. Vincent, Kate Gibson, and Maggie Price.
Author’s Note
If you enjoyed this book, I hope you’ll enjoy all seven mysteries in the
Leigh Koslow Mystery Series:
Never Buried,
Never Sorry,
Never Preach Past Noon,
“Never Neck at Niagara” (a short story),
Never Kissed Goodnight,
Never Tease a Siamese,
Never Con a Corgi,
and
Never Haunt a Historian.
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Looking for another mystery series?
One of my favorites is the “Dying To” series written by my friend Judy Fitzwater, who thinks so much like me that our protagonists once said almost exactly the same line! To follow the quirky trials and tribulations of wanna-be novelist Jennifer Marsh, start with a free copy of
Dying to Get Published.
Thanks so much for reading!
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