FRIDAY, JUNE30, 1916•MEYERRANCH
“Mr. Meyer, do you have any idea where your brother found the fossils?” Eliza stood in her denims and long shirt outside the barn with Deborah, hoping and praying he would know which direction to send them in after checking his brother’s journals.
The older man was wiry and short. He ran his hand through his white hair. “I read what I could of the journals and only know that it was along the creek. But since it flows through the entire ranch from south to north? That’s a good deal of acreage to cover.”
She was afraid of that. But that was all right. They could do this. “Do you mind if Mrs. Hawkins and I ride the creek bed and see what we can find?”
He shrugged. “Not at all. Just let me know if you find somethingand where. I’ll have my hands build a temporary fence so the cattle won’t get in there and wreck your work.”
“Thank you, sir. This means a great deal.”
The man sent them a crinkly smile. His face seemed weathered and wrinkled from hours in the sun every day. “Selfishly, I’m glad you asked. I don’t get many visitors out here, and the hands are always busy with the ranch. It’s been a mite lonely all these years since I moved here from Dallas. What with all the rumors and all.”
Eliza restrained a frown. Rumors? What rumors? She shook her head. No matter. She’d take his permission and run with it. Hopefully, she and Deborah wouldn’t give Mr. Meyer any reason to take it back. “We’re very grateful, and I’ll make sure to check in with you on our arrivals and departures. Whenever that might be. We will have to work around my schedule out at the quarry, mind you, so there might be several late nights.”
“Not a problem. I hope you find something. A little excitement and change of pace might be what these old bones need.” He tipped his hat to them.
Eliza led Deborah back to their horses. “How long do you think you’ll be able to stay today?”
“My husband decided to go visit his father about two hours south of here. So he’ll probably be gone until well past dark.” Deborah’s grin lit up her face under her wide-brimmed straw hat. “I’m all yours for the rest of the day.”
Eliza patted her saddle bags. “I’ve got water and food to last us for a week, so I think we’re good to go, then.” She laughed. All the excitement of a potential find bubbled up and she shivered, even though it was sweltering outside. “I think our best bet is to journey along the creek together. I’ll take one side, you take the other. If there are fossils to be found, they will probably be within a deeper gulley that’s been exposed over time. The creek down here by the house is shallow with only a foot or more of ground above the water.”
Deborah nodded and they mounted their horses. “I’ll keep my eyes open. I’m a fast learner. But you’ll have to just keep talking me through what to look for. Maybe by the end of the day, I’ll know what I’m doing.” Her laughter rang out across the prairie.
“All right, well, let’s go before we lose any more daylight.” Eliza nudged her horse into a quick trot and headed toward the creek and hopefully ... bones.
Later that night, Eliza made her way up the steps to the porch of the Adams’s home. Everything in her body ached. Everything. Even her pinky toe.
She licked her lips and grimaced. All she could taste was dirt and grit from being blasted by the wind all day. Though they’d ridden along the creek for hours on end, they hadn’t covered as much ground as she’d hoped. They’d spent a great deal of their time scrambling down the creek’s banks to check out formations along the way, but none of it bore fruit. No magnificent fossils found.Yet.
As the old saying went, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Deborah was a quick learner. Still, they had a long way to go before they made it to the other side of the ranch. The Meyer ranch—one of the largest in the state—was made up of thousands upon thousands of acres.
She reached for the door handle, and it slipped out of her grasp as the door swung open.
Louise stood there, her grin wide. “I’ve been waiting for you to get home so I could hear all about it.” Her voice was a low whisper—probably because the younger girls were asleep—but the enthusiasm still couldn’t be missed.
Eliza stepped over the threshold and looked down at her clothes. “Gracious, I’m covered in dirt.” She stepped back and tried to brush the loose particles off her pants and shirt.
“Don’t worry about it.” Louise tugged her arms and dragged her into the house. “I’ll sweep again as soon as you head toyour room.” Leading Eliza into the kitchen, the younger girl uncovered a plate of food and tall glass of lemonade. “Here. Eat and tell me all about it. Where were you digging? Mama said it was on a local ranch?”
Eliza sat down and went for the lemonade first. Her throat felt full of grit. After several swallows, she picked up a fork and stared at the plate full of meat and potatoes. Her stomach growled. “The Meyer ranch. Do you know it?”
Louise’s eyes went wide.
“What’s wrong?”
The young woman’s brown eyes glowed in the light as she glanced around the room, even though they were the only two present. Then she leaned closer to Eliza. “That place is haunted.”
The words sent chills skittering down Eliza’s spine. Haunted? Stuff and nonsense. She sat up straight and shook her head. “Maybe you have it confused with another place. It’s a lovely ranch. Well kept up. Prosperous. Mr. Meyer is kind and generous.”
“No, I’m not confused. That’s the place. Mama wouldn’t like me talking about it... but about ten years ago, maybe? I was still a little girl—” she looked toward the sink as if lost in thought—“the whole family disappeared.Allof them. Mr. Meyer’s parents. His brother and his wife. And all ten of their children. Just vanished into thin air. With food cooking on the stove, fires in the fireplaces, horses saddled and waiting at the hitching post. None of the hands saw anything and they all left because it spooked them so much.”
While she’d heard about the family missing, Eliza was certain there must be more to the story. “But that doesn’t mean it’s haunted.”
“Oh, yes, it does.” Louise’s head bobbed up and down, her eyes as wide as teacup saucers. “It took a good while for the sheriff to get ahold of Mr. Meyer’s brother—the one who inheritedeverything. He was a big-city kind of guy. The black sheep of the family since he didn’t like to ranch. Well, he came out and was torn up something awful with losing his family like that. He decided to stay and fulfill his father and brother’s wish—to keep the ranch flourishing. But weird things happen all the time out there. The new Mr. Meyer can’t keep hands because of it. I think the longest any worker has stayed was just less than a year. Which is unusual for a well-paying ranch like that one.”
