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“Delilah’s journal. I want to read it, but I’m going to need help.”

Ronan opened his mouth to forbid it, but stopped himself. He knew Everly only wanted to help Delilah and she’d find out what was in it thanks to Ten anyway. “What do you mean you’ll need help?”

“The penmanship is that loopy connected letter alphabet, like on birthday cards. I can’t read that.”

“You mean it’s in cursive?” Ten asked.

“Right,” Everly agreed. “Plus the words are old.”

“Old? You mean the ink is old because it was used to write over a hundred and fifty years ago?”

“No, I mean the words Delilah picked are old and don’t make sense.”

Ten nodded. “She used old-fashioned words. It’s like when we try to read Shakespeare and none of the words make sense.”

“Promise me you’ll listen to Dad while you’re reading. If he thinks parts are too awful for you to read, I want you to listen to him,” Ronan said. “I know you think you’re all grown up, but there are still some things in this life I don’t want touching you.”

“I know that some men hurt ladies, Daddy. Girls have to learn about this stuff so we can protect ourselves. If we don’t talk about what happened to Delilah, then the man who hurts her gets away with it.”

“I hate to tell you this, but he already did get away with it. The man who hurt Delilah is long dead.”

“Yeah, but his soul is still fair game.” Everly’s eyes darkened. “He’s also got living family members, like the man who dropped off the board and the diary to the museum.”

In all of Everly’s years, Ronan had never seen his daughter look more frightening. He could feel the hatred she had for this long-dead man. He’d bet the house that if he were standing in the kitchen, he’d have to protect him from his daughter. Well, maybe after she gave a couple of kicks to the shins first. “His soul?”

“I know what happened to Josh, Daddy.” Everly’s voice was barely above a whisper. “I know where he is.”

It was Ronan’s turn to be stunned. “How do you know that?” After Josh had been murdered in prison, his ghost had appeared to Tennyson begging him and Ronan to solve his murder. When they’d done exactly that, Josh’s spirit had shown up at the house and threatened Everly. Before he could make good on the threat, someone, or something, showed up and dragged his spirit away. He’d never told anyone what happened, not even Ten, and thought he had put that memory on lockdown, where his daughter couldn’t read it.

“The memory is on lockdown, I didn’t learn about it from you.” Everly didn’t break eye contact with Ronan.

“Who did you hear about it from?” Ronan asked, just as the doorbell sounded.

Everly’s dark look faded. “Saved by the bell!” She ran off into the living room, sounding like her usual self.

“What the hell is she talking about, Ronan?” Ten asked, looking scared.

“I’ll fill you in later, but suffice it to say I got the feeling that something grabbed his spirit and dragged it off to someplace considerably warmer than Texas in July.”

“What?” Ten wore a shocked look. “Why the hell did you keep this from me?”

“To protect you and Everly, which obviously didn’t work because she knows what happened anyway.”

“Hey, guys,” Jude said, walking into the kitchen. Fitz was behind him, looking upset.

“Daddy!” Aurora shouted. She ran into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Fitzgibbon, who hugged her back. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Me too, honey.” Fitz bent down to kiss Aurora’s head.

Both girls took a seat at the table while Ronan looked on. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d sat at this table with Ten, Fitz, and Jude to discuss a case. This was the first time they were being joined by Everly and Aurora. Ronan had to admit he wasn’t upset at this turn of events.

“Where do we start?” Jude asked. “We’ve never worked a cold case like this before. Not only was Delilah killed over one hundred and sixty years ago, there’s not going to be a police report.”

“Step one is for Ten and Everly to read Delilah’s journal,” Ronan said, getting up from the table and grabbing the book and the witch board. “Jude, I want you to go through public records and see what information you can find about Delilah’s family, past and present. Also look into this Witch of Devil’s Den story.” Ronan took a breath and turned his attention to his boss. “Fitz, I want you and Aurora to work on Gettysburg. Find out what you can about Delilah’s death. Are there records? Was she attached to a regiment? Was she a camp follower? Or something more nefarious?”

“I don’t know who the hell put you in charge, Ronan, but-”

As Ronan spoke, Everly reached for the journal. She began paging through it, when something slipped from the pages and landed on the table. She picked it up and shared it with Tennyson. “Uh, guys?”