A Mystery Solved?

Agnes wrapped her arms around herself as she sat at the table. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop shaking and she didn’t think she’d ever be warm again. 

            The sheriff opened his hand and let fall a small, circular object onto the table. Candlelight glinted on gold beneath the accumulated grime.

            Agnes gasped. “It’s a ring.”

            “And a mighty pretty one,” Deputy Ross said.

            “Where did you get it? Was it…was it in the basement?” Agnes clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking.

            Sheriff Tandy nodded. “Yep. It was under the skeleton’s foot. It has probably been in that place more than a hundred years if my hunch is right. Neither of you ladies noticed anything about what the body had on, the kind of clothes he might have worn?”
            Both women shook their heads.

            “I’d say he was wearing his uniform when he died–a blue uniform with brass buttons and that rusty old firearm beside him was used during the Civil War. Have you, by chance, heard the history of this old house?” The sheriff glanced at each of them.

            Clara spoke first. “You don’t mean…” she paused and swallowed. “You don’t mean that we accidentally found the Union soldier that Lenora shot?”

            Agnes felt as if her heart had landed in her throat. “So, this is where they put him? And, that ring—that’s Lenora’s ring that was supposedly lost when she and her servants buried him?”

            “At first guess, I’d say so,” Sheriff Tandy muttered.

            “The pieces all fit,” Deputy Ross said.

            Agnes and Clara stared at the ring, then each other. “It’s kind of hard to take in,” Agnes muttered.

            Clara’s eyes were as big as saucers. “Now, maybe they’ll stop haunting this place.”

            Agnes jumped as the sheriff laughed. “Don’t tell me two smart women like you believe those old ghost stories?”

            Agnes swallowed. “Well…”

            The sheriff held up his hand. “What do you hear?”

            They listened and heard a strange moaning sound.

            “There’s lots of pines and cedars on this place and the wind sounds eerie when it blows through them. Sounds odd blowing across the top of the chimney too.” Deputy Ross nodded.

              “I’ll be here in the morning, bright and early, and I’ll bring a medical team with me,” the sheriff said. “We’ll remove that soldier to a police lab and take care of what should have been taken care of long ago. Will you two ladies be all right here tonight?”

            Agnes and Clara spoke at the same time. “No!”

            The sheriff grinned. “How about if I leave Deputy Ross here with you?”

            The deputy raised his eyebrows and sighed.

            “Sure,” Agnes said. “We’d be much obliged if he’d stay.”

           After the sheriff left,  Agnes and Clara sat in front of the fireplace, staring at the flames. Maybelle dozed on the hearth and Candy slept on Agnes’ lap.

            “Look at that,” Clara said. “Candy likes you.”

            Agnes smiled. “And, she and Maybelle are not fighting. A miracle!”

            Clara nodded. “Who can understand the thinking of a cat or a dog?”

            They both jumped as a strange, wailing sound filled the room.  Maybelle lifted her head and howled. The windows of the old house shook.

                 “The wind across the chimney,” Clara said, her voice quavering.

                 “Of course,” Agnes whispered. “It’s only the wind.”