Free Buried Innocence - A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery - Book Thirteen (Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series) by Terri Reid

street.
    “Funny, I haven’t
had a problem with the walk at all,” Mike said, floating next to her.
    “Mike,” she said.
“Shut up.”
    The offices of the
police department were housed in a stately, brick building that Mary thought
might have been one of the original city banks.   The thick stone and brick façade certainly looked like they were protecting
something of value. She stepped up into the doorway and pulled open the heavy,
oak door. Immediate relief in the form of very modern air conditioning greeted
her, and she made her way to the offices housing the police department. She and
Bradley had met Galena’s chief of police, a very capable police woman, at a law
enforcement function, but Mary decided against asking for personal favors.
She’d just as soon ask the clerk for help.
    She pushed open the
door to the department and waited on the other side of the counter for help.
Mike floated through the door and waited next to her. Within moments, a young
police officer greeted her.
    “Hello, can I help
you?” he asked.
    Mary nodded. “Yes,
thank you. I’m interested in missing persons’ files from Galena in the past
twenty years,” she said. “All I have is a first name and an approximate
description to go by.”
    “Are you related to
this person?” the officer asked.
    Shaking her head,
Mary smiled at the officer. “No, I’m not,” she explained. “I’ve just recently
been asked to look into his disappearance, and I really don’t have a whole lot
to go on.”
    She pulled out her
private investigator’s license and showed it to him. He studied it for a moment
and then met her eyes. “Aren’t you the P.I. who helped with the murder case
connected with the former mayor of Freeport last year?” he asked.
    “See, he knows
you,” Mike said. “Obviously he’s impressed.”
    “Yes, that was me,”
she replied, praying that he hadn’t heard about her literal run-in with the
fort in Elizabeth.
    “There were some
pretty crazy rumors circulating about that case,” he said, still watching her
eyes.
    Mike snorted,
“Crazy rumors? You? How strange.”
    “Well, yes, there
were, weren’t there,” she replied easily, steadily returning his gaze and
ignoring Mike. “Was there anything you’d like to ask me about those rumors?”
    A slow smile spread
across his face, and he shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he said. “It was damn good
investigating no matter how it got done.”
    Her smile widened.
“Why, thank you,” she replied.
    He turned to his
computer and typed on his keyboard, then looked up at her. “The first name?” he
asked.
    “Steve,” she
replied with a grateful smile.
    “How old do you
think he was at the time of his disappearance?”
    Mary closed her
eyes for a moment, picturing the ghost. “I’d say early to mid-thirties,” she
finally replied. “And he had a family with small children.”
    The officer typed
the information into the search form. “How tall would you say he was?”
    “Close to six feet
tall,” she said, “with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes.”
    The officer nodded,
keeping his eyes on the screen. “And when did you say he went missing?”
    “Well, now, that’s
the tricky part,” she replied, nervously biting her lower lip. “It could have
been anytime from the sixties until today.”
    His fingers stilled
on the keyboard, and he looked at her. “Ma’am, that’s more than a fifty year
time period,” he said slowly.
    “I think he’s
getting a little worried,” Mike whispered.
    She shrugged
apologetically. “Yeah, I know,” she said. “Sorry I can’t be more specific.”
    He studied her for
a moment longer and then turned and entered the information. “Is he deceased?”
he asked.
    “Yes, but you
wouldn’t know that,” she blurted without thinking.
    “Uh oh, bad answer,
Mary,” Mike said.
    Looking up again,
he lifted his hands from the keyboard. “Would you like to explain that comment,
ma’am?” he asked.
    “I’d really