profile, smiling up at Brody Kimmel. âI think sheâs kinda pretty.â
âYes, she is. Brody is not bad, either. He sort of looks like my dad.â Franklin took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt.
Brody and Louise were the only ones smiling in the photo. Olivia was blurry, like sheâd gotten impatient and moved. Walter looked like heâd swallowed a bug. âHe looks too serious to be a gold thief,â I said. âDid you find anything about it on the Internet?â
âNo. The only thing that came up from a search of Mayhew and gold was a golf tournament in Mayhew, Mississippi. Gold sponsorships are one thousand dollars.â
âIt might just be a rumor, anyway,â Benzer said. âLike Mrs. Hall said.â
âMaybe,â I said. âBut remember, Daddy said no one would do business with them.â
âThatâs right,â a voice said from behind us.
We turned to see Mr. Neely peering over our shoulders.
He continued, âEmotions were high at the end of the war, a lot of families and friends never spoke again, but Mayhew had a particularly tough time of it.â
âBecause of the gold?â I asked, peering at the brown photograph. âIs that why everyone hated him?â
âPerhaps. Or it could have been the murder.â
âMurder,â I squealed. âWho did he kill?â
Mr. Neely looked at us, a surprised expression on his face. âYouâre related to Walter Mayhew, and you donât know the story?â He rubbed his chin, staring at the photograph. âIt was never proven, of course, but some thought he killed that young man there, Brody Kimmel.â
It was Franklinâs turn to look stunned. âLouâs ancestor killed mine?â
âYes, well, as I said, it was never proven,â Mr. Neely said.
âThis is just wonderful. Not only did my crazy ancestor supposedly steal some gold, but he was a murderer to boot. Why do people even like history?â
Mr. Neely smiled gently. âDonât take it so hard. Try to look at it as a puzzle. Your ancestors left you a great mystery to solve.â
âThatâs what Mrs. Hall called it,â I said. âWhatâs the big questionâwhether the Mayhew dude was a run-of-the-mill murderer or a serial killer?â
âNo.â Mr. Neely laughed. âI was speaking of the gold. If he did steal it, he did a very good job of hiding it. Itâs been well over a hundred fifty years, and the stolen gold has never been found.â
From the diary of Louise Duncan Mayhew
August 1861
Cousin Olivia has arrived from Knoxville to help, since Motherâs illness has left her confined
to her bed and we are all stretched beyond our norm. I am especially glad to have someone my own age in the house. Olivia was firmly against secession, and is quite shocking in her statements regarding the ills of slavery. I trust seeing how much our lives depend on Jeremiah and Dodeâs help in the fields, and Molly, Lainey and Singerâs for the housework and cooking will see her properly educated.
F ranklin and Benzer talked excitedly the whole walk home, stopping every now and then to high-five each other on the sidewalk, and chanting, âStolen gold, never found.â
Benzer smiled at me. âLou, this is awesome news. Why are you so quiet?â
âOh, I donât know,â I said. âMaybe because my great-great-grandfather killed Franklinâs ancestor?â
Franklin took off his glasses and wiped the lens against his shirt. âGreat-great-GREAT-grandfather,â he corrected. âI admit that was an unfortunate piece of information. But I can hardly hold it against you, Lou.â
âThatâs right,â Benzer said. âAnd honestlyâhavenât you wanted to kill Franklin at least once or twice since youâve known him?â
âBenzer!â
âSeriously, Lou,â Franklin said.