Ghost Walk Read Online Free

precise instructions about that six months waiting time before I returned to Edinburgh.
    Or how he never knew that day he walked out of my life for ever that I was carrying his child after a long history of miscarriages and false alarms. Then when pregnancy had seemed beyond belief I bore the baby son we had both longed for, only to lose him with fever.
    As I prepared to quit Arizona my frequent and frantic enquiries to Pinkerton’s branch in Tucson met with little response, even, I thought, with cruel indifference. Either they knew something they were not at liberty to tell me, or they were speaking the truth, equally baffled by Danny’s disappearance.
    If only I could have talked to someone, a friend who knew him, but there was little hope of that, for, always on the move, staying in Arizona’s infamous shack towns, we had little chance to form lasting friendships.
    There were none of his colleagues I could turn to. He had always been seriously noncommittal about his activities. An occasional visitor with an Irish accent about whom no information was volunteered made me aware that Danny’s sympathies lay with the Caen na Gael, a group of Irish Americans who funded a movement to free Ireland from British rule. There were other secret visitors and when my offered hospitality was unceremoniously declined, I suspected that Danny was also a secretGovernment agent.
    On one occasion I made the accusation. How he had roared with laughter at such an idea.
    Jabbing a finger at me he said: ‘Ask me anything about Pinkerton’s and I’ll tell you what you want to know. Go on, ask me.’
    And that invitation was irresistible. There was one matter concerning my own future I was most eager to discuss.
    ‘I know for one thing that they employ female detectives.’
    Getting it wrong, he raised a mocking eyebrow. ‘So you think I have a fancy woman.’
    I gasped for I had to confess that the thought had never occurred to me.
    Taking my astonishment for anxiety, he kissed me gently. ‘No one but you, my Rose.’
    ‘I’m just interested, that’s all.’
    Eyeing me doubtfully, he sighed. ‘Sure, Allan Pinkerton employs a few brave women. He is keen to employ females as he believes them to be at least as clever and daring as men in detective work – and more imaginative.’ His somewhat sceptical tone regarding Pinkerton’s confidence in this novel and daring procedure had raised a hue and cry within his organisation. And none was more concerned than Danny McQuinn, alarmed that his own wife might have inherited her famous father’s talents. He often said Pappa had wished for a son, interpreting this as a wish that I had been a boy rather than the wistful ache and guilt for the stillborn baby that had cost his dear Lizzie, my Mamma, her life.
    ‘If Mr Pinkerton approves why can’t I – I mean – you could recommend me, Danny. Please. I would love to try my hand at catching criminals. You know I was well trained in observation and deduction by Pappa at a very early age.’
    ‘Observation and deduction!’ He shook his head, then added seriously, ‘And how far do you think that would get you in this lawless land where criminals shoot first and answer questionsafterwards?’
    ‘But –’ I began indignantly.
    Danny held up his hand. ‘No, Rose. Definitely not – now or ever. You don’t know what you are talking about. I wouldn’t consider such a thing –’
    ‘But Danny,’ I pleaded, ‘I wouldn’t be alone. We could work together.’
    He leaned back in his chair, regarding me narrowly, a searching gaze of critical assessment. As if seeing me for the first time, his look asked was I to be trusted, and made me feel not only uncomfortable but afraid.
    The moment was gone in a flash. He laughed, took my hand. ‘So you think you’re a brave woman, Rose,’ he said softly. ‘You think you could deal with outlaws and murderers because your illustrious father taught you some clever method of observation and