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“You sure?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t sure.”

“True enough.”

Jack gave him a quizzical look.

Ellery took the chair on the other side of the desk and accepted the half sandwich Jack handed across.

“Coffee?” Jack asked.

Ellery shook his head. “I’m already wired for sound.”

Jack buzzed his intercom and requested a sparkling water from the vending machine.

Ellery bit into the sandwich.Mm.Roast beef, horseradish cream, fontina cheese, microgreens, and arugula packed onto a toasty Kaiser bun. So good. He was hungrier than he realized. He’d been running late and hadn’t had time for breakfast. He chewed, swallowed, said, “I thought you’d be happy to know that Sue Lewis and I called a truce.”

Jack’s brows shot up. “I’m glad to hear it. Who drafted the peace treaty?”

“Sue.”

“Good for Sue.”

Ellery made a face, and Jack chuckled. “Come on. We both know you didn’t enjoy being at war with Sue. Besides, she can be a useful ally.”

“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

Someone knocked on Jack’s door.

“Come.”

A young woman in an explorer uniform entered with a bottle of water. She set the water on Jack’s desk, Jack handed her a dollar bill, she shot Ellery a curious look, and departed.

Between bites of sandwich and stealing french fries, Ellery filled Jack in on everything Sue had told him regarding the rumors surrounding Eudora and Vernon.

Jack listened and considered. “By the time I knew her, she was quite elderly. I couldn’t begin to form an opinion. Does it seem likely she’d have run away with him?”

“I wouldn’t have thought so, but Vera did say Vernon and my aunt were sweet on each other. She also said they fell out over his military service.”

“That’swhat they fell out over?”

“I know. It seems like he’d have given her plenty of other cause for concern.” Ellery swallowed a mouthful of water. “I started going through her journals last night. I got through most of 1964, and there’s not one single word about Vernon.”

“Hm.”

“Also, her journal from 1963 is missing.”

“Missing as in…?”

“As in it’s the only missing volume in two decades worth of journals.”

“Well, that could be significant. Or not.”

“Also, also, I’m pretty sure my house is haunted.”

Jack laughed. “Well, I’ve got some news too. Concerning the doubloons you found in theRoussillon.”

“Are they real?”