Read Online A Ghost at Stallion's Gate by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox - Free Book Online

model for Ravishing Ruby in two of the ads and in the third ad she was the model for Temptress Titan. The titan color was bright red, and I couldn’t help but to wonder if it was too red .
    I knew that the cartoonish color of the Temptress Titan dye could be from the age of the paper and the ink that was used back then. Over time some ink colors fade and are overcome by stronger hues. It could be that yellow ink used in the ad, meant to bring out brightness, may have eaten up the darker red dyes. The result was the carrot red color that now showed in the ad. Possibly, the Temptress Titan color was much darker and more auburn when the magazine was new.
    Still, was this what Rory meant by too red? I couldn’t shake Rory’s comment about too red . Did his criticism apply to Marla’s hair color, too? And was my reference to the color being carrot red, a direct influence from Rory and his love of carrots? Good grief, I was letting a ghost horse influence my research. I chuckled at this thought and carried on with my next search term: Marla Devereux. Only one result popped up, and it wasn’t an ad. But it was a gold mine.
    The article’s headline claimed: Actress Marla Devereux Wins in Court Case Against Empress Tatiana for Contract Fraud.
     
    Chapter 12
    The news article was dated December 22, 1925, about two weeks before Marla vanished. According to this article the court case had finally come to an end after many months of heated arguments. The judge and jury ruled in favor of Marla. Empress Tatiana, otherwise known by her legal name of Gertrude  Straub was ordered to pay Marla a settlement of twenty thousand dollars. The money was to be paid no later than in one month’s time. That timeline meant that Marla might never have received her money. Or did she? Could it be that Marla did receive her settlement and with cash in hand decided to put Hollywood in her review mirror?
    I got out my cell phone and opened up the money exchange rate application. Typing in the year of 1925, it did a quick calculation of cost of living between then and now and based on the cost of living from 1925 to present time, Marla’s settlement is roughly equal to a quarter of a million dollars. My mind raced with possibilities. Marla could have easily chosen to disappear and begin her life anew somewhere else. Why not? I reasoned. Maybe Marla’s bright dream of becoming the next Hollywood film goddess was darkened by the reality that the competition was just too strong. Then again, that much money might have been more cash than what Gertrude Straub, a.k.a. Empress Tatiana, could pay without bankrupting her company. Was the money worth murdering for? In reality, was it Marla who paid the greatest price, with her life?
    A glance at my watch told me I was running out of time. Just twenty minutes to go. I did another quick search in the files to see if there were news reports from earlier proceedings in the case. This magazine article did not give details pertinent to Marla’s original issue of contract fraud. No luck. I knew that what I really needed to do was to check a newspaper archive. And I could do that on my computer back at my cottage. I quickly saved my research results to my portable flash drive. I turned off the computer, tidied the desk and slipped out the door. When I looked in at Susan’s office, only her secretary was there. I gave her my thanks and asked that she let Susan know I was very grateful. Just as I exited the library my cell phone rang.
    “Hello.”
    “Shannon, did you get the access to the files you need?” Alex asked.
    “Alex, I wasn’t expecting another call from you, so soon. But to answer your question, yes, I did. Thank you very much. Your friend Susan was very helpful.” I had wanted to say girlfriend, just to bait him, but in a last second of sanity, I thought better of it.
    “Good, I’m glad she could see you. Uh, Shannon, what I really wanted to ask is if I could be of help. It seems to me you are doing