Read Online Defending the Dead (Relatively Dead Mysteries Book 3) by Sheila Connolly - Free Book Online

sensible adults even believed the girls in the first place? It still made no sense to her.
    If it was ever going to, Abby thought her best chance was to track down one or more ancestral relatives and see if her connection through their eyes worked, going back over three hundred years. There was no guarantee: plenty of her more recent local ancestors remained stubbornly silent, so far. But Abby was hoping that the intensity of emotions in Salem at the time could make it work, with or without a personal connection. And if—if!—it did, she might gain a peculiar and unique insight into how people had seen and interpreted what was going on at the time. The odds were long, but wouldn’t it be interesting?
    Then there was Ellie, who shared some of her ancestral lineage but not necessarily any that connected to Salem or Andover—that meant more research. Had Ned ever looked? He seemed to have followed the Reed line back to the beginning, but oddly enough there were no Reeds in Salem or Andover at the right time, even though she’d found the name almost everywhere else she had looked since she began her research. So next she would have to start checking out the other lines she hadn’t looked at yet. It would be easiest to start with the Reeds and see if she could push that line back in the right direction. If not, she’d have to come at the hunt in a different way.
    She hadn’t looked at her family’s genealogy information for a while, since her life had been shaken up: finding out about Ellie, losing her job, moving in with Ned. That meant she had to reacquaint herself with her own family. It wasn’t like she knew them well—she’d only “met” them a few months before, when her mother had appeared with her grandmother’s rocking chair. Then when she’d gotten the job at the museum, she’d thrown most of her energy into that, without giving much thought to all those lurking ancestors—until one had shown up at the green in Littleton just before Patriots’ Day: Henry Perry, one that Ned couldn’t see, so he was her relative but not his. And his untimely appearance had started the whole cascade of events that led to Leslie driving her out of the museum and Abby moving into Ned’s house.
    So now it was time to dig in once again, starting with Olivia, her great-great-grandmother, née Flagg, who had married Samuel Pendleton in 1886. Olivia she had traced back along a couple of lines, but Samuel’s forebears were all blank. She was poised to start when her phone rang. When she checked caller ID she was surprised to see that it was Leslie.
    “Hey, Leslie, what’s up?” she said when she answered.
    “I’ve got a favor to ask. This is an early closing day at Ellie’s school, and my sitter can’t make it—we messed up with the dates. Could you pick Ellie up?”
    “Sure, no problem. You want me to bring her back later?”
    “If you could. Sorry to dump this on you.”
    “Hey, I’ve spent enough time around kids and schools to know how often this kind of thing happens. I’m glad to help. What time and where?”
    Leslie gave her the details. “School lets out at noon. I should be home by six, if you can bring her by then.”
    “That’s fine. You mind if I feed her sugar and stuff?”
    Leslie gave a short laugh. “I think she’s seen it before. I guess that means I’m not one of those progressive parents, like most people around here.”
    “Then cookies it is. See you later!” Abby hung up. So much for research, but she could start building a relationship with Ellie. Only a few hours, though, so not enough for an excursion. Well, they’d just have to wing it.
    Abby grabbed a quick shower and was waiting at the elementary school when Ellie came out. She was chatting with a couple of other girls her own age, which pleased Abby—at least she had a few friends. Abby got out of the car and waved, and when Ellie saw her her face lit up. She said something to the others, then darted over to Abby’s