A Ghost of Brother Johnathan's by Elizabeth Eagan-Cox Page B

There’s a collection on display in Crescent City, at the museum, the cards are in their exhibit of the Brother Jonathan shipwreck.”
Marta returned and handed to me a professionally framed shadowbox collection of the cards. They were circus cards that advertised when the circus was coming to town. Of the six cards in the framed shadowbox, I noted that they were four-color, elaborately hand-drawn designs and each card depicted a different circus act.
Immediately, I imagined that working on these cards was the logical reason for Jonathan Rupp to wear a pair of blue lens spectacles, and that it must have to do with the different colors and hues. Each card was an individual work of art. I suspected that he would initially draw the picture in light pencil and then color it in. And for that reason he wore the blue lenses to see the delicate penciled outlines. I was in awe and relieved, that I now had a good reason for Rupp to have those blue glasses and it had nothing to do, whatsoever, with gambling scams.
“May I see that?” Luke interrupted my private musings. I handed the collection to him. He scrutinized the cards for several minutes and then handed the shadowbox back to Marta.
Marta set it on the coffee table and then asked, “What now?”
I explained, “Luke will analyze the recorders, and I’ll get back to you. I have a few ideas about where and what to research next, then I need to think about the next steps.”
I could sense Marta’s apprehension and I didn’t want to leave her wondering and fretting. “Marta, I need some rest. I’m sure that by morning I’ll have a clear path mapped out for us to pursue. Please, do not worry, these things have an uncanny way of working out. Also, I wholeheartedly believe that you are not in harm’s way.”
I stood up and gave her a hug. Luke took my cue and we made our way to the front door. Just as Marta opened the door and was about to see us out, Luke turned to her and asked, “Marta, in your knowledge of your family history, do the initials KGC mean anything?”
Marta blinked, obviously perplexed by Luke’s query. “No, I haven’t a clue as to what that is or what those initials stand for.”
Luke smiled. “That’s good to know and also not important, in the least. Just an obscure idea, so don’t give it another thought. Goodnight.”
I was back at my hotel room and asleep within the hour.
I woke the next morning feeling well rested and… I had a plan tickling my brain. I made one phone call and then I called Marta to let her know I had recruited Ozzy to accompany me to Crescent City. Marta was excited. She said she felt from the very beginning that a trip there would help brush away the cobwebs. She only wished her day wasn’t filled with work, because she would like to go along.

CHAPTER 12
    Asking Ozzy to be my cohort in an investigation on the trip to Crescent City was one of my better choices. He was an excellent driver and in his easygoing conversational manner of speaking he gave me a brief and concise history of Crescent City. As it turns out, he grew up there.
    According to Ozzy, Crescent City began as a gold mining boomtown in 1848 when gold was discovered on the Trinity River. A land warrant for 230 acres was granted to J. F. Wendell in 1853 and that land grant became the anchor to establishing the town as a center of commerce for the gold rush industry. Then in 1856, the Battery Point Lighthouse was built to accommodate the emerging lumber export industry. From that point forward Crescent City was a primary port for the lumber industry, providing a major shipping harbor supplying construction lumber up and down the Pacific Coast, though San Francisco, to the south, was its largest target market.
    Even after the gold rush fizzled, the lumber boom continued for 100 years, supplying building lumber for the population explosion that came after World War II. Then, in 1964 a devastating tsunami hit Crescent City. In four massive, all-consuming waves of