I could a tale unfold - 16

Otis stood very still, sizing up Kirk apparently, and in a very interested way. Ross watched and shook his head. "Oh no, he's not up for grabs, Otis."

With an amused look at both of them, Kirk agreed. "I'm not into ghosts, even if they are fairly solid."

Otis's expression saddened for a moment and then he shrugged, reaching for the pencil and paper. He wrote a few words before handing the pad to Ross.

"Otis Curtis Johns. March twenty-first, nineteen eleven," Ross read. "Do you have any idea at all who killed you?" he asked.

Otis shook his head.

"Was there any reason for someone to want you dead?" Kirk queried.

With a small frown, Otis took back the pad from Ross, hopping up to sit on the edge of the desk so that he could write more comfortably. It took a couple of minutes, with many pauses, before he gave it to Ross.

Ross read it, with Kirk leaning over his shoulder, doing the same. When he'd finished, Kirk snorted. "Guess he knows his Shakespeare. Romeo and Romeo, come on."

Otis scowled at Kirk, grabbing the pad back to write, 'NO!' boldly across the bottom of the page.

"Give me a break, Otis. Two families who hate each other, two lovers trapped in between? That's pure 'Romeo and Juliet', or the Hatfields and the McCoys. And, on another note, why choose Ross to solve the murder? You've had a hundred years to find someone to do that."

Otis pointed to the two of them and crossed his fingers.

With a quirked up eyebrow, Ross said, "This is a theater; there have to have been other gay men here you could have approached, if that's what you're trying to tell us. Speaking of which, another question, are you stuck here? That's what always happens in ghost stories."

With a nod, Otis drew a finger across his throat.

"So you were killed here," Kirk said, getting more into what was happening by the moment. "Is your body buried here?"

Otis nodded again, and then beckoned them to follow him.

"Oh boy, this could be interesting," Kirk murmured as he and Ross followed the ghost.