She glanced at him and smiled and shook her head. “I don’t even believe the story. Jonathan Medford was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg. He wife died the year before. Public records have her death attributed to illness, and there were plenty of fevers that ravaged this city. There is no record of an altercation between a Medford and a Union officer. Jonathan’s brother succumbed to heart disease, according to what records we do have from the mid-1800s.”

He smiled and whispered, “But no one has come back to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I take it?”

She looked at him quickly, as if wondering if he was mocking her.

“Did you see your ghost again?” she whispered. “Is that why you took off?”

He nodded.

“Did she tell you anything?” she asked softly.

“Maybe. Have you ever heard of Allan Pierce?”

“Uh, vaguely. He was around during the original Axeman crimes. He claimed that...”

Her voice trailed, and she stared at him. “He was all about the number six. He was never accused of being the Axeman, but he was certain the Axeman was a super being, created on the same day as man but given will and power. I think people claimed that he made them commit a lot of robberies and assaults, but... I forgot. Yes,” she said softly. “The number six. Can it mean anything?”

“Anything can mean something when someone makes it mean something.”

They were moving closer to the Irish Channel section of the city.

He asked her, “Katie, what is your family’s connection to New Orleans? I know your parents were both in the military and you were born in Florida. But Jeremy Delaney is your cousin, or second cousin. Your father’s cousin. Did you have relatives—”

“Yes. My grandparents—they died when I was young—were from New Orleans. My parents wanted to live in Florida because they loved the ocean so much. Jeremy has always been here, but he and my dad were the last of the family.” She studied him. “I visited a few times growing up because my dad and Jeremy were always close. And I didn’t come with him, but my dad came up after Katrina and the flood to help find survivors. Jeremy has always had a boat, and they went out together. I think they did help. But that was the last time my dad was here before he, my mom and Anita were murdered. Why?”

“I was curious,” he said. He smiled. Katie was an excellent carriage driver, courteous of cars and pedestrians, and careful regarding her mule and carriage.

Outside the tourist area, he noted that the few homeowners out—retrieving mail, doing yard work, or just playing on their lawns—stopped to note the carriage as it went by. They weren’t as common a sight in the Irish Channel as in the French Quarter or Garden District.