“The poor man did seem rather upset by my appearance, but I must confess that I’m at a loss to understand why that would be,” Mr. O’Flynn said.
Harry chuckled. “He’s the nervous type, but it wasn’t you exactly… it was your name that threw him for a loop.”
“My name? What’s so special about my name?”
“I’m afraid so,” Harry said, nodding his head. “Unfortunately, Paddy O’Flynn is the name of a rather well-known ghost in this area.”
O’Flynn’s eyes opened wide. “I see. But that’s rather good for me, because it means I’m on the right track after all.”
“You’re looking for a ghost?” Harry asked.
The man laughed. “Yes… and no. The one I’m looking for was my grandfather’s brother, and it seems he left home, to chase a dream of gold that our great-grandmother’s brother, Shamus McNaughton, used to talk about. It seems the old guy was quite the storyteller but a complete fraud. Unfortunately, my great-uncle Paddy believed the stories he heard and didn’t realize the old man was just telling stories. The truth of the matter is that he was ashamed to admit where his money had really come from. The money used to buy his estate, which he said was gold he had mined himself, appears to have been the ill-gotten gains from piracy.”
“Piracy,” Harry repeated. “Are you serious?”
O’Flynn nodded. “I’m afraid so… not exactly a piece of the family history that we’re proud of…
although it does add a rather interesting skeleton-in-the-closet touch… just intriguing enough to tell at parties.”
“I’m sure it is.” Harry rubbed his chin. “How much do you know about Paddy?”
“Do you want the short or the long version?”
Harry grinned at him. “The short version will do for now, but I know the Historical Society will be interested in the longer story. I’ll tell you about them later.”
O’Flynn nodded. “Great-uncle Shamus had no children but he was very fond of Paddy, the youngest of his sister’s children. Paddy spent a lot of time with Shamus, listening to his stories, and apparently thought they were all true. I guess everyone did, until after he died.
“The truth about his life came out when several journals were found in a locked drawer of the desk in his study. As a young man, he would often take off to the city for weeks at a time and had become quite an accomplished boxer – something else he’d kept to himself.
“Anyway, he wrote that he was in a local bar, celebrating with a couple of friends after winning his latest fight. Upon leaving the bar, they were accosted by a gang of pirates and knocked unconscious. They woke up hours later, confused, and not knowing where they were. Shamus saw a porthole, which meant they were aboard a vessel. The rolling motion indicated they were at sea and they knew they’d been shanghaied.
