Edge of Shadows (Shadows #1) (14 page)

“Why would Linda keep this room empty?” Ellie asked. She walked over to the window and pushed the curtains open. The view of the lake was even better here than it was in her room.

Kevin stroked his chin as he moved to the center of the room. “It just doesn’t quite have the same homey feel when it’s a big empty cavern, does it?”

“This is all so weird, Kevin,” Ellie finally said. “Why isn’t there any furniture in here? Do you think Linda uses a different room down on the second level? This whole situation is getting stranger and stranger. You don’t think anything happened in here, do you, Kevin?”

Kevin sighed and rolled his eyes again. “Oh well, so it’s an empty room. Big deal. Maybe Linda moved downstairs after Lloyd passed away because she didn’t want to be reminded of him or something. I’m sure there are a million different explanations, Ellie, none of which are the slightest bit strange.”

“You’re right, Kevin.” Ellie felt embarrassed now. “I’m jumping to stupid conclusions. I just remember Melanie making the silly comment that maybe Randall did something to her since I didn't actually talk to her. You’re right, I’m sure there is a very logical explanation.”

Kevin came to her side and put his arm around her. “That’s right. We are all getting a little carried away with stories lately. Linda’s in Paris living her life and having a fantastic time. And we should do the same. Let’s go check out the rest of the rooms.”

As they pulled the doors closed on the master bedroom, Ellie pointed to the door they had passed next to the staircase. “What’s that?” she said, pointing.

“Let’s go find out!” Kevin said. He went over to the door and threw it open, peering inside. “Okay, this is creepy.”

Ellie looked over his shoulder. They were at the top of a metal staircase that curled downwards into a deep gloom. It had a musty smell that reminded Ellie of something that she’d rather forget. It smelled like the basement of Jake’s house. Kevin looked at Ellie and she shook her head. “No, thanks. That is one secret that can stay that way for now.”

“Ah, come on, Ellie. Where’s your sense of adventure? We may come out behind some big clock downstairs or something,” Kevin joked.

“Or maybe we’ll find a dead body.” Ellie wrinkled her nose. “Uh-uh. I’m no Nancy Drew. I’m sticking with the regular staircase.”

Kevin shrugged as if to say her loss, but he didn’t argue any further. He followed her back down to the second level.

They quickly looked through the rest of the rooms that lined either side of the landing. Closer inspection revealed four bedrooms that were tastefully decorated, but had no real personality. There was a bathroom on either side as well. None of the rooms felt like they were being used.

Their inspection was cut short as they heard a commotion downstairs, and then Skipper barking furiously. “I bet he saw something and knocked that chair over!” Ellie headed down the stairs as quickly as she could; she flew out onto the front patio with Kevin right behind her.

Skipper stopped barking as soon as he saw her, but her assumption had been correct. He had managed to knock over the chair and was standing in the middle of the patio, apparently barking at the front door.

Ellie bent down and patted his head. “I’m sorry, buddy. I didn’t mean to leave you out here so long. You were a good boy, though. You stayed right here and didn’t run off. I’m proud of you.”

Kevin had his hand on his chest. “That dog just scared the crap out of me and you’re proud of him? Whatever.”

Ellie readjusted the chair with Skipper’s leash under the chair leg once again. “I’m done here for the evening. We just need to go turn off the lights and then I want to head home.”

“You aren’t staying here tonight?” Kevin asked.

“No, I didn’t bring any of my stuff over anyway. I wanted to check the place out so I knew what I needed to bring with me.” Ellie sniffed. What was that she smelled? She followed her nose back into the house and stopped in the foyer. On the beautiful antique bureau just to the left of the doorway there was a vase of blooming red roses with a note next to them.

“Wow, those smell terrific!” Kevin said, pushing Ellie aside. He stuck his nose into the very center of the bouquet and breathed deeply.

“Kevin, did you see those when we first came in?” Ellie asked.

“Nope, otherwise I would have had one stuck behind my ear the whole time,” Kevin said with a devilish grin.

Ellie was confused. She looked around at the room. The monstrous front doors, when opened, would have partially blocked the bureau from view as they entered. Still, it seemed odd to Ellie that she hadn’t smelled the flowers before given how fragrant they seemed to be.

Ellie picked up the note that was sitting next to the vase and opened it. “Our regards to our dear friend. Thank you again for being there in our time of need. Love, Randall and Linda,” she read out loud

“They sure like you,” Kevin said sarcastically.

“Never mind that. I’m still surprised we didn’t see these before.” Ellie pointed at the vase again.

“Oww. Magically appearing red roses. How freaky is that, I ask you?” Kevin said, wiggling his fingers in the air in the imitation of a ghost.

“Cut it out, Kevin. I’m serious,” she said.

“Ellie,” he said plaintively. “There is no mystery here. We just didn’t see them when we walked in because we were so distracted by wanting to take a look around the ole place. You are letting that agent’s silly story mess with you. Let’s get you out of here. I think you need some rest.”

They quickly turned off the lights around the house and when they stood in the foyer again, Kevin pointed at the flowers. “Are you going to take those?”

“No, you can have them,” she said.

“Eric will be so happy!” Kevin was delighted. “I won’t tell him that I didn’t actually buy them so you can’t tell him either.”

Ellie pulled the door closed behind them and locked the door. She pulled Skipper’s leash from beneath the chair leg and then the three of them headed down the sidewalk to the street.

Ellie turned and looked back at the house. In the darkness it felt like it was watching her. She shivered.

Ellie got back to her apartment and dropped her jacket and the house keys in the usual spot. She picked up the phone receiver and heard the tone indicating she had a message. She punched in her code. An electronic voice told her that she actually had two messages. Ellie couldn’t remember the last time she had that many messages in one day. She hit the button to play the first one.

“Umm, hi, Ellie, it’s David.” His deep voice sounded uncertain in a totally flirtatious sort of way. “I was just giving you a call to see how you’ve been. I’ve been swamped at the hospital. In fact, I’m just on break right now. I’m working until late, but I’ll try to stop by the coffee shop on my way home tomorrow morning. We have to pick a time for that date.” Ellie knew she heard a smile in his voice now. “Anyway, I hope you’re having a good evening, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.”

Ellie was ecstatic that he had called so soon, and sounded eager to see her again. She was warming toward the idea of dating more and more, and there had been a small nagging in the back of her mind that maybe he wouldn’t call her. She had to admit that it was a bit thrilling that a handsome young doctor was vying for her attention.

The smile slipped from her face as the next message started. “Ellie, it’s Jake. I know you probably don’t want to talk to me, but I really want to talk to you. I need to talk to you. Will you please call me back? If we could just meet for dinner or something, that would be great. I promise, no fighting whatsoever. I hope to hear from you soon.”

For once, Ellie could not detect an ounce of alcohol in Jake’s voice. He sounded stone cold sober, and just like the old Jake. She wasn’t sure what to think about that, but she knew that she wasn’t interested in meeting up with her ex-husband, no matter what the circumstances. She deleted the message, and then deleted it from her mind as well.

The next morning brought a new argument with Kevin. “We need to get you into the twenty-first century, Ellie, seriously.” He was looking at the mountains of paperwork all over her desk. She usually took the most important ones to the front and worked on those in the relative quiet of the shop because when she worked in her office, she felt the silent screams from the ink on all the pages: “Read me! Look at me! How can you keep ignoring me?”

“What are you talking about, Kevin?” she said as she ran her hand through her hair. She felt tired, and she could tell by Kevin’s expression that she looked it too. She had not slept well, nightmares marring her dream landscape. She couldn’t remember what they were about, but she had woken up feeling uneasy.

“Technology. That’s what I am talking about. That dinosaur you have sitting there and never use that I think is older than I am,” he said, pointing at the massive desktop computer that took up half of Ellie’s desk. “You need a laptop. A cell phone would be a good idea too,” he said in frustration.

“We’ve been through this before, Kevin,” she calmly explained again. “I’m used to doing most of this by hand, and I’ve got a system that works for me. This isn’t that hard. What would I do with a computer at home? And having a cell phone just means that people I don’t want to talk to can reach me more easily. I already talk to everyone I want to talk to right here every day.” She crossed her arms on her chest. Ellie didn’t know why, but there had always been a part of her that strongly opposed technology.

“Having a computer at work will help simplify this mess.” Kevin’s gaze took in the whole room. “You can’t tell me your accountant didn’t charge you more last year because he had to sort through all your reams of paper.”

Ellie shifted uncomfortably. She hated it when Kevin was right.

“A computer at home means you can do some of the work you do here from home. That also means that you don’t need to be here six days a week like you are now. Having a cell phone may come in handy when you are staying at Linda’s. Plus with things getting a little hairy again with Jake, it might not be a bad idea for your own safety, Ellie.” Kevin looked away, and she could tell he didn’t like bringing up the idea that she would need it to be safe. She had told him about Jake’s latest message.

As much as she didn’t like it, she knew that everything Kevin said was true. She had been stubbornly avoiding the expense because she really thought that it was unnecessary. But one look around her office told her that with the business growing, things were out of control and she needed to do something soon.

“All right, I’ll consider it,” she said.

“Eric could help you pick out the right things if you wanted some help. He’s such a techno geek,” Kevin gushed, making it sound like that quality was one of the sexiest ones a man could have.

“We’ll see,” Ellie said. She wasn’t going to be bullied into it.

Jeffrey appeared behind Kevin and looked over his shoulder at Ellie. “Ellie, there is a young man out front who asked to speak to you.”

Ellie and Kevin grinned at each other. Ellie looked at her watch. It was seven a.m., so David was right on time. She giggled as Kevin started smoothing her hair and clothes for her. He nodded that she was ready. She walked out front, ready to greet David with a smile.

The smile quickly disappeared. Jake stood on the other side of the counter.

“Ellie, I’ve been trying to reach you,” he said quietly but firmly, looking furtively around the room. Ellie hadn’t seen Jake in months, but she had to admit that he looked good, although the dark rings underneath his eyes and slightly pea-color aura around him said that trouble was lurking around the corner. But he looked better than he had when they had split up. He had put back on the weight he had lost, and he was dressed in a dark blue polo shirt and tan khakis. She was mildly surprised because Jake usually wore a T-shirt and jeans for work. She was relieved that he appeared sober.

“We don’t have anything to talk about, Jake. We’re divorced now,” she replied just as firmly.

“Just because we’re divorced shouldn’t mean we can’t be civil. Can we just talk for a minute, please?” he pleaded.

Ellie realized that he wasn’t going to go away, as much as she wanted him to. To show up at the coffee shop, on her turf, spoke volumes about the lengths he was willing to go. She finally nodded, and pointed to a table in the corner near the front.

“Go sit over there. I’ll be right over.”

Jake’s face broke into a brilliant smile and his aura turned almost white. Disarmed, Ellie almost smiled back. Then she remembered where they had been, and she forced the smile back. He headed for the table.

“What the hell is he doing here?” she heard Kevin snarl behind her. She turned and placed her hands on his chest.

“I don’t know. But avoiding him isn’t working. So I’m going to go over there and talk to him for a few minutes. Hopefully, if he gets out what he is so determined to tell me he’ll go away.” She spoke in a low tone so that Jake wouldn’t be able to overhear.

“You just wave if you need me to come over there and kick his ass,” Kevin said.

Ellie saw Jeffrey behind Kevin with his eyebrow raised, and she knew he was thinking the same thing she was: there was no way that Kevin would be able to kick anyone’s ass, much less Jake’s.

“Thanks, Kevin.” She patted him on the arm. She moved to go around the counter and found David standing there at the register. In the commotion, they had missed him coming in. Her heart sank. David’s timing was horrible.