The Silent Touch of Shadows (14 page)

‘Bloody hell!’

Jake dropped the bag of doughnuts he’d just bought as he caught the woman’s crumpling body at the last minute. He didn’t have a chance to do anything about her shopping bags and could only hope they didn’t contain anything fragile.

She wasn’t all that heavy so he was able to lift her without much effort and carry her into the shop. The little bell jangled furiously as he kicked the door open wider with one foot. There were exclamations of surprise and murmurings of sympathy from other customers as they moved hurriedly to make way for him and his burden. Three chairs were arranged against a wall, presumably for the use of elderly customers, and he lay the unconscious woman down across them.

‘Dear me, what happened, young man?’ he heard someone say. He turned to find some kind soul had retrieved his doughnuts and the woman’s carrier bags from the pavement outside and was depositing them next to the chairs.

‘Thanks,’ he murmured somewhat distractedly, his attention focused on the woman. There was something about her that disturbed him, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it could be.

‘It’s been a long time since I saw a young girl swoon at the sight of a handsome man.’ The comment, together with a stifled cackle of laughter, came from somewhere behind him and he turned in irritation to glare at the person who had uttered it. There were several elderly ladies watching with avid curiosity, and he couldn’t say for sure which one of them had spoken so he gave them all a stern look before turning back to the prone woman.
Of all the stupid things to say
, he thought, but stifled the urge to comment out loud.

The woman stirred and her eyelids fluttered. As he chafed her hands in an attempt to revive her and waited for her to come out of her faint, he heard the voice behind him add in a loud, theatrical whisper, ‘But he’s handsome enough to make even an old lady like me swoon.’ Gritting his teeth, he resolutely ignored it.

The woman was trying to open her eyes and finally succeeded.

‘Ah, good, you’re waking up,’ Jake said, while she blinked in confusion. ‘How are you feeling?’

As she looked up into his face, he saw her frown. All of a sudden, her gaze widened and she swallowed hard. At first she didn’t answer him, but then she whispered, ‘Roger?’

‘I’m sorry?’ It was Jake’s turn to frown.

‘No, it can’t be.’ She stared at him. ‘You
 
… you look different, somehow. Oh, it’s your hair, you’ve had it cut. Shame, I liked those long golden tresses, but that short, layered style quite suits you.’ She smiled at him, showing two perfect dimples, and Jake drew in a sharp breath. The smile transformed her face from merely pretty to breathtakingly beautiful and he felt as if he’d been floored by a heavyweight champion. But what had she meant by ‘long golden tresses’? She was quite clearly barking mad.
A real shame.

‘I think you must be confusing me with someone else,’ he informed her gently. ‘My name is Jake Precy. I’m the local vet, and I don’t think we’ve met before, or have we?’

He said the last part of the sentence as if it was a question, because he
had
felt a small stirring of recognition himself. Surely he would have remembered meeting this woman, though? With her long, wavy, auburn hair, cool silvery eyes and incredible smile she was definitely unforgettable. And although she had felt light as a feather when he carried her into the shop, her tall figure was nicely rounded in all the right places. A shaft of desire suddenly snaked through him, taking him by surprise, and he gave himself a mental shake. What was the matter with him? He hadn’t reacted to a woman in ages, not since
 
… well, since that damned ridiculous dream. But perhaps that was the trouble.

‘Do you have a pet?’ he added, hoping against hope this would solve the mystery.

‘No, I
 
…’ She was still staring at him, looking totally bewildered now. ‘Oh, dear. I’m sorry, you must think I’m crazy, but you look so much like
 
… like someone I know,’ she finished lamely.

‘My long-lost twin, perhaps?’ He tried to smile reassuringly, but the words echoed round his brain in a very disturbing way.

He saw her shiver and thought he heard her murmur, ‘Goodness, but he’s even more attractive in real life.
No!
What am I thinking
 
…?’

He had no idea, but he knew he needed to put some distance between them. Fast. ‘Are you all right now?’ he asked. ‘I must get back to work.’

‘Yes, yes of course. Th-thank you for your help. I really don’t know what came over me, it’s never happened to me before.’ She sat up, obviously still fighting the dizziness, and tried to compose herself. Several of the onlookers were still peeking at the little tableau from time to time, and Jake could see that she disliked being the centre of attention. Her cheeks flamed and she took a few deep breaths, as if in an effort to cool them. ‘Thank you again. It was very kind of you to help me,’ she said more firmly, leaning over slowly to pick up her shopping.

Jake bent down at the same time to retrieve his own mangled bag, and as he did so, his hand brushed against hers. Her eyes widened in surprise and she drew in a sharp breath, as did he. A strange sensation had shot through his fingers, and he knew she’d felt it, too. He tried not to give any sign of having been affected by the contact, however, merely straightened up and gave her a polite nod.

‘You’re welcome. It’s not every day I have women fainting at the sight of me,’ he joked. He smiled again, and cast a challenging look towards the old biddies by the counter, daring the one who had spoken earlier to repeat her comments. No one moved.

With a quick, ‘Goodbye,’ and a wave of his hand, he left.

One block away, however, he had to stop and lean against a wall as a wave of dizziness washed over him. The soft susurration of the woman’s voice echoed round his brain and he shook his head to clear it. He felt bewitched, as if someone had cast a spell on him, but such things didn’t happen in real life.

‘I need to get out more,’ he muttered. He’d had his wish at last. A woman had affected him, and if she could do it, so could others. He just had to leave his comfort zone a bit more often.

Perhaps he should try going on some dates? He could start by offering to take the lovely red-head to dinner to make sure she’d recovered from her faint.

But damn, I didn’t even ask her name!

Chapter Ten

Melissa drew in another deep breath and tried to compose herself. Seeing Roger’s
doppelgänger
like that had shaken her badly, but she told herself it was just a fluke. Or maybe she had remembered wrongly and it was just the fact the vet had blond hair and blue eyes. He had certainly been attractive. She reflected wryly that he probably did have ladies swooning over him, but perhaps not quite so literally. She smiled to herself.

When he disappeared, however, she suddenly felt bereft, as if something very precious had been taken away from her.

I guess I really am going crazy
, she thought, and struggled to her feet.
Or maybe I need to rest more.
Yes, that was probably it. The flu had made her over-tired.

But as she made her way home, she couldn’t stop thinking about the man she’d just met. His features were etched into her brain alongside those of Roger and a little voice kept telling her the vet had been right.
They could have been twins.

The delicious aroma of homemade vegetable soup permeated the kitchen when Melissa came marching in upon her return from the shopping expedition, but she didn’t notice. Instead, she dumped her bags on the kitchen table with a thump, and vented her barely suppressed frustration on her great-aunt.

‘Dorothy, there’s something weird going on around here. Now, I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but as your only relative, I think I’m entitled to the truth. I have a feeling there are things you’re not telling me and it’s driving me nuts.’

The old lady swivelled round to look at her great-niece in surprise. ‘The truth about what?’

‘This house. Us. The strange things that keep happening. I don’t know, but
 
… You can’t have lived here all your life and not have noticed anything? Please, I would really appreciate some answers now.’

Dorothy turned back to the cheese board she was preparing and began to unwrap a piece of Stilton slowly, as if stalling for time. ‘What makes you think there’s something strange going on, dear?’

‘I told you, I hear things in my bedroom and I saw a ghostly face in the living room. I also have weird dreams all the time, well, one particular dream actually.’ Melissa held up a hand to forestall any protests as Dorothy turned round again. ‘And don’t say I was hallucinating about that face, because I wasn’t. I saw him quite clearly and I assure you I was wide awake and I only had a cold, no fever, nothing. Besides, Russ also saw him. He growled and his hackles were up.’

‘Oh, yes?’ Dorothy raised an eyebrow in enquiry.

‘Yes, and not only that, but I’ve just seen him in the High Street, too.’

‘What?’ This time Dorothy looked puzzled. ‘Surely not?’

‘Not the ghost, but a man who looked exactly like him. In fact, I was so shocked by the likeness that I fainted at the sight of him in the baker’s shop,’ Melissa admitted, her cheeks turning hot just thinking about it.

Dorothy burst out laughing and Melissa felt some of the aggression drain out of her. Her great-aunt’s laughter was infectious and she thought to herself that perhaps she was taking this a bit too seriously. There had to be a logical explanation for these strange occurrences and maybe she was over-reacting.

‘That must have amused the clientele no end, dear,’ Dorothy said. ‘You’ll be the talk of the town. No doubt I’ll hear all about it when I play bridge next week.’ She grew serious again. ‘Are you sure it was the same man? Did he say who he was?’

‘I swear, he was the spitting image of the plaguey ghost, although he said his name was Jake, not Roger. Jake Precy.’

Dorothy’s eyes widened. ‘How on earth do you know the ghost’s name?’

‘He told me. It’s Roger. He said he wants me to help him, but I don’t know with what. I thought perhaps you could tell me.’ Melissa sat down at the table and scowled. As she looked out of the window, her mind filled with images of the two men again. So alike and yet, not quite. The vet’s face had lacked the long scar, for one thing.

‘Er, what exactly did he look like, this ghost?’ Dorothy put the cheese board on the table and took a baguette out of the warming oven of the Aga. She cut it into two-inch pieces with great precision and put them in a bread basket.

‘He was tall and blond.’ Melissa’s face grew warm once more. ‘And extremely handsome. Just like that damned Mr
 
Precy.’

Dorothy bustled around setting the table. ‘So Mr Precy looks like the ghost you saw? Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure! You don’t think I normally go around fainting at the sight of a good-looking man, do you? I know I’m single again, but I’m not that desperate. It was most embarrassing, I can tell you.’

Dorothy chuckled. ‘Yes, I can imagine. What did Mr
 
Precy think of it all?’

‘Oh, he was very kind and gentlemanly. He put me on some chairs to recover and tried to joke about the whole thing. But I could see he was uncomfortable, especially when I called him Roger.’ Melissa sent Dorothy a pleading look. ‘Please, if you can shed any light on this at all, I’d be really grateful. I’m starting to think I’m going mad.’

Dorothy sighed. ‘Well, the truth is that others have seen the ghost, too. I just didn’t want to upset you any more the day you asked, so I thought it better not to tell you. I was afraid you would leave before you had a chance to settle in and I so wanted you to stay. It would be so lonely here without you.’

‘I see. So the house is definitely haunted?’

‘Yes, but not everyone notices. I’ve never seen anything myself and I’ve lived here all my life.’

‘How strange. You haven’t noticed anything at all?’

‘No, although as I said, I’d love to. I can’t believe your ghost talked to you, that is most unfair. After all the years I’ve been here. That’s gratitude for you.’

‘Hah, I’d much rather he didn’t, thank you very much. You’re welcome to him.’ Melissa tossed her hair out of her eyes. ‘Actually, I was going to ask you if there are any old papers or anything about the house that you could show me. I want to research its history, see if anyone called Roger lived here. I have to get to the bottom of this, see if there are any facts or documents to back this up.’ She had thought of nothing else all the way home from town. She wasn’t a genealogist for nothing and this was a challenge she simply couldn’t refuse.

Dorothy shook her head. ‘No, I’ve never seen any papers. But you’re not going mad, dear. I told you, you’re not the only one to have seen ghosts at Ashleigh.’ She hesitated, as if she didn’t quite know where to begin, then pulled out a chair and sat down opposite Melissa. She took a deep breath and plaited her fingers together on the table in front of her.

‘You’re right. Perhaps it’s time for the truth.’