Edge of Shadows (Shadows #1) (18 page)

“Honestly, Emma, you are being silly. There’s nothing there! I was just coming to see what was taking you so long. Henry was worried,” Linda said, putting her hands on Emma’s shoulders and looking at her sternly.

Emma’s head swiveled to her left, and Ellie realized with a bolt of surprise that Emma was looking right at her. Ellie reached out her hand and saw a look of fright cross the girl’s face. Emma whimpered.

“Girls! Are you ready? We’re going to be late!” Ellie recognized Randall’s booming voice.

Emma skittered in front of Linda and allowed the older woman to guide her down the hallway. Ellie followed.

“Emma, you are acting so strange. Henry is very worried about you. Let’s try not to do anything that would cause him to get upset, okay?” Linda whispered to her as they approached two men standing in a foyer just around the corner.

The men turned as they approached. Ellie stopped in her tracks. A man who looked very much like David stood there with Randall, although Randall had taken on the same youthful features as Linda had. Instead of being in his sixties, Randall could easily now be taken for a man in his thirties.

The other man (Henry?) was by Emma’s side in an instant. “Emma, I’m glad to hear that you are feeling better.”

“Oh, yes, thank you,” Emma finally spoke. Her voice was soft and had a faint Southern lilt to it.

Had Emma been sick? What was this strange dream all about? Ellie wondered.

“Henry, I know she is delighted to see you,” Linda said in a mothering voice that Ellie knew well.

Linda patted Henry’s arm and her hand lingered just a few moments too long, in Ellie’s opinion. Then Linda walked to Randall’s side and clasped his arm, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. “And I am delighted to see you,” she said flirtatiously.

Ellie felt ill watching the exchange.

Then she watched Emma double over, groaning. Henry was trying to hold her up. She thrashed away from him, falling to her knees. Emma wiped her hand across her mouth and was trying to take deep breaths. Ellie saw blood on the back of the girl’s hand at the same moment Emma did, and then Emma started to shriek.

Henry was trying to calm her. As the edges of reality started to get fuzzy, Ellie saw Linda and Randall watching Emma, apparently unfazed by her condition. Their faces were emotionless. Ellie felt nauseous and felt bile rising at the back of her throat. Why didn’t they try to help? The world stretched and disappeared. Then Ellie’s eyes opened to her own living room.

Ellie’s thoughts were fuzzy, and she still felt a bit sick to her stomach. She glanced at her watch. It was ten o’clock at night. She heard soft snoring, and saw that David was asleep on the couch next to her. His head had fallen backwards against the soft pillows the cushioned the back of the sofa.

Despite the fact that the residue of the strange dream remained with her, she felt warm inside looking at David. It felt natural to wake up and have him there. She studied him. His eyelashes were long for a man. His cheeks were slightly flushed from the warmth of the fire in front of them. His dark green shirt accented his dark complexion and his light curls seemed to beckon for her to touch them. His nose was perfectly sculpted and his chin was strong with a dimple in the middle. He was breathing deeply. Her finger reached out, and she gently touched the shallow depression.

David’s eyes fluttered open. His head turned, and he smiled at her. “Hey there, sleepy girl,” he said.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said, turning to face him and resting her head on the pillowed back of the sofa. There was just a small gap between them.

“It’s okay. I was waiting for you to wake up, and it looks like I accidentally fell asleep myself,” he said sheepishly. “What happened there? You were out like a rock.”

“I don’t know,” she said, frowning. “I know I’m a lightweight but that was ridiculous. It was almost like I passed out. I had a weird dream too.”

“What was it about?” he asked.

“It wasn’t really about anything. I woke up in a room that was pitch black, which I hate to say freaks me out more than any other part of the dream. It’s a stupid irrational fear that I have, and then when I finally found my way out, Linda was there. With another girl, and Randall, and a guy that looked just like you.”

“I’ve made my way into your dreams already, huh? Cool.” David grinned.

Ellie hit him in the arm. “It wasn’t like that. Anyway, Linda and Randall looked young. Like our age. Nobody could see me, except for this strange girl that Linda called Emma. I think Emma had been sick the way that Linda was treating her. The way that they were dressed, it was like it was the early twentieth century.”

“Sounds fascinating,” David said.

“I don’t know about that,” Ellie replied. “Then Emma got really sick all of a sudden. She was throwing up blood and it was like all hell broke loose. And then I woke up.”

“I don’t think dreams are supposed to make sense,” David said. He reached out and stroked her hair. “You’ve had a rough day. It doesn’t surprise me that your dreams were a little crazy. Sounds like your subconscious incorporated a little bit of the Bradford story in there, plus you said that in Jake’s dream you were lost in a dark place too.”

“Maybe.” Ellie was surprised that she hadn’t connected her dream to the Bradford story. It made sense, and Ellie started to feel a little foolish. “It was amazing how real it all felt.”

She sat up suddenly and hit her forehead with the palm of her hand. “Dammit. I forgot that I was going to go over to Linda’s and get her mail and check on the house.”

David sat up, looking at her warily. “Don’t you remember, Ellie? You mentioned that right before you fell asleep, and I told you I’d take care of it for you. I thought it was important for you to just relax tonight.”

“You went over there?” Ellie asked.

“Yes, there were just a few pieces of mail that I put on the front hallway table. I did a quick scan inside to make sure nothing looked suspicious. I left a light on in the foyer too. It took me all of five minutes. I think I was gone a total of twenty minutes, and you were still sleeping when I got back.”

Ellie felt a little awkward that David had taken it upon himself to take on her responsibilities, especially as he didn’t know Linda very well. “Well, thanks for doing that,” she said, deciding it was too late now to get upset.

The more she thought about it, it seemed pretty sweet. It had been a long time since she had a man around to help out with things, and she had to admit that she hadn’t been looking forward to going over to the house by herself.

“Sure thing,” David said, stretching with a yawn. He looked at his watch. “It’s getting late, and I have to be up early in the morning.”

“Early shift?” Ellie asked.

“Yeah.” David stood. “My hours have been really messed up lately. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going half the time.”

“When will I see you again?” Ellie asked. She didn’t want to admit that she was starting to get used to having him around.

“I’ll give you a call when I know I have some time to get together. We’ll figure something out.” David gathered his coat and gloves. “You take it easy in the meantime, and remember I’m in your dreams now. It’s like destiny.” He kissed her gently on the lips and waved at her to sit down as she started to rise from the sofa. “I know how to let myself out.” With that he was gone.

Ellie settled back onto the couch, and Skipper appeared. “Where have you been?” she scolded him. Skipper jumped up on the sofa and lay down next to her. She stroked his soft fur as she stared into the fire. She found that she was sad that she didn’t know when she would be with David again. He had slipped into her life so easily that she was still surprised.

She thought she should call him then, and tell him how glad she was that he was in her life now. She stood and went to the phone and stopped. She didn’t know his number. She scrolled through her caller ID. His calls had come through as “Private.”

Ellie dialed directory assistance. “David Mitchell, Minneapolis, please,” she said to the operator.

“I don’t have a David Mitchell listed in Minneapolis,” the operator said after a moment.

“Oh, okay. Thank you.” Ellie hung up the phone. She was perplexed. She had no way to reach him. He had always gotten in touch with her, she realized. She had no idea where he lived either.

She looked at Skipper and wagged a finger at him. “The next time I talk to that man he’s going to get quite a scolding. Romancing a girl and then not even leaving his phone number.” Skipper wagged his tail as she spoke. Knowing she had an early morning too, Ellie decided there was nothing to do but let it go and head to bed.

Ellie’s sleep was dreamless this time, but she was up early nonetheless. She played with the laptop a bit more and then headed into the shop. Kevin and Jeffrey were already there.

“I can see that my presence is quickly becoming unnecessary,” she said, shaking her finger at the two of them.

“Oh, stop it. You’re always welcome. But you’re right. We just don’t always need you. That’s code for you can take a day off every now and then,” Kevin said. He eyed the computer bag on her shoulder. “Did you finally give in to the pressures of this century?”

“Yes,” Ellie said grudgingly. “I got a cell phone too. I was really glad I did too because I ended up having to use it to call the cops on Jake yesterday.”

“Christ! What happened? Are you okay?” Kevin said. Both Kevin and Jeffrey stopped what they were doing.

“Yes, I’m fine. David was over last night and helped me calm down,” she said.

Kevin and Jeffrey exchanged a meaningful look and Kevin crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. “Um hum,” he said with a knowing grin.

“Hey,” Ellie said, blushing. “It wasn’t like that.”

Kevin rolled his eyes. “Oh, sweetie, it never is. Well, I’m glad to hear you are all right and that big goon didn’t have a chance to do anything stupid.”

“It was so odd,” Ellie said, filling them in on what Jake had said. “Jake admitting to having a bad dream was shock enough. He’s always wanted everyone to believe that he’s some macho hunk who isn’t afraid of anything.” Kevin snorted. “But to be so persistent about it; that’s not like Jake. And then last night I fell asleep after dinner and had a seriously odd dream as well.”

“You did have quite an eventful day,” Kevin said, turning back to his work.

“I know, but David said that he thought I pulled in some elements of things that Jake described,” Ellie said, really not sure where she was going with that train of thought. It was like her brain was moving in slow motion on the topic. Again she felt like she was forgetting something important.

“Of course you did, ma’am,” Jeffrey replied. “Subconsciously you were continuing to try to process everything that happened to you yesterday, as well as this dream that disturbed both of you. So it is natural that you would pull some of that into your own dreams.”

“That makes sense,” Ellie said. She didn’t feel like working after all. “You know what, guys? I can see you’ve got things well in hand here. I think I may take the day off just like you suggested, Kevin. I do have to move some things over to Linda’s if I’m going to be staying there, and I think I could use the time off.”

“Certainly, ma’am,” Jeffrey said

“Okay, Ellie. Whatever you need to do,” Kevin agreed.

Ellie wrote her new cell phone number down and tacked it to the employee bulletin board. “You can reach me at this number. By the way, if David calls, will you just take his number instead of giving him this one?” She ignored Kevin’s inquiring look. “I’ll be in tomorrow.”

Ellie spent the rest of the morning moving some clothes and toiletries over to Linda’s. She packed a box with some of her favorite books, as well as her alarm clock and some DVDs. Skipper followed her about the apartment eagerly, as if he was waiting for his assigned task as well.

“Not this time, Skipper,” she kept telling him. “I’ll bring you over later.”

She carried her boxes and night case out to the car and headed to Linda’s house. She pulled into the driveway leading up to the garage, and felt unsettled. She left her car in the driveway instead of pulling into the garage. One of the keys on the key ring opened an outside door in the breezeway that led her to the solarium that was connected to the kitchen. She intended to go through the refrigerator and cabinets as well, and determine if there was anything else that she needed to bring from the apartment. She didn’t really relish the idea of going back and forth between the house and her apartment, and even considered just staying at the apartment and going to the house every day. But in the end, her curiosity got the better of her.

Wouldn’t it be nice, even for a short while, to feel like she was rich? To feel like she had all the resources in the world? To feel like she owned a beautiful home? In a way it was like her favorite dream was coming true. It was right out of one of her romance novels. Ellie figured that worst case she’d stay at the house for a few days a week, and stay at her apartment the rest. It would be just enough to discourage anyone who might be watching the house and considering breaking in.

Ellie hadn’t really looked in the kitchen before, and stood for a few moments gazing at the sheer massiveness of the space. It was Ellie’s dream kitchen. There was a large, six-foot granite countertop breakfast bar in the center of the room. Hanging above it was a wrought iron pot and pan rack, complete with pots and pans. Six stools surrounded the bar.