Deception (Absent Shadows Trilogy Book 3) (15 page)

‘Dandenongs … wow, I haven’t been up there in ages. Sure, I’ll come along, if it’s okay that is,’ she said, looking a bit tentative.

‘I’m sure Crystal won’t mind,’ I said, then looked at Debs sort of guiltily. ‘Did you have something in mind for today, Debs? I can always ring Crystal and say I can’t make it.’

‘No, you girls go and have fun. I’m playing golf today anyway.’

‘Oh, okay. I’ll ring Crystal, and tell her you’re joining us. They’ll be here at ten-thirty, so you’d better eat quickly and jump in the shower,’ I said, looking at Claire.

‘No worries, I’ll be ready,’ said Claire, focusing on the clock on the stove. ‘What’s the time now; is it eight-thirty or nine-thirty?’

‘It’s nine-thirty you sleepy heads. And I’m afraid I have to run. Enjoy your day, and I’ll see you tonight sometime, Lili,’ said Debs, setting out plates for the toast, along with the butter and honey. ‘It’s nice to see you back, dear. Lili is lucky to have a friend like you.’

When I heard the front door click behind Debs, I turned to Claire, and in a low, secretive voice I said, ‘Now, about the ghosts. That’s just between you and me, right? I mean, we won’t speak about that to Crystal and Angelica today, understand?’

‘Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t say anything to anyone. Well, except to Sam maybe. I can tell him, can’t I?’

‘Sure, you can tell Sam you met Elizabeth. But no-one else is to know. We don’t want people to start tramping through there looking for them or anything. Besides, they’d never show themselves to strangers. I doubt they’d even show themselves to you again if you had anyone with you.’

‘Really? You mean they can choose who sees them and who doesn’t?’

‘Definitely; that’s probably why you never saw any before,’ I said, then after a moment I continued, ‘Elizabeth was at our wedding.’

‘Was she?’ Claire sounded incredulous.

‘Of course she was. She’s Sam’s sister, after all. That’s why we held it in the gardens—so she could attend.’

‘Well, I never would have guessed that!’

‘Of course not.’

‘I’ve never heard of anyone having ghosts at their wedding before … but I suppose it happens.’

‘Yes, I suppose it does. Now, remember, we won’t talk about it today. You better jump in the shower or you’ll never be ready in time.’

She quickly finished her coffee, shoved the toast down her throat, and then disappeared down the hall to her room. Within a few minutes I heard the shower going. I grabbed my phone and then poured myself another coffee and sat at the table to ring Crystal to tell her Claire would join us.

‘Now, Crystal, Claire knows nothing about vampires … or dhampirs. And I’d like to keep it that way. So, can you tell Angelica, we aren’t to talk about vampires or ghosts or anything out of the ordinary, okay?’

‘Yes, certainly. We won’t say a word in front of Claire. Are you still fine for ten-thirty?’

‘Yep, we’ll be waiting downstairs. See you shortly,’ I said, hanging up.

And then I thought about ringing Sam; about telling him how much I loved him, and missed him. But instead I just stared at the phone in my hand until I heard Claire walking up, and it was time to go.

~~***~~

The drive up to the Dandenongs took less time than I’d expected. Yesterday’s fine weather was repeated so the roads were dry, and the traffic heading out of the city was light.

The first shop we went into was an antique store with a lot of furniture and ornaments. While the shop was interesting none of us found anything we had to have. Then we walked up the street and into a lace shop. I wasn’t into lace, but they had some interesting clothing; nothing I’d ever wear, except maybe to a costume party, but it was fun to look. Angelica and Crystal, who both wore lots of long dresses, did find a few things to try on, but they didn’t buy anything either.

Next we went into a shop that sold items made by local artists. Here we found hand-made jewellery, sheepskin boots and slippers, hand-knitted clothing, and all sorts of arts and crafts items. Claire bought some silver earrings, and I bought a bracelet and matching earrings to send over to Raye for her birthday as it was only a few weeks away.

It was nearly one o’clock by the time we made our way into a shop that smelled simply gorgeous. It sold incense, and hand-made soaps and creams as well as some exotic looking clothing that was probably from India. Claire and I were trying to decide which of the incense sticks we liked the best when I noticed Angelica leaning over the counter, speaking to the shopkeeper. Both she and the shopkeeper were whispering, and the shopkeeper kept looking around nervously, as if worried they’d be overheard. Their body language made me very suspicious, so I turned slightly in order watch them more easily. When they disappeared up what looked like private stairs, I gave up trying to be subtle, and simply stared at their backs.

‘Hello? Earth to Lili … hello,’ Claire was waving one of the packets under my nose asking, ‘What do you think of this one?’

‘Oh, vanilla, yeah it’s nice. But I like this one,’ I said, showing her the box I was holding.

‘Yeah, patchouli, I like that one too. I’m getting these three; they’re three for ten dollars.’

When Claire walked away heading toward the hand creams, Crystal walked up quietly and pulled me aside. ‘I saw you watching Angelica,’ she said in a quiet voice. ‘Don’t say anything to her, please.’

‘Why? What’s she doing upstairs? It looks private—not part of the shop.’

‘It is private. She’s had some special creams made, ones that she ordered over the phone. That’s why we came up—to pick them up, and to shop and have lunch of course.’

‘What sort of creams? I don’t understand.’

‘Well, she’s rather embarrassed about it so please don’t say anything. Pretend you didn’t notice. It’s just a skin condition, nothing contagious.’

‘Oh, okay. I won’t say anything.’

‘Thank you, Lili. Like I said, she’d be embarrassed if she knew I’d said anything.’

I walked over to Claire, and we each tried a few of the hand creams. Then we went over to pay for our incense. Crystal was looking at the clothing; silk saris not unlike the ones she usually wore. After we’d paid the shop assistant, Claire and I walked outside to wait for Crystal and Angelica.

‘She’s a bit of an odd one, that Angelica, don’t you think?’ asked Claire once we were alone.

‘Yeah, she’s different alright. Maybe it’s ‘cause she’s foreign. She’s from Spain, you know.’

‘Spanish? Hmmm, her accent doesn’t sound Spanish to me. They speak a lot of Spanish in LA, and her accent doesn’t sound like anything I’ve heard there.’

‘Yeah, I know what you mean. But then again, she’s from Spain not Mexico. Maybe it’s different.’

‘Yeah, maybe. Or maybe she isn’t Spanish.’

I nudged Claire to alert her to stop talking, as I could hear Crystal and Angelica making their way out of the shop.

‘Who’s ready to eat? I’m starving,’ said Crystal as they walked up. ‘Do we want Devonshire Tea? Or we could have homemade pies from the shop down the end of the street if you’d rather.’

I looked at Claire, and she sort of turned up her nose and we both said together, ‘Devonshire Tea, please.’

‘Right, if everyone’s happy with that, it’s back to the car then. The best place to go is one that we passed on the way up.’

‘Oh, I know the place,’ said Claire. ‘It’s got great food; soups and little sandwiches and stuff like that as well as Devonshire Tea. Oh, and they make the best hot chocolate!’

I looked at Angelica, and asked, ‘What about you, are you happy with that? Or did you want a pie?’

‘Oh, I’m happy with whatever you decide,’ she replied quietly, a slight smile crossing her lips.

I looked at her hands, wondering about her ‘skin condition’ and also wondering about the package she should be carrying. Her hands looked fine to me, and there was nothing in them, so her package must have been small enough to put in her handbag. She must have noticed me looking at her hands as she quickly shoved them in the pockets of her coat.

When I looked up, Crystal was glaring at me, and I felt my cheeks grow hot from being caught in the act.

‘Come, ladies, before I pass out from malnutrition,’ she said, and started off toward the car.

‘We’re coming,’ I said, following right behind her. But as I passed Angelica I noticed her eyes had narrowed, and I could have sworn she was whispering something under her breath.

~~***~~

After Claire left, I sat at the kitchen table just staring at my hands. Debs wasn’t in, and probably wouldn’t be home until late afternoon.

So, Angelica had a skin condition; something that required special creams, from a strange little shop in the Dandenongs. Why didn’t that make sense to me? Could it be because it simply didn’t make any sense? I mean, her hands looked fine; and her face did too. And she’d worn low cut dresses a time or two when we were at Mladen’s and I never noticed anything then either. And even if she did have a skin condition, why go all the way up to the Dandenongs to get some cream for it? Surely, there would be somewhere closer—like a chemist. It was just so odd.

It probably wouldn’t have bothered me, in fact I probably wouldn’t have thought twice about it, if it wasn’t for the fact that she, herself, seemed so odd. And not just to me. Tom said she gave him the creeps. And today Claire had mentioned it too.

So, this woman, this dhampira, rocks up unannounced and knocks on Crystal’s door, eager to meet her. Then, just a few months later everyone suddenly has to move, together, into the same house. What was that about? Could Angelica have had something to do with that? After all, Sam said he never felt like he’d been watched. It was Crystal who had told him. Had Angelica planted that idea somehow? The timing all made sense.

I shook my head, and slapped my wrist. ‘Stop it, McIntyre,’ I swore at myself. ‘You’re jealous of her relationship with Crystal and trying to justify your wicked feelings towards her. Isn’t it obvious?’

I flicked on the television to watch the evening news. The newsreader was standing in front of the backpacker hotel where that teenager, Darcy Brown, had last been seen. I quickly turned up the volume.

‘And now for a happy ending to what we’d feared might be a tragedy. Young backpacker Darcy Brown was rather embarrassed, and her sister was quite relieved, when Darcy returned to Melbourne yesterday. Seems she’d gone up to Queensland for a few days with a group of friends, and had left a message for her sister here, at the hotel, but the message had gone astray. It does seem odd, in this day when text messages and mobile phones are such an everyday part of life, that a young person would rely on a handwritten note for such an important message. Indeed, how did we survive before the invention of the mobile phone?’

The newsreader laughed at this last bit. I mean it was sort of ironic, wasn’t it. Well, in any case, it was a relief; Darcy hadn’t been a victim of vampires after all. I sighed deeply, amazed at the weight that seemed to have been lifted from my shoulders. I watched the rest of the news, but there was nothing much else of any interest, and when it got to the sports update I flicked it off.

I grabbed my phone and rang Sam.

‘She’s been found. Darcy Brown, that teenager I’d been worried about.’

‘Oh, that’s good; just off having fun somewhere, was she?’

‘Yeah, she’d gone to Queensland and the message she’d left for her sister got misplaced.’

‘Well, there you go—nothing to have worried about after all. So, how was your day at the Dandenongs?’

‘Yeah, good. I bought some jewellery for Raye’s birthday, and some incense. That’s about all. But we had a nice lunch—Devonshire Tea.’

‘That’s good. I’m glad you enjoyed the day. Crystal really missed you when you left, you know. Of course, Angelica filled the void when she turned up.’

‘Yeah … about that … didn’t it seem, I don’t know, sort of odd, this dhampira just turning up at their doorstep, unannounced?’

‘Huh? I don’t know. Ask Crystal. I mean, I don’t recall her saying she thought it was unusual or anything. Why?’

‘Oh, I don’t know. Angelica just seems … different … weird. Have you ever noticed anything strange about her?’

‘Hmm, not really, but then I haven’t exactly spent a lot of time around her,’ he replied, his voice sounding almost dismissive of the topic.

‘Well, Tom doesn’t seem to think much of her,’ I said, instantly regretting the smart-alecky tone of my voice.

‘No? He hasn’t said anything to me. I do think he was quite unimpressed with the quick move however … maybe he thinks that was something to do with her.’

‘Yeah, maybe … but I got the impression it was more than that.’

‘Did you? Well, I’ll try to take more notice of her, now that you’ve mentioned it.’

‘Okay … thanks. So, how’s everything looking tonight?’ I asked, finally giving up on Angelica. He obviously didn’t share my feeling that she was odd.

‘Quiet, so far.’

‘Wanna come over for a while … watch television … or something? Claire’s gone home, Debs hasn’t come in yet, and I’m just sitting here … all alone.’

There was nothing but silence on the phone for what seemed to be ages. When he finally spoke, his voice was soft and low.

‘Lili, I’m sorry … I wish I could explain it, but I just can’t be with you right now.’

‘Okay, Sam.’ I said swallowing hard, trying to hide my disappointment.

‘Please don’t be sad. It won’t be like this forever.’

It was impossible not to be sad, and frustrated, and yet there was some hope in his voice. He’d said it wouldn’t be like this forever, so that meant he had to think things would get better, right?

‘So, you still want me to find us a house though, right?’

‘Yes, of course.’

‘And when we have our own place, do you think things will go back to how they were with us before?’

‘Yes … well, I believe so anyway. I wish I could explain.’

I could see no point in pressing him now. In some ways, he seemed almost as perplexed by his behaviour as I was. All I could do was try to find us a house, and make it a home—our home. If things didn’t improve, perhaps I’d have to accept that they never would. But I wasn’t going to give up just yet.