Shadow of a Life (26 page)

“
I guess that would be
okay,” I said slowly.

“
Great. Let’s
go.”

We made the walk to his house in less
than fifteen minutes and let ourselves in through the garage.
Peter’s house was filled with old things just like mine, but the
things occupying the shelves in his home were artifacts, not
antiques. I spent the first twenty minutes we were there going from
glass case to glass case admiring everything I saw. Peter was able
to tell me the history of every single piece. His parents had
taught him well.

He stopped at a hall table and hit
play on the answering machine. There were a couple of messages for
his parents that he quickly skipped over and then listened when he
heard his mom’s voice come on the machine.

“
Peter? Hello? I guess you
must be out with friends. Don’t have too much fun without us. We
were able to take a ferry out to a little tropical island today and
it was blissful. You would have really liked it. Anyhoo, enjoy your
evening. We’ll call again tomorrow. Love you.
”

Peter rolled his eyes and laughed when
the machine beeped that the message was over. “If they’d really
wanted to talk to me they would have called my cell phone instead
of the home number.”

Peter chatted as he pulled out pans,
utensils, and ingredients and began to work on dinner—obviously in
his comfort zone. I offered to help and he instructed me to cook
the fettuccine noodles. I could handle that—it only required pasta
and water. I shouldn’t have hesitated in going to his house because
he was a complete gentleman the entire time we were there and never
did so much as hold my hand. He was right—he made a delicious
Alfredo and there were no leftovers when we finished.

We were trying to decide whether to
return to my house and continue searching through documents or call
it a night when my phone rang.

“
How’d it go today? You
never called me so I guess that means you didn’t find anything?” It
was Camille. I’d completely forgotten about her.

I quickly filled her in on all the
information we’d uncovered. She was impressed. “I want to see the
picture,” she said when I told her about the photo we’d
found.

“
Would you be interested in
coming back over to my house tonight or do you want to wait until
tomorrow?”

“
I know it’s only
seven-thirty and bright as day outside, but I’m already in my
pajamas. We better make it tomorrow.”

“
Okay. Is ten
good?”

“
Yeah. I’ll be
there.”

I hung up with Camille and walked with
Peter back to my house. He didn’t come inside again, but he said
goodbye and left on his bike. I let myself inside the house and
leaned back against the closed door.

I couldn’t believe everything that had
happened that day. I’d discovered that I was related to murderous
villains and I had my first kiss—all in the same afternoon. Not
bad.

CHAPTER 18

I
t
was tempting to continue going through stuff on my own, but I
decided against it. I might miss something important if mine were
the only eyes looking. The chances of three of us missing the same
thing were slim so I figured it could wait until the morning. I
straightened up the dining room the best I could and went upstairs
to get in my own pajamas. It was only 8:30 and the sun had barely
gone down, so there was still a faint light coming through my
bedroom window.

I thought back to earlier in the day
and the kiss I’d shared with Peter on the widow’s walk above me. I
climbed the stairs to the attic once more and unlatched the window
to the balcony. I stepped out into the cool night air and looked
around. It was even more beautiful at that time of night. I could
see the waters of Buzzards Bay way off on the horizon and I thought
about all the ships that had sailed in and out of the waters there
over the years. After my adventure was over I would never look at
the sea the same way again. I closed my eyes and tried to remember
the way it felt when Peter had touched my lips with his. The memory
was still close.

I opened my eyes and as I turned to go
back inside I spied a couple out for an evening stroll on the
sidewalk just down the road from my house. It was sweet that they
were still holding hands at their older age, but as they grew ever
nearer to my house my world came crashing down. I was not very
close, and it was fairly dark, but there was no doubt in my mind
that it was Jeremiah and Elsa. I was so scared that my knees
started knocking together. I probably should have immediately gone
back down into the attic, but I was frozen in place, too scared to
move.

They were almost directly in front of
my house when they looked up and saw me staring at them. My heart
pounded as our eyes locked. They stopped walking and waved. My arm
felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds, but I was finally able to
lift it in a gesture of hello and managed to fake a half-smile in
return. They continued walking and I let out my breath loudly. I
jumped back into the attic and locked the window. I ran down the
attic staircase, locking the door behind me and then ran down the
main staircase and peered out the living room window. I couldn’t
see the Goodwins anymore and hoped they’d gone on down the
street.

I continued my crazy run through the
house checking every window and door lock, turning on lights, and
closing all the curtains before I realized it wasn’t doing me any
good—if they wanted in, they would come in. I was just about to
dial Peter’s number when the doorbell rang.

My heart raced and it took
every ounce of courage I could dig up to step toward the front
door.
Please let it be Camille, or Peter,
or Sophia. Please let it be Camille, or Peter, or Sophia. Please
let it be Camille, or Peter, or Sophia,
I
chanted over and over in my head as I stood on tiptoes to look
through the round peephole.

“
Aaggh!” I tried to stifle
the scream that escaped my mouth before the couple on the other
side of the door could hear it. My mind raced, trying to decide
what to do. I could run through the back door and hide in the yard
until they left, but maybe they would just come in if I did that.
All the information Peter and I had gathered about them lay on the
dining room table. It wouldn’t take a genius to find it and know
what we’d been up to. If I ran out the back door I could try to
escape to Jack and Rita’s and maybe they could come back with me
and check for ghosts since they could see their auras and I
couldn’t. But I really didn’t want to get them involved. They
deserved to be happy without getting mixed up in all the other
crap. I was still trying to decide what to do when the doorbell
rang again, followed by a knock on the door right near my head. I
jumped and moaned again.

Finally, I made a decision. I’d wanted
adventure and I was going to get it. If I answered the door I’d be
able to see them and know what they were up to. If I didn’t let
them in, I’d spend the night wondering if they were invisibly
following me around my house. I quickly dialed Peter’s number on my
cell phone and then slipped it into my pocket with my finger
hovering over the send button. I unlocked the bolts on the door,
the noise sounding much louder to me than I’m sure it actually was,
and opened the door slowly.

“
Hello, honey,” Elsa said in
a sing-song way.

“
Uh . . . hi.”

“
We’re the Godfreys. This is
John and I’m Elizabeth,” she said as she pointed to Jeremiah
standing next to her. “We saw you standing on your roof and we were
wondering if you could help us with a problem.”

“
What kind of problem?” I
stood with the door only partially opened, not wanting to let them
all the way in. Elsa peered past me into the room as if looking for
something.

“
Well, dear, our
granddaughter has gone missing and we’ve been combing the
neighborhoods around here looking for her. She’s run away before,
but we’re really worried about her this time. Some others we’ve
talked to thought she looked like a girl that had been seen at a
bus stop near here recently. You look to be about her age so maybe
you’ve seen her?”

Jeremiah, who hadn’t yet said
anything, stretched out his hand. I looked down and saw that he
held a picture. When he spoke his voice was gruff and deep. “This
is what she looks like. Have you seen her?”

I reached down and took the picture
with the trembling hand that wasn’t in my pocket. It was definitely
Sophia. It looked like it had been taken sometime within a year or
two after the one I’d found in the attic. The picture was cropped
to only show her face and looked as if the color had been added
later. Some sort of photo editing program had definitely been
used.

The question remained. Should I lie or
tell the truth . . . sort of?

I handed the picture back to Jeremiah.
“She looks a little familiar. What did you say her name
was?”

“
Sophia,” Elsa said at the
same time Jeremiah said, “Suzanne.”

“
What we mean is, her name
is Sophia Suzanne Godfrey. She could be going by any name, though,”
Elsa explained.

“
Oh, I do remember her. I
saw her at a restaurant in town. I overhead her talking with
another girl that I don’t know. She said something about leaving
and going up to Boston I think.” I really hoped they couldn’t see
through my poor lies.

“
When was this?” Jeremiah
questioned.

“
Oh, I dunno. Maybe a week
or so ago? I’m sure she’s long gone. I haven’t seen her
since.”

“
Well, thank you for your
help, honey. Can you do us one more favor? Will you give us a call
if you see her again? We’re desperate to know that she is safe. You
can call us any time of the day.”

“
Sure. I could do that,” I
lied again, taking the little card on which Elsa had just scribbled
a phone number and started to shut the door.

“
We didn’t catch your name,
dear?”

“
Jamie,” I said without
thinking. “Uhh . . . have a good night.” That time I quickly shut
the door and locked it again. I watched through the peephole as
Jeremiah and Elsa walked down the porch stairs and down the road,
continuing on their way. When I couldn’t see them through the hole
in the door anymore, I ran to the window and peered out through a
gap in the curtains, watching as they rounded the corner at the end
of the street. I breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out my phone,
quickly dialing Peter’s cell.

“
Hello?” He sounded
surprised that I called again so soon.

“
Peter. It’s Jamie.” I
didn’t mean to and I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t. The tears
started falling and I sobbed into the phone.

Peter was on high alert. “What’s
wrong? Jamie, what happened? Is it Sophia?”

I tried to explain the best I could
through the tears and was finally able to calm down.

“
I’m sure they’ve moved on
to another neighborhood. That was smart to try to lead them in the
wrong direction,” he said, his voice coming out kind of
choppy.

“
What if they circled back
and snuck into my house? They could be standing behind me listening
to everything I’m telling you.” I shivered and looked
around.

“
Jamie, just stay put. If
they’re lingering around and they see you bolt, you’re going to
look suspicious. I’m sure if they really thought you knew something
they would have stayed longer or done something to you.” For some
reason he sounded out of breath.

“
I don’t think I’m going to
be able to sleep tonight. I’m so freaked out. I really wish Sophia
was back so she could be on the lookout for spirits floating
around.”

“
Jamie, don’t freak out, but
your doorbell is going to ring again.”

“
What?”

“
I ran over as soon as you
called. I’m almost to your door so don’t freak out when I ring the
bell.”

“
Are you
serious?”

“
About coming over or about
not freaking out?”

I looked out the window. Peter was
starting up the front walk. I opened the door before he even had a
chance to ring the bell and stepped into his arms. The tears came
again.

“
I feel like such a baby.
You didn’t have to come all the way back here,” I said when I’d
finally composed myself and let go of him.

He laughed. “I don’t mind at all. Guys
like to play the role of protector, didn’t you know
that?”

“
Did you pass the Goodwins
on the way over?”

“
No, but there are multiple
streets they could have turned down. I’m sure they’re well out of
our neighborhood. Or else they went invisible.”

I shuddered. “So what do we do
now?”

Peter looked around. “Let’s hide the
stuff in the dining room first. In case they do come back,
secretively or not, we don’t want to risk them seeing
anything.”

We quickly stuffed the boxes in the
small kitchen pantry and then looked around like lost
puppies.

“
Do you think we should call
Jack or Rita?”

“
I haven’t met Jack yet, but
I think you were right about not getting them involved.”